More admirers for Andrew Gilligan

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL Close East London Mosque Now“Andrew Gilligan is one of the most lucid journalists out there and therefore he understands incredibly well the threat of Islamic supremacism to free societies.”

Now, who do you think wrote this? Could it be Melanie Phillips? Or perhaps Pamela Geller? No, it’s the English Defence League, whose Wiltshire Division have reproduced Gilligan’s recent attack on ENGAGE on their website.

But then, this is not the first time that Gilligan has proved an inspiration to the far-right boot-boys of the EDL. It was his TV documentary witch-hunting the Islamic Forum Europe, “Britain’s Islamic Republic”, that prompted the EDL to demand that the East London Mosque should be closed down and threaten to stage an intimidatory demonstration in Tower Hamlets.

Danish People’s Party spokesperson convicted on racism charge

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Jesper LangballeJesper Langballe, church spokesperson for the Danish People’s Party (DF), was on Friday convicted of making defamatory statements about Muslims. Langballe pleaded guilty to the charge of defamation under the anti-racism section of the penal code.

In January, Langballe wrote a letter to Berlingske Tidende newspaper in which he commented on claims made by the chairman of the Free Press Society, Lars Hedegaard, that Muslim fathers rape their daughters.

In his letter, Langballe supported Hedegaard’s views, saying that Hedegaard should not have written that “Muslim fathers rape their daughters, when the truth seems to be that they only kill them (the so-called honour killings) – and turn a blind eye when uncles rape them.”

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Glenn Beck estimates there are close to 157 million Islamic terrorists

Posted on by Bob Pitt

On his radio program this morning, Fox News host Glenn beck warned, as he often does, that there is a dangerous group of violent radical Communists who want to overthrow the government, and lamented that the mainstream media, including Fox News, refuses to cover this allegedly imminent threat. As a point of comparison to the dreaded Communists, Beck mentioned Islamic terrorists, saying he suspects that close to 10 percent of Muslims are terrorists:

BECK: What is the number of Islamic terrorists? One percent? I think it’s closer to 10 percent, but the rest of the PC world will tell you “oh no, it’s minuscule.” Okay, well, let’s take you at your one percent. Look at the havoc of one percent of Muslims causing on the rest of the world!

According to a Pew report from last year, there are 1.57 billion Muslims in the world. Thus, by Beck’s calculations, there would be 157 million Islamic terrorists – more than half the population of the U.S. Even at 1 percent, which Beck – noted headmaster of Beck University – claims the “PC world” believes, there would be 1.57 million Muslim terrorists.

Think Progress, 6 December 2010

Hull antifascists mobilise against BNP mosque protest

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hull UAF bannerMore than 250 people from Hull braved the snow and freezing temperatures to resist attempts by the fascist British National Party to demonstrate outside a local mosque.

About 20 members of the BNP and the racist English Defence League were spotted in and around the park near Pearson Park Mosque but ran away when they saw the size of the protest organised by UAF.

Speakers from local trade unions and a spokesperson from the mosque addressed the crowd, calling for unity to stop the BNP and EDL.

Worshippers from the mosque joined the crowds chanting anti-BNP/EDL slogans – and they provided refreshments for the trade unionists, students and other local antiracists and antifascists.

UAF news report, 4 December 2010

See also “High-profile policing at protest on mosque extension defended”, Yorkshire Post, 5 December 2010

Review of Faith Matters pamphlet on the EDL

Posted on by Bob Pitt

REVIEW

Nigel Copsey, The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality, Faith Matters 2010

Crossposted from Socialist Unity

I downloaded this pamphlet with high expectations. I’m not exactly a fan of Faith Matters and its director, John Ware admirer Fiyaz Mughal, but Nigel Copsey is the author of Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, which is an excellent account of the BNP’s origins and development. So I anticipated that this pamphlet would provide some useful insights into the character of the EDL. It turned out to be a major disappointment.

Copsey is a capable researcher and if you want a detailed and accurate summary of the origins and structure of the EDL you can find it here. But for some reason Copsey goes out of his way to downplay the far-right character of the organisation he is studying. While we can perhaps agree with Copsey that the EDL is “not an archetypal far-right organisation or movement” and that we should “avoid viewing it simply through the prism of the established far right” (emphasis added), the problem is that Copsey refuses to characterise the EDL as a far-right organisation in any sense at all. Rather, he argues, it is “best understood as an Islamophobic, new social movement, born of a particularly unattractive and intolerant strand of English nationalism”.

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BBC reveals Welsh Defence League links with neo-Nazis

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Welsh Defence League 2

An undercover investigation by BBC Wales into a group campaigning against Muslim extremists has found links with neo-Nazi supporters.

Secret footage in Monday’s Week In Week Out programme also exposes criminal activity amongst some supporters of the Welsh Defence League (WDL). Publicly, the WDL says it is a non-racist organisation. A judge who has examined the evidence in the programme said some were acting to “inflame racial hatred”.

The WDL has been aligned to the English Defence League. It was set up last year by an ex-soccer hooligan and author Jeff Marsh in response to Muslim extremists abusing troops returning from Afghanistan. It has attracted hundreds of followers and held demonstrations in Cardiff, Swansea and Wrexham.

Posing as a new member of the group, an undercover journalist accompanied a number of Welsh supporters to a protest. Some were caught on camera and online, making racist comments about Muslims. Two admitted involvement in racist violence at demonstrations organised by the defence leagues in other parts of the country. One invited other WDL followers to join him in burning a Koran and joked online about how best to kill black people. Another talks about driving Muslims out of the south Wales valleys.

Examining the evidence in the special programme, Judge Mark Powell QC said: “It’s mindless, its racist, the purpose of what they are doing is to inflame racial hatred…I think from what you have shown me it is criminal behaviour and no doubt something that the police would want to look at.”

Shadow Welsh Secretary Peter Hain, who has campaigned for years against racist groups, said: “I think every mainstream politician in Wales, wherever they are based, should make it a priority to talk to young people to explain the WDL is in a long line that goes back through the Nazis.

“And I don’t say that lightly because, that is the exact political situation in which Hitler was able to come into power because main stream politicians did not deal with the grievances in Germany. Now I’m not suggesting the WDL is anything like as powerful as Hitler’s Nazi party became, the WDL is a tiny marginalised party, but once you allow these groups to gain credibility that’s where you could end up.”

Det Ch Supt Adrian Tudway, the national co-ordinator for domestic extremism, advises local forces on the threat posed by the various defence leagues. “I think it’s a very significant threat. It’s one I know the police service are taking very seriously, together with the Home Office and local authorities,” he said.

“Unmasked: Welsh Defence League” is on BBC One Wales at 2030 GMT on Monday 6 December.

BBC News, 6 December 2010

California Muslims reported FBI provocateur … to the FBI

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An FBI informer sent to infiltrate a California mosque was made the subject of a restraining order after scaring Muslim worshippers with demands for holy war.

Craig Monteilh was known to members of the Irvine Islamic Center as Farouk al-Aziz, an apparently devout and at times over-zealous Muslim. But when he began speaking of jihad and plans to blow up buildings, senior figures at the mosque reported him the FBI – the very people who sent him. Now the FBI is facing criticism for its use of such stooges which have backfired in a number of cases.

Monteilh claims he was already working for the FBI when he was approached about infiltrating mosques and was told “Islam is a threat to our national security”. He agreed and became Farouk al-Aziz, code name Oracle, a French Syrian in search of his Islamic roots. He was trained by the FBI and claims he was told to infiltrate mosques in Orange County and two other counties.

Worshippers said that in Monteilh’s 10 months at the mosque, he became almost manic in his devotion, attending prayers five times a day but he was secretly recording conversations. However, when he began to tell Muslims he had access to weapons they became convinced he was a terrorist and ironically reported the informant to the FBI.

Daily Mail, 6 December 2010

See also “Mosque infiltration feeds Muslims’ distrust of FBI, Washington Post, 5 December 2010

Update:  And see Wajahat Ali, “Time for FBI to stop spying on American Muslims”, Comment is Free, 7 December 2010