By: Daniel Nardini
The United States is not the only country that has a problem with extreme rightwing anti-immigrant groups. Great Britain is now experiencing a similar problem. Although not carried much in the U.S. media, one of these anti-immigrant groups that has been gaining attention in the British media is the English Defense League (EDL). Formed in 2009 from a group called the United Peoples of Luton, the English Defense League has no set headquarters nor membership dues or known branches. It seems to exist and recruit members from those who have informal connections with groups known only to other rightwing members in an almost underground network. The goal of the EDL is to “save England” from “Islam” and “Sharia law.”
The EDL calls for a complete ban on the building of mosques, the “return” of England to its “native people,” and an end to immigration to Great Britain from Muslim countries. The EDL has been known to carry out violent street demonstrations and to engage in violence against Muslims and destroy Muslim property. This in turn has caused many young British Muslims to form their own extremist groups that equally worry the British authorities. Not long after the English Defense League was created, a similar type of league called the Scottish Defense League was inaugerated in Scotland. It is a carbon copy of the EDL, and the Scottish Defense League also calls for a ban on mosques and an end of immigration from Muslim countries. There is little question that there are members of the extremist rightwing, neo-fascist British National Party in the EDL’s ranks, although strangely enough the EDL boasts that it has Jewish, gay and Sikh divisions within its ranks (the British Jewish, gay and Sikh communities have condemned the EDL in no uncertain terms, and condemn any Jews, gays or Sikh within its ranks).
In the beginning, the British authorities did not take much notice of the EDL. However, after the massacre of 77 innocent people in Norway by a rightwing extremist named Anders Behring Breivik, the British police realize that something similar could happen in Britain. Worse, the English Defense League has been networking with extreme rightwing and neo-fascist groups in Europe and North America. No one is sure how far these connections go, and with it the possibility for violent acts by these and similar groups in the future. In fact, Breivik himself named the English Defense League as one of the groups that “inspired him” to go shoot people and plant a bomb in Norway’s capital Oslo. So what does this mean for the average British or American? It means that the violence of this and other groups may not be confined to Muslims. Such violence could one day engulf you and I when we least expect it. Ask the people who were killed by Breivik.
About the English Defense League
By: Daniel Nardini
The United States is not the only country that has a problem with extreme rightwing anti-immigrant groups. Great Britain is now experiencing a similar problem. Although not carried much in the U.S. media, one of these anti-immigrant groups that has been gaining attention in the British media is the English Defense League (EDL). Formed in 2009 from a group called the United Peoples of Luton, the English Defense League has no set headquarters nor membership dues or known branches. It seems to exist and recruit members from those who have informal connections with groups known only to other rightwing members in an almost underground network. The goal of the EDL is to “save England” from “Islam” and “Sharia law.”
The EDL calls for a complete ban on the building of mosques, the “return” of England to its “native people,” and an end to immigration to Great Britain from Muslim countries. The EDL has been known to carry out violent street demonstrations and to engage in violence against Muslims and destroy Muslim property. This in turn has caused many young British Muslims to form their own extremist groups that equally worry the British authorities. Not long after the English Defense League was created, a similar type of league called the Scottish Defense League was inaugerated in Scotland. It is a carbon copy of the EDL, and the Scottish Defense League also calls for a ban on mosques and an end of immigration from Muslim countries. There is little question that there are members of the extremist rightwing, neo-fascist British National Party in the EDL’s ranks, although strangely enough the EDL boasts that it has Jewish, gay and Sikh divisions within its ranks (the British Jewish, gay and Sikh communities have condemned the EDL in no uncertain terms, and condemn any Jews, gays or Sikh within its ranks).
In the beginning, the British authorities did not take much notice of the EDL. However, after the massacre of 77 innocent people in Norway by a rightwing extremist named Anders Behring Breivik, the British police realize that something similar could happen in Britain. Worse, the English Defense League has been networking with extreme rightwing and neo-fascist groups in Europe and North America. No one is sure how far these connections go, and with it the possibility for violent acts by these and similar groups in the future. In fact, Breivik himself named the English Defense League as one of the groups that “inspired him” to go shoot people and plant a bomb in Norway’s capital Oslo. So what does this mean for the average British or American? It means that the violence of this and other groups may not be confined to Muslims. Such violence could one day engulf you and I when we least expect it. Ask the people who were killed by Breivik.