The name 'English Defence League' shall be staying, I can state that categorically.
'England' is a nation, it in no way is some kind of 'swastika and skins' banner. It is a banner known throughout the world to mean freedom and tolerance. There is no way I would allow a bunch of racist imbeciles to take my national flag away from me. That sir, gives them a sort of victory. And I would not yield a single inch to those cretins, not now, not ever.
'England' means you, me, all of us, united.
Problem is that a nationalist organization focused on street protests is going to attract far-right elements, as well as provocateurs and antifa counterprotesters. Not saying it's impossible to weed out those types or prevent confrontation with antifa, but given your organization's orientation, you will be spending a lot of time addressing that issue if you're serious about it
The BNP are another issue entirely. We do not oppose them in the same way we do not oppose the Labour party, or the Monster Raving Loony party. Personally, I oppose all three, though I respect all their democratic rights to exist.
If the BNP grew strong, I might get off my arse to oppose them vociferously, or not. Either way, it wouldn't be under the EDL name, as the EDL is only against radical islam.
There are a lot of good causes in the world, the EDL hasn't been formed to take them all on, it's been formed to oppose radical islam only. So any questions of 'why don't you oppose....' or 'why aren't you in favour of....' mean absolutely nothing mate.
Hope that's cleared it up for you bud
It's an organizational question. Actions speak louder than words, and a protest of the BNP by the EDL would send a very strong message that you guys aren't racists, and set many minds at ease-- the question is whether you are willing to alienate and lose the pro-BNP people who are undoubtedly amongst your ranks for the sake of proving your anti-racist cred. And yes, I know the BNP has said the EDL is a proscribed organization, but that doesn't mean you don't have a lot of BNP sympathizers/voters within the EDL
There was a genuine Nazi at the Birmingham demo, you will find footage of him doing the salute, and also singing 'I hate Paki's more than you'. What you don't see is that on the bus, one of our chaps gave him a slap then kicked him off the bus later on.
What others see is all that matters for you if you want people to believe you are not a far-right or racist organization. Next time you have rally marshals, and anyone shows up giving Nazi salutes or shouting racist shit, you toss them right then and there and have your members chant "racist go home!" You publicly reject and humiliate the person, not privately discipline them.
I got a question and a couple of comments about something I read on your website:
Organisation and Leadership of the English Defence League
The English Defence League is run by a network of organisers across England, and is partnered with the Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish Defense Leagues. Unfortunately, aside from a handful of named spokesmen, the names of these organisers cannot be published because of the threat to their lives and property from a colourful cast of characters including Islamic extremists, white supremacists, and misguided anti-fascists. Members of the English Defence League have received death threats from all three groups. This is also the reason why some members choose to cover their faces. We wish we lived in a society where that was not necessary, and hopefully one day we will.
1. What is the Northern Irish Defense League? Sounds like a Loyalist organization, in which case links with paramilitaries may exist, then you can forget about not being associated with the far-right or violent elements. I googled this name, but nothing came up. Sure fuckin sounds shady to me though.
2. You need to tell people that if they don't have the balls to come to a demo without a hood/mask, then they don't need to come-- seriously. It makes your organization look like criminals and cowards. If I were running your group I'd tell your members to man up and come without their masks, not make excuses for them on the website. If there is a serious threat against them, then the EDL should take steps to ensure their protection-- after all, you are the English
Defence League, right? The BMSD and CEMB shows up to public events without masks and it seems likely that they are in much more danger of violent retaliation than EDL members-- if they can manage it, so can your members.
My guess is that what Cheetah (one of the mods here) once said about this is correct-- it's not that people are worried about physical retaliation, but that some of your protesters have nice white-collar jobs and don't want their co-workers, neighbors, or perhaps even family and friends, knowing that they are involved in the EDL, and that more people are covering their faces for those kinds of reasons than any fear of having their houses firebombed or whatever.
3. Same with the organizers. Unless you are organizing a clandestine or paramilitary group, your organizers should be public-- otherwise people will, not unreasonably, suspect you of being criminals or having something to hide. Again, I suspect the claims of possible physical retaliation are overstated and the real fear is social retaliation/alienation/embarrassment. Even if there is a real risk of physical retaliation-- well, that's a risk people will need to take. All this talk of "defending England" is a bunch of hyperbolic noise if your own organizers are not willing to take any risks, and are hiding from public view-- that strategy may make sense for an underground or partially-underground resistance group, but it's insane for a public protest group which claims to be taking a completely legal and non-violent route.
Topic: Hello from EDL