This is a guest post by Lucy James, a research fellow at Quilliam. She writes in a personal capacity.
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In the past months the English Defence League (EDL) have held a series of protests in UK cities: Luton (from where they have been banned from protesting for 3 months), Birmingham, Manchester and Newport (hosted by the allied Welsh Defence League). Last Saturday they arrived in Leeds.
I have been following each of these protests closely. Aside from their chants, placards and police scuffles, it seems to me that they are adopting a couple of symbols in a way which is somewhat concerning and needs highlighting:
- The Nazi salute: Photographic evidence of this can be found in Birmingham, Newport, and Leeds among others.
- The Israeli flag: I witnessed this first-hand in Manchester, and it was given considerable prominence in Leeds. But it has been present from early on, for example in Birmingham.
The Sieg Heil salute requires little explanation as a symbol. It is entirely detrimental to the ‘non-racist’ claims of the EDL leadership. It utterly undermines their PR stunt of burning a swastika flag and a black shirt (as in Mosley’s Black Shirts) in an empty warehouse in Luton. This PR stunt was then irreversibly undermined by the burning of an anti-Nazi flag in the Welsh Defence League’s protest in Newport (see photograph at the bottom but the other photos are certainly worth a look for a snapshot of their membership profile!).
Their (mis)use of the Israeli-flag is more interesting. It appears contradictory to their message given that they are the English Defence League, not the Israeli Defence League; why don’t they fly the St. George’s Cross? It is certainly at odds with traditional BNP holocaust-denying rhetoric (not to equate the groups, but undeniably they share significant ideological elements). Even members of Stormfront have questioned it.
However, their use of this symbol is also fairly straightforward. It would be a little far-fetched to suggest that it’s (as some obscure bloggers have claimed) a Jewish conspiracy where the group is set up and run by Jews. Certainly they’re not flying it out of concern for the state of Israel. The adoption of the Israeli-flag is most probably a simple case of hoping to provoke British Muslims, many of whom, it is well known, have very strong concerns about certain Israeli policies regarding Palestine – in particular after the Gaza crisis earlier this year.
This has clearly become a key EDL policy. In Leeds, the Israeli flag was used as a backdrop to the speeches given by EDL’s leader Tommy Robinson and a member of the Armed Forces.
The EDL are overrun with contradictions. One CiF blogger this week rightly commented on the irony of the EDL’s confused adoption of ‘fatwas’, sending death threats to journalists and the like.
If the EDL really are ‘non-racist’ and just ‘anti-extremist’, then they really need to get their messaging straight.
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This article was updated at 17:44 for clarity.
8 Comments
Lucy
I think I know what you are trying to say about their use of the Israeli flag, but to list ‘the Nazi salute’ and ‘the Israeli flag’ alongside each other as two symbols of concern, that both suggest the EDL is racist and/or extremist, is really not on.
Dave,
Fair point. It was meant in the context of the EDL’s agenda, but I have edited the article for clarity purposes.
This Welsh Defence League concerns me: three local lads were busted for building bombs locally very recently. Link link 2. Newspaper reports said the first guy arrested had a shaved head.
It’s a practical certainty, no profound analysis needed. The hooligan element is itching for a fight with precisely those Muslims who are most likely to be provoked by that particular flag. Like a cape before a bull.
This is not Rocket Science.
“as some obscure bloggers have claimed”
It isn’t obscure bloggers.
It is the BNP leadership which has made that claim:
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/09/28/who-was-to-blame-2/
They’re now claiming that the EDL is controlled by Left wingers or the state, trying to make them look bad.
Yes there was certain people who was making nazi salutes at some of the earlier demos, but it’s been sorted now. National Socialists are not welcome and anyone making nazi salutes will now be delt with, you can vet every person who attends it’s imposible. Regarding the Israeli flag, it was brought along by a british jew who was made more than welcome. i think people on the left need to wake up to the face that the EDL is now a racist grouping, we’re just a group of people who have had enough of islamic extremism.
realist
I think youll find thats exactly what people on the left and the UAF have done
On what planet is “no more mosques” acceptable or not against all Muslims rather than just extremists ?
that young lad looks pissed anyways and was at the wrong place at the wrong time