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America 911, American Liberty, anti-Semitism, Barack Obama, British National, Christianity, Civilisation, Counter-Jihad, Defend the modern world, Demographics of Europe, EDL, English Defence League, Islamism, Islamophobia, Kevin Carroll, London EDL, Nick Griffin, No to Turkey in the EU, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, Rihanna Muslim, Robinson, Tommy Robinson
On Tuesday, EDL leader Stephen Yaxley Lennon (otherwise known as ‘Tommy Robinson) announced that he and co-founder Kevin Carroll are to leave the organisation, in their words to pursue “better, democratic ideas” by which to continue the fight against Political Islam.
Generally speaking, this announcement came as a great surprise to those within the EDL, and the reasoning since given for it by Robinson has confounded much of the liberal press too. Only a month beforehand, he had been tweeting typically hostile comments toward Islam and Muslims, and yet suddenly the former hooligan appeared to have been tamed.
Why? Personally, I’m not sure. Nobody is more shocked by all this than me. According to many different gauges, the organisation seemed only recently in peak health. The EDL page on facebook has never been so popular, with roughly 161,000 ‘likes’ and a second unofficial page with 40.000 more. The demo in Tower Hamlets last month was hardly disastrous, and there is a large and popular outing planned for the coming weeks in Bradford.
But even if the ‘why’ remains shrouded in mystery, the ‘where next’ must now be addressed. Currently, the English Defence League is leaderless. Many thousands of activists face an anxious wait to see who replaces Robinson as their public representative. Some candidates (including the ‘pot-plant guy’ from UKIP) have already been ruled out. I have no nominations of my own.
But a leader must be found soon. The danger of a prolonged state of flux is mass defection. The BNP will almost certainly be eyeing this up. I’ve yet to check the BNP website (I haven’t got the stomach at the moment), but there will inevitably be a semi-literate post claiming the resignations as a ‘victory’ for Nick Griffin. They are, of course, nothing of the kind, but such is the nature of fascist solipsism.
When and if one arises, the most important question for a new EDL leader must not be “What went wrong?” but ‘What can yet be achieved?”
Although Robinson cited ideological reasons for his resignation, there were perhaps other factors involved, such as a declining turnout for demonstrations and lessening media profile. To attain greater victories in the future, significant changes to the core mission of the EDL will be required. To this end, here are five suggestions for the new leader:
1. Reduce the number of irregular demonstrations in favour of larger-scale demos to mark significant occasions (the aftermath of a terror attack/St George’s Day etc..). Make clear to members that their attendance is expected rather than merely desired. Make the rallies pleasant, static affairs with speeches and music, rather than kettling and confrontation.
2. Ensure a number of ethnic-minority spokespeople (especially ex-Muslims) to blunt the accusation of racism.
3. Get rid of the fascistic and irrelevant ‘In Hoc Signo Vinces’ slogan. It has connections with totalitarianism. As a replacement, consider something like the Luxembourgian National Motto ‘Mir wolle bleiwe wat mir sin’ – “We Want to Remain What We Are.”
4. Create a formal membership structure. This will make it possible to expel those who make fascist salutes or threats at rallies.
5. Stand firm on fundamental principles. This is a liberal-democratic country and Muslims are antithetical to our way of life.
Whatever approach is pursued, now is plainly not the time to throw in the towel. The current of Islamisation remains as strong as ever, and the methods hitherto employed by the EDL have borne real fruit. Thousands of patriotic souls have braved all kinds of inconvenience to make a fraternal stand against something toxic and dangerous to our country. They must not be betrayed, or left in want of hope.
D, LDN.
This is interesting. It seemed obvious back then that attempts would be made to “turn” him while he was in solitary confinement, offering him both carrots and sticks to cease his anti-Shariah advocacy as the head of the EDL. He and Kevin Carroll announced their exit from the English Defence League, and Tommy is now prominently opposing “extremism in all its forms” as an affiliate of the Quilliam Foundation. What is this foundation? Introducing W.H. “Abdullah” Quilliam, more here : http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/10/introducing-w-h-abdullah-quilliam/
I agree that the Quilliam Foundation is a very sinister outfit, but I can’t make up my mind whether Tommy has been brainwashed, or whether he genuinely believes in what he is now saying. He always seemed slightly artificial to me, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I think he’s a great guy who has done some great work, but this whole affair is fishy.
They are a lost cause. Quilliam is giving Tommy and Kevin intensive training in Islam, so that they will truly understand Islamic principles and teachings. More here: http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/10/between-a-rock-and-a-hard-place/
I know absolutely nothing about this situation but what immediately came to mind was the following. The first time I saw Tommy speaking he was pretty rubbish and looked daft compared to the Muslim bloke he was debating. The next time he was a little better.
When I saw him talking a few months ago I was amazed by the transition. He was articulate and didn’t get riled by the BBC presenters antagonistic questioning. He sounded quite well up on his subject.
I imagine that he would like now to be accepted by people like Douglas Murray and Melanie Phillips and it is perhaps galling for someone who has educated himself to such a degree that he still has to spend much of his time talking to men who perhaps don’t know a Muslim from a Sikh. The urge to become more respectable and do an Ayaan Hirsi Ali by rubbing shoulders with intellectuals, must have been appealing to someone like Tommy.
Apart from this he must have got heartily sick of the constant vilification and threats, which must have affected his family life. You can probably stand that kind of abuse for a certain amount of time but over the long term it must wear you down.
This could all be completely wrong. I’m just speculating.
Watching TR on a BBC programme alongside Esther Ratzen and the oily Inat Bunglawala, I had a curious thought. Tommy made much of the fact that reasoned argument detailing the totalitarian nature of political Islam is routinely met with cries of “Racist! Islamophobe! Fascist!” Could his newly-minted partnership with the regressives of Quilliam be a remarkably adroit way of out-manoeuvring such reactions but simultaneously gaining himself wider media exposure? From the two videos I watched (at the Gates of Vienna), his message does not seem to have changed all that much but he now has a much larger platform from which to speak, as well as being able to point to Quilliam as an example of his dialogue with Muslims.
I may be overly optimistic. I truly believe that the combination of state intimidation and threats from Muslims to his family may have been too much for him in the end. But he is also a very intelligent man and has shown a great capacity to learn and learn quickly. I think we should give this some time.
On a side note, the Achilles heel of Islam has always been hubris. Will Muslims not now be crowing that they have ‘changed’ Tommy Robinson? What might they let slip now that they believe he is “one of them”?