From Europe News:
Is it possible for anyone in the public eye to give a fair and considered answer to that question, let alone answer ‘yes’? Even if a public figure were to echo exactly the concerns and Mission Statement of the EDL, it’s hard to imagine anyone facing the level of abuse that we’re used to receiving on a daily basis.
‘Racist’, ‘fascist’, ‘far right’, ‘intolerant’, ‘violent’ – it doesn’t matter how often we disprove these accusations, it doesn’t stop lazy journalists, spineless politicians or malicious extremists from repeating them.
Unfortunately, it seems that decent working class people are an easy target. The eagerness of some in the media to paint a group of patriotic people as some kind of extremists (when they’d never make such an offensive and blatantly untrue generalisations about more ‘sensitive’ groups of people) illustrates the application of a double standard reflective of what we’ve regularly referred to as a growing two tier system.
In perhaps the most famous demonstration of how little politicians want to discuss the actual issues affecting ordinary peoples’ lives, David Cameron resorted to name-calling when asked to comment on the role that the EDL were having helping to safeguard communities during the recent rioting.
How exactly do our views differ from those of the Prime Minister? No one could be any the wiser from that sorry episode.
If David Cameron really believed that we were wrong about the threat posed by Islamic extremism, and about the failings of the government’s current strategies for defeating it, then he would have explained how we’d got it wrong. If he really believed that our concerns were not legitimate, or that there was a better way for people to voice their frustrations, then surely he would have explained. He wouldn’t have simply panicked and gone on the offensive.
Luckily there are a few members of the middle and establishment classes who believe that the EDL at least deserve a fair hearing. One of these is the British writer and former director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, Douglas Murray.
The following video is an extract from a talk given in Copenhagen in November 2011. An audience member has described the favourable impression that she got of the EDL following Tommy Robinson’s appearance on Danish television. Her question is, quite simply, whether she should support the EDL:
Douglas Murray makes it clear that he is not an EDL supporter. But why should he be? He’s a middle class intellectual who has no problem getting his voice heard. He’s regularly invited onto BBC news programmes where he has the opportunity to explain and defend his views, and he doesn’t live in one of the working class communities most affected by Islamic extremism.
And yet, unlike many in the political establishment, he is willing to ask an important question: when legitimate concerns about Islamic extremism are continually ignored, and when working class communities find themselves demonised and insulted, what do we expect people to do?
As Tommy has said many times, whatever you may happen to think of the EDL, we are a symptom and not a cause. We are symptom of Islamic extremism and, perhaps more importantly, of the government’s failure to deal with it effectively. But the EDL would also never have attracted so much support if it were not for the steady erosion of essential freedoms, democratic accountability and trust in politicians.
As Douglas Murray says, "this is what happens when the mainstream… abandons its job.” When politicians don’t do anything to address important issues, "decent ordinary people” can find themselves caught between Islamic fascists and other fascists. By "other fascists” he may be referring to any number of people – from those who use Islamic extremism as an excuse to push their own authoritarian agendas, to those who impose draconian restrictions on those who protest against Islamic extremism.
What’s clear is that he identifies "decent ordinary people” with the EDL. Whilst he’s cautious of the need to ensure that the EDL is not hijacked by undesirable elements (so are we!), he recognises that most EDL supporters simply care about their communities and their countries. He recalls an attempt by EDL members to speak to him during the early days of our organisation. Knowing little about the EDL, and being cautious about the associations that he, as a public figure, should be making, he declined to speak to the group. But he calls "pretty wrenching” the plea by one EDL supporter that day:
"We’re just British working class guys who hate the fact that we’re losing our country.”
We think that sums things up brilliantly. David Cameron, and whoever else has called us names in the last few years, may well think that we’re wrong about Islamic extremism, or that we’ve taken the wrong approach. But if that’s the case, why can’t they acknowledge that, at the very least, we have positive motivations?
Perhaps that would be to admit their own failings.
It’s a pity there aren’t more public figures like Douglas Murray: people who are willing to give us a chance, to give us the benefit of the doubt, and to treat us fairly. But perhaps, having been right about Islamic extremism, it’s much easier for him to avoid falling foul of the tendency common to all those who begin to realise that they’re losing the argument: shouting ‘racist’.
Thank you for being right Mr Murray.
Video: Should I Support the English Defence League?
English Defence League 23 January 2012
‘Racist’, ‘fascist’, ‘far right’, ‘intolerant’, ‘violent’ – it doesn’t matter how often we disprove these accusations, it doesn’t stop lazy journalists, spineless politicians or malicious extremists from repeating them.
Unfortunately, it seems that decent working class people are an easy target. The eagerness of some in the media to paint a group of patriotic people as some kind of extremists (when they’d never make such an offensive and blatantly untrue generalisations about more ‘sensitive’ groups of people) illustrates the application of a double standard reflective of what we’ve regularly referred to as a growing two tier system.
In perhaps the most famous demonstration of how little politicians want to discuss the actual issues affecting ordinary peoples’ lives, David Cameron resorted to name-calling when asked to comment on the role that the EDL were having helping to safeguard communities during the recent rioting.
How exactly do our views differ from those of the Prime Minister? No one could be any the wiser from that sorry episode.
If David Cameron really believed that we were wrong about the threat posed by Islamic extremism, and about the failings of the government’s current strategies for defeating it, then he would have explained how we’d got it wrong. If he really believed that our concerns were not legitimate, or that there was a better way for people to voice their frustrations, then surely he would have explained. He wouldn’t have simply panicked and gone on the offensive.
Luckily there are a few members of the middle and establishment classes who believe that the EDL at least deserve a fair hearing. One of these is the British writer and former director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, Douglas Murray.
The following video is an extract from a talk given in Copenhagen in November 2011. An audience member has described the favourable impression that she got of the EDL following Tommy Robinson’s appearance on Danish television. Her question is, quite simply, whether she should support the EDL:
Douglas Murray makes it clear that he is not an EDL supporter. But why should he be? He’s a middle class intellectual who has no problem getting his voice heard. He’s regularly invited onto BBC news programmes where he has the opportunity to explain and defend his views, and he doesn’t live in one of the working class communities most affected by Islamic extremism.
And yet, unlike many in the political establishment, he is willing to ask an important question: when legitimate concerns about Islamic extremism are continually ignored, and when working class communities find themselves demonised and insulted, what do we expect people to do?
As Tommy has said many times, whatever you may happen to think of the EDL, we are a symptom and not a cause. We are symptom of Islamic extremism and, perhaps more importantly, of the government’s failure to deal with it effectively. But the EDL would also never have attracted so much support if it were not for the steady erosion of essential freedoms, democratic accountability and trust in politicians.
As Douglas Murray says, "this is what happens when the mainstream… abandons its job.” When politicians don’t do anything to address important issues, "decent ordinary people” can find themselves caught between Islamic fascists and other fascists. By "other fascists” he may be referring to any number of people – from those who use Islamic extremism as an excuse to push their own authoritarian agendas, to those who impose draconian restrictions on those who protest against Islamic extremism.
What’s clear is that he identifies "decent ordinary people” with the EDL. Whilst he’s cautious of the need to ensure that the EDL is not hijacked by undesirable elements (so are we!), he recognises that most EDL supporters simply care about their communities and their countries. He recalls an attempt by EDL members to speak to him during the early days of our organisation. Knowing little about the EDL, and being cautious about the associations that he, as a public figure, should be making, he declined to speak to the group. But he calls "pretty wrenching” the plea by one EDL supporter that day:
"We’re just British working class guys who hate the fact that we’re losing our country.”
We think that sums things up brilliantly. David Cameron, and whoever else has called us names in the last few years, may well think that we’re wrong about Islamic extremism, or that we’ve taken the wrong approach. But if that’s the case, why can’t they acknowledge that, at the very least, we have positive motivations?
Perhaps that would be to admit their own failings.
It’s a pity there aren’t more public figures like Douglas Murray: people who are willing to give us a chance, to give us the benefit of the doubt, and to treat us fairly. But perhaps, having been right about Islamic extremism, it’s much easier for him to avoid falling foul of the tendency common to all those who begin to realise that they’re losing the argument: shouting ‘racist’.
Thank you for being right Mr Murray.
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