The EDL And How To Stop Them

Author: 
Asghar Bukhari

The EDL is no ordinary threat - it malice that far out ways even the BNP. This is echoed by the high profile and explosive tactic of marching into Muslim neighbourhoods. Their purpose is simple. To galvanise a vanguard against the Muslims amongst the average British working class population, and polarise the wider community against us.

By creating the conditions for constant clashes, the pot never stops boiling, the ensuing Media headlines do exactly what they were intended to do – divide.

The drums of confrontation have started, the wheels for their plans are in motion; each high profile stunt thrusts the community back into the spotlight, each stunt attempts to provoke a backlash. They are not alone, while they act as the visible front men, the right wing media slowly churn anti Muslim stories out to ensure the mood music for confrontation, giving unspoken justification for the EDL’s anger to the masses.

When events happen, they will happen thick and fast. The Muslim community having little or no leadership will as ever be totally unprepared.

The ‘practising Muslim’ community too, who should have been the strategic leadership and core membership of the defence of our community are pre-occupied with discussions on minor matters of faith, debating while Rome Burns, thus within the community there is no push for action, nor demand for preparation and planning. Thus a growing tide of hate and the organised machinery behind it go unchallenged and unchecked.

A further danger has been recent outreach carried out by the thugs of the EDL to other groups by trying to find causes they can attach themselves on to. An example of this was the organisation and participation in pro-Israel protests in the aftermath of Israeli actions on the aid flotilla in international waters. If the EDL manage to succeed with such tactics in forming a broader coalition, Brawn may be combined with brains posing a much greater and organised danger to the Muslim community.

If the plan is polarise the wider British public against the Muslim community what could we do to reverse this? Sadly the answers are always so simple, the fact they have not been acted upon showing the dearth of leadership in the face of such a dangerous threat.

In the short term, EDL hate marches could easily be neutralised. If mosques, ISOCS and the many Muslim groups that serve the community were smart and active they would have formed a committee of action against Islamaphobia in every small community. Jointly planning and coordinating the counter to increased hatred spread by the EDL and the right wing media.

When marches did turn up on their doorstep, along with reporters and TV cameras ready to film angry Muslim clashes, they would see a sea of banners and placards with slogans saying ‘Love not hate’ ensuring any televised coverage would show a peaceful community that was under siege.

Instead of waving alien black flags on camera, and shouting Arabic slogans like ‘Allah-ho-Akbar’ (God is Great) which mean nothing to the average English Joe, a well planned counter demo would ensure millions of television viewers would see the Muslim community as the peaceful victims of racist thugs.

This alone would not undo the organised machine building an Islamaphobic movement within the UK.

Only real strategic organised action can do this. Mosques need to create outreach programs, open days and ‘Question Time’ style shows in town halls for the locals to come and get answers, running in every town and city in the country. Road shows need to start, tens of thousands of DVD’s and pamphlets need to be printed, and distributed to every Muslim and non Muslim household in the country teaching them about us.

Hotlines need to be set up, with well publicised numbers so non Muslim can call as soon as they have a question about Muslims, if they read something that makes them worry in the newspaper, they should equally be able to have instant access to an answer from the Muslim community.

Something that they currently cannot get.

It is a sad indictment on the Muslim community, who now number nearly two million people in the UK, that our enemies teach the wider non Muslim community more about us than we teach them about ourselves.

Until the practising core of our community, start to see that the priority of a Muslim is not simply learning Islam, but defending the Ummah and apply all their energies, their time, and considerable financial muscle in doing so, the EDL and other groups will continue to threaten our very lives here. If we do not heed the signs, refuse to take action against this threat, content in living in ghettoes thinking it will all go away, we have only to look at Spain or Bosnia, the Muslims there made similar mistakes. They paid the price with their lives. It seems we in the UK have learned nothing from history.

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Comments

Mashallah, fab article, mate. I like the bit about the hotline in particular! If only we had that where I live then I think we would definitely see less depression and less misunderstanding. Hats off, bro! Wink

“Before death takes away what you are given, give away whatever there is to give.”

Mawlana Jalal ud Din Rumi

I thought it all seemed far fetched and strange and it demanded that "other people" do something.

I remember a BBC News article from not too ong about about a Muslim hotline... I wonder what happened to that?

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

They only have one heart! They're not Time Lords! Smile

“Before death takes away what you are given, give away whatever there is to give.”

Mawlana Jalal ud Din Rumi

The solution for defeating the EDL is already at hand but too many Muslims reject it.

I am talking about groups like British Muslims for Secular Democracy, who are taking a pro western stance which takes groups like the EDL by surprise - they don't know how to deal with it.

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Becoming what others want you to become is not the right way.

That group has serious issues and well, the first trustee listed on , most if not all Muslims would not consider to be Muslim. As for the second, he is a part of the anti hadith brigade where he rejects the hadith as a source of guidance.

In short, they are not the right way.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

You wrote:
Becoming what others want you to become is not the right way.

That group has serious issues and well, the first trustee listed on , most if not all Muslims would not consider to be Muslim. As for the second, he is a part of the anti hadith brigade where he rejects the hadith as a source of guidance.

In short, they are not the right way.

Would the burning of Danish embassies be the right way? The killing of Christian nuns? How about shouting from the streets "all who insult Islam shall be killed"? So far these have been the main ways that Muslims have shown anger to insults.

Interesting, is how when a group of Muslims embrace secular society (the society their parents fought and struggled to live in), fellow Muslims stand with arms folded dismissing them as questionable. So, instead the embrace of that apartheid system known as "multiculturalism" comes about, forcing Muslims to be labelled as Muslims and not as individuals.

Vocalist wrote:
Would the burning of Danish embassies be the right way? The killing of Christian nuns? How about shouting from the streets "all who insult Islam shall be killed"? So far these have been the main ways that Muslims have shown anger to insults.

Yes, ofcourse they are the only way, so we must do that: roll:

Muslims - the number one purchasers of pitchforks.

(For more serious people, "defending the deen" in issue 16 covers this topic with the views of three different people - two scholars and ome person from MPACUK)

Vocalist wrote:
Interesting, is how when a group of Muslims embrace secular society (the society their parents fought and struggled to live in), fellow Muslims stand with arms folded dismissing them as questionable. So, instead the embrace of that apartheid system known as "multiculturalism" comes about, forcing Muslims to be labelled as Muslims and not as individuals.

Interesting is how you only consider complete and totl capitulation as integrating...

There are plenty of well imtegrated Muslims in the UK. You failure to spot them is yours, not the Muslim community's.

Yes there are issues, but assimilation is not integration.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

You wrote:
Vocalist wrote:
Would the burning of Danish embassies be the right way? The killing of Christian nuns? How about shouting from the streets "all who insult Islam shall be killed"? So far these have been the main ways that Muslims have shown anger to insults.

Yes, ofcourse they are the only way, so we must do that: roll:

Muslims - the number one purchasers of pitchforks.

(For more serious people, "defending the deen" in issue 16 covers this topic with the views of three different people - two scholars and ome person from MPACUK)

Vocalist wrote:
Interesting, is how when a group of Muslims embrace secular society (the society their parents fought and struggled to live in), fellow Muslims stand with arms folded dismissing them as questionable. So, instead the embrace of that apartheid system known as "multiculturalism" comes about, forcing Muslims to be labelled as Muslims and not as individuals.

Interesting is how you only consider complete and totl capitulation as integrating...

There are plenty of well imtegrated Muslims in the UK. You failure to spot them is yours, not the Muslim community's.

Yes there are issues, but assimilation is not integration.

So assimilation is capitulation? fully integrating within society and removing borders is capitulation?

I also see you too enjoy a little sarcasm once in a while..

Why would you evem want assimilation?

Surely that would be the end of the curry! (and the pizza, and the baguette...)

People have different beliefs and values. Many Pakistani based immigrants did not come to the UK in order to benefit from the superior culture (many houses back in that time didn't even have baths!) but because the brits wanted to build a dam (for the pakistani gov) where they lived and as appeasment they were offered easy access into the UK to do the jobs tuat the locals did not want to do.

The reasons for migration were economic, not social.

We have integrated into society but others will always want more. We should do our own thing as you cannot always please others and there will always be some issue thrown forward to say why the integration is not good enough.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

You wrote:
Why would you evem want assimilation?

Surely that would be the end of the curry! (and the pizza, and the baguette...)

People have different beliefs and values. Many Pakistani based immigrants did not come to the UK in order to benefit from the superior culture (many houses back in that time didn't even have baths!) but because the brits wanted to build a dam (for the pakistani gov) where they lived and as appeasment they were offered easy access into the UK to do the jobs tuat the locals did not want to do.

The reasons for migration were economic, not social.

We have integrated into society but others will always want more. We should do our own thing as you cannot always please others and there will always be some issue thrown forward to say why the integration is not good enough.

No, no, no.. Assimulation is not giving up everything that you are, but adjusting your lifestyle to meet that of the local population. Like if I went to live in the Philippines I would take on a lifestyle similar to Filipinos etc.

And immigration HAS brought this country too many benefits to list, but yes the curry, pizza, kebab etc are amongst those. What I am talking about is assimilating into a common lifestyle, the law, society as a whole etc. One of the articles in this months magazine calls for the west to adapt their laws to limit free speech, so that the Islamic prophet cannot be lampooned.

This is unacceptable! Free speech has been a hard fought for battle that took lives, destroyed entire families but has so far proved worth it. Europe and North America have cultures that are based upon the very foundation of free speech.

So when I say assimilation, I am talking about shared values and one society. But right now we are seeing the formation of Muslim areas and the "white flight" from these areas. This is no good thing, this will eventually lead to destabilization and sectarianism.

Multiculturalism (apartheid) is a failing experiment!

Freedom of speech is not really existant here though - it is only around when convenient. just look at when some people wanted to protest at Wooten Basset.

Multiculturalism does not mean that areas and places need to have a single hegemony - however that is a common occurence because a community needs infrastructure and when there is a larger sized community, more infrastructure will be provided to it through the economics of scale.

Like halaal food - it would not be very economic for shops to focus on selling halaal food if the residents there are not interested in it but if there is a large enough community buying it, such shops could thrive. and this in the end will force communities to gather at specific points.

The problem is if such locations are then turned into no go zones for others - that is wrong.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

You wrote:
Freedom of speech is not really existant here though - it is only around when convenient. just look at when some people wanted to protest at Wooten Basset.

Multiculturalism does not mean that areas and places need to have a single hegemony - however that is a common occurence because a community needs infrastructure and when there is a larger sized community, more infrastructure will be provided to it through the economics of scale.

Like halaal food - it would not be very economic for shops to focus on selling halaal food if the residents there are not interested in it but if there is a large enough community buying it, such shops could thrive. and this in the end will force communities to gather at specific points.

The problem is if such locations are then turned into no go zones for others - that is wrong.

I have lived in Rusholme and have been told to f*** off home, this was now Pakistan! A few years ago during Eid I almost had a fight with several Muslim youths who had the pack mentality and adrenaline to boost them. To the point that come Eid, I am nowhere near Rusholme.. So the no go areas are already in development!

Yes, communities gather amongst their own. the Irish did this, so did the Pakistanis and Caribbean immigrants etc. But largely the areas that were Irish are now open to anyone or anything, second and third generation Irish do not consider themselves Irish, they are British. Likewise, despite the racism met to the Caribbean immigrants, they have largely dispersed out into other areas.

However, when I talk about Multiculturalism, I am talking about the policies in place to deal with it. We are treating people differently because of their ethnic background. This is apartheid!

I could hardly bring myself to read that Alan. Not because of the delusional content but the guy doesn't know the difference between way and weigh and it looks like the only literature he's ever read is a thesaurus....... "to galvanise a vanguard against the Muslims ....... and polarise the wider community against us".

Anyway, diving into his second paragraph I see he feels it's the right wing media who are to blame for people's hatred of Islam. He thinks people hate Islam because of the media and the EDL. Nothing to do with 7/7, 9/11 or their constant attempts to murder us all?!

He strikes the nail on the head when he mentions the EDL outreach efforts and that the key to EDL success is to combine the brawn with the brains. So, let's keep doing that Smile

Towards the end he really does show how delusional he is. I mean when have you ever seen a Muslim with a banner that's anything other that violent and hateful? "Love not Hate" banners in the hands of Muslims? Is this guy on E? When Muslim's demonstrate it is clear that hatred is the only thing they feel. Not love, pure hate. Your "average Joe" might not understand what "Allah-ho-Akbar" actually means but when they hear those hateful bunch of Nazi Muslim's chant it they know that it's not a message of love. Usually when Muslim's chant "Allah-ho-Akba" they're about to burn a flag or behead some innocent, defenceless non-Muslim!

I agree the word assimilation bears connotations of compromise, but that is not the thing. There are things we all like about this country and things we don't like. The EDL as much as the pro-Khilafa and anti-western campaigns are a threat to the good; to civility and tolerance and the possibility of continued peaceful coexistence. If you are opposed to those threats it makes sense to band together against all forms of extremism, and I think that is all that anyone could ask for, and if you don't the tolerant masses are scratching their heads about you. It is deeply unfair not to take a clear position.

  • It can never be satisfied, the mind, never. -- Wallace Stevens