Here the spotlight falls on some of the EDL's more openly fascist members:

"Pino" - Merseyside neo-nazi, real name Liam, a frequent poster on Stormfront under the name Pino 88 (88=HH= Heil Hitler) - he dropped the 88 on the EDL forum in an attempt to conceal his nazi affiliations. He's argued with other EDL members about race, against courting non-white members etc. An out-and-out white supremacist.

"White Rage" : This one describes himself as a “proud english nationalist”, despite living in Wales. He's fighting for race and nation, apparently...this seems to mostly involve running a nazi blog at  http://lonewolves88.blogspot.com/, which heavily promotes EDL along with general nazi shite, plus white-survivalist wank-fantasy stuff. The "88" in the blog's title is another giveaway, as is its link to the neo-nazi grouplet "British Freedom Fighters".

"Mike266" - The laughable "Wigan Mike", a figure of fun on the tiny ultra-right scene; recently arrested on terrorism charges (see :  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/12/443645.html) The EDL barred him from the forum after his terror arrest, as it's not the sort of publicity they like! He usually posts on the internet as NSMIKE266, dropping the "NS" (which indicates "National Socialist") on the EDL forum in another oh-so-clever attempt not to appear fascist.

"RobBUAfb" - A frequent EDL forum contributor; a representative of the British Ulster Alliance Flute Band, an ultra-loyalist sect in Northern Ireland, which has links with the Ulster Defence Association, the BNP and a number of other dubious far-right groups. Like to play the role of textbook fascists perfectly, dressing up in their lovely black paramilitary uniforms and marching (see the photo).


There are also a large number of forum members and contributors who are members or supporters of the BNP, despite the fact that the BNP claim to disown anyone who is involved in the EDL, and the EDL claim to be nothing to do with the BNP. Prominent BNP supporters on the EDL forum include “White Guy”, THE DOG”, “Lord Rose”, “Casual Stokie”, “bellevueace”, “Made in England”, “2 Fast”, “Cythraul”, “Proud English Londoner”, “Arrylad”, “Redsquirrel”, and “Stoke City FC”.

In fact, “Stoke City FC ” proudly claims “Ive marched through the main asian part of Stoke with the Stoke lads and chanted B BNP “ and “Most EDL supporters will vote BNP, and all the Stoke lads that will turn up on 23rd Jan will be BNP, if not all then defo 99%.” As we can assume that “Stoke City FC” has links with the Stoke football casuals and the N40 hooligans, it seems a fair bet that the Stoke football mob are strongly BNP-linked.

It's fair to point out that the EDL forum does also include people who state very clearly that they are not racist, and do not support the BNP; however, much of this seems to be about wanting to shut up about BNP sympathies for the sake of the EDL's image, rather than due to serious political differences (although like in any movement, those political differences certainly exist). It's also very clear that the volume of general anti-muslim ranting on the forum is, unsurprisingly, sky-high.

So, despite the EDL's continued PR offensive, it seems clear that their organisation is riddled with fascists, and the general mood “in the ranks” is much, much less palatable than the EDL propaganda guys would like us to believe. The people of Stoke-on-Trent will not be looking forward to the EDL invasion of their town next week.