The Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) and English Defence League (EDL) are really 2 sides of the same idiot. Last week saw the MAC protesting in Trafalgar Square during the 2 minutes silence. It also saw the EDL in small numbers ‘protesting peacefully’ against them. But despite their apparent differences they often serve the same purpose in inflaming anti-Islamic sentiment and allowing the state to monitor extremists.

The MAC acted disgracefully and disrespectfully with their publicity seeking poppy burning stunt on Thursday. The EDL turned out about 40 members to confront them. The police separated them and saw that both the EDL and MAC got their publicity fix and achieved nothing. Sharia law was neither implemented nor stopped. Following the poppy burning incident the EDL and Casuals United have both reported increased interest in their websites and are claiming that they have gained many new members. However, signing up to Facebook and being an effective activist are completely different things: what matters is shoe leather on the cobbles not writing LOL next to some anti-Islamic web statement. The EDL demos have been getting smaller despite growing web traffic.

The EDL are politically naïve do not understand either the Muslim community nor the array of opposition against them. The EDL think that anyone who disagrees with them automatically supports extremists like MAC. They think that UAF, local Muslim community associations and antifascists are all the same which is clearly not true. The EDL stereotype all Muslims as extremists as is clear from their web forum: they completely fail to differentiate between publicity seeking characters like MAC, who are no threat really, and the vast majority of Muslims in this country who simply want to get on with their lives peacefully. The MAC do not represent the Muslim community in general and are more like the delusional incompetents portrayed in 4 Lions, full of their own self-importance and following either an agenda that is unrealistic or 1 that is a wee bit more suspicious.

Earlier this year, The Independent published an interesting, if speculative, article on the secret services coercion of vulnerable Muslims in prison. Candidates facing either prison sentences, citizenship difficulties or deportation were approached in order to gain information on radical Islamicists in the UK. It is not too difficult to see the advantages of this, i.e., join up with a dodgy outfit like Anjem Choudhary’s Islam4UK or MAC, monitor what is going on and provide information to the feds. Also the publicising of groups like the MAC helps the state justify the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and promotes the extremist image of Islam.

And the exact same can be said for the EDL. That there are hooligans and criminals at the helm of the EDL is obvious: their glorious leader ‘Tiny’ Tommy Robinson AKA the more poshly named Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is under pressure from the feds on several fronts, for his organisations violent conduct on the streets of Britain and also for more mundane matters. The last couple of weeks have seen Tommy nicked over fraud allegations as well as at the demo on Thursday - which is the 6th time this year. Rumours have been flying around the internet that Tommy is being pressured and compromised by the state. The EDL leadership is a volatile mix of extremists from the BNP, Combat 18 and other fascist groups as well as more unsavoury characters from the various football firms. Their hoodies emblazoned with their hometowns, enormous amounts of CCTV monitoring, stop and searches and general surveillance allows the police to know exactly who is doing what and when on the far right.

Tommy’s blatant publicity stunt on Thursday of jumping over a barrier into a large bunch of coppers to ‘take the flag’ of the MAC was a calculated move. It meant he could get his wee face on telly to impress his mates and elevate himself to martyr status. Few political activists in their right minds would do this as it means an obvious nicking, a night in jail and the time wasting and expense of the judicial process. Tommy has been nominally charged with assaulting a copper but whether the charges stand given the amount of evidence is dubious: he basically leapt into the coppers arms and was immediately surrounded and didn’t have time to do anything.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZFVc2uwMY
Some cruel wag suggested it gave Tommy a chance to speak with his MI5 handlers but ‘Malatesta’ finds that very hard to believe. Tommy also needed to save face after the embarrassment of having HIS flag snatched by Dutch Antifa the other week which has been widely publicised and can be seen here at about 9.50 in. The ‘No Surrender’ EDL then ran away.
 http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=11633256

What is just as interesting are the photos of other demonstrators. Over the last couple of weeks the Welsh Defence League ‘leader’ Jeff Marsh announced a name change to the Cymru Defence League due to the constant exposure of links with the Nazi Combat 18 outfit. C18 member Luke Pippen helped run the Casuals United website and organise things in Swansea with Marsh. This association is now over apparently but guess who turned up at the EDL demo on Thursday and was photographed wandering around with a loudhailer rallying the troops? Only the melon headed Luke Pippen of C18 whose chest sports large swastika tattoo. Oh dear.

Homophobes
The non-homophobic EDL have also been rocked by a rather unpleasant row over on their forum. A member of the LGBT division approached some blokes in EDL tops in a pub and started talking to them only for the situation to rapidly descended into violence and the guy received a beating. Read all about it!
 http://s1.zetaboards.com/EDL_The_Forum/topic/3922963/1/
This does not look good for the ‘gay friendly’ EDL and illustrates the kind of people the EDL attracts. It also shows that what the EDL say on their website and what goes on in reality are often mutually exclusive.

‘Malatesta’ NB: Copyright free. Pass it on to anyone who may find it useful. All the Malatesta Articles are available here:
 http://malatesta32.wordpress.com/2010/08/