He is a reader of this blog (I’m told), so I don’t know if it was my last post on Lutfur’s declaration of love for the Islamic Forum of Europe that prompted today’s decision, but the EDL’s Tommy Robinson claims he’s had enough.
Thanks to a tip from the Quilliam Foundation, I broke the story on Twitter this morning then on the Express website a bit later. The full piece is here.
It includes some interesting comments from the Reverend Alan Green, the rector at St John on Bethnal Green and the chair of the Tower Hamlets Interfaith Forum.
Alan is one of the main organisers of the anti-EDL rallies in the borough. I asked him for his thoughts on Tommy Robinson’s decision and whether he (and the East London Mosque through the faith forum) would be prepared to meet him.
Here’s the extract from the Express piece:
The Reverend Alan Green chairs the Tower Hamlets Inter Faith Forum, which has been at the forefront of organising protests against the EDL’s marches in the borough.
Its members include the East London Mosque, which has been a main target in Robinson’s speeches.
Mr Green said today that while he welcomed Robinson’s decision he wanted to know more about “what is going on”.
He said: “On the face of it, it seems a real victory for places like Tower Hamlets for the way we have represented our diverse communities in the face of what amounted to extremism with a covering of respectability.
“If that extremism has now been stripped away, then that’s a really good victory for us.
“He now needs to show he is clearly separating himself from not only the violence of the extreme members of the EDL but also from the level of rhetoric that he himself has espoused.
“If he is learning that you can’t just accuse all Muslims of the extremism that he has accused them of, then that’s a real step forward.
“It’s not just bout physical violence, it’s about physical abuse as well.
Asked if he and the East London Mosque would meet Robinson as part of the Inter Faith Forum, he said: “There could be a time when we could do that, but I would want to see far more progress from him than just the statement today.
“As a Christian minister, I’m always happy to meet anyone but I would not want to fragment the unity we have here in Tower Hamlets, so we’d need to see further steps first.”
With some justification, Mayor Lutfur Rahman can rightly say he has helped defeat the EDL. He’s led well in this regard, especially from a political perspective.
Trial by Jeory 
Interesting move. The EDL started with good aims – to stand up against things like the extremist islamic protests in Luton, as has been discussed on here already. Tommy Robinson is no fool nor is he the racist bigot many will claim he is, and I wonder whether his resignation from the EDL is an attempt to divorce himself from the far-right reputation that the organisation seems to have gained.
If so then it is for the good; if the evils of the IFE, fundamentalist islam and that which Lutfur is doing can be bought under an untainted spotlight then more people may take notice of them. The evils of the IFE and all associated with it cannot be ended too soon, and this should be done by a means other than a rabble who bashes anyone who they don’t like the look of.
Also, am I the only one to see the vast intolerance in Revd. Green’s statement? Keen on unity, but not a unity that involves meeting leaders of groups who hold opposing views to his own. Imagine if Robinson had flatly refused to meet with the leaders of the IFE, claiming that they were ‘extremists who were covering themselves with a layer of respectability’ – he would have been pilloried! Revd. Green and Lucifer Rahman are welcome to each other as far as I am concerned.
Tim.
A civilisation is measured not by the rights it grants its majority but the privileges it allows its minorities. Muslim families are as entitled as any other religious group to schools that nurture their children’s faith. Muslim pupils should be educated in Muslim schools because the current system is marginalising them. Teaching Muslim children in a Muslim school would remove the “problem of them being exposed” to values that conflict with Islamic faith. Muslim pupils are disadvantaged and marginalised in the city’s state schools because the cultural heritage of the curriculum is “European and Christian”.
Muslim schools provide an education in accordance with the Muslim beliefs and values, such as providing single-sex schooling after puberty. They are thus a response to the danger of absorption into the dominant culture.
The number of Muslim children is on the increase in Bradford state and church schools. There are lot of schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be opted out as Muslim Academies for proper education. British history from early periods to present day should be taught in all schools. Islamic history from the early period to present day should be part and parcel of the National Curriculum. I think to be fair the Arabic and Persian contributions to the world in medicine, mathematics and other sciences plus their involvement in world affairs should be taught.
The demand for state funded Muslim schools is in accordance with the law of the land. Muslims are not asking for any favour. I set up the first Muslim school in London in 1981 and now there are 188 Muslim schools and only 12 are state funded. I would like to see each and every Muslim child in a state funded Muslim schools and I hope one day my dream would come true. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental period. There are few schools for Hindu and Sikh communities. Now even Black community is thinking of setting up their own state funded schools for their own children with black teachers.
You better teach your children in your own schools and let migrant communities teach their children according to their needs and demands.British Establishment and society should concentrate on the evils of their own society and stop trying to change the way of life of Muslims. Muslim community does not want to integrate with the British society, indulging in incivility, anti-social behaviour, drug and knife culture, binge drinking, teenage pregnancies and abortion.
A Muslim is a citizen of this tiny global village. He/she does not want to become notoriously monolingual Brit. He/she is well versed in standard English, Arabic, Urdu and other community languages so that they do not find themselves cut off from their cultural heritage and are able to enjoy the beauty of their literature and poetry.
IA
London School of Islamics Trust
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Ted, you’re really not doing this guy any favours – shouldn’t you be censoring his posts for his own good? It was distantly relevant drivel when he posted it on the Coppers-Speaking-English thread but completely irrelevant drivel when posted here ….
this is a truely awful post. This guy seems to think he is the voice of all Muslims everywhere. Lets not forget that Muslims are people and they think independantly. This rubbish where one man claims to know exactly what every Muslim wants is utter rubbish.
I also find it funny that he refers to the hedonistic british culture (which admittedly is often not good) but fails to recognise that this mono cultural approach where Muslims don’t mix with anyone else is completely anti-social!
Complete and utter nonsense.
It’s nothing more than spam and should be blocked. Iftikhar Ahmed posts exactly the same copied drivel on lots of forums
We can give this clown one thing tho’; he’s successfully derailed the conversation from Tommy Robinson and the EDL. Any chance we can get back on topic?
Tim.
“A civilisation is measured not by the rights it grants its majority but the privileges it allows its minorities.”
Then by your own criteria, Islam fails lamentably as a civilisation.
“Muslim community does not want to integrate with the British society, indulging in incivility, anti-social behaviour, drug and knife culture, binge drinking, teenage pregnancies and abortion.”
We don’t need to be lectured on ‘incivility’ by someone who writes such disgusting racist trash about non-Muslims. Or about teenage pregnancies and abortions from a self-styled representative of the very community that leads the entire nation in running racist paedophile rape rings, you animal.
I completely disagree with everything you have stated here. I’m a school governor and believe best way to engage in education is to offer help and support to existing schools. Your comment about no place for non Muslim child or teacher in a Muslim school is contrary to everything Islam stands for. You have made a shameful arrogant statement for which you should apologise unreservedly. May Allah save the children who have attended your school. Your views are exactly the reasons why we shouldn’t have segregated schools. Your views are racist! If this is what you are teaching your children then I fear for those young kids.
The silent majority of Muslim parents would like to send their children to state funded Muslim schools. They are not extremists who want to change of ethos of those schools where Muslim children are in majority. It is the democratic right of every Muslim parent to see that their children receive balanced education, so that when their children grow up, they do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots and linguistic skills. It is a question of common sense, humanity and reason that bilingual Muslim children must be educated in state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. The whole world believes that people who speak more than one language is a vital economic asset. Pupils who speak more than one language do not cause difficulties. It is the politicians and monolingual teachers who are the problems for bilingual pupils. Muslim school will help to cultivate the child into a healthy, fully flourishing individual with a passion for learning. There are hundreds of state and church schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be opted out as Muslim Academies.
Masajid, Imams, Muslim schools and Madrassas are not teaching hatred against no-Muslims. They teach Muslim children that homosexuality is a sin. This does not mean that they are teaching hatred.
The spirit of Crusade is still alive in the west. There is no difference between Hindu mentality and English mentality. There are Islamophobic and anti-Muslim marches – or riots – and anti-mosque petitions and protests. In December, UKIP, which had recently elected a new leader, called for an outright ban on the burka and the Niqab. Earlier that month, a group called Stop the Islamification of Europe unfurled banners outside Harrow Mosque. In the same month, some 500 English Defence League members marched through Nottingham, some chanting “Allah, Allah, who the f**k is Allah?” On the eve of September 11, violence erupted after an English Defence League and Stop the Islamification of Europe protest near Harrow mosque. A few days earlier, gangs of youths hurled bottles at each other during an English Defence League rally in Birmingham. There’s a difference between Islamophobia and the hatred of Muslims – although the two are indisputably linked. The target of the first is a religion. The target of the second is people. There’s a crucial distinction between the two – one vital if the free society’s to be preserved. If a person hates a religious faith, the law should be drawn very widely, if at all. If he hates religious people, it must be framed more tightly. For some Islamist organisations, Islamophobia is less a testing problem than a rhetorical device to delegitimise criticism – a shield behind which to advance on Ministerial patronage, taxpayers’ money, and legal concessions. Let’s be clear. When David Cameron said that the Cordoba Foundation shouldn’t get taxpayers’ money, he wasn’t being Islamophobic. Nor was Michael Gove when he argued that Hizb-ut-Tahrir shouldn’t control schools. Nor was Pauline Neville-Jones when she called for Ministers to review Tablighi Jamaat’s plans for a mega-mosque in East London. Exposure of such Islamist groups as the Islamic Forum of Europe – often voiced by mainstream Muslims themselves, who are Islamism’s main targets – is legitimate and necessary. Islamophobia/anti-Muslim hatred is too important a problem to be left for extreme groups to manipulate for their own ends.I believe the Government have contributed to the ‘blame’ culture with regard to Muslims. They have overreacted with Terrorist laws and many arrests have been made under these laws of Muslims who have subsequently been released without charge. Muslims in this country have been a force for good, strong families and a hard work ethic. Actually, just as a point of fact, Jewish family law and Jewish ‘courts’ are an established part of British law, and have been for quite some time. No one should hate anyone especially on the flimsy pretext of there religion, sexuality, race etc. When you hate you harm yourself far more than you could ever harm the person you hate. Hatred doesn’t achieve anything positive. One of the problems we face is that some followers of radical Islam, have embraced hatred and justified it in the name of God. Fighting Fire with Fire will not work, as we have seen it simply feeds the flames. We have made glaring errors since 9-11, which has increased the danger that we all face. In many respects it has been our politicians that have increased the tensions between Islam and the Western World. As with all conflicts there comes a time when we must sue for peace, and enter into negotiations with the “enemy”. The West has never been at ease with Islam since the Crusades. It is unfortunate that huge oil supplies lie under the Arabian Deserts. It is the West that stirred the trouble that led to 9/11. That attack was a desperate act of by men prepared to lose their life. We need to get to grips on who is the terrorist? On 24 November 1963, Lyndon Johnson said, “the battle against communism… must be joined… with strength and determination. Some three million lives were lost in the consequential battles. The US had to pull out due to Public Opinion. Communism lived on. So who was the terrorist?
IA
London School of Islamics Trust
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.Uk
See previous posting: Iftikhar doesn’t run a school and never has. It’s all BS
I do not agree with your conclusion, Ted. I don’t think Rahman can claim any credit for helping “defeat the EDL” because (a) the EDL has not really been “defeated” as a group, their leaders have resigned, and (b) Rahman has probably done more than most to encourage the EDL which after all purports to be a reactionary movement against “Islamism” – and Lutfur has demonstrated recently in his overt support for the fascist IFE that he is, in fact, an Islamist, just as everyone suspected all along….
I hope we can have a mature debate about this.
It is difficult to defend Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s (SYL) record, but I think it is fair to highlight a few key pieces of information. The first being that the EDL was originally the ‘United People of Luton’ and it was formed after a despicable demonstration by Islamists against homecoming parade by British soldiers in Luton in 2009. This calculated and quite extreme provocation almost led to a riot as ordinary people watching that parade responded furiously to the grotesque insult by a group of Islamists saying the British soldiers – many who are from Luton – were going to “burn in hell” and were “baby killers”. Many people shared the people of Luton’s outrage – even The Guardian expressed its revulsion, which is quite something…
It is necessary to state that SYL has various criminal convictions relating to domestic violence and drugs which predate the formation of the EDL. They indicate a troubled character but are not unlike the sort of convictions many working class men pick up and I think for the sake of fairness they should be set aside when considering SYL’s political activities since 2009.
SYL’s first conviction after the EDL was established was in April 2011 when he headbutted a man named Alan McKee at an EDL rally. The reasons for this confrontation appear to lie in a “power struggle” between the EDL and several genuinely neo-Nazi groups such as the National Front, Combat 18, “the Infidels” and elements of the BNP who took great umbrage at SYL’s stance and his pronounced criticism of them and their beliefs. These groups sought to commandeer EDL rallies and undermine SYL’s leadership… and he responded in the way he knows how by identifying them at this rally in April 2011 and then got into a fight with them. So, in a way, SYL demonstrated here that he was (a) struggling to exclude the far-right, racist elements which he cites as his reasons for resigning today, and (b) his propensity to get into fights.
After this fracas SYL was bailed and his subsequent imprisonment and further convictions were mainly a consequence of his breaching of the bail conditions imposed on him as a result of that particular fight.
If SYL had said anything literally racist or pro-Nazi etc we would know about it. I can find no such quotation. SYL is on record for repeatedly and, to be fair, consistently claiming that he is not racist and that his “beef” has been with Islamism – an extremist political form of Islam – and not with Muslims in general. I am prepared to take his word and believe his assertions that he is not a racist.
SYL claims he is resigning because he has failed to exclude far-right and racist elements from the EDL. Undeniably, EDL rallies have attracted these elements. For a group without a formal membership system it was a tall order to attempt to exclude them and attempts to do this in an ‘ad hoc’ way must have become impossible, particularly because the violence provoked by the UAF etc dissuaded anyone other than lads looking for a fight and sworn racists from attending. I also suspect more personal reasons like the strain put on his family caused by repeated death threats (from extreme left-wing and Islamist groups akin to those praised by LBTH councillors) and the prospect of him returning to prison have been greater factors in his decision to quit. I very much doubt he got up one morning and thought, “aw shucks Lutfur Rahman is so immeasurably powerful and charismatic, I cannot go on like this.”
I think without the leadership of SYL the EDL will be quickly ‘annexed’ by the NF and/or the BNP.
I would be extremely surprised if SYL now disappeared from the radar. I suspect he will continue to campaign vocally against Islamism and if he can reinvent himself as a reformed character he might be able to align himself with anti-Islamist groups like Quilliam. I think his willingness to work with Quilliam is evidence enough that he is not the “racist” he has often been made out to be by the far-left and their chums.
I have tried to be balanced and objective.
If targetting the whole islamic faith is not deemed bigoted in your world, he was a member of the BNP before forming the EDL http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/06/16/tommy-robinson-bnp-edl-andrew-neil_n_3449252.html
SYL has explained his brief membership of the BNP at length in several TV interviews. He says he was worried, joined up, soon found out what the BNP was about and then allowed his membership to expire without taking any active involvement. He said he regretted joining.
Given that the Islamic Faith is a religion, an ideology, targeting it for scrutiny is not “racism”. It is the same as someone saying they thought aspects of Christianity or the way Christian teachings are interpreted were negative. Surely you can be Islamosceptic, or is that not allowed?
Good comment
I don’t know if this is allowed, 2 statements from EDL.
Statement from Regional Organisers
A meeting was held last night with all Regional Organisers, unfortunately Tommy and Kevin failed to attend this skype conference call so the answers we were hoping to get from them did not materialise. It was agreed by all that a Committee is set up which will consist of all Regional Organisers with the National Organiser, Tim Ablitt, as Chairman.
The Committee will now run all EDL issues and a face to face meeting of the Regional Organisers will be held on the 26th October 2013 to finalise a strategy plan for the way forward.
The Regional Organisers and the Support Group would like to wish Tommy and Kevin all the best in their new move and to thank them for starting the EDL in 2009 and all the commitment that they have given to the EDL.
A further statement will be issued with more details once the meeting has been held.
The RO’s will be available to answer questions at Bradford or at any other time so please contact them.
No Surrender
We are grateful to Tommy and Kev for their hard work and dedication in helping to set up such a large and strong organisation as the EDL four years ago. We can easily appreciate the pressures and strain their leadership of the EDL has placed upon Tommy and Kev, not just personally, but also on their families and those dear to them. Not many people could have stood firm in the face of death threats, assaults, police intimidation and state interference. While we regret their decision to leave the EDL, we can understand their reasons and we respect them, as we hope everyone else will.
The EDL was founded for a reason. We had a cause in the beginning and we continue to stand by that cause now. We cannot at this moment say with any confidence what form the EDL will take in the future, but we can say with firm conviction that the EDL will continue to oppose militant and extreme Islam. We will further endeavour to apply our Code of Conduct and reject all Nazis, all extreme right wing organisations, and those who express racism either on our Internet forums, our Facebook pages or on the streets at our protests.
In these times of change, we are determined to fulfill our declared mission and carry on. Our next demonstration in Bradford will therefore go ahead as planned, with a number of guest speakers as well as the regular speakers and including ex-members of our armed forces. The EDL will continue its ideological struggle against Militant Islam and we collectively will not Surrender!
I did not put links because I thought it might be against the rules, one is from Facebook and one from the EDL forum.
How will LR’s multimillion pound PR machine spin this – perhaps “worrier LR tames the EDL serpent” and “employs him as a special adviser in his multi million pound office”
Allah can’t save anyone, because he does not exist.
The EDL has not been defeated by Rahman or anyone else. However, it was not long before Raham took to his blog to claim some kind of victory over the EDL. On 09/10 he wrote:
“I welcome the fact that the EDL have acknowledged the inevitable and are splitting up. Their extreme racist dogma is repellent and only last month, Tower Hamlets residents came together to successfully keep the EDL out of our borough. What is needed now is a call from both individuals for the EDL to be completely disbanded in its entirety and for people to be held account for the mayhem and violence that has traditionally followed in the wake of their marches. “
His words are at best a distortion of the reality. Robinson has relinquished only leadership of the EDL but not his views. The EDL has vowed to continue. It remains to be seen how this plays out.
for extreme racist views look no further than the ife and the East London mosque. Oh and for alot of homophobia as well.