The EDL Is Not Integrating

[Thought-provoking post]

The English Defence League (EDL) and other far-right groups love barking on about how people from minority backgrounds are not ‘integrating’, but what if we question the EDL for not integrating too?

Britain has a rich mixed society, and groups like the EDL are still a minority. The ideologies that many of these far-right groups have will not be widely accepted however, especially extreme ideologies that can be carried along with it.

1.  The EDL is creating divisions in society (even within itself)

First of all, the EDL fails to integrate because it is creating divisions, and splinter groups have already been made. Many of these groups fail to even get along. Examples would be that of the neo-Nazi sub-division who taped themselves burning an EDL flag, and the ongoing clash of words between both the Casuals United blog and the EDL.

2.  The EDL is failing to tackle issues by working with others

The EDL’s failure to tackle issues shows us why the EDL cannot integrate, because they are unwilling to work with others. The EDL march on the streets in packs, but nothing has actually been done to solve problems. It isn’t working. Rather, these protests have made things worse i.e. millions of pounds being taken from the economy to pay for costs and arrests being made etc.

As well as not tackling issues, the EDL is not even trying to reach out and talk to, for example, the Muslim community. Shouting “Allah is a p*edo” along with other hateful remarks at protests adds more salt to the wound. We have seen however (here), that members of the Muslim community have tried taking things on board and tried to solve problems i.e. educating people about grooming. So even members of the Muslim community are working with police and constables to solve issues. Telegraph & Argus, Huddersfield Daily Examiner and AsianImage have reported about this.

3.  The EDL is targeting minority communities

The EDL is first-in-line when it comes to condemning cases related to Asians, but what about when a white-skinned British person commits these acts? This blog has proved on several occasions (here, here and here) that the EDL remains silent upon the issue, because it only targets communities.

Of course, the EDL claims it even has a ‘Sikh’ Division (not many) and ‘Muslim’ members. But they are a minority and we regularly see one ‘Muslim’ member (Abdul) who surprisingly, volunteered to burn the Quran for the EDL leader at a protest.

4. The EDL does not listen to the majority of British people

The majority of people in this ethnically diverse community do not support the EDL (neither its political wing), and will never do so. Likewise, we have seen people from different faiths, beliefs, backgrounds, skin colours coming together at various anti-EDL protests, such as the community group ‘We Are Luton’.

A video taken shortly before the Tower Hamlets demo on the 3rd September 2011 even showed various people pleading to the EDL not to come for the safety of their community.

What did the EDL do? They turned up anyway. They didn’t listen.

In conclusion, the EDL is not integrating because it is fighting within itself, and fighting with others. It fails to tackle issues, get along with other people and help the country, because its agenda is a bias and Islamophobic one.