...there will be more than the 4 (yes four) that tried to intercept the rally at green park, funny to see the wimpering teenage halfwit pinned to the fence by the FIT and then send packing, the arrogant swagger was a bit fast and looked more like a scamper for safety, funny also, how the rest of the "league" hid behind the bushes and ran away when the FIT showed up...brave,mighty brave.

so that was about 40 max anti march vs 5 FIT......fail,pure fail.

Yes I was there, bar a few teenagers (and one freak in a white baseball cap) who got a bit silly, it went well, very dignified and powerfull. Not many Palistinians mainly Iranians, and the only real opposition were the anti Iranians.

Do these "authentic Rabbi's" include the chap who implied that the victims of the holocaust may have "deserved it"?

Quality group of progressive thinkers then?

From their forum:

"we had an almost non-existant turn out on sunday from the EDL, many of us were left with our dicks swinging in the breeze. Thanks to everybody who couldn't be bothered to get out their pits and shout for the cause. i'm begining to think this is just an armchair warrior organisation. If you can't be bothered to turn out to help us, go and join Granny Murrys kniting forum. With so few of us on sunday it was dangerous. Once again, Thanks."

Al Quds is not considered a simply 'march for Palestine'. Many of the people on it may see it as that pure and simple, but it is a far darker beast than a demo called by STW or Palestine Solidarity Campaign (disgracefully STW endorsed the Al Quds march, but not very loudly).

Al Quds day is an event called by Iran and in support of the Iranian Islamic dictatorship. In this sense the EDL had got their target right for once - many of the marchers are political islamists and probably do want an islamic world. Its pretty sad to see Hamas and Hezbollah flags being waved randomly too - its maybe slightly more understandable when they are at war with Israel like the invasion of Lebanon in 2006, but abstract support for Hamas or Hezbollah, fuck... Let's hope you really don't mean that.

The group to oppose on the day however is the EDL - an obviously racist group hiding behind fears about Islam to create racial disturbances. It was basically impossible to oppose them on the day though, the met and FIT Team having things fully stitched up this time - unlike the total chaos in Brum.

It is also worth noting that though political Islam is doing better than it ever has done in the UK, it is not a serious worry; evidence suggests that the vast majority of Muslims coming to the country get less zealous by generation. The tiny groups of extremists who are either jihadi loonspuds or caliphate enthusiasts are not the tip of an iceberg of Islamic intolerance.

Al Quds is not considered a simply 'march for Palestine'. Many of the people on it may see it as that pure and simple, but it is a far darker beast than a demo called by STW or Palestine Solidarity Campaign (disgracefully STW endorsed the Al Quds march, but not very loudly).

Al Quds day is an event called by Iran and in support of the Iranian Islamic dictatorship. In this sense the EDL had got their target right for once - many of the marchers are political islamists and probably do want an islamic world. Its pretty sad to see Hamas and Hezbollah flags being waved randomly too - its maybe slightly more understandable when they are at war with Israel like the invasion of Lebanon in 2006, but abstract support for Hamas or Hezbollah, fuck... Let's hope you really don't mean that.

The group to oppose on the day however is the EDL - an obviously racist group hiding behind fears about Islam to create racial disturbances. It was basically impossible to oppose them on the day though, the met and FIT Team having things fully stitched up this time - unlike the total chaos in Brum.

It is also worth noting that though political Islam is doing better than it ever has done in the UK, it is not a serious worry; evidence suggests that the vast majority of Muslims coming to the country get less zealous by generation. The tiny groups of extremists who are either jihadi loonspuds or caliphate enthusiasts are not the tip of an iceberg of Islamic intolerance.

Bruisedshins: 'Do these "authentic Rabbi's" include the chap who implied that the victims of the holocaust may have "deserved it"? '

They are called Neturei Karta and they believe "...that the exile of the Jews can only end with the arrival of the Messiah, and that human attempts to establish Jewish sovereignty over the Land of Israel are sinful."

The incident you refer to is mentioned on the Wikipedia page and also in a Times article:

Ahron Cohen, an Orthodox Jew from Greater Manchester and a leading member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement said:

“However, our approach is that when one suffers, the one who perpetrates the suffering is obviously guilty but he will never succeed if the victim did not deserve it in one way or another.

“We have to look within to improve and try to better ourselves and remove those characteristics or actions that may have been the cause of the success of the Holocaust.”

Indymedia needs a "preview" function like most other sites. My post had several links in that seem to have been stripped out when it finally appeared. Here they are, if I remember rightly:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neturei_Karta

 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article756142.ece

Is there no way to link from words in an Indymedia post other than by posting the raw URL?

to Chanandalah Bong :

Just because the demo is organized by Muslims it doesn't make it 'dark' or suspicious. It IS in support of Palestine - just see the videos of the speeches from last years rally, they are all on Palestine and two of the six speakers are Jews!

 http://www.inminds.co.uk/qudsday2008.php

Yes its origins are Muslim and Iranian, so what? It started 30 years ago, is it a bad thing that Khomeini created Quds day to support the Palestinians, that muslims marched for Palestine in London at a time when the anti-war movement didn't give a toss for Palestinians?

And yes they show support for Hizbollah and Hamas. Both of them clearly command huge grassroots working class support in their own communities, its not for us to choose the liberation organisation of those living under occupation and oppression. Our role as citizens of a democracy that openly supports their oppression is to show solidarity with those under occupation, not to tell them how to resist.

Just like political Christianity, which ranges from anti-imperialist liberation theology to imperialist christian zionism, political Islam cannot be generalized. Such a myopic outlook leads to xenobophia and islamophobia.