It is not a contradiction that the same people who would confront one of your demos also want to talk to you - I fall into that category.

I would want to talk with the average EDL member because I want to understand why you think muslim extremism is such a big threat, as the last (and only) muslim terrorist attack happened nearly 5 years ago. In the last 15 years, there has been far far more bomb plots/terrorist attacks by white racist groups such as combat 18 than there has been by Muslim extremists - why not start focusing more on them?
I also find it really odd that while the government is putting pay freezes, redundencies and price hikes on working class people of all colours, your focus is still muslim extremism - seems like there's much more to be angry about at this point. In many ways, i'm proud to be from Britain - we've got some great countryside, some top people of all colours and a great footie team (oh, wait.....). But, I also see too much patriotism as something that stops us from getting together and dealing with the real issues in society. I have more in common with an average person from Pakistan, France or anywhere else than I do with the rich English bastard that forces me to work long hours for shit pay. Sometimes the flag can act as a blindfold preventing us from seeing that many of the people whon are really fucking us over (policticians, bosses etc) are rich people from our country. It is in their interests to divide the working class along the grounds of race and nationality.
For these reasons, and more, I'm interested in talking to people in the EDL


HOWEVER

A quick look on nazi talk forums such as stormfront shows that much as many EDL people don't consider themselves racist, there are a significant number of known violent nazis regularly attending your demos. Racial violence has occured at several of your demos, with many asian people recieving beatings (infact, an undercover journo recently quoted one of your organisers as saying 'we're gonna twat some pakis today, I can feel it' before a demo). A recent documentary 'young, angry and white' also showed regular racist behaviour from almost every EDL person interviewed, including a mob making monkey noises at some black UAF lads. Even if many in EDL arn't racist - it still attracts loads of racists, and you need to be more proactive in getting rid of them before anyone will believe ur not racist. It is because of these racists that I feel that it is necassary to confront the EDL wherever it marches. Chants like 'allah, allah, who the fuck is allah' and 'no more mosques' are offensive towards the average muslim, not just the extremists. If you are against all muslims (and for the record, I think Islam, along with most religions is a shit idea, and can be damaging) then come out and say so. If you are only against the extremists, then lay off the avereg muslim, and knock off the chants that are offensive to even modreate muslims.

This country is going to shit, and it's not the muslims fucking it up (although I think radical muslims/christians/jews etc are all dickheads). Its the greedy bastards at the top. Imagine what the EDL could achieve if it stuck up for the average British person and fought against unemployment, pay freezes, redundencies, cost of living hikes, bailiffs etc etc etc instead of just focusing on one issue that, while serious, is pretty small on the scale of problems facing the British working class.

Any responses to this, especially from EDL members would be great.

since 9/11 there have been over 15000 deadly islamic terrorist attacks hardly an advert for a religeon of peace and having attended most EDL protests i will agree some racists do attend they are not welcome or wanted and were given a slap in london which has been well documented seems were better antifascist than antifahaha

Most of those terrorist attacks were in the middle east, where the political context is very different than here. Don't get me wrong, I think the Taliban etc are dickheads, as are all religious extremists, but there not a big threat to us. I saw u gave c18 a kickin in London, made me chuckle! I made several points in my comment above about chants that r offensive to all Muslims and some stuff about other serious threats facing the English working class in the form of greedy bosses and politicians, job cuts etc etc, and that compare to them,Islamic extremism is a fairly minor threat to the British working class. Wot are your thoughts about those points?

Road Hog - You are preaching to the converted, I think all religion is stupid, and In many ways I find Islam one of the nastier religions. I was part of a group of anarchists that put out a press release calling on the left to protest AGAINST Islam4UK if they came to Wooton Bassett.
Where we differ is how much of a threat people think radical Islam is. Now, there are some pretty whacky, fire and brimstone, kill the non-believers, spread the word at all costs, non-believers should be flooded/smited/plagued, kill gays, cheaters etc etc stuff in the bible, but that is not adhered to by the majority of christians, as the more crazy stuff in the Koran isn't adhered to by many muslims. Once again, I'm not standing up for thuis lot, but they are not representative of the larger Islamic community, plus, only 2ish % of the UK population are muslim, so any attempts to try an Islamic takeover here would be swiftly and easily combatted by the majority (including me). I just don't buy into this fantasy that the muslim hordes are champing at the bit to destroy the UK way of life - most of them aren't.

What I really want is a decent answer to the comments included in my original post -

1. Why do hundreds of EDL supporters chant things such as 'allah, allah, who the fuck is allah' and 'no more mosques' - which are clearly offensive to all Muslims? If, as you hinted at in your above post, you DO think all muslims are radical extremists, and you are oppossed to Islam as a whole, than at least come out and say so, so we know where you stand. I find it difficult to believe the 'we're just against the extremists' line when much EDL activity focuses on opposing new mosques and muslim tradition/people wholesale.

2. I really want a decent answer about why, as a mainly working class movement, you aren't putting any effort into fighting some of the things that are screwing the English working class other than muslim extremism such as unemployment, pay cuts, job losses, greedy bosses and a recession that was caused by the rich, yet the rest of us are paying for. This recession/cuts is literally destroying the lives of thousands of averge English people - it just seems like a slightly more urgent battle to fight than the muslim extremist stuff.

Any comments?

Why have some posts been removed from this article? I know that Road Hog has expressed threatening sentiments elsewhere, and percys post was pointless toss, but (except percy) we were in the middle of a civil discussion - I feel that by censoring a loads of comments, you have just stopped a discussion that could have been quite productive, and was certainly at least amicable.


Reasons?

P.s - i'm not one of the people who enjoys attacking IMC mods - you guys do a great job - i'm just after some answers