By Jon Cruddas is the Labour MP for Dagenham and Rainham
A thousand English Defence League supporters protested in Leicester yesterday, the latest in a wave of anti-Muslim activity across the country.
Last week, 40 EDL followers protested for three days outside a KFC restaurant in Blackburn which was trialling halal meat. A fortnight before, 30 EDL followers in Gateshead held an impromptu demonstration outside a police station after six of their friends were arrested for burning the Qur'an; a similar number attacked a leftwing meeting in Newcastle. On the anniversary of 9/11, there were EDL actions in London, Nuneaton, Leeds and Oldham.
The EDL is a much bigger threat than the BNP, consumed by infighting and debt since its crushing defeat in May's local elections. It also poses the biggest danger to community cohesion in Britain today. Its provocative marches, "flash demos" and pickets are designed to whip up divisions between communities and provoke a violent reaction from young British Muslims.
The group has regional organisers and units emerging in most towns and cities. They bring together a dangerous cocktail of football hooligans, far-right activists and pub racists. Yet there is no national strategy to deal with this group and little understanding of what the EDL is about, its appeal and how it is just one component, albeit a violent one, of a growing cultural, religious and political battle that is emerging across western Europe and is supported by rightwing religious groups in the US.
For those taking to the streets of Leicester, the EDL is providing a new white nationalist identity through which they can understand an increasingly complex and alienating world. In a similar way to how football hooligans once coalesced around support for Ulster loyalism and hatred of the IRA, the followers of the EDL genuinely believe they are "defending" their Britain against the threat of Islam. What makes the EDL much more dangerous is how it reflects a wider political and cultural war. Across western Europe rightwing populist parties are achieving huge electoral success on the same anti-Islam platform. This is being mirrored by the emergence of the Tea Party movement in the US and a religious right that is pouring money into western Europe to fight secular liberalism, which they blame for allowing Islam in through the back door.
There is now increasing chatter among many on the right, including Alan Lake, who is giving guidance to the EDL, of the need to establish a UK version of the Tea Party, which could occupy the space between the Conservatives and the BNP. Only last month a £200-a-head event in London was addressed by some of the organisations backing the Tea Party.
The threat of the EDL and the wider cultural war must be taken seriously. That is why we will soon be establishing a broad-based group to formulate a response. The right has become very organised; it is time for those of us who believe in a decent progressive society to do the same.
The Guardian
