For the last few months, I’ve been working on my new project – Rippla – and my blogging energy went into writing for Liberal Conspiracy or editing it (which takes up a lot of time too). Rumbold has a new job that makes it difficult for him to find the time too. Only Jai has had the time to blog properly.

We wanted to host a new conversation on race, religion and identity politics in general. We gave voices to people who felt a certain way, annoyed people, entertained them and pushed an agenda that slowly made its way into the national conversation. I made lots of mistakes, lots of friends and learnt about politics faster than any other way possible.

If you don’t have regrets then you didn’t make much impact. But more than the badly titled posts or the flame-wars or the arguments – I had lots of fun blogging and creating mischief.

But everything has to come to an end. We started September 2005 – racking up over 14,000 posts over six and a half years. We thank the bazillions of wonderful visitors and commentators (including the mad ones) for making this place interesting and occasionally informative.

You can catch me on Twitter or on Liberal Conspiracy. I’ll sign off with the photo I think best encapsulated Pickled Politics.

ALSO: I apologise to all the people who’s emails I didn’t reply to. There were too many

Rumbold adds: I would like to say thank you as well to everyone who made this such an enjoyable place. I made a lot of friends here, and had so many interesting debates.

It also exposed me to issues I would never have given much thought to. Things like far-right groups and ‘honour’-based violence aren’t going to stop just because we have (sadly), but I hope we at least raised awareness and understanding of the latter and maybe contributed to some positive changes, whilst giving the former a (metaphorical) black eye.

We won’t completely vanish however. Elton John is going to update ‘Candle in the Wind’ for us (“Goodbye Hounslow’s Rose”) and Sunny will be appearing in the next series of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.

Jai adds: I would like to add my heartfelt thanks to PP’s readers, the editorial team, and everyone who has made a positive contribution to the comments threads. We’ve jointly managed to do a lot of good work here, and your kind support, involvement and feedback has always been invaluable.

Many commenters and writers have passed through this website’s doors since 2005, and some long-term regulars are still with us. It’s fascinating how the articles and discussions have evolved over the years, especially in response to major real-world events. For my part, I’ve learnt a great deal as a result of my participation on Pickled Politics. It’s been quite a ride; we’ve had days of high drama, times of fierce debate, and moments of tremendous warmth and humour.

To those of you who don’t want the story to end: The logical decision would be to collectively relocate to Liberal Conspiracy.

Good luck for the future, everyone. It’s been an honour.

Pickled Politics would like to wish our readers a very Merry Christmas.

I think we’d all agree that 2011 turned out to be not only surprisingly eventful but also very unpredictable. A great deal has happened around the world during the past year, and it makes one wonder what is in store for the human race in 2012.

Regardless of whether you regard Jesus as the messianic son of God, a prophet, a saint, or simply a great man, his powerful message of peace and compassion, the need to oppose injustice and prejudice, and the importance of helping the poor, the vulnerable and the persecuted clearly still has great resonance as an inspiring example for mankind.

Some suitable music to mark the occasion:

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan singing “The Face of Love”, accompanied by Eddie Vedder of the American rock group Pearl Jam and Nusrat’s nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The song is from the Oscar-nominated film Dead Man Walking.

The simple Urdu/Hindi lyrics mean “What is living without love ? Since you have come into this world, love each other”.

Prince giving a live performance of “The Holy River”. This is actually one of Prince’s more overtly Christian songs (full lyrics here).

On a light-hearted note, you can watch an entertaining Christmas-themed sketch from the much-missed Goodness Gracious Me involving Sanjeev Bhaskar and Nina Wadia via Youtube here, in which Sanjeev reveals the “true origins” of Santa Claus.

Have a safe, peaceful and enjoyable Christmas, everyone.

So Christopher Hitchens is dead and we have to instantly *this second* decide what his legacy will be; because if we don’t the thread will be locked and imagine the utter horror if the other side got the last word! Those who held Hitchens in high regard have given their predictable eulogies on his importance but the dramallama appeared on twitter this afternoon when the World at One invited Tariq Ali to give his opinion on Hitchens life.

It’s fair to say his assessment of Hitchens wasn’t wholly sympathetic.

Cue twittermob. Bizarrely one of the most vocal was Richard Madeley who variously accused Ali of ‘patronising + attacking him (Hitchens) and hijacking the agenda’. I’m unsure what the agenda was exactly but Dick had a plan to counteract ‘the hijacking’ and it involved getting Caitlin Moran to not only call Ali an ‘ass hat’ (seemingly before she’d actually listened to the clip concerned) but to think about writing a column about it.

Oh Tariq. This is what happens when you spend decade upon decade merely ranting; the Dicks and Caits of the world eventually size you up to take you down. I bet you already miss Hitch.

Personally as someone who found both Hitchens and Ali to be wrong, thought provoking and interesting even though ninety per cent of the time they gave the impression of comparing penis sizes (‘no I’m right my argument and intellectualism is literally 4 inches bigger’): I don’t think Hitchens would have felt offended, attacked let alone patronised by those who hold true to their negative opinions of him in death as in life. Quite the opposite he almost certainly would have supported them against the veneer of agreement that we tend to apply once those we disagree with pass away.
This NY Times article about the death of Mother Teresa and criticism of ‘beloved figures’ when they die is especially pertinent now.

That kind of reticence was not shared by Christopher Hitchens, who quickly agreed to interviews in the aftermath of Mother Teresa’s death. He is the author of ”The Missionary Position,” which was first published in 1995 and is a critical examination of Mother Teresa that decried her association with Haiti’s Duvalier family and other dubious donors.
On his answering machine in Washington, Mr. Hitchens left a blunt statement about the famous nun. ”She believed we were all miserable sinners conceived in iniquity. She made no exception, I believe, for herself. She was a lifelong friend of the rich and powerful, a lifelong lecturer of morals to the poor. So the details may be found in my book, ‘The Missionary Position,’ available in paperback at fine bookstores everywhere.”
Following the nun’s death, Mr. Hitchens’s publisher, Verso, immediately ordered the printing of 5,000 more copies of the book, which until then had been fading away, according to Mr. Robinson.

He would have found those that advocate a false ‘niceness’ towards him simply because he has died to be the ones who were patronising. Those that don’t wish Tariq Ali to voice his opinions on Hitchens in the immediacy of his death simply have not read nor understood what Hitchens was all about.

A property tycoon and a City-based financier quizzed by police over his links to the gunman who slaughtered 69 people in Norway are exposed today as key figures behind the rise of the far-right English Defence League (EDL).

A Sunday Times investigation has revealed that Ann Marchini, a mother from Highgate, north London, and Alan Ayling, a former director of an investment fund, have sought to mould the thuggish anti-Muslim group into a credible political force. They are both linked to the murky world of the online “counter-jihad” movement from which Anders Behring Breivik drew ideological inspiration before committing his massacre in Norway in July. They have remained in the shadows until now by using aliases on the internet to mask their true identities.

…..Marchini, who is thought to be in her fifties, runs a buy-to-let property empire from her £1.6m mock-Tudor home in Highgate, a leafy suburb usually associated with liberals…..She is said to have helped organise a “pivotal” meeting between EDL figures and anti-jihad thinkers in July 2009 and recently attended a discussion where the EDL agreed to consider an electoral pact with the right-wing British Freedom party (BFP).

…..Ayling, 57, has been operating under the alias “Alan Lake”. He is an IT expert and was a director of Pacific Capital Investment Management until January this year. The fund was dissolved in August. Last month Ayling was interviewed by officers from Scotland Yard at the behest of Norwegian police who were investigating whether he was a possible “mentor” of Breivik. Paal-Fredrik Kraby, an Oslo police prosecutor, confirmed that “the man known as Alan Lake” had been questioned.

…..In an interview with a Norwegian newspaper nine days ago, Lake denied having any contact with Breivik. However, he admitted to having met a prolific anti-Islam blogger called “Fjordman”. “People ought to read him, he is good,” Lake said. Breivik named Fjordman 111 times in his manifesto.

Background information

1. Alan Ayling aka “Alan Lake”:

· A formal investigation by The Guardian during the summer confirmed that Ayling/Lake was the author of a “Final Solution” blueprint targeting the entire British Muslim population along with anyone perceived to be sympathetic towards them, including death threats against British PM David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and the Archbishop of Canterbury (screenshots here and here).

· Channel 4 News described Ayling as “the EDL’s chief financier” during their investigation of the EDL’s connections with Anders Breivik. Video footage is available of Ayling attending a meeting in London with senior EDL leaders including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”), in a video released on 20 March 2011.

· Ayling has been instrumental in facilitating the EDL’s alliances with Far-Right groups outside the UK. He has also worked closely with Yaxley-Lennon, and played a pivotal role in facilitating the EDL leadership’s links to the American anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller (who was cited multiple times in Breivik’s manifesto). Full details, along with an overview of Ayling’s background, affiliations and activities to further the EDL’s agenda can be read here.

2. British Freedom Party leader Paul Weston:

· Ann Marchini is a friend of Weston, and is believed to have played a major role in facilitating the formal alliance between the EDL and the BFP.

· The nature of the BFP as an extreme Far-Right party is particularly evident when you read the views of its leader. Weston’s article “The ethnic cleansing of the English” was published on his own website; you can also read Weston’s rambling diatribe in full here. The article is openly racist. The contents are also noticeable for repeatedly implying that anyone non-white is Muslim; considering that Weston’s writings explicitly demonise Muslims en masse, you can draw your own conclusions. You will also notice the article’s similarities to the EDL’s recent public statement finally admitting that their agenda is racially-motivated.

· Weston has also regularly written articles for the virulently anti-Muslim website “Gates of Vienna” (including cross-publishing the aforementioned article there). Weston himself appears to take no responsibility for the poisonous influence of such propaganda, despite the fact that this website was cited 86 times in Breivik’s manifesto. Instead, in an article promoted by the EDL on their main website, Weston bizarrely blamed Jeremy Paxman, the BBC and “the entire political/liberal left” for Breivik’s mass-murdering actions and any similar future atrocities. More details here.

3. Other developments:

· Two EDL members have been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to blow up a British mosque. Details are available via EDL News and BBC News.

· An EDL member was arrested on Monday after he repeatedly made online threats claiming that he’d planted a bomb in Birmingham’s main mosque.

· Another EDL member has been arrested after he made online bomb threats against a Hindu temple in the West Midlands.

One other point: whenever you dare to suggest a comparison between the United States of America and whatever country happens to be the New Hitlers of the moment, you get accused of moral relativism.

That has always struck me as so bizarre, because moral relativism actually refers to precisely what Orwell described: “Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side.”

As Rudy Giuliani said when asked if waterboarding is “torture”: “It depends on who does it.” That is moral relativism.

This sounds about right. People who use the ‘moral relativism’ argument to shield the USA and UK from criticism really annoy the hell out of me. Now it turns out they also misinterpret what Orwell said. How… Orwellian?

It has been recommended that Breivik should be indefinitely confined to a secure unit at a psychiatric hospital, potentially for the rest of his life, with reviews every three years to determine if he is still a danger to society. The public prosecutor in the ongoing terrorism investigation told a press conference that the psychiatrists evaluating Breivik’s mental state had “described a person who lives in his own delusional universe”. The report will be formally presented at Breivik’s next court appearance, on 16 April 2012.

As discussed on Pickled Politics here, the English Defence League recently issued a public statement on their official Facebook page finally admitting that their agenda is racially-motivated (it turns out that part of the EDL’s statement was practically identical to the statement made by Anders Breivik during his court appearance just two days previously), and the EDL have also announced a formal alliance with the Far-Right “British Freedom Party”.

It is worth noting that EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”) is on record as explicitly stating that he does not think Breivik is insane and that he actually shares some of Breivik’s opinions:

“We share some of his opinions, and his fear, but not what he did in Norway 22 July. I do not think he is insane. I think that his approach was insane. Breivik dared to come forward with his opinions, and was tough, in some regards. People need to understand that Breivik is not alone in these feelings.”

Readers can therefore draw their own conclusions about the implications of the EDL leadership claiming that they share the “opinions”, “fear” and “feelings” of an individual whom psychiatrists have now certified as psychotically insane.

Update:

· Two EDL members have now been sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting to blow up a British mosque. Full details via EDL News and BBC News.

· It turns out that British Freedom Party leader (and EDL ally) Paul Weston has regularly written articles for the virulently anti-Muslim website “Gates of Vienna”. The website was repeatedly cited in Anders Breivik’s manifesto. In fact, the rhetoric and terminology used by Weston in his articles is very similar indeed to Breivik’s statements in his manifesto. Weston himself appears to take no responsibility for the poisonous influence of such propaganda on people like Breivik; instead, in an article cross-published on the EDL’s main website, Weston has bizarrely blamed Jeremy Paxman, the BBC and “the entire political/liberal left” for Breivik’s mass-murdering actions and any similar future atrocities. More details here.

Jonathan Chait first makes a historical argument: that while liberals (lefties) in the US keep saying Obama sold out and didn’t do as much as promised, especially compared to earlier US Presidents, this is rubbish. In fact they complained just as much, if not more, in past decades.

Bill Clinton’s election, following a dozen years of Republican presidencies, ushered in buoyant hopes of renewal. But liberals experienced his presidency as immediate and almost continuous deflation and cynicism. Clinton did enjoy one major triumph in his first year, when he passed a budget bill that raised the top tax rate, expanded the earned-income tax credit, created a new national-service program for graduates, and reformed other parts of the budget. This was the progressive apogee of the Clinton administration. Liberals at the time viewed it as a sad half-measure.
…
Today, Carter is remembered as a president anchored in liberal values, a revision of history both conservatives and Carter himself are happy to leave uncorrected. But the truth is that Carter’s domestic agenda carried only small bits of liberalism, and those small bits (a consumer-protection agency, tax reform) met with total failure in the Democratic Congress. Carter’s policy accomplishments tilted right of center—he deregulated the airline and trucking industries and cut the capital-gains tax. Most infuriatingly to liberals, Carter refused to push for comprehensive health-care reform.
…
Kennedy’s reputation benefited from a halo of martyrdom, deepened by liberals’ rage against Johnson, which retroactively cast Kennedy as far more liberal than he actually was. In reality, Kennedy’s domestic agenda slogged painfully through a Congress controlled by a coalition of Republicans and conservative southern Democrats. He campaigned promising federal aid for education and health insurance for the elderly but didn’t get around to passing either one.
…
Franklin Roosevelt is hard to compare to anybody, because his achievements were so enormous, and his failures so large as well (court-packing, interning Japanese-Americans). But even his triumphs, gleaming monuments to liberalism when viewed from the historical distance, appear, at closer inspection, to be riddled with the same tribulations, reversals, compromises, dysfunctions, and failures as any other.

So why does this keep happening, again and again?

Why, for the most of the past 60 years, have been in “a near-constant emotional state of despair, punctuated only by brief moments of euphoria and occasional rage”?

And why does this not apply to Conservatives?

There is obviously the willingness to quickly forget the past. But it’s also because conservatives think differently, he says.

Conservatives, compared with liberals, have higher levels of respect for and obedience to authority and prefer order over chaos and continuity over change. They are more likely than liberals to agree with statements like “It is more important to be a team player than to express yourself.” (Interestingly, libertarians tend to resemble liberals on these measures, which may explain why libertarian politics also so frequently resemble a Life of Brian–esque farce.)

That sounds about right.

Jonathan Haidt, a psychology professor, defines the contrasting moral styles of right and left like so: Conservatives excel at competition between groups—your team, your nation, your tribe—while liberals care more about fairness within a group.

He also says this is partly why Tea Partiers were able to quickly suppress racist signs at their rallies, while Occupy protests have been unable to stop a small group of anti-semites from bringing them under attack.

In contrast, Obama has managed more than every other Democratic president in the past (except Roosevelt):
- “His single largest policy accomplishment, the Affordable Care Act, combines two sweeping goals—providing coverage to the uninsured and taming runaway medical-cost inflation—that Democrats have tried and failed to achieve for decades.”

- “The Recovery Act contained both short-term stimulative measures and increased public investment in infrastructure, green energy, and the like.”

- “The Dodd-Frank financial reform, while failing to end the financial industry as we know it, is certainly far from toothless, as measured by the almost fanatical determination of Wall Street and Republicans in Congress to roll it back.”

And don’t forget the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Marriage Act (which said it could only be be between a man and a woman). And there’s plenty more.

If Obama gets re-elected then all the above legislation he passed, especially healthcare, gets entrenched. Otherwise Republicans will repeal it – including the legislation on banks. Next year, that alone is worth fighting for.

A screenshot of the EDL’s statement is displayed below:

Here is the transcript:

In the last 66 years we as a nation, as a race have had our national identity stolen from us by politicians who have forced us to accept multiculturalism. They have and still are practicing cultural genocide on their own people, despite warnings that we will not accept it. They have forced us to accept the dilution of our heritage and history by the implementation of laws which will stop us from rising up, even if that’s just to voice an opinion.

Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving us of our integrity as distinct peoples, or of our cultural values or ethnic identities. Any form of population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of the rights of the native or indigenous people. Any form of assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on us by legislative, administrative or other measures is cultural genocide.

And unless we find our backbone and stand up to the ones who are committing crimes against the English people we shall continue to be subjected to slavery by a British elite aided by outside influences whose only intention is to destroy us from within and wipe us out as a race.

So much for the EDL’s previous claims that they are not racially-motivated and are opposed “only to extremist Muslims”.

The references to immigration and the alleged wiping out of the English “race” are, of course, particularly hypocritical when you bear in mind that EDL leader “Tommy Robinson” aka Stephen Yaxley-Lennon himself is actually the son of Irish immigrants.

The EDL’s statement also inadvertently confirms the findings of the recent academic report on the EDL by Dr Matthew Feldman and Dr Paul Jackson of Northampton University, particularly the following conclusions on page 56 of the report:

From the outset, among leaders and followers it is clear that the EDL has had sustained connections with the BNP and other extreme-right groups. Moreover, the EDL might profess itself a single issue, counter-jihadist movement, but its failure to adhere to this line leaves it looking like all previous racist extreme-right groups. This failure makes it even more difficult to ignore the neo-Nazi methods, antecedents and current connections of the EDL’s leaders and its followers…..The EDL engages in doublespeak that powerfully questions their claim to be a single-issue, non-racist movement.

More information and analysis of this development is available via EDL News and Hope Not Hate. It also turns out that part of the EDL’s public statement is practically identical to the statement made by the mass-murdering Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik during his court appearance just two days previously; more details via Exposing the EDL.

*With thanks to the New Statesman for promoting my article last Friday.

Update:

· The EDL have now formed an alliance with the Far-Right “British Freedom Party”. Some initial information here and a more detailed article here; the latter includes a direct URL link to the relevant section of BFP leader Paul Weston’s blog, where Weston has published a diatribe on what he refers to as “the ethnic cleansing of the English”. The Independent have just published a detailed article about the EDL’s alliance with the BFP, including the fact that EDL members will be able to stand in local elections as BFP candidates, along with the fact that EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon has been invited to join the BFP’s executive committee. Of course, Weston’s own twisted logic would mean that, as the son of Irish immigrants, Yaxley-Lennon himself is contributing to the so-called “ethnic cleansing of the English” that Weston is complaining about, although the irony appears to be lost on the BFP.

· The British Freedom Party’s Constitution is publicly available on their website. A great deal of it is very similar indeed to the policies of the British National Party (BNP). Furthermore, it is worth noting that the BFP’s desire to ban what they refer to as “outward signs of multiculturalism/religious & cultural separatism etc” will, by definition, target Sikhs, Hindus and Jews as well as Muslims (for example, it would mean that Sikh turbans, karas etc would be illegal). It is also worth reading the BFP’s policies targeting non-Christian places of worship, which (again by definition) would include Sikh gurdwaras, Hindu mandirs and Jewish synagogues as well as Islamic mosques. There are of course further ramifications for any British citizens living in England who are not of English ancestry (once again, ironically that would also include Yaxley-Lennon and his Irish parents) or indeed anyone whom the BFP & EDL regard as “insufficiently English”, with everything that implies.

The reasons for the arrests were the threats of violence which senior EDL figures had posted on the internet beforehand. Three EDL members who had been arrested were released specifically on police bail, with further inquiries pending.

The most incriminating message of all was posted by Michael Rafferty, a senior EDL leader from the group’s ‘Combined ex-Forces’ (CxF) division. As reported in The Independent, police have confirmed that Rafferty had claimed that the EDL had access to guns and would bring them to London on Remembrance Day.

Rafferty had also claimed that the EDL have snipers and other armed members, and were prepared to open fire against the police. A screenshot of Rafferty’s sinister Facebook message is displayed below, which includes Rafferty’s repeated threats of an armed war being started on the streets of Britain.

Michael Rafferty was subsequently stopped by police in London’s Whitehall area on Remembrance Day and searched for guns, although none were found on him. The EDL had also made direct threats against the Occupy LSX camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral, claiming that the protestors had ridiculed what the EDL referred to as “our religion”.

The Guardian have reported that the EDL posted Facebook messages threatening to burn down tents in the Occupy LSX camp if they were still outside St Paul’s on Remembrance Sunday; The Guardian have also confirmed that EDL members tried to enter the camp, with the most recent incident occurring on Thursday night.

Shortly after the arrests of EDL members on Remembrance Day, the EDL released a statement making the following threat against the Police and the British Government:

Of course, making threats is a repeated pattern of behaviour for senior EDL figures.

For example, EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”), an ex-BNP member who recently claimed that Islam is a “race”, is on record as recently accusing “every single Muslim” of collective guilt and publicly making a direct threat of EDL-led retribution against what he terms “the Islamic community” en masse. Similarly, The Guardian have confirmed that EDL financier & strategist Alan Lake was the author of a horrifying “Final Solution” blueprint targeting the entire British Muslim population and anyone perceived to be sympathetic towards them, including death threats against British Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Lake is currently being formally investigated by the Norwegian police to ascertain his ideological influence on the terrorist Anders Breivik.

As Jeromy Taylor points out:

RE Muslims Against Crusades. Since 2001, 31 people have been charged with proscription offences. 15 have been convicted.

The ban isn’t surprising. What is surprising is that they decided to cancel their protest tomorrow. After all, Anjem Choudhary and his motley crew are used to just turning up under a different name.

But it is also the case that they hate their publicity stunts being neutralised. The last time British Muslims for Secular Democracy openly called for a counter-protest, Anjem Choudhary and his lot decided not to turn up at the last minute. This time too, they’ve decided to call it off.

If you’re reading guys – don’t worry we’ll be there every time you try and hold one of your stunts.

On Friday 11th November 2011, at the 11th minute of the 11th hour, a growing number of individuals and organisations will be observing the nation’s silence at the Royal Albert Hall, to counter an incendiary protest by the group Muslims Against Crusades (formerly known as Al-Muhajiroun).

Led by the Alliance Against Extremism, an umbrella body for many of the organisations and individuals involved, banners will also be held to send a clear message to Muslims Against Crusades (MAC).

The vast majority of British Muslims – irrespective of their diverse views on particular armed conflicts – recognise that British soldiers continue to serve in difficult circumstances.

Julie Siddiqi of the Islamic Society of Britain said: “MAC’s choice of venue is deliberate and designed to cause maximum offence and distress, particularly to the friends and families of fallen servicemen.”

“In one sweep, they display an unspeakable disregard for the feelings and common bond of our countrymen and women; a contempt and rejection of our hard-earned democracy and its institutions; a disdain for the majority of British Muslims who do not share their views; and a violation of the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).”

‘Muslim Against Crusades’ is one of several (provocatively named) groups based in the UK that stem from the group Al-Muhajiroun, which was led by the Syrian Omar Bakri Mohammad.

His leading student Anjem Choudhury took over operations but remains under Bakri’s guidance. Both began their preaching in the rejectionist group Hizb-ut-Tahrir and left over differences in strategy to form Al-Muhajiroun.

The counter-protest is being led by Muslim activists and groups, but will include activists of all races, religions and backgrounds.

Although the English Defence League also plan to hold a protest at the time, this group is not related to them and rejects their extremist messages.

The humble poppy is a symbol of our common quest for peace. It represents a stand taken by civil society against fascism, racism and hate preaching.

Tehmina Kazi said: “Anjem Choudary and his handful of followers betray everything this country stands for and the very group of people they claim to represent, which is ordinary British Muslims. We plan to hold a counter-protest under the “Alliance Against Extremism” banner to demonstrate that ordinary Muslims are deeply opposed to the values of ‘Muslims Against Crusades’.”

Notes

1. Meeting place will be outside the Royal Albert Hall from 10am – 12pm.

2. A facebook group has been set up here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144282495674035

3. All journalists and photographers welcome.

· The Guardian have formally investigated and independently confirmed Alan Lake’s authorship of a “Final Solution” blueprint targeting the entire British Muslim population along with anyone perceived to be sympathetic towards them, including death threats against British Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and the Archbishop of Canterbury. You can see a screenshot of Lake’s horrifying “Final Solution” here and here.

· Alan Lake was interviewed by the Daily Mail in 2010 and openly discussed his involvement with the EDL as a financier and strategist.

· Channel 4 News, describing Alan Lake as “the EDL’s chief financier” during their investigation of the EDL’s connections with Anders Breivik, have confirmed that Lake was interviewed on Norwegian television in April 2011. In that interview, Lake confirmed that he has funded the EDL.

· Video footage is available of Alan Lake attending a meeting in London with senior EDL leaders Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”), Kevin Carroll and Roberta Moore, in a video released on 20 March 2011.

· Roberta Moore has direct links to convicted terrorists in the United States whose organisation has been formally designated as a “terrorist group” by the FBI and who are banned from entering Israel.

· Roberta Moore was photographed personally escorting Yaxley-Lennon while he was disguised as a rabbi before he gave a speech at the EDL’s demonstration in London on 3 September 2011. During that speech, Yaxley-Lennon publicly accused “every single Muslim” of collective guilt and publicly made a direct threat of EDL-led retribution against the entire British Muslim population.

· Yaxley-Lennon is also on record as stating that he agrees with Anders Breivik’s opinions.

· More information about Yaxley-Lennon’s disturbing attitudes is available here; this includes evidence indicating that Yaxley-Lennon’s actions are actually racially-motivated, such as his recent claim that Islam is a “race”, along with evidence suggesting that Yaxley-Lennon has used the terms “Islam/Islamic” and “Muslim” as euphemisms for “Asian” (including Sikhs and Hindus).

· Alan Lake has been instrumental in facilitating the EDL’s alliances with Far-Right groups outside the UK. He also played a pivotal role in facilitating the EDL’s links to the American anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller (who was cited multiple times in Anders Breivik’s 1500-page manifesto and was in direct contact with a violent Norwegian who sounds suspiciously similar to Breivik). Lake even personally attended the protest against the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” which Geller organised in New York last year; Yaxley-Lennon also attempted to accompany Lake to the protest but was prevented from doing so by the American authorities. Full details, along with an overview of Lake’s background, affiliations and activities to further the EDL’s agenda can be read here.

Full details on the FB page. I quote:

Last year, extremists from the small group Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) burnt a big poppy on Armstice / Remembrance Day as a stunt to rile up anti-Muslim and anti-British sentiments.

MAC (formerly known as Al-Muhajiroun) are planning a similar stunt this year on Friday, at the Royal Albert Hall, Kensington Gore, London, SW7 2AP.

We are calling on all right-minded people to join us.

This initiative is being led by a new umbrella group – Anti-Extremism Alliance (AEA) – and supported by other individuals and organisations including Islamic Society of Britain, Pickled Politics and more.

The humble poppy is a symbol of our common quest for peace. It represents a stand taken by civil society against fascism, racism and hate preaching. It represents the ordinary citizen against the ideas of groups such as Muslims Against Crusades and the English Defence League.

Someone also made us a video! Come down, even for a little bit. Strength in numbers and all that.

“Within 30 or 40 years in this country we are a complete minority to Muslims, because of the Muslim demographics…..Our culture and our race will disappear in this country.”

More recently, Yaxley-Lennon gave an interview to Adrian Goldberg at BBC Radio West Midlands on 22 October 2011. It’s available via Youtube here. Yaxley-Lennon made some particularly self-incriminating statements towards the end:

“The black community and the white community in Birmingham are treated with iron fists. The Islamic community are treated with kid gloves and that’s just the way it is. And it’s not on, You can’t have a two-tier policing system. There can be no master race. And I’m sorry, but there is a master race in certain areas of this country and it’s Islam !”

Therefore, Yaxley-Lennon is now on record as 1) essentially claiming that there are 3 races in Birmingham, namely white, black and Muslims, and 2) describing the religion of Islam as a “race”. Apart from the fact that Yaxley-Lennon’s description of what he claims to be the three communities in Birmingham would raise some eyebrows amongst the city’s sizeable Sikh and Hindu populations, his remarks also make a mockery of the EDL’s claims that their bigotry isn’t racially-motivated “because Islam is not a race”.

The implications of Yaxley-Lennon’s statements are even more disturbing when you bear in mind the following fact: As a result of his speech during the EDL’s demonstration in London on 3 September 2011, Yaxley-Lennon is also on record as publicly accusing “every single Muslim” of collective guilt for 7/7 and publicly making a direct threat against what he terms “the Islamic community” en masse:

“EVERY SINGLE MUSLIM watching this on Youtube, on 7/7 you got away with killing and maiming British citizens, you got away with it. You had better understand that we have built a network from one end of this country to the other end, and we will not tolerate it, and the Islamic community will feel the full force of the English Defence League if we see any of our citizens killed, maimed or hurt on British soil ever again.”

Video footage of the extract above is available here. Yaxley-Lennon’s full 10-minute speech is available here. Yaxley-Lennon’s speech demolishes the EDL’s official claims of being non-violent and “opposed only to extremist Muslims”, and the irrefutable evidence has come directly from the EDL’s leader himself.

Regardless of whether Yaxley-Lennon was specifically addressing Muslims on that occasion or whether he was indeed using the terms “Muslim” and “Islamic” as euphemisms for “Asian”, Yaxley-Lennon’s sinister statements clearly indicate that he doesn’t even regard British “Muslims” as British citizens at all. Not to mention the fact that Yaxley-Lennon also seems to be ignoring — or strangely ignorant of — the fact that the British citizens murdered by terrorists on 7/7 included a number of Muslims. So he responds to the deaths of British citizens by…..making threats against millions of British citizens, including the surviving family members of those murdered on 7/7.

· It is also worth bearing in mind that Yaxley-Lennon is on record as stating that he agrees with the opinions of the mass-murdering Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik.

· Yaxley-Lennon’s hypocrisy is particularly striking when you consider the fact that he is actually the son of Irish immigrants. Irish terrorists have been responsible for more than 10,000 successful bomb attacks against the British Isles; there have been several further incidents during the past month alone. Yaxley-Lennon’s disgusting statements are the equivalent of someone accusing “every single Irish person” of collective guilt (including Yaxley-Lennon himself) and subsequently making a direct threat against England’s entire Irish population. Considering that Yaxley-Lennon has used the single successful terrorist attack on 7/7 to justify his accusation and threat, the same despicable twisted logic would apply to Yaxley-Lennon literally 10,000-fold. The irony appears to be completely lost on him.

· Yaxley-Lennon has been given a 12-week suspended jail sentence after he was found guilty of violently assaulting one of the EDL’s members during their demonstration in Blackburn. The individual concerned is an ex-member of the British armed forces. The Blackburn rally cost £500,000 to police, and the court heard that Yaxley-Lennon had been in charge of or assisted in the control of 70 such demonstrations nationwide. If the demonstration in Blackburn is an accurate example of the average cost to the British public, it suggests that EDL demonstrations that Yaxley-Lennon has personally been involved with have cost ordinary British taxpayers at least £35 million so far. And that’s before you add the huge financial losses simultaneously incurred by local businesses, during a time of deteriorating economic conditions.

· The EDL leadership have written a “Code of Conduct” for the EDL, which was published in August 2010 via the EDL’s official Facebook page. If you Google “EDL Code of Conduct” then you’ll be able to read identical information from multiple online EDL sources, but you can also see a screenshot of exactly the same “code” via 1MU here (you may have to zoom in to read the contents). Readers will already be aware of the EDL’s public claims that “the EDL has no members”, a claim that Yaxley-Lennon also publicly promotes, as per his most recent BBC Newsnight interview shortly after Anders Breivik’s terrorist attack. However, the EDL’s own official Code of Conduct explicitly & repeatedly refers to its supporters as “Member” or “Members” a total of 21 times.

· According to Reuters, Yaxley-Lennon is now claiming that he is in discussions with various Far-Right groups in Europe in order to form an “anti-Islamist” (read: anti-“Muslim”) political party by the end of this year.

The Daily Mail, which always reports on their actions in advance, says the demo, which will mock the charity for injured soldiers Help for Heroes, is due to take place outside the Royal Albert Hall, the same location where a poppy was burned last year.

The Muslims Against Crusades protesters, who have sought permission from police to hold the rally, aim to chant and disrupt the minute’s silence held in honour of the war dead.

Like last time – when we stood against them at their 9/11 demo – a group of us are organising a little protest against Choudhary and his band of monkeys on Nov 11th.

Come down and join us on the day! More details will be posted soon.

There report is here. They say:

While leaders of the EDL claim they are a pluralistic, liberal movement that is fighting Islamic extremism, chants heard at demonstrations and the vitriol frequently posted on the EDL’s chat forums suggest otherwise. It is in this context that we have undertaken the first ever large-scale empirical study of the EDL, which comprises responses from 1,295 sympathisers and supporters, and includes data on their demographics, involvement in EDL activity, political attitudes and social views. The results show that, although the EDL is usually understood as an anti-Islamic or anti-Islamist demonstrating group, the reality is more complex.

Supporters are characterised by intense pessimism about the UK’s future, worries about immigration and joblessness. This is often mixed with a proactive pride in Britain, British history and British values, which they see as being under attack from Islam. Although their demonstrations have often involved violence and racist chants, many members are democrats who are committed to peaceful protest and other forms of activism.

That sounds about right to me.

The report also destroys the myth that EDL people have usually defected from the left; in fact most have right-wing sympathies:

Who would they vote for?

BNP – 34% (public: 2%)

UKIP – 14% (3%)

Conservative – 14% (36%)

Labour – 9% (29%)

Lib Dem – 3% (23%)

Pickled Politics would like to wish our Sikh and Hindu readers a very Happy Diwali.

Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali (the “festival of lights”) for a range of reasons, most popularly to commemorate the return of the victorious Hindu deity Rama to the city of Ayodhya, as described in the Ramayana. The inhabitants of the city decorated it with lamps to celebrate Rama’s return. The festival symbolises the triumph of good over evil.

Sikhs celebrate Diwali to commemorate the return of the 17th century Sikh Guru Hargobind to Amritsar after he had been imprisoned for political reasons. The Guru had eventually negotiated the simultaneous release of 52 imprisoned kings; his arrival in Amritsar coincided with Diwali, and the overjoyed population adorned the city with lights to celebrate his return. You can see a photo of modern-day Diwali celebrations at the Golden Temple in Amritsar at the top of this article. Guru Hargobind’s supporters included Mian Mir, the Muslim saint who had laid the foundation stone of the Golden Temple and was later the main religious teacher of the Mughal crown prince Dara Shukoh.

The Golden Temple’s architecture symbolises the core Sikh principles of the unity of God irrespective of the name people call their deity by, and the inherent unity & equality of mankind irrespective of people’s religious background. Like the other 9 Sikh Gurus, Guru Hargobind himself embodied these principles and therefore had a mosque built for the Muslim population of the town he’d founded in Punjab (the mosque was recently renovated by a major joint Sikh-Muslim project in India). Guru Hargobind was also responsible for initiating the militarisation of the Sikh population by raising a standing army, and for founding the Akal Takht, the temporal seat of Sikh authority which now forms part of the Golden Temple complex.

Some suitable music to mark the occasion:

The Indian singer Kailash Kher giving a live performance of “Aaj Mera Piya Ghar Aavenge”, meaning “Today my Beloved will come Home”. Kailash is a very successful recording artist and also contributes to the soundtracks of Bollywood films. His music is heavily influenced by Sikhism, Sufi Islam and devotional Hinduism. As mentioned at the start of the video, the lyrics for this particular song are actually an allegory for the final journey of the human soul in the afterlife, and metaphorically describe the majestic celebratory preparations to meet God. The son of a Hindu priest, Kailash wrote this deeply moving song after his father passed away.

The Indian singer Jagjit Singh giving a fantastic live concert performance of “Ahista Ahista”, one of his most famous ghazals. As recently discussed on Pickled Politics, Jagjit Singh passed away a couple of weeks ago (more information via the BBC, the Telegraph and NDTV). He was the most high-profile signatory of the joint statement condemning the English Defence League, as discussed on Pickled Politics here.

Jagjit Singh was a Sikh and was originally trained in Indian classical music, initially by a Hindu and later during 6 years with a Muslim member of a traditional Indian classical music “house” with historical origins at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Although Jagjit Singh occasionally recorded albums of religious music, such as this hymn based on a prayer by the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, he is most famous as a ghazal maestro. During India’s medieval era, especially the Mughal period, ghazals originally consisted of songs based on Persian poetry combined with North Indian classical music influences; during the past couple of centuries, the lyrics have tended to be in Urdu. Ghazals are generally philosophical in nature, although these days they are known more for their romantic connotations. Jagjit Singh was widely regarded as the world’s greatest modern-day Indian proponent of this popular musical genre.

Jagjit Singh regularly performed at international concerts to huge audiences, and was in the middle of a joint concert tour with his Pakistani counterpart Ghulam Ali when he passed away. The following video of one of Jagjit Singh’s wonderful concerts shows him at his very best, not only as a phenomenal ghazal singer but also as a man of tremendous warmth and dignity. He will be deeply missed by hundreds of millions of South Asians worldwide, including myself, and I am dedicating this Diwali article to him. As Kailash Kher’s song above describes, Jagjit Singh has now returned Home.

Happy Diwali, everyone. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.