Unite against the EDL and Islamism

Submitted by Matthew on 28 May, 2013 - 8:13

The murder of an off-duty soldier in Woolwich, South East London on 22 May should be unequivocally condemned.

The young men who did it seem to have been ultra-Islamists — supporters of violently reactionary theocratic politics.

Islamists — whether ultras or softer varieties — are a threat to many others besides off-duty soldiers.
Islamism is a threat to the working class, in the first instance the Muslim working class. It is also directed against women, LGBT people, atheists and secularists, dissidents and critical-minded people in Muslim-majority countries and in some Muslim communities in countries like Britain.

This killing has ramped up other threats too.

There is a nationalist, racist, far-right backlash under way, championed by the English Defence League, which will violently target a wide range of dark-skinned people living in Britain on the assumption that they “look Muslim”.

There has been an alarming rise in the number of anti-Muslim incidents. These range from shouting in the street to the firebombing of a mosque in Grimsby while people, including children, were inside. After a long period of decline, the EDL has outnumbered anti-fascists twice in the last week (Newcastle and London). Now the BNP has announced it will be demonstrating in South East London too.

The far right campaign feeds off and feeds into a more widespread, “mainstream” hysteria about Muslims and terrorism, playing on the ridiculous and disgusting idea that all or most Muslims are in some way responsible for the actions of the Islamist killers. This in turn interacts with a media promoting sensationalist messages about the threat of terrorism. (The murder — also by brutal stabbing — of an elderly Muslim man, Mohammed Saleem, it seems by a white racist, in Birmingham on 29 April has generated much less and very different coverage.)

There will now be an authoritarian state backlash which will target civil liberties and democratic rights in the name of fighting terrorism.

There is talk — pushed by the Labour Party — of extending the “Prevent” strategy to combat “extremism” which the Coalition government cut back when it came to office. The problem with the Labour government’s version of Prevent was that it involved creating a police-orchestrated system of spying in Muslim communities, on Muslim students, etc, while also providing support and funding to “non-violent” but deeply reactionary Muslim organisations.

Labour is also flirting with support for reviving the Communications Data Bill — the “Snooper’s Charter” — which was shelved earlier this year due to Lib Dem opposition. The Bill would give police and security services access, without a warrant, to details of all online communications in the UK, such as the time, duration, originator, recipient and the location of the device from which it was sent. It would also give access to web browsing history and details of messages sent on social media, subject to a warrant from the Home Secretary. The Lib Dems are coming under huge pressure to change their position on this.

The taskforce the government is creating in response to the Woolwich killing may come up with further attacks on democratic rights.

The left needs to stand up for rational thought in the midst of hysteria. We need to oppose attacks on civil liberties. The labour movement should offer to help defend Muslim communities — including the buildings such as mosques, community centres and shops — from EDL demonstrations and racist attacks.

We advocate working-class unity, and help organise anti-racist counter-protests against the likes of the EDL.

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