EDL demo is a flop

Via the Guardian newspaper website.

Yesterday, the "English Defence League", a far-right hate group who claim not to be racist, but opposed to "militant Islam" (yeah, right!) decided to go to Bradford to hold a demonstration. They had been banned from holding a march, but human rights legislation means that they were allowed to hold a "static protest" in the city centre. Actually, I support their right to hold that "static protest", however vile what they have to say may be. That's not really the point.

The point is that this was suppsoed to be, in their own terms, "the big one". Police estimates put the numbers at around 700. (Allowing for the traditional difference between police estimates and organiser estimates, that still comes to a maximum of 7,000). I imagine they pitched it as "the big one" because of the history of racist protests in Bradford. Back in 2001, the BNP were holding rallies across the north of England in cities with large populations of people of colour. When it was announced that their next target was going to be Bradford, the Bradford Muslims organised their resistance. What followed was a mass riot with the local Muslim community in pitched battle first with the BNP, then with the British police. If you're a racist like the EDL, then Bradford is where you go to pick a fight.

These 700 or so people were keen to show everyone what a civilised Britain without these "militant Muslims" would look like:

Bricks, bottles and smoke bombs were thrown at anti-racism supporters and police as around 700 EDL activists – including known football hooligans and BNP members – held a "static protest" in Bradford city centre.

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Earlier in the afternoon coachloads of EDL activists had chanted "Allah, Allah, who the fuck is Allah?" and "Muslim bombers off our streets".

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One of the coach drivers said: "I didn't expect a job like this when I came to work this morning. We're a five-star firm. We don't usually take scumbags like these."

Meanwhile, anti-racism activists were holding their own protests to counter the EDL. These protests were somewhat different in character, both to the 2001 riots (when the police and the law basically sided with the racists consistently) and to the EDL's demonstration.

Thousands of anti-racists and local residents joined counter-protests and events organised around the city. Mohammed Khan, 29, said: "We want to show the people of the UK that Bradford is a united and peaceful place, where Asians, white people – everyone – gets along. Nobody here wants these people. They are just trying to divide this city and provoke trouble."

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The problem with this type of thing is that it makes it so easy for White folks to point and say, "That's racism. I don't do anything like that, so I can't be racist." But the prejudices, the institutional and instilled beliefs, still persist and those same White folks are able to continue holding those beliefs, and through ignorance and unchallenged privilege continue to perpetuate racism in more insidious, invisible ways than a bunch of rowdy thugs squabbling with the police and each other. The fact that racism is deeply embedded and unchallenged in British minds was revealed by the Channel 4 documentary programme about which I wrote some time ago, How Racist Are You?. In some ways, the existence and opposition to the BNP, EDL and similar hate groups serves to provide the rest of ordinary racist White folks with a way to turn a blind eye to their own prejudice (or, indeed, fail to take the plank out of their own eye while criticising the speck in the eye of the hate groups).

While it's encouraging that the anti-racism protests talked about people getting along together, and it's clear there are anti-racist White folks - that's still the minority. Most people don't challenge themselves, examine what's underneath the surface or look at how their principles conflict with how the feel and behave in everyday life.