A day out with the EDL

I am very intersted in organisations that polite society refer to as "Extremist Groups". What makes and extremist group? Is it their stated goals, or is it the fact that they have opinions that most of us do not agree understand or cannot cope with?
It is quite easy to sit amongst our educated peers and discuss the plight of indigenous groups in far away exotic places. It makes many of us feel good to discuss the evils of corporate and government imperialism and how these entities destroy the lives and cultures of people. What if those people are not in a far off exotic land? What if they are here? What if they look and talk like us? What if they are English?
I recently spent a day with the English Defense League. This group has been demonised by the press. Their recent planned march was outlawed by the police and they were forced to have a static demonstration on an otherwise deserted street.
The EDL are ridiculed and mocked by many educated Britons. This is not without reason. In the EDL there are "foot soldiers" who, for the most part, loud thuggish and intimidating beer swilling hooligans. They are the "S.A." of the movement. What I wanted to find out is what happens when one peels back this veneer of football hooligans and looks at the real EDL.
I arrived at the gathering point just outside of Liverpool Street Station on a nice Saturday afternoon. I new I was in the right place as soon as I got off of the tube. The station was crawling with police.
Several hundred members of the EDL were gathering outside of the pub. If we took away the t-shirts and banners, the crowd looked like any other gathering before a football match. Old friends were meeting. People were joking with each other and it seemed like any other day at the pub. However as the crowd grew the energy changed.
I walked up to the first person that looked interesting to me and started asking questions. I explained without pretense that I was there to find out what the EDL was about. I told him that I was there to ask questions, learn and listen without bias to what they had to say. I was able to talk to a few people before I was spotted by one of their leaders who took (at first a very suspicious) interest into my inquiries.
I asked people why they were there. To a person, there answer was that they were worried that their culture was disappearing. That outside cultures were coming into this country and changing the traditional English way of life. Folks I spoke to were saddened by new "foreign" people moving into their traditional homelands and pushing out people who have lived there for centuries. Tower Hamlets was the focus of their frustration this day. I had little difficulty asking people questions and getting heartfelt honest responses from EDL members and supporters. It seemed that they were happy to be listened to.
Many of the peole I spoke with felt that the EDL was not given fair play by the mainstream media. However, I feel that is not the fault of the mainstream media. The commercial media is biased. Their goal is to sell advertising by showing sensational topics. "If it bleeds, it leads". Too many EDL members and supporters only add fuel to the fire.
While I was in the pub updating my notes, a group of EDL members took a keen interest in what I was doing. A large shaved head guy who described himself as a foot soldier for the EDL came to my table, invaded my personal space and asked what I was writing. I explained to him what I was doing, told him that he was welcome to look at my notes and that he didn't need to get so close to me to ask questions and perhaps he forgot his reading glasses (I have doubts to his literacy however). He explained to me that some of the people at his table thought that I might be a spy for and anti fascist organisation and he wanted to make sure that I wasn't. His mission was that of intimidation.
Outside of the pub two drunken young men in pig masks were dancing, drinking and playing up. Several people had EDL shirts that said "fuck Islam". Songs were sung accusing the Prophet Mohamed of being a paedophile.
These are the kinds of displays the that media feeds upon. If the EDL has a cogent message that they want to get across, this type of dunked idiocy has to be stopped by their leaders.
In fairness to the people who organised the event there were several people in high viz vests that were there to control there own members' behaviour. These people liaised with the police and encourage the crowd to behave. They had their work cut out for them but, to their credit, they did do a good job.
The only problems at the gathering point started when counter demonstrators showed up and started throwing flash bang bombs and missiles into the crowd. Once again, the organisers worked hard to keep the crowd from devouring the small group of counter demonstrators. The police decided to kettle the EDL. For the most part the EDL behaved well at the rally point. It was the outsiders who caused any trouble there.
The crowd was allowed to go to the protest area. Along the path, more organisers stood along side the police and helped to keep the order. The route to the demonstration, and the point itself, was along largely deserted commercial streets. No counter demonstrators where seen. Again the crowd behaved.
When EDL founder Stephen Lennon spoke, he spoke of democracy, free elections and safe streets.The EDL supporters stated that they were disgusted that arranged marriages and female genital mutilation were being practised by foreigners in "our country". Any sane person is disgusted by this happening anywhere in the world. I heard no racist chants. In fact, I saw Star of David flag, a Gay Rights flag and more that one person of non white heritage supporting the EDL in the crowd. There were a couple of trouble makers at the demonstration point who threw missiles and flash bang bombs at the police and press corps. By this time I was standing with the press corps and the majority of them were wearing helmets.
After the protest the crowd was led to the Tower Bridge and once again kettled by police for about 40 minutes bt police before they were allowed to leave.
I think the majority of arrests occured when a bus carryng EDL members broke down outside Stepney Green Tube station.
When I talked with supporters of the EDL, many of them wanted their idea of a "Traditional England" back. Than England is gone. They wanted people who come here to abide by British Laws and customs. They were offended by the possibility of areas in England having Shar'ia courts. I myself have read Islamist literature advocating Shar'ia courts in primarily Islamic areas such as Tower Hamlets and I am offended my it.
I wanted answers to questions when I decided to write this. I wanted to give a voice to people who's oppinions are drowned out by thugs in their own organisations and a biased self serving commercial media who only want to sell papers.
What I think I have done is create more questions for myself. I want to continue studying and writing about this subject. I will continue studying and writing about groups like the EDL. I promised to give them fair play. I will attend the next EDL protest and speak with and listen to the people who are the focus of the EDL's anger and frustration.