I read today about a local pub’s slightly alarmed reaction to being the EDL’s choice for a ‘meet and greet’:
Greene King has distanced itself from the meetings of the group and gave a stark message to potential troublemakers.
A spokeswoman said: “We would like to reassure our customers that we do not align ourselves with any political party or pressure group.
“We pride ourselves on providing a safe, welcoming environment and to that end do not tolerate any behaviour in our pubs that would affect the enjoyment of other customers.”
The UAF response seemed just a bit over the top:
Richard Rose, an organiser of Cambridge Unite Against Fascism, said: “I’m sure the people of multicultural Cambridge would not want to drink with them and would expect Greene King to end these meet and greet gatherings – gatherings whose financial benefit to the pubs must be much smaller than losses that would occur due to locals staying away if these tiny gatherings became more regular and larger.”
I wouldn’t want to drink with them, but neither would I actively want to stop them meeting – although, as MP Julian Huppert says, ‘ultimately it is right that the decision should rest with the brewery or landlord’.
It’s one thing protesting against a particular organisation, particularly one you might expect to have high standards, hosting a bigoted speaker, another to try to stop people meeting privately in a commercial venue. This isn’t a distinction Pamela Geller – who has recently had an invitation to speak at Great Neck Synagogue cancelled – seems to grasp. She has been complaining that her opponents are ‘crushing freedom of speech’ and are ‘aligned with Islamic supremacists’ – but I expect many of those who contacted the synagogue would have taken no action if she had been due to speak somewhere more morally neutral.
Back to Cambridgistan – having read this paragraph in the Cambridge Evening News:
The EDL also boasts a website on which they claim Cambridge is awash with terrorists.
It says: “The EDL Cambridge Division is a group of lads who have had enough of the Islamic extremists that are so pervasive in Cambridge. We are saying enough is enough and are making a stand.
“For too long the Islamic terrorists have had Cambridge under their thumb, but no longer.”
I decided to look for this website and see what else it had to say. Here’s a statement from the home page:
We only oppose radical Islam not all Muslims. Muslims that oppose the radicals demands for places of worship in our English towns and actively apologise for what the radical Muslims are doing are more then welcome in the EDL.
It’s hardly ‘radical’ to want a place to worship – though obviously some of the preachers hosted by mosques are decidedly radical.
Here’s a bit more:
In Britain women should be free to wear what they choose. The EDL calls for a ban on the Burkha that covers up women’s faces – we will not tolerate this in our land.
Although (as I don’t see accuracy, logic and consistency as the EDL’s strong points) it was only when I got to this bit that I really began to wonder about the authenticity of the site:
The EDL travels around England and protests against Muslim terrorism – letting the terrorists know we will not tolerate their bombings any more! We do this by meeting up, normally at Wetherspoons for a few pints, and then the police will then move us somewhere for our protest. At the protest we chant things like ‘Muslim bombers, off our streets’ and ‘No surrender, No surrender, No surrender to the Taliban’ – leaving the extremists in no doubt that they now have a serious opposition. Remember without the EDL we would be under Islamic rule by now!
The FAQs are funny. But – I strongly suspect some of the members are genuine, as are those irritated comments on the guestbook complaining about mistakes – or rather ‘mistakes’ – which make the EDL look like they are doing their research properly. Confusing.