This omission is also evident in the Press Association coverage, which has been picked up by a plethora of local newspaper websites. At the time of writing (3.15am, 30 September), these are the only newspapers to have any news of the conviction on their websites.
Why the paralysis on the part of the heavyweights like the Telegraph, Mail and Mirror?
While the BBC seems untroubled by doubt about Robinson’s guilt merely on the basis of his identity, other news sources seem to be on the horns of a dilemma regarding the role and legitimacy of the EDL. For example, the Telegraph’s Damien Thompson, in an otherwise spectacularly patronising piece on the working class, conceded that "the EDL and its sympathisers appear, at first glance, to be more representative of a section of the English working class…than the old 'far Right' ever was".
Tommy Robinson has been convicted for being true to himself and the values he holds dear, in common with many others. While convicted terrorists are walking our streets and, most egregiously, two kebab-shop workers who were taped admitting killing Blackpool teenager Charlene Downes receive telephone-number compensation for being bothered by a criminal investigation, Tommy Robinson has been hung out to dry for being a patriot. All the while, those news outlets who hadn’t found him guilty from the start dither over whether their duty to tell the truth trumps their commitment to ersatz politically correct conclusions.
Justice? It’s a crime.
Joe Daniels
300 words
What the opponents of EDL fail to realise is that the movement is far more than the leaders. EDL is "run" by the lightest of touches. More often than not, work that is done for the EDL arises from below, and the leadership know nothing about it. If something appears that they do not approve of, then it is castigated. But if it is something that furthers the cause (and the EDL's Mission Statement) then that thing is allowed to continue as being the work of the EDL.
ReplyDeleteI'd been working for 6 months moving EDL forward with a variety of projects before I received a short message from Tommy Robinson, a man I had never met. It said "you are doing good work". There are literally thousands of people like me in EDL.
They can put Tommy in jail. I'm sure he is prepared to face that (since he is already living with 2 Osman Notices from the Religion of Peace). He is a hero who is prepared to sacrifice himself for this country (not bad for a child of immigrants, eh?)
But the movement is not powered by Tommy or anyone else. They are simply travelling at the front of the train. The train is being propelled along by the thousands of other people in EDL.
There is no political movement in the country that has the impetus of EDL. And all of this without any external funding. It is the collective will of the individuals that is driving this thing.
It is not going to stop until things have been shaken up. 12 months ago, most people in Britain had not heard of EDL. Now Camoron (the man who said in 2005 "islamists are nazis"), can spout his class-hatred in Parliament, and the entire country knows who EDL are.
The political elite were very comfortable with their status quo and backroom deals (which is how we came within inches of The Religious Hatred Act banning all criticism of islam). The middle class have taken over the Labour movement and all the far-left groups. Their agenda has nothing in common with the aims of the working class.
Anyone who approaches EDL without a pre-conceived political ideology can attest to how the media representation of this movement has nothing in common with the real people involved. I've seen barristers, journalists, academics and ordinary men and women agog with how reasonable and decent most people in EDL are.
But because the movement is popular (literally: from the people) the middle class despise it. They are not in control of it, and want to see it destroyed.
We are witnessing state persecution of Tommy that is unknown in modern Britain. And all those organisations of the Left like Liberty (who claim they stand up for the downtrodden and the individual) are sitting on their hands whilst people invovled in EDL are given 10 year bannng orders from any political activity. Meanwhile, the same organisations defend the rights of murderous terrorists to stay in the country and for these terrorists to have the liberties denied to the rest of us.
Joe, thanks for your well-thought out and incisive comment. You're right that we have a class-war going on right now, where lefties are "coming out" as middle-class and doing there best to keep the rest of us "in our place", with Cameron merrily joining in. As you say, there's only one way to do what needs to be done: do it!
ReplyDeleteJoe Daniels