The Guardian reports: The international network of counter-jihadist groups that inspired Anders Behring Breivik is growing in reach and influence, according to a report released on the eve of the Norwegian’s trial.
Far-right organisations are becoming more cohesive as they forge alliances throughout Europe and the US, says the study, with 190 groups now identified as promoting an Islamophobic agenda.
This week Breivik will appear on trial in Oslo after confessing to the murder of 77 people in Norway last July, killings that he justified as part of a “war” between the west and Islamists.
The report, by anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, states that since the 33-year-old’s killing spree, the counter-jihad movement – a network of foundations, bloggers, political activists and street gangs – has continued to proliferate.
Campaigners cite the formation three months ago of the Stop Islamization of Nations (Sion) group, designed to promote an umbrella network of counter-jihad groups across Europe and the US, as evidence of a global evolution.
An inaugural Sion summit is planned in New York this year to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. Speakers are set to include Paul Weston, chairman of the anti-Islamic British Freedom Party (BFP), which recently announced a pact with the English Defence League. In the manifesto that Breivik published online 90 minutes before his attacks, he cited blog postings by Weston which discussed a “European civil war” between the west and Islam.
Researchers at Hope Not Hate name the UK as one of Europe’s most active countries in terms of counter-jihad extremism, with 22 anti-Islamic groups currently operating.
In Europe as a whole, 133 organisations were named in the report, including seven in Norway, and another 47 in the US, where a network of neo-conservative, evangelical and conservative organisations attempts to spread “negative perceptions of Islam, Muslim minorities and Islamic culture”.
RE: “Researchers at Hope Not Hate name the UK as one of Europe’s most active countries in terms of counter-jihad extremism, with 22 anti-Islamic groups currently operating.” ~ The Guardian
MEET THE ENGLISH DEFENSE LEAGUE (EDL): This Is England, 2006, NR, 100 minutes
Set in 1983, this semiautobiographical drama from writer-director Shane Meadows follows a lonely 11-year-old boy named Shaun as he grieves over the recent death of his father, who was killed fighting in the Falklands War. When he falls in with a gang of young skinheads, Shaun’s pain and anger make him susceptible to carrying out the group’s hateful agenda, exposing a dark side of modern Britain not often seen in the movies.
Cast: Thomas Turgoose, Andrew Shim, Stephen Graham…
Netflix Availability: Streaming and DVD
NETFLIX LISTING – http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/This_Is_England/70061577
This Is England Trailer HQ (VIDEO, 02:28) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXDNsPRTANw
P.P.S. MORE OF THAT IRREPRESSIBLE URCHIN, THOMAS TURGOOSE – http://movies.netflix.com/Movie/Somers_Town/70099623?trkid=438403
Somers Town, Movie Trailer (VIDEO, 02:04) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOTvZNSssbQ
“But, ‘What Must Be Said’ has little time to act as a brake on a dangerous military catastrophe, as Grass still hopes it will. … Open war appears almost certain follow, and the only thing likely to stop it would be for hundreds of thousands of voices to call on world leaders to heed Grass’ warning.”
Yeah, we tried that. On 14 February, 2003, 10 million (some say 25 million) of us hit the bricks around the globe in an attempt to stop the Anglo-American assault on Iraq. We saw how well that worked. A poem by an old man — of whom most Israelis and Americans have never heard before — is unlikely to move anybody but the Israeli-American Hysteria Chorus.