Friday 29 July 2011

EDL & Anders Breivik

A compilation of continuing developments focusing on the English Defence League’s public response to the atrocity along with Breivik’s own connections to the EDL :

1. Fresh from his court appearance during which he was convicted of leading a violent brawl involving 100 football supporters, EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka “Tommy Robinson”) was interviewed by Becky Anderson on CNN’s “Connect the World” programme on Monday evening. The anchor noticed what appeared to be a threat at the end of the interview and challenged Yaxley-Lennon about it. The full transcript of the CNN interview (link provided above) also includes the observations of a former Neo-Nazi who was interviewed immediately after Yaxley-Lennon, both in relation to the massacre in Norway and his damning response to Yaxley-Lennon’s own anti-Islam assertions on behalf of the EDL, especially the close parallels with historical Far-Right bigotry towards Jews.

2. Yaxley-Lennon was interviewed in further detail by Jeremy Paxman on BBC’s Newsnight later on Monday evening. Along with refusing to answer most of Paxman’s questions, Yaxley-Lennon recited almost exactly the same memorised statements that he’d made on CNN, from his “words of condolence” at the beginning to what appeared to be a threat at the end. He became increasingly belligerent and aggressive as the interview progressed, and by the end he was loudly ranting. Paxman also noticed the “threat” and challenged Yaxley-Lennon about it.
· Furthermore, Yaxley-Lennon told Paxman that he does not know Daryl Hobson, despite the fact that Hobson is one of the EDL’s main organisers. A photo of Yaxley-Lennon with Hobson is displayed at the top of this PP article (via Hope Not Hate/Searchlight). Hobson himself has also confirmed that the terrorist Anders Breivik was in contact with the EDL.
· Yaxley-Lennon also told Paxman that the millionaire businessman Alan Lake does not finance the EDL, despite the fact that Lake himself has now publicly admitted to funding the organisation. A detailed profile of Lake can be read via Hope Not Hate here.
3. Yaxley-Lennon was interviewed by 3 Counties Radio on Tuesday. It was a complete disaster for him; the interviewer tore Yaxley-Lennon apart despite his attempts to hijack the interview. The interviewer particularly jumped on the “threat” he’d made on Newsnight, and subsequently demolished him in forensic detail. You can read a full transcript here. It includes numerous screenshots and photographic evidence completely contradicting Yaxley-Lennon’s disingenuous claims about the EDL in his ongoing public interviews. The article is exhaustively researched and readers are strongly advised to familiarise themselves with it.
4. Yaxley-Lennon was also interviewed by Adrian Chiles on ITV’s Daybreak programme. Yaxley-Lennon mentioned the EDL’s official “Jewish Division” in an attempt to demonstrate the EDL’s anti-racist credentials. Unfortunately for him, the current leader of that division is now on record as publicly describing the teenagers killed by Breivik as “scum”. Full details here, including a screenshot and a summary of the background & activities of the so-called “Jewish” individual involved. The leadership of the “Jewish Division” has links to US-based convicted terrorists who are banned from Israel and whose organisation is officially classified by the FBI as a terrorist group (as previously discussed on Pickled Politics here). The same article also includes a transcript of Yaxley-Lennon falsely claiming on Newsnight that he doesn’t know EDL senior organiser Daryl Hobson, including a link to the aforementioned photographic evidence unearthed by Hope Not Hate/Searchlight...