Far-right anti-Muslim network on rise globally as Breivik trial opens

From Marco

Far-right anti-Muslim network on rise globally as Breivik trial opens
Report highlights UK role in the growth of groups that inspired
Norway's mass murderer

Mark Townsend, home affairs editor
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 14 April 2012 18.37 BST
Article history

Supporters of the English Defence League, which was among groups that
inspired the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, chant
during a demonstration in Bradford. Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty
Images
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".

Nick Lowles, director of Hope Not Hate said: "Breivik acted alone but
it was the 'counter-Jihadist' ideology that inspired him and gave him
the reasoning to carry out these atrocious attacks. All eyes this week
will be on what Breivik did last July, but we ignore those people who
inspired him at our peril."

Andreas Mammone, a historian at Kingston University in London and an
expert on European fascism, said broader factors had helped the
counter-jihad movement to consolidate support. "The economic crisis
continues to promote nationalism alongside the need for a common
enemy. A fear of radical Islam is being developed, the idea that it
presents a threat to our freedom," he said.

The report also identifies the counter-jihad network's most
influential figures, including EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (known
as Tommy Robinson), but also the more discreet London property tycoon
Ann Marchini, whose details surfaced on a leaked list of EDL donors
and who is understood to have attended counter-jihad conferences in
Scandinavia, Brussels, Zurich and London. She attended a recent
meeting where the EDL agreed its electoral pact with the BFP and is
also understood to be involved with the UK wing of the Centre for
Vigilant Freedom (CVF), and a well-funded US group renamed the
International Civil Liberties Alliance (ICLA), which is based in
Fairfax, Virginia, and co-ordinates individuals and groups in 20
countries.

The ICLA also runs the Counter-Jihad Europa website, which acts as a
"clearing house for national initiatives to oppose the Islamisation of
Europe". Three months after Breivik's attacks the ICLA organised a
counter-jihad conference in London with the help of its European
co-ordinator, Christopher Knowles, another EDL co-founder and director
of the UK branch of the CVF, which is registered in Wakefield.

New anti-Islamic groups continue to emerge. Two weeks ago in Denmark,
Yaxley-Lennon held the inaugural meeting of a Europe-wide network of
defence leagues. Another new group, founded in Belgium last month, is
Women Against Islamisation, a pan-European network whose launch was
addressed by Jackie Cook, the wife of Nick Griffin, chairman of the
British National party (BNP).

In Greece, polls suggest the ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn could pass
the 3% threshold required to enter parliament in elections next month.

Another development concerns the hardening of links between European
and US anti-Islamic organisations. US blogger Pamela Geller is a key
figure driving closer transatlantic relations. Geller, who is
president of Sion, was mentioned in Breivik's manifesto and was a
vociferous protester against the development of a mosque in Lower
Manhattan in 2010.

The co-founder of Sion is Denmark's Anders Gravers, organiser of Stop
Islamisation of Europe. Gravers met Yaxley-Lennon in Denmark last
month.

Campaigners are concerned that US neo-conservative and evangelical
groups will begin sharing resources with the leagues. Images of EDL
demonstrations are already used at Tea Party movement fundraising
events, while officials from groups such as the Christian Action
Network have met EDL activists. Other US and UK links include the
Virginia-based anti-Islamic blog, the Gates Of Vienna, which counted
Breivik as a contributor. As attention turns to Norway, experts are
keen to stress that the country was not unusual in terms of the extent
of its counter-jihadist movement. Among the online forums linked to
Breivik are the nationalist blog Document.no, on which Breivik posted
more than 100 comments.

Breivik – an admirer of the EDL – was also an online supporter of the
Norwegian Defence League, which retains close links with its English
counterpart.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/14/breivik-trial-norway-mass-murderer

--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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