Far Right Gathering in Denmark

A gathering of far Right groups is set to take place in Aarhus, Denmark tomorrow.

The rally is being organized by British far Right group the English Defence League, or EDL.

Police are expecting anti-fascist groups from the far Left to converge on Aarhus too.

Marco Werman talks with Northampton University historian Matthew Feldman about the EDL and other “Defence League” groups in Europe.

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Marco Werman: Tensions about terrorism and immigrant communities are on the rise, not just in France, but throughout Europe. Far right groups in several countries are trying to use the Toulouse shootings as a rallying point. Tomorrow members of far right and anti-immigration groups from across Europe will be gathering in Aarhus, Denmark. The event is being organized by the English Defense League, or EDL. Matthew Feldman of the University of Northampton in England, studies far right groups in Britain. He’s been following the development of the EDL.

Matthew Feldman: They are about three years old now and they very directly formed in response to an event of great offense in England which was the homecoming of some soldiers who had been posted to Afghanistan and they were met by really some radical Islamists with jeers and some very offensive slogans, and what you saw was the more nationalistic members of the local, in this case, Lutin community really coming together, many of them from the so-called football hooliganism background, some of them much more explicitly connected with the far right, and forming what ultimately became the English Defense League, which really was the first of these street-based movements that saw themselves as either a human rights organization if one believes their rhetoric, or indeed a counter-Jihad movement that has seen a number of the defense leagues of varying degrees of political adherence and proximity to the English Defense League, springing up right across Europe.

Werman: Do these defense leagues have, as their common goal, a European-wide movement? Do they want political power, do they want to get elected in Parliament at some point?

Feldman: I think that’s one of the reasons that tomorrow is so important. One of the things we’re going to be seeing is whether or not there will be a sort of European Parliamentary party that comes out of this, whether or not the groups that tend to be more suited. For example, the Stop the Islamization of America, which is headed by Pamela Geller and it’s counterpart, Stop the Islamization of Europe, which tend to be more party political movements. One of the problems with what we might consider social movements, like the defense leagues, is that they tend not to be as interested in gaining political power in that way, but much more interested in actually protesting on the street, having a physical presence on the street, and it remains to be seen how that can be channeled into any kind of democratic politics.

Werman: Since the English Defense League kind of started the defense leagues, what do they believe in, what’s their philosophy?

Feldman: Well, I think that if you asked them directly, they’ll say that they’re against militant Islam or violent terroristic forms of Islamism, but the problem is really once you scratch the surface, you find that this very quickly bleeds into a dislike of Muslim people among some of the rank and file members, simple just a dislike of people with brown skin, so I think that one of the problems for people trying to respond to the Defense League is distinguishing between something that really all citizens of good will in America and Europe can agree on. Terrorism is unacceptable, whether it’s Islamist or far right terrorist, end of story, but I think the problem that many people have encountered in trying to respond to the English Defense League, is that very quickly seems to evolve into a prejudice against Muslim people.

Werman: Now we just heard a report on the follow-up in France to the killing of Mohammed Merah, a Muslim who was born to French parents of Algerian descent, and what’s been happening in the wake of those killings. How have those events in France played into the message, say EDL? Has Mohammed Merah become any sort of symbol for the anti-immigration ideology of the EDL?

Feldman: I think that it certainly could and one of the things that we’re seeing is the attempt to paint all Muslims as precisely this kind of terrorist person. I think that’s the danger. I think Muslim communities right across Europe will be as quick as every other community of good will to recognize that, in fact, these are one or two percent of an already marginalized, persecuted minority and what we need to be aware of is, in fact, that these terrorists have no purchase of support in whatever kinds of communities they may be operating in, and that’s something that the EDL tries to push further and really stigmatize anyone who might be a Muslim, and I think that’s where most people are content to call them a new far right group, one that emphasizes not biology like, for example, Nazi-ism, but really having a cultural critique, saying that we’re not concerned about issues of race, we’re concerned about issues of culture.

Werman: I’ve seen reports that many anti-fascists are expected to up tomorrow in Aarhus, so who are these anti-fascists and is there a risk of violence between the different groups tomorrow?

Feldman: I think there’s absolutely a risk of violence. What can happen as we see far left elements from, let’s say, the United Against Fascism or Denmark’s Project Antifa, really willing to square off physically with members of this new far right. One can only hope that these people will be kept at a safe distance from each other so that all the insults that can hurled is all that’s going to be hurled.

Werman: Matthew Feldman is a Senior Lecturer in 20th Century History at the University of Northampton in England. Thanks very much indeed Matthew.

Feldman: Thank you.

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