English Defense League Leaders Resign
Baku, October 9 (AZERTAC). EDL (English Defense League leader Tommy Robinson and EDL co-founder Kevin Carroll have resigned from their positions as leaders of the English Defense League, Yahoo News has reported. EDL, though it started as a group opposed to Islamic extremism, has attracted racists, fascists and Neo Nazis who have blunted its political impact and marginalised it.
The announcement was made on the Quiliam web site. Quiliam is a think tank devoted to combating extremism. Robinson has cited the infiltration of extremists, racists and fascists into the group as his reason for resigning, and said that filtering such elements from EDL was distracting him from his main focus. Yahoo News quotes Robinson as follows.
Robinson has, it seemed recognised that there is a struggle within Islam for the soul and the future of Islam. The radical elements, who want to destroy weastern democracy, and who want to subjugate women, are a well financed vocal minority within Islam. Such violent minorities can quickly intimidate others into silence. Robinson seems to have realised that he has allies within the Muslim world.
The EDL web site treated the departure of Robinson and Carroll respectfully, and noted on their site as follows.
The EDL was founded for a reason. We had a cause in the beginning and we continue to stand by that cause now. We cannot at this moment say with any confidence what form the EDL will take in the future, but we can say with firm conviction that the EDL will continue to oppose militant and extreme Islam. We will further endeavour to apply our Code of Conduct and reject all Nazis, all extreme right wing organisations, and those who express racism either on our Internet forums, our Facebook pages or on the streets at our protests.
There are, it seems many people who oppose Islamic extremism who do so out of a commitment to western norms of tolerance and freedom. If Robinson and Carroll regroup with moderate Muslims in their ranks, it might serve as a litmus test for racist elements. On the left and on the right, filtering undesirable elements is an ongoing task. With moderate Muslims as allies, robinson and Carroll could have an interesting political future.
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