Rattle Snakes

The English Defence League aims to hold a display of bigotry on 10th October in Manchester City Centre. Given the appalling incidents in Birmingham a few weeks back, one wonders why this is being allowed to go ahead. Protest letters have already been sent but the police and politicians appear to be playing pass the buck.

As I've mentioned before, the EDL tries to maintain that it is merely against Islamic extremism and that it has no links with the BNP, football hooliganism or other right-wing extremism. The evidence to the contrary is clear to see.

I covered EDL spokesman, Trevor Kelway in an earlier post when we saw his online links to those groups. I also touched upon the new tactic of these groups to canvass respectable causes to ally themselves with legitimate groups. As has been seen by the BNP's crude attempt to align itself with the Royal British Legion through percentage fundraising, this is merely a propaganda exercise; rattling a tin for charity whilst pocketing the majority of the money themselves. The RBL seems to finding that out to its cost, as it has not received the donation in question.

As Lancaster Unity points out:

• As it happens, even though Firth's little stunt took place way back in August, the RBL still hasn't had its donation and according to Third Sector (the UK’s leading publication for everyone who needs to know what’s going on in the voluntary and not-for-profit sector), the RBL is now seriously considering whether to reject it even if it is (finally) offered, on the grounds that the party has used it to make political capital.

The EDL has latched on to the Help For Heroes charity which raises money for injured servicemen. EDL was selling T-shirts on eBay with 10% supposedly going to H4H. whether this has happened is anyone's guess. How is the charity able to ascertain how many items have been sold?

Now, comes further evidence of the sinister nature of the group. Previously the EDL had referred members to a hooligan store selling face masks for use at the demo. On eBay, the group is now selling an EDL Hoodie Burka (sic). This is a charity listing with 10% again reputedly going to the H4H. The garment retails at £17 (with an extra £13 for postage - where's it coming from: Honduras?).

Charities should be aware that eBay sellers are able to obtain perks by holding such a listing. Perks include reduced listing fees and increased visibility.

Kelway has some other interesting comrades. One Sidney Martin has a Nazi insignia avatar (what is it with these nutters?). A quick glance at his friends sees Gary Raikes (Scottish BNP organizer and no stranger to charitable propaganda), Mark Collett (BBC 'youth BNP rep') and Liverpool BNP. There's also an appearance from Kenny Cooke (of more at a later time).

The challenge goes out to the authorities to ban this parade of hate and to charities to have the courage to distance themselves from dirty money.