You're aware of the massive war waged by governments across the world against islamic terrorism, presumably?
How much help could a few thousand unarmed antifascists provide to stop that sort of extremism? Little to none, realistically.
It's a far broader issue than the localised racist political agitation that antifa typically engage and organise against.
I think that's a bit of a cop out to be honest. Isn't the whole point of the movement to disrupt the fascist process where ever it may try to rise? Given that is so and the anti-fascists can be bothered to turn up to tiny EDL marches I don't see why turning up to gatherings of radical Islamists should be off the agenda really. You know Antifa would travel to the arse end of Scotland to protest a small Nazi rally, but then they can't spare some time or energy to make it to a small radical Islamist gathering in one of our urban centres?? Again that seems like a cop out to me.
Now, to specifically address your question - antifascists are doing a lot to try to prevent islamic terrorism in the west.
One of the ways to do that is to work towards undermining and debunking the claims of islamophobia.
You're smart enough to know that Islamophobia is a contradictory propaganda phrase. It is not irrational to have legitimate concerns about a religion especially when the religion in question more than justifies those concerns, given its often violent treatment and beliefs in regards to women, homosexuals, non-muslims, apostates, etc. In my opinion the far-left seems to have this blind spot in regards to Islam, and not just the far-left but a whole chunk of liberal society, that refuses to acknowledge their may be some serious issues with this particular religion. Trying to disrupt or be violent towards those who want to voice their concerns regarding Islam seems awfully fascist to me, and I don't think it is fair to lump everyone into the Nazi category or far-right just because they have an opinion that is not automatically tolerant. Tolerant doesn't mean accepting something regardless of its faults.
Now, you mention the EDL - who are doing everything they can to marginalise muslims in british society.
This tommy robinson character is making a career for himself out of propagating anti-islamic sentiment. Have a look at his twitter page - it's all he talks about. He's a shameless opportunist and hatemonger.
People like him are one of the best recruitment tools islamic extremists have.
Q: How do people end up fucked up enough to become adherents to the sort of lunacy pushed by the likes of ISIS?
A: They end up that way through being ostracised and harassed by the sort of miserable people that take charlatans like tommy robinson seriously.
So, by treating muslims like human beings (rather than terrorists-in-the-making), and making it clear that islamophobia is stupid, musguided and ignorant, we hope to counter some of the bullying they cop from fascists and racists.
It's easy to label him for the convenience of your particular political ideology that you follow Spacejunk, but that doesn't mean you are seeing things as they actually are. Plenty of people, myself included, cast a negative judgement on him before giving him a fair hearing. Unfortunately he resembles a hooligan, he's not well spoken or intellectual by nature, just a regular working class man, but that doesn't disqualify what he has to say. The issues go back before he ever came to the scene, they were brewing in his hometown of Luton whilst he was still a school kid. Trying to pin the blame on men like him or groups that arose due to real issues occurring in their towns is convenient but not a really honest approach to what's actually happened in this country.
If muslim kids weren't so disenfranchised, "home grown terror" and the toxic religious culture that nurtures it would be far less potent.
If racist ideas weren't so prevalent in society, the radicalisation of muslim youth wouldn't be possible.
Absolute rubbish. This is the same excuse trotted out by people who claim the riots we had in the UK were because all the young people were "disenfranchised". It's absolute bullshit. Same for people who justify the actions of drug takers or criminals by saying poverty breeds their behavior. There are plenty of people from all those demographics who
don't become terrorists, rioters, drug takers or petty criminals. You're making excuses here for the actions of people who refuse to accept a situation and turn their dissatisfaction into violence against innocent people. It's easy, convenient, to warp things to suit that narrative but at the end of the day it's just an excuse Spacejunk and I don't buy it.
If Islam is a religion of peace as always proclaimed then its followers should have no trouble ignoring petty calls to violence against innocent people. Turning the other cheek I believe it's called...
Have you noticed that whenever there is a terrorist attack, the far right go into overdrive? I'm sure you have noticed that...you always appear and make posts about how "something must be done" as soon as there is a terrorist attack.
You know why that is?
It's because fascists and islamic terrorists have a symbiotic relationship.
I think you'll find ordinary people are getting fed up of all these bullshit attacks on innocent people in our urban centres, but most are too afraid to speak up because people like yourself threaten violence at the worst and they also fear criticism or even losing their jobs for daring to question against the current politically correct wave.
Racist anti-islamic sentiment thrives on fear, and islamic terrorist attacks are the best recruitment tool far right groups have.
And as i've already explained, the far right also benefit the recruitment of islamic terrorist groups - both groups feed each other and feed off each other. It's a co-dependent relationship.
Every time some nutter kills people in the name of allah, the nationalists are onto it immediately - gloating and exploiting the tragedy to push their agenda.
This I won't deny. It's logical. It's how all information warfare functions, right down to the mainstream media picking a non-story and trying to spin it to sell papers or whatever. The flaw in your position is that you automatically function as judge and jury in regards to who fits into the category of fascist, hate-group or whatever, rendering any information or perspective that may be contained within those groups or experiences of those people relating to them as obsolete and irrelevant because it contradicts your position - in short, you're not being very open minded and are guarding your ideological and political position. Which is fine, but at least have the humility to acknowledge that fact when someone presents it to you.. instead of denying it and throwing it back (in my case calling me a Nazi).
If islamic terrorism disappeared tomorrow, tommy robinson would have to go back to committing mortgage fraud for a living
In alm seriousness, though - without islamic terror, the likes of mr robinson would be as irrelevant politically as they are intellectually.
Without scapegoats, these professional bigots would have nothing to say, and nobody to listen to them.
He only started the EDL and went down this route
because of what was happening in his home town, because no one else was doing anything about it. If it all disappeared there would be no need for the EDL or Tommy, no, and they could go back to just watching football and taking care of their families. The BNP or other groups would probably still exist and find an excuse to justify their political life, because they are political entities whereas Tommy and the EDL are not (they're street movements responding directly to a problem).
I suggest you look into the murder of Mark Sharp in Luton in 1995. He was brutally beaten and later died because he was cut up by another car, gave them the finger, and then those guys got out and beat him to death all whilst his young son was present. They had weapons, got back up, and the sentences handed down were absolutely insulting. If that happened in your town, along with escalating gang violence from one community in particular, you'd be pretty fucking angry especially when the police and courts seem to do little to nothing to stop it. People got fed up of shit like that happening. Those "asians" were not disenfranchised - brutally beating a man to death over a simple road rage incident is outrageous, and if it had been the other way around (whites beating a muslim man) it would have made the national news.
The resentment and anger is born out of real life experiences, not because "far-right people hate all immigrants". There's way more to it than that simple and trite phrase.
