Editorial August 2010

A community response

This issue focuses heavily on the anti-Muslim English Defence League. We reveal the BNP past of its leader, the growing involvement of Ulster loyalists, report on EDL violence in East London and critically assess the Government’s inaction. We conclude that if there were the correct leadership and political will then something could be done about the EDL threat before serious violence breaks out.

In the meantime we have no choice but to organise against this bunch of Islamophobes. The Bradford Together initiative HOPE not hate Yorkshire is running is a model campaign. It is mobilising the entire community against a planned EDL protest in Bradford in late August. It has the support of politicians from across the political spectrum, faith and community groups, business and the trade unions. It will soon be taking the campaign to the estates and neighbourhoods. Working nationally with Searchlight it is exploring alternative legal avenues to challenge the protest.

The focus of the campaign is the new Government. In opposition David Cameron spoke of dealing with the EDL and in Government the Conservatives are keen to talk of “localism”. The Bradford Together initiative, backed by thousands of Bradfordians, will seek to hold them to their words and show a united city determined to stand together against the politics of hate.

In a city that is still scarred from the 2001 riots it is a campaign we simply cannot afford to lose. Please visit our website www.hopenothate.org.uk to help us.

The gloves are off

Just when it seemed that Griffin was reasserting his authority over the BNP, new outbreaks of dissent occur. As this month’s Searchlight graphically charts there is no love lost when nazis fall out. While we should enjoy this spectacle let us not be lulled into believing the BNP is a spent force. The conditions that gave rise to its growth are still very much in existence.

An inspiration to us all

Rupy Kaur’s skydive (p18) to raise money for the HOPE not hate campaign is an inspiration to us all. Planned last summer, this jump has taken a long time to achieve but by all accounts the wait was worth it. Rupy raised almost £3,000 for HOPE not hate and more importantly proved that hope can triumph over adversity.