English Defence League leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (“Tommy Robinson”) has appeared on Michael Coren’s Canadian Arena TV show, discussing the recent attack on him and how he perceives the local situation in Luton. Yaxley-Lennon’s talking points were essentially a condensed version of a “New Year Message” which was posted on-line a few days ago.
News that Yaxley-Lennon had been attacked appeared just before Christmas on the Gates of Vienna blog, sourced to the EDL:
He was out driving, when he saw a car similar to his wife’s, driven by a blond white girl. The other car flashed its lights so Tommy pulled over.
A group of Pakistani youths wearing knuckle dusters poured out. Tommy was knocked out pretty quickly, and they gave him a good kicking.
He looks pretty beaten up, but no bones were broken, and no eyes or teeth are missing. He had a brain scan this morning. We don’t know the results yet.
He has spoken to The Sun, who asked whether he had called the police. Tommy said there was no point, as a racial attack on a white guy was of no interest to them.
An update to the post has an extra detail:
Message from Tommy: “They were shouting ‘allahu akhbar’ and ‘Merry Christmas, Tommy'”.
In his New Year statement, Yaxley-Lennon adds that his assailants were shouting “this is for our mosque”; the attack took place just after the council announced it was reversing a decision to sell some local land to a Shia Muslim group to build a mosque (the decision had been opposed by a separate campaign led by Yaxley-Lennon’s uncle). He also tells this to Coren, although he revises a couple of other details:
Coren: There were rumours that they were chanting “allah akbar” and “Merry Christmas Tommy” as they were kicking you. Is that true?
Yaxley-Lennon: No, the last thing which I can categorically say I heard was “we’re going to kill you, you white pig”. That was the final thing I heard before I was knocked out.
Yaxley-Lennon eventually did make a complaint to the police, although he won’t give evidence under oath:
where I live… you just can’t go to court and point at people.
According to the North West Infidels, which split with the EDL some time ago, Yaxley-Lennon was in fact assaulted by some local football hooligans as part of an internal dispute; the NWI claims “this is proper info from a good lad”, although no actual evidence is forthcoming. Of course, there are doubtless young local Muslims who would be willing to harm Yaxley-Lennon given the opportunity, either in revenge for EDL insults against Islam or because the EDL is seen as hostile to their community. However, that willingness is more likely to be determined by social circumstance rather than religious imperative.
Yaxley-Lennon makes a number of other accusations in his statements: he claims that police and media are covering up Muslim intimidation, and in his New Year statement he names a particular Muslim police officer as being “bent”. He also claims that a spate of car firebombings incorrectly thought to have been the work of the EDL had in fact been perpetrated by Muslims who were now in jail.
Michael Coren is an enthusiastically sympathetic interviewer, and on his blog he describes Yaxley-Lennon as
an anti-fascist, a supporter of free speech, and someone who is prepared to expose the authentic nature of Islam.
Coren also gives regular air-time to Paul Weston of the British Freedom Party, which has recently entered into an “association” with the EDL; Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have also been guests on his show.
Coren is a member of the more intellectual end of the Catholic right, and he is particularly known for his objections to homosexuality.
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Well done for drawing attention to this dangerously sympathetic interview. That guy Coren is a creep and his uncritical acceptance of the EDL is shameful. I notice a disturbing new tactic from Robinson: an insistence that he is the victim of a racist attack, and strenuous attempts to distance himself from ‘backward, inbred, nazi-sympathising scum’. He is less aggressively Islamophobic and has tightened up his message in general. With each interview he grows more of a professional media patina, and it’s worrying to see that on a person who refuses on principle to go under oath.
Plus on an emotional level he seems to take being beaten up lightly. I’d be a lot less ebullient if I’d undergone that. Does saying that make me a wimp?
Coren may be, as the poster above states, a “creep.” But if he is a Catholic, who believes in the tenets of his faith as laid out by the Vatican and its intercessor-in-chief,, then it is only to be expected that he will be “particularly known for his objections to homosexuality.”
This is something that the liberal/left in Britain and elsewhere seem to have a real problem with. Being a devout Catholic means that issues of gay rights and “gay flamboyance” are theological tabu areas for that individual to support.
Exactly the same goes for devout Muslims. However, apart from a brief attack upon Baroness Warsi for her previous rather unsubtle comments about homosexuality, few Muslims or Islamists are ever criticised by the liberal left for their open profession of disapproval of homosexuality and its outward expressions.
The only time Muslims get attacked for their homophobia is when they start advocating nasty punishments (Qaradawi, followers of Al Muhajiroun et alia suggesting they should be thrown off cliffs.)
What I find particularly hyocritical is that so many of the hard left who support the BDS Movement and attack Israel as “Nazi” see no disconnect in the easy time they give to Ismail Haniyeh and others who really would enact true genocidal measures against homosexuals, given the chance.
If a person believes in their faith, be it Muslim or Christian, one cannot fairly expect such people to abandon key principles of their beliefs.
One can obviously complain when they suggest that homosexuals should have no right to appear in the media, or talk incessantly of the punishments that should befall gay people in an ideal world – but this is where liberalism and freedom of speech do not mix easily.
A religious individual, and any other individual, should be allowed to express his or her opinion that they think homosexuality is “morally wrong” or “religiously wrong” or “against nature.”
Such views are naive and loaded with the bigotry of a previous age, perhaps, but if one genuinely supports people’s freedom of speech, one must also allow for people to also express opinions with which one does not always agree.
This is where liberals/leftists do not really know where to draw the line, and resort to labelling, name-calling and suggesting that another’s freedom to express their viewpoints should be suppressed.
I do not know which would be worse – to live in a country where religious bigotry is angrily promoted from the rooftops, or a country where anyone who has a view deemed to be “unpleasant” is vilified and shamed.
We already have in today’s legislation a situation if that person is a hotel or B&B owner and objects to male-on-male sexuality taking place under their roof, that they are liable to be prosecuted.
It is entirely right to protect the rights of homosexuals and others from being discriminated in areas of jobs, housing, etc.
But condemning a person for expressing dislike – or even open contempt – for aspects of gay lifestyle is a thin end of a very large wedge that will lead to Orwellian dissonance and hypocrisy on every level throughout society….
If a person’s religion commands that individual to disapprove of homosexual activities, and as long as they are not calling for violence against people just for what they are by nature, they should be allowed to say what it is that they believe.
To condemn a person merely for having and expressing a personally-held belief – just because another disagrees with that belief – is the fast road to introducing the Thought Police.
Oh – and Happy New Year, Richard!
Happy New Year to you, too, Adrian.
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