CST Blog

The EDL, the Zionist conspiracy and what George Bush did next

29 September 2009

BNP leader Nick Griffin and his deputy Simon Darby have been pondering who might be responsible for the sudden emergence of the English Defence League, and have alighted on a familiar foe. Hope Not Hate takes up the story:

It is Simon Darby who begins to shine the light on those behind the EDL. “It’s been set up by a powerful organisation,” he tells his leader. “People with the power to manipulate, who are used to manipulating and have the organisational structure, the facility and the financial clout to promote it.”

“Let’s spell it out shall we,” Griffin responds.

Darby laughs, nervously. “Who’s going to do the spelling?” Obviously not him that's for sure!

“I’m going to spell it out,” his leader adds pompously. He goes on to pin the blame on those he considers responsible.

“Spelling it out in simple terms, you look at the owners of the Daily Express, the Daily Star and their interests. This is a neo-con operation. This is a Zionist false flag operation, designed to create a real clash of civilisations right here on our streets between Islam and the rest of us.”

He rants and raves a bit more, before adding: “I’ve no doubt that this is something designed to spark physical clashes between Muslim communities en bloc and the people who are coming in to hold a demonstration. They are out of it. The people who are going to get it in the neck, who are going to get the blame when it all goes wrong, are ordinary white working class communities.

“The people behind this are pushing for a low level civil war.”

Now despite the impenetrableramblings of BNP Legal Director Lee Barnes, it is no longer BNP policy to promote antisemitic conspiracy theories. Indeed, Griffin himself has castigated others on the far right for doing just that. So Griffin goes out of his way to clarify that when he says Zionists, he really doesn't mean Jews:

I'm not using Zionist as a code word for ordinary Jews at all, I'm using it - the Zionist element exploits ordinary Jews. Huge numbers of ordinary Jews, particularly in Israel, are staunchly anti-Zionist and certainly are against their wars. So I'm not using it as a code, I'm talking about Zionists as a political element. Plenty of Zionists, especially in the United States - you've got the Christian Zionists, fundamental Christian lunatics around George Bush and so on, they're all a bloody menace. Hitherto they've been a menace to peace and human survival in the Middle East, and now they're at the same game here in Britain.

I did wonder what those evil neo-cons around George Bush were up to now that they are out of power. Those ignorant fools at the Wall Street Journal think they are still trying to influence American foreign policy; in fact they have all bought themselves football tops and balaclavas and are running round the streets of Luton, Birmingham and Harrow.

In the 1990s Nick Griffin authored Who are the Mindbenders?, an exercise in listing every Jewish-sounding name he could find in the various media industries. Even then he knew that he would be accused of conducting an exercise in antisemitic conspiracy-mongering, so he tried to explain that he didn't mean all Jews:

Those Jews who are loyal to Britain, observe the laws of Britain and play no part in poisoning the minds of the people of Britain have absolutely nothing to fear from us. On the other hand, of those who are disloyal, break the law and/or play a part in poisoning the public mind – whether by means of the press, TV or any other medium – Gentiles are equally guilty as Jews and should be treated equally…Our quarrel is with the Mind-Benders in the media, not with law-abiding tailors and dentists.

It now seems that Griffin has spotted that if you talk about Zionists, not Jews, you are more likely to get away with this sort of thing. He is far from alone in trying to play the 'I'm talking about Zionists not Jews' card, but it never convinces.

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