The intro by the BBC Asia Network presenter Catrin Nye who had been following the EDL leader around for 6 months clearly showed that the BBC are struggling to deal with the concept of the EDL with its multicultural, multiracial, multi ethnic and non sexist following. In six months all they managed to do was drop in some video scenes of demo's to show various chants and occasional violence at EDL marches, some of them clearly not EDL but the various groups that oppose the EDL. The interview afterwards with Paxman itself also failed to nail the EDL leader who held his ground and even tripped Paxman himself up at one stage when he tried to put words into his mouth.
The problem the BBC have with Tommy Robinson is he's genuine, he really believes what he's saying and it's struck a chord with a lot of people. No, he's not polished (but he's getting better) and he's no politician either (a good thing) but he more than held his own against Paxman who could only bring up facebook as an example of EDL racism, knowing full well anyone can write on a facebook wall and yes the EDL know facebook is a bit of a liability for them, but it is the way a lot of people in the EDL communicate with each other. If you want to see the real EDL though look at their forum instead, this is where a lot of their policy gets discussed, this was also where the the Pastor Terry Jones invite was discussed, criticised and ended up being rejected by the EDL leadership.
The next charge that was thrown was that white people are also paedophiles, well it's certainly true, though they don't tend to congregate in gangs at school gates and force prostitution on their victims by plying them with drink and drugs. Nor have they any protection from the law by screaming "racist" at them, nor does the white community protect them.
Robinson was clearly nervous, but he did well, Paxman was unable to demolish him as he has effortlessly done with pompous politicians. The EDL are no saints, but they are not racist (though they have had a problem with racists) they are not homophobic (though again they have had problems with homophobes) they support Israel, which mortifies the BBC and are clearly multicultural in a way the establishment struggle to comprehend. In essence they are sectarian and this is a concept the mainstream media and politicians in the UK (with the possible exception of Northern Ireland) clearly struggle to grasp. What's worse from their perspective is that the EDL continues to grow and evolve and is now costing them a lot of money in their efforts to contain it, though this mostly goes on efforts to try and keep the EDL's opponents from attacking them as well as the police, where there has been no opposition to the EDL during a demo there's been no violence so the link is fairly obvious.
The most telling thing about the interview is that the BBC did not invite comment from any opposition group such as the UAF. Oh I'm sure they would have had something to say, problem is though the entire BBC presentation demolished the whole racist, fascist, violent spiel that they use to describe the EDL. They would have looked stupid, so in this instance the BBC were smart to keep them away.
As it was, the EDL came out of the whole thing looking like normal, concerned citizens, not articulate and polished by any means, but clearly at odds to the media image. Yes the demo's frighten some people, but it keeps the media focussed on what the EDL see as a problem so it works well for the EDL. Where the real power of the EDL lies though is in its varied membership (though there's no official membership as such) Feet on the street counts for a lot particularly when it gets reported accurately in the MSM and all credit to the guys and gals that do this, brave souls and frontline warriors. Behind this though are the milder types who work behind the scenes, refuting stories where the EDL are misrepresented in the media as well as forums and blogs, dealing with misconceptions with a well aimed sentence or a withering comment. The truth after all is out there to be found and the facts about the real EDL are easy enough to find if you go looking. There are also Islamic experts too, informing all who come to the EDL forums about Islam and it's various practices. Some are in all 3 groups, others in only one or two, but their value to the cause shouldn't be underestimated or denigrated which is where the MSM and the righteous have it all wrong. They think they can undermine, disrupt or ignore the EDL, they can't, it's not a phenomenon they really understand as it stands outside their world view and experience.
All in all this was an own goal for the BBC, the EDL didn't come across as anything like they were accused of and their leader did not get Paxmanned as a lot expected.
Wonder what they'll do next.
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