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Rotherham: A Thank You

Category: EDL News Published on Friday, 16 November 2012 17:28 Written by Pyrus Hits: 2183

EDL members in Rotherham deserve a thank you.

For months they kept up sustained pressure on the local council and on the media in the hope of determining just how much the authorities knew about the Muslim grooming gangs that were targeting young girls in the area.

They refused to let the issue lie, and although they faced accusations from some quarters that they were simply out to ‘exploit the situation’, it was clear to most that they in fact had nothing but good intentions.

This is not always easy. Either you find yourself portrayed as ‘anti-Muslim’ (and written off as nothing but a hateful fantasist) or you ignore the influence of Islam altogether and end up failing to make any meaningful criticism. Finding the right balance is hard.

As in other towns in the north of England, the members of these gangs were overwhelmingly Muslim men of Pakistani origin, and this fact should speak for itself. But it doesn’t. In modern Britain suggesting for even one moment this fact suggests that there might be a ‘particular problem’ that we ought to look at very carefully can expose you to all kinds of vile accusations that do little more than close down the debate.

This is a sad reflection on the quality of the public debate in this country. When one side can yell ‘racist’, ‘Islamophobe’, ‘bigot’ without having their (strangely bigoted) accusations seriously contested, it is clear that respect for diversity of opinion has begun to fade.

In Rotherham they weathered the storm. And they were right to.

In fact, back in September it was revealed that a confidential 2010 report for Rotherham Safeguarding Children Board had described the activities of the town’s grooming gangs as having “cultural characteristics … which are locally sensitive in terms of diversity”. It continued: “Great care will be taken in drafting … this report to ensure that its findings embrace Rotherham’s qualities of diversity. It is imperative that suggestions of a wider cultural phenomenon are avoided.”

In other words, they knew that there was a ‘particular problem’, but didn’t dare suggest that this could extend any further than Rotherham. There were ‘cultural characteristics’ to be mindful of, but certainly no evidence of ‘a wider cultural phenomenon’.

For the authors of the report, cheerleading for ‘diversity’ was evidently more important than making criticisms that could have made a very real difference to the way in which the police and social services responded to these sickening crimes.

 Rotherham demonstration from October 31st 2012

In some cases the abuse had been happening for as long a decade. How many opportunities were missed? How many other councils failed to say in plain English what should have been obvious to anyone reading those reports? And if they hadn’t been so obsessed with singing the praises of diversity and opposing ‘those who wish to divide us’ (i.e. those who aren’t afraid to make criticisms when they are necessary) how much sooner could the authorities have acted?

How much abuse was allowed to continue because no one was willing to admit that they knew exactly which section of the community they should be investigating?

Is cheerleading for diversity really more important than ending the systematic rape and abuse of young girls? We don’t think so. Rotherham social services, like so many others, got their priorities so very wrong.

So who did shamed Rotherham MP Denis MacShane reserve his anger for? That’s right – during an EDL demonstration earlier this year he picked up a microphone and told EDL supporters to “f*** off”.

This is typical of the response EDL members in Rotherham have become used to receiving. It’s far easier to demonise people who expose inconvenient truths, call them names and refuse to take seriously their concerns, than admit that they were right and you were wrong.

When more and more people begin to recognise that there is no truth to accusations that we are ‘racist’, ‘fascist’, or whatever else, then perhaps ‘f*** off’ is all that the likes of Denis MacShane will have left.

So thank you Rotherham. You deserve better than Denis MacShane and you deserve better than the cowards who failed to sound the alarm about Muslim grooming gangs. But at least you have an EDL division that refuses to be intimidated and which will continue to peacefully protest against Islamic extremism.

Grooming gangs are now on the agenda – they can be ignored no longer – but in how many other cases are the authorities appeasing extremism rather than confronting it?

If you have a local issue that you believe isn’t being given enough attention, or if you’ve organised a demonstration and would like it advertised on this website, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .