Tommy Robinson on BBC Newsnight, 25 July 2011.

This is Tommy Robinson’s second appearance on Newsnight, talking to Jeremy Paxman.

One of the best forms of protection that this country has against far right extremism is the English Defence League.

As the world’s leading counter-jihad protest movement we have a great deal of responsibility – we must help turn the tide against the continual spread of Islamic extremism (in its many forms), whilst at the same time remaining vigilant for all other forms of extremism.

This is not something that we take lightly.

In additional to Islamic extremism, there are three main forms of extremism that we are helping to defeat:

  • Far Right Extremism – not always easily defined, but with a long and unpleasant history across Europe, and generally associated with forms of fascism (strict authoritarian forms of government, often with a nationalist theme). Unfortunately there still those who would misuse the flag of our nation to promote extremist views.
  • ‘Counter-extremism’ – the view that in order to defeat fascist ideologies (Nazism, Islamo-fascism, Stalinism, etc), it is necessary to resort to violence or other extreme action.
  • Violent Anarchism – The view that the existing establishment (the banks, the government, the media, leading industries, etc) are responsible for the world’s problems and deserve to be attacked in some way.

Whilst Islamic extremism remains by far the biggest threat to this country, it is important to remember what we can do to help prevent the spread of these other forms of extremism

Here are just some the ways in which the EDL continues to contribute to the fight against extremism:

  • We are committed to peaceful protest; stewarding our demonstrations and cooperating with the police.
  • We educate our supporters about the threat posed by Islamic extremism; analysing its cause and encouraging a public debate, rather than making unfair generalisations.
  • We argue that extremism cannot be fought with extremism – not only is it wrong, but it doesn’t work.
  • We speak out against prejudice, and defend the reputation of ordinary Muslims.
  • We celebrate the efforts made by truly reformist or modernising Muslims.
  • We regularly accept opportunities to debate with our critics and those with whom we disagree: encouraging mutual understanding between people on different sides of the argument.
  • We give a voice to people who have might otherwise believe that no one speaks for them.
  • We help prevent resentment from growing between communities.
  • We refuse to cooperate with known extremists, and have made ourselves very unpopular with the far right for refusing to endorse their views.
  • We celebrate diversity, by establishing ‘specialist divisions’ such as our separate religious divisions, and LGBT division.
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