Incitement of Hatred
League of Defense of England on the march.
Most of these calls were aimed against the Muslim community. On February 26, 2014, Legoland Windsor has been forced to cancel a Muslim fun-day at their premises after far-right groups had threatened members of staff and had pledged to picket the event.
Crisis in Gaza resulted in calls against Jewish people and Israel. On the 26th of July, a pro- Palestinian demonstration was held in central London, during which a man carried a placard which read: “Save Gaza! Hitler you were right!”
Statements against Eastern Europeans were also noted. On March 6, a wall in Belfast displayed a swastika and writing “Poles, Get Out!” Generally the neo-Nazi literature and music cannot be considered very common or popular in the United Kingdom.
Nevertheless, the biggest neo-Nazi chain of promoters called “Blood & Honour”, which was founded in 1987 and named after the Hitlerjugend’s motto “Blut und Ehre”, is still active in the country. These promoters organise concerts and distribute recordings of bands belonging to the “RAC” genre – “Rock against Communism”. The Blood & Honour chain of promoters is supported worldwide by the bands that share neo-Nazi and nationalistic views.
The main theme explored in the RAC music is usually racial war, cities as war arenas against foes, bravery, and the final victory of the white man. An entire series of bands play this style of music in UK. Some examples would be English Rose, Celtic Warrior, Chingford Attack, Legion of St. George, White Law, etc.
In addition to that, Britain was also visited by such foreign neo-Nazi rock-bands as “Cirhoza 88” from Czech Republic, Greek band “Der Stürmer”, who are directly linked to the Golden Dawn Party, as well as “The Tattooed Motherfuckers”, “Short Cropped”, “Heroes”, “Baker’s Dozen”, “Kombatants”, “No Quarter”, “Pittbullfarm”, “Pressure 28”, and “Citizen Keyne”, all well-known in the European neo-Nazi communities.
English Defence League held a number of demonstrations across the country in 2014: Slough (February 1, 150 people ), Sunderland (March 29 ), Rotherham (May 10, 400 people ), Newcastle (18 May, 400 people ), Colchester (May 22, 30 people ), Stevenage (June 7, 300 people ), Middlesbrough (June 29, 300 people ), Bolton (July 7, 100 people ), Bournemouth (August 9, 350 people ), Batley (August 9, 300 people ), London (20 September, 400 people ), Portsmouth (11 October, 40 people ), Birmingham (11 October, 300 people ), Luton (November 22, 300 people ). The largest action was held on September 13 in Rotherham, dedicated to “sexual crimes” of Muslims, gathering about 1000 people. Such demonstrations are used to mobilise supporters.
On January 18, 2014, PAP held a demonstration against the Muslim Brotherhood in London, gathering 25 people. In July, the organisation announced a “national tour” across the country – several demonstrations in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield and Wigan, accompanied by clashes with antifascists. On November 1, PAP held a National Action Day in Rochester, gathering 80 people.,/p>
On June 14 and August 30, 2014, nationalists from the South-Eastern Alliance held a demonstration in Cricklewood, directed against Muslims. Scottish Defence League held demonstrations in Berwick and Edinburgh, gathering about 40-50 supporters.
On April 5, a White March was held in Swansea, organised by the National Front.
On October 4, National Front held a demonstration in Newcastle, directed against Islam.
On January 18, 2015, an anti-Muslim demonstration was held in Lincoln by Western England Patriots. They threatened antifascists taking part in a counter-demonstration. On January 26, Jobbik party supporters held a small rally in London.
On March 15, English Volunteer Groups held a demonstration in London, gathering 100 people.
Since 2008, nationalists from March for England have been holding St. George marches in Brighton on April 27th every year.
On June 17, 2014, a racist demonstration was held in Belfast.
On July 26, about 40 members of the Popular Front tried to protest against the "Asian invasion" in Gloucester. On October 25, Welsh Alliance held a demonstration in Cardiff.
On August 9 and 29, 2014, British, Greek and Polish nationalists organised a rally at the Greek Embassy in London to support the Golden Dawn party. All of these events received minimal support of the local population. In a number of cases, demonstrators had to find support in other regions.
A number of anti-Semitic demonstrations were caused by Israeli operations in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian rallies were held in London on July 19, 26 and August 9, 2014. The first one gathered 15 000 people. Daily anti-Israeli rallies were held in Manchester since July 23.
In 2015-2016 Right wing nationalist parties have actively used growing radical sentiments in the country that followed the refugee crisis and numerous terrorist attacks. Nigel Farage’s UKIP party was particularly successful, gaining significant results in the general elections after the series of attacks in France. Interestingly, Nigel Farage turned to the Jewish community, despite being accused of anti-Semitic statements earlier. However, this is not uncommon for European extreme right. Many similar parties across the continent have turned more “pro” Jewish, pro women and pro LGBT in order to unite more people against a single foe.
Meanwhile, Islamist radicals have used these right-wing sentiments to their advantage. One of the of the leaders of Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Ibtihal Bsis, claimed that Islam is basically “outlawed” in Britain and that there is a war on Islam in the country. She encouraged Western Muslims to “pick a side”.
Voluntary assimilation of Muslims in Europe is becoming less common, while, Al-Muhajiroun, the organisation that professes Islamist extremism, continues being active, despite being banned in the UK. Today it is known that more than 100 people associated with the group were convicted by the British court for crimes related to terrorism. Individual experts, such as Raffaello Pantucci, argue that 50% of all terrorist attacks planned and carried out in the UK were committed by people recruited by this organisation.
Many recent studies in the UK have examined xenophobia and its relationship to so-called "triggers" during the reporting period. A November 2019 study by Cardiff University's HateLab found that the 2013 Woolwich terror attacks, the 2016 EU referendum and subsequent 2017 terror attacks led to an increase in online hate speech and offline hate crimes, mostly within 24-48 hours of such events. Moreover, another earlier study came to similar conclusions - suggesting that the EU referendum led to a significant increase in hate crimes equivalent to the Manchester and London attacks, taking other factors into account.
In general, the driving forces behind radicalization in the mainstream far right in the UK tend to be anti-Muslim prejudices and anti-elite sentiments, in which there is a sense of victim and regret at being excluded from mainstream political discussions.
In the last week of January 2020, British nationalists attacked mosques, cab stands, and hotels in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, in an attempt to stoke racial tensions, calling on the city's Muslim residents to "get ready and see what we do to you . Second, as a reaction to the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020, radical right-wing extremists in Britain launched a broader campaign in response to the Black Lives Matters protests in Britain, which included the desecration of monuments to historic British characters. Joining together, disparate nationalist groups staged a major protest in London in June 2020, demonstrating "patriotic unity" to "protect our monuments"; this was an apparent attempt to encourage culturally conservative communities to engage in a radical nationalist movement in response to the desecration of statues in other parts of Britain before the protest.
Similarly, neo-Nazism in Britain continues to inspire people to accelerate "race war" through violent means. In February 2020, for example, the neo-Nazi group and offshoots National Action, the Sonnenkrieg unit and the System Resistance Network were banned after two members of the former group were imprisoned for inciting an attack on Prince Harry after his marriage to Meghan Markle.
Moreover, in July 2020, the small international neo-Nazi organization Feuerkrieg Division was also banned by the U.K. government because the group was found to be radicalizing people as young as 13 to commit violent "accelerationist" acts . Such cases, also joined by attempts by solo performers, were symptomatic of a broader association of people around an international radical-right extremist terrorist ideology - sometimes referred to as the ''Universal Order,'' whose covert nature on the darknet and in forums poses an increasing problem for politicians and law enforcement in Britain and other countries.
A significant backdrop for these developments has been the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen right-wing radical forces (such as the National Front and the Democratic Football Guys Alliance) and influential conspiracy advocates (such as James Tring and David Ike) unite in the streets in several UK cities to express their opposition to the UK government's lockdown measures. Antivaxers have deployed aggressive propaganda on the vast expanse of the Internet, full of insinuations related to various conspiracy theories. Rarely visited (and showing signs of neo-fascist symbolism), British radical right-wing Internet sites have deployed massive propaganda. This has led not only to spontaneous and organized right-wing demonstrations, but also to an increase in the number of "lone wolfs" - lynch mobs.
