EUROPE AND THE FAR RIGHT: THE CASE OF ENGLISH DEFENCE LEAGUE

Year 2024, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 1 - 13, 01.07.2024

Aybars Karcı

Abstract

The wave of immigration that started in Europe after the Second World War and increased over the years, the attribution of economic crises to foreigners, and ultimately the developments that profoundly changed international relations in the early 2000s, led far-right parties and groups to increase their visibility in politics and public opinion. England, known for its liberal democratic and multicultural structure, was also affected by this trend and it was observed that xenophobia, especially towards Muslims, increased in the country. It can be said that the English Defense League, which is the subject of this study and has not been examined in detail in Turkish literature before, and emerged as a street movement with the motto of "peacefully protesting militant Islam", is the product of such an environment. The organization, which became one of the largest anti-Muslim protest groups in Europe between 2009 and 2013, was analyzed in this article through the British sources using the literature review method. In this context, the general characteristics of the far-right movement, the UK far-right, the structure of the organization, the narratives used, the supporter profile are revealed and the similarities/dissimilarities of the movement with the traditional far-right are determined; It was concluded that it contributed to the mainstreaming of the British and European far-right.

Keywords

English Defence League, England, Far Right, Islamophobia

AVRUPA VE AŞIRI SAĞ: İNGİLİZ SAVUNMA BİRLİĞİ ÖRNEĞİ

Abstract

İkinci Dünya Savaşından sonra Avrupa’da başlayan ve yıllar geçtikçe artan göç dalgası, ekonomik bunalımların yabancılara bağlanması ve nihayetinde 2000’lerin başında uluslararası ilişkileri derinden değiştiren gelişmeler, aşırı sağcı parti ve grupların siyasette ve kamuoyunda görünürlüklerini arttırmasına yol açmıştır. Liberal demokratik ve çok-kültürlü yapısıyla bilinen İngiltere de bu eğilimden etkilenmiş ve ülkede Müslümanlar özelinde yabancı düşmanlığının yükseldiği görülmüştür. Bu çalışmaya konu olan ve Türkçe literatürde daha önce detaylı biçimde incelenmemiş, “Militan İslam’ı barışçıl şekilde protesto etme” mottosu üzerine bir sokak hareketi olarak ortaya çıkan İngiliz Savunma Birliği’nin (English Defence League) böylesi bir ortamın ürünü olduğu söylenebilir. 2009-2013 yılları arasında Avrupa'nın en büyük Müslüman karşıtı protesto gruplarından biri haline gelen örgüt, bu makalede literatür taraması yöntemi kullanılarak İngiliz kaynakları üzerinden analiz edilmiştir. Bu bağlamda aşırı sağ akımın genel özellikleri, İngiltere aşırı sağı, örgütün yapısı, kullanılan anlatılar, destekçi profili ortaya konmuş ve hareketin geleneksel aşırı sağ ile benzeşen/ayrışan yönleri saptanarak; İngiliz ve Avrupa aşırı sağının anaakımlaşmasına katkıda bulunduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.

Keywords

İngiliz Savunma Birliği, İngiltere, Aşırı Sağ, İslamofobi

References

• Alessio, D., & Meredith, K. (2014). Blackshirts for the twenty-first century? Fascism and the English Defence League. Social Identities, 20(1), 104–118.
• Allchorn, W. (2018). Beyond Islamophobia? The role of Englishness and English national identity within English Defence League discourse and politics. National Identities, 21(5), 527–539.
• Allen, C. (2011). Opposing Islamification or promoting Islamophobia? Understanding the English Defence League, Patterns of Prejudice, 45(4), 279-294.
• Allen, C. (2019). The Football Lads Alliance and Democratic Football Lad’s Alliance: An insight into the dynamism and diversification of Britain’s counter-jihad movement. Social Movement Studies, 18(5), 639–646.
• Braouezec, K. (2016). Identifying Common Patterns of Discourse and Strategy among the New Extremist Movements in Europe: The Case of the English Defence League and the Bloc Identitaire. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 37(6), 637–648.
• Brindle, A. (2016). Cancer has nothing on Islam: A study of discourses by group elite and supporters of the English defence league. Critical Discourse Studies, 13(4), 444–459. BritainFirst Party Policies (2024, Şubat) Erişim adresi https://www.britainfirst.org/policies
• Carter, A. (2016). Right-Wing Terrorism and Hate Crime in the UK: A Historical Perspective. İçinde M. Fielitz & L. L. Laoire (Eds.), Trouble on the Far Right: Contemporary Right-Wing Strategies and Practices in Europe (ss. 155-160). Bielefeld: transcript.
• Cleland, J., Anderson, C., & Aldridge-Deacon, J. (2018). Islamophobia, war and non-Muslims as victims: An analysis of online discourse on an English Defence League message board. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41(9), 1541–1557.
• Copsey, N. (2010). The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality. On Behalf of Faith Matters.
• Garland, J., & Treadwell, J. (2010). ‘No Surrender to the Taliban’: Football Hooliganism, Islamophobia and the Rise of the English Defence League. British Criminology Conference Panel Paper, Vol 10: 19-35.
• Goodwin, M. (2013). The Roots of Extremism: The English Defence League and the Counter-Jihad Challenge. Chatham House Briefing Paper.
• Jackson, P. (2011). The EDL: Britain’s ‘new far right social movement’. Northampton: Radicalism and New Media group.
• Kassimeris, G., & Jackson, L. (2015). The Ideology and Discourse of the English Defence League: 'Not Racist, Not Violent, Just No Longer Silent'. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 17(1), 171-188.
• Lee, B. (2019). Overview of the Far-Right. Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST). Erişim adresi https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/overview-of-the-far-right
• Macklin, G. (2016). Patterns of Far Right and Anti-Muslim Mobilization in the United Kingdom. İçinde M. Fielitz & L. L. Laoire (Eds.), Trouble on the Far Right: Contemporary Right-Wing Strategies and Practices in Europe (ss. 165-172). Bielefeld: transcript.
• Meleagrou-Hitchens, A. & Brun, H. (2013). A Neo-Nationalist Network: The English Defence League and Europe’s Counter-Jihad Movement. The International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Violence (ICSR) Report.
• Mudde, C. (2022). Günümüzde Aşırı Sağ. çev. S. Erdem Türközü. Ankara: Nika Yayınevi.
• Oaten, A. (2014). The cult of the victim: An analysis of the collective identity of the English Defence League. Patterns of Prejudice, 48(4), 331–349.
• Mulhall, J. (2019). Modernising and Mainstreaming: The Contemporary British Far Right. HOPE Not Hate. Erişim adresi https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/modernising-and-mainstreaming-the-contemporary-british-far-right
• Perliger, A. (2012). Conceptualizing the Far Right (Challengers from the Sidelines, ss. 13–18). Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point.
• Richards, J. (2013). Reactive community mobilization in Europe: The case of the English Defence League. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 5(3), 177–193.
• Taş, M. (1999). Avrupa’da Irkçılık. Ankara: İmge Kitabevi.
• Treadwell J., & Garland J. (2011). Masculinity, Marginalization and Violence: A Case Study of the English Defence League. The British Journal of Criminology, 51(4), 621–634.
• UK Parliament, (2024, Şubat), Previous general elections in the UK. Erişim adresi https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/previous-general-elections-in-the-uk/
• Ünver Noi, A. (2007). Avrupa’da Yükselen Milliyetçilik. İstanbul: IQ Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık.