Let's get something out of the way first.
This blog has no time for extremists of any kind - left, right, black, white, Muslim, Christian, Jew. To us they're all agents of totalitarianism and tyranny, and they all go in the box marked "nutcases".
Nor do those of us behind this blog support the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq
Some of you reading this will already have seen news coverage of the disgraceful scenes in Luton on Tuesday, when a tiny number of people claiming to represent Islam were permitted by the police to hold a provocative demonstration abusing troops of the Anglian Regiment, just returned from Iraq.
Naturally that inflamed the crowd - of all ethnicities and religions - who lined the streets of Luton to welcome home the soldiers, and as a result the actions of 20 or less extremists gained national publicity and gave their mirror-image extremists in the racist BNP the opportunity to spew their spite and bile on all Muslims.
It's no secret that the vast majority of Muslims were against the invasion of Iraq. It's no secret that the majority of British non-Muslims were against it. And it's no secret that the invasion was justified by government lies and sleight of hand.
You don't need to be a Muslim to know that the British people were sold a pup.
So most of us oppose the war and the occuptation. But we don't blame the soldiers who took part in it, and that just happens to be the view of the vast majority of British Muslims.
Luton has a Muslim population approaching 30,000. 20 extremists, not representative of that population, and many of them not even living in Luton, turned up to spread their message of hate - and that was after weeks of attempting to spread their poison in Luton, and weeks of attempting to recruit local Muslims to take part of their demonstration.
They failed badly.
Here in the East of England we were treated to longer and more detailed local news footage from Luton than most people saw on the national news programmes. I recorded most of it in anticipation of the BNP working itself into an anti-Muslim frenzy.
It's revealing. In the shots of the flag waving crowd cheering the Anglians along there are quite a number of Sikh turbans, and a large number of people of South Asian appearance. There are also quite a number of Muslim women (the Anglians do have Muslim soldiers, for the BNP's benefit).
Why the police allowed 20 extremist lunatics anywhere near the Anglians' parade when they knew their intentions were provocative and could easily (and nearly did) end in violence is anybody's guess. If they thought they were doing Luton's Muslim community any favours they were wrong. It isn't what that community wanted, but it's that community that has been unfairly tarred with the extremist brush.
A nut is a nut is a nut, whether he's an extremist Muslim nut or a racist BNP nut, and they and their messages of hate should all be kept off the streets.
Muslims long ago replaced Jews as hate figures for the BNP, and naturally they're playing up events in Luton for all they're worth.
Idiot racist and apparently BNP "defence spokesman" Peter Mullins, trying to pretend that the 20 nuts in Luton represented all Muslims says on the terminally slow BNP website: “Luton is well known as a heavily Muslim colonised town, and it is little wonder that there was nearly a confrontation between indigenous British people watching the parade and the Muslim protestors."
Well, the news coverage we saw here shows a pretty multi-racial crowd, none of them especially pleased by the antics of the 20 nuts.
Lickspittle, rank coward, bigot, armchair Nazi and activism avoider Paul Morris was quick off the mark on his Green Arrow hate blog - the same one which called the police "sh*teaters" no so long ago. This time he says the police "are as yellow as their jackets". He should know. Being yellow is something standing joke Morris is celebrated for in antifascist circles.
The facts are simple.
Just 20 nuts who failed to gather any support at all from Luton's Muslim community were allowed by a perverse police decision to create havoc, gain national publicity, bring shame to the community they do not represent and give their siamese twin haters in the BNP an opportunity to libel all Muslims with their lies and misrepresentation.
It's not the start of a civil war and it's not the start of a Jihad. But it is the start of another BNP campaign of hate and lies.
Don't let them get away with it. 20 nuts do not represent Britain's Muslim population any more than the racists of the BNP represent Britain's white population.
They're all just nuts together.
