Counter the EDL on Canal Street
Event date: July 23, 2011 13:00
Tagged as: culture edl gender homophobia islamophobia lgbt repression social_struggles
Canal Street, Manchester, 23rd July, 1300 - 1600
Places: manchester
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On Saturday 23rd July, between 1300 and 1600 on Canal Street in Manchester, the Islamophobic English Defence League have announced their intention to leaflet the area, spreading a message of violence and hatred in Manchester's iconic heart of tolerance and acceptance.
As part of their efforts to appear respectable and tolerant, the EDL have attempted to hijack the LGBT movement, its imagery and it struggles to lend some semblence of legitimacy to their Islamophobic campaign. Through the creation of its "LGBT Division", the EDL aims to exploit concerns about homophobia in some sections of the Muslim community to conflate the struggle for LGBT rights with a hateful, bigotted and explicitly violent anti-Muslim movement.
Their latest, breathtakingly cynical ploy is to invade the safe space of Manchester's Canal Street to leaflet and attempt to spread their message of intolerance and hatred. Unsurprisingly, the EDL are no strangers to homophobia, with many of their members enthusiastically throwing around homophobic slurs and messages on their forums and facebook pages.
It is vital that we come together, not only to oppose the transparent violent racist agenda of the EDL, but also to show them that the LGBT community are not fooled by their cynical attempts to exploit us.
Links:
Counter the edl on canal street
link to original Facebook event page
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Well done Manchester
EDL LGBT leader Liam Wood announces via Facebook:
YOU KNOW WHAT FUCK IT,I KNOW ITS SHORT NOTICE BUT WE WILL POSTPONE TOMMOROW. I WILL GET IN TOUCH WITH ALL THE LOCAL RO'S AND WE'LL ARRANGE SOMETHING MASSIVE AGAINST MUSLIM HOMOPHOBIA IN A FEW WEEKS. NO POINT GOIN WITHOUT A PROPER PLAN SORTED BECAUSE THEM LEFTY CUNTS WILL END UP IN THE CANAL AND ILL END UP IN NICK
Showing that he isn't averse to the idea of throwing fellow LGBTs in the canal and demonstrating why being able to mobilise against hate groups is critical in keeping them off our streets. Manchester and the Gay Village have made it overwhelmingly clear that the EDL are not welcome here, defeating them before they even set foot on the streets. Well done!