• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Tommy Robinson EDL:  It was in early 2009, when an English military regiment was returning after serving in Afghanistan through the Muslim-dominated Luton town of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom, that it was protested against by an Islamist extremist group al-Muhajiroun. This insult to patriots irked a young trainee aircraft engineer, Tommy Robinson, who, along with his similar-minded friends formed the English Defence League (EDL) to counter them. He is now the most significant voice of far-right politics in the United Kingdom.

Tommy Robinson has recently emerged as the central figure in a new wave of hyper-nationalism and anti-immigration politics following his recent arrest for a charge of contempt of court. Over the weekend, thousands of right-wing Britons gathered to protest against his arrest under the banner of 'Unite the Kingdom', some donning t-shits and caps with US Republican leader Donald Trump's famous 'Make America Great Again' (MAGA) slogan - a symbol of pro-nationalism and anti-immigration policies.

Who Is Tommy Robinson

The 41-year-old man, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was once an apprentice aircraft engineer at Luton Airport reported The Week. His strong ideas against Muslim migrants and nationalism can be traced to Luton, a town with a very high population of Muslim minority, where he grew up.

Ga2CvsaWMAAFc_a

His organisation EDL started holding demonstrations in such Muslim-dominated areas, which often led to violence between his supporters and local Islamists, The Week reported. However, the English Defence League started to decline after it was allegedly found in connection with Norwegian white supremacist mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik. Robinson left the organisation in 2013.

What Has He Done After 2013

Robinson, who was discontented with the growing Muslim migration in Britain, started spreading his ideas through a website and social media, drawing significant attention. He also worked as a journalist for Rebel News, a Canadian far-right website, The Week reported, adding that "he made films about the "grooming gangs" run by Asian Muslim men in Northern towns and cities."

tommy robinson

What's Tommy Robinson's Ideology

As per his speeches and writeups, Tommy Robinson seems to be surely against two things - anti-immigration and Islam - in Britain.

"We're losing our culture. We're losing our identity. We're being replaced. We're becoming minorities in most major cities. We're being driven out of our own country, our own towns," Robinson reportedly said to an interviewer.

"I'm not far-right, I'm just opposed to Islam. I believe it's backward and it's fascist," he said in 2016.