We Are Norwich vs the EDL

We Are Norwich held its first public meeting on Wednesday 24 October. Its speakers included representatives of Chapelfield Mosque, Black History Month, PCS Union and the Green Party, along with Reverend Simon Wilson.

Martin Smith, who has a history of involvement with loony far-left organisations such as Unite Against Fascism and the Socialist Workers Party, appears to have been the lead speaker.

EDL members discussed the possibility of "infiltrating" the meeting:

The image comes courtesy of Hope not Hate, which does not identify the Facebook page that the discussion took place on.

Note the final comment from Julia "Angelcynn" (of Steadfast Trust fame), which ekes yet more comedy from the notion that anyone who criticises the EDL must, by definition, have poor personal hygiene. Keep at it, Julia, that one never gets old.

And here we have an exchange from the EDL East Anglian Division's page:

Aside from the curious mockery of the people at the meeting simply because some of them are elderly, notice how quickly these EDLers tar them as "UAF". Thanks to Martin Smith's presence We Are Norwich is a little too close for comfort with UAF, granted, but it seems a stretch to assume that every single one of these people is a UAF member.

EDL March: The EDP polls the city

On Tuesday October 16 the Eastern Daily Press website ran an article on the planned EDL march in Norwich and negative reactions to the prospect from Norwich church leaders. The article was accompanied by the following poll:

The yeas have it. Some EDL sympathisers, such as "dave123" and "turnover" in the article's comments box, have taken this to mean widespread support in Norwich for the EDL:

Ooh dear Sarah Bailey! Look at the vote??? Time for you and your one sided views to get back in the box! The people want this visit so enjoy the day!

I think that from the overwhelming vote of 82%. The EDL is most welcome in Norwich.

This is not necessarily the case. I do not like the EDL but I voted "yes" because I believe that they have the right to march.

As an aside, I got a laugh out of this comment from "turnover":

It seems strange that the only way the "Yes" vote is going is down yet the "No" vote is going up. I always thougth that when you reached a total of 100% from the YesNo that was the vote complete. I seems the EEN have other ideas of being Impartial (see if this gets posted unlike the last comment)

The poor fellow seems to have a shaky idea as to how votes are counted in polls: they are always at a combined total of 100%!

First post!

Welcome to my shiny new blog, Norwich Culture Wars!

For more than two decades I have been a Norwichite, and just so it happens, I have a strange obsession with the sundry cranks, extremists and other oddities found on the fringes of politics and culture.

As I type, the English Defence League is planning to hold its first ever march in Norwich on November 10. I started this blog with the short-term goal of chronicling this endeavour, but I hope to branch out and cover a wider range of subjects.

It begins here... hold on tight, you're in for a bumpy ride across a terribly, terribly flat county.