After looking at the EDL's website, there is one march that they will be doing before my deadline that I will be able to go to and document, this is in Dudley on 7th February 2015. Dudley is on the outside of Birmingham, so it wont be too far to travel to. This is the first EDL demo of the year so they are expecting to have a lot of support from their followers. The reason they have chosen Dudley to host the first one of the year is because it has just been granted to built a 'mega-mosque' after a seven year battle with the price tag of £18 million. Which has created a lot of discussion between the different sets of groups for whether it is needed or not because there are already seven mosques in the Dudley area.
The EDL have released a statement to their official Facebook group stating why people should come and show there support in Dudley on the 7th February:
First demo of the year. EDL foot soldiers are needed in Dudley. Here’s why:
•• Dudley is your average English town – nothing to make it stand out nationally – but that doesn’t stop it from being loved by the Black Country people who call it home
•• Dudley is like your town and my town. It’s our equivalent of “Hometown, USA”. More than
•• When a home town like Dudley is under threat, the threat reaches into houses and into families and into hearts. The present threat has a name: it’s the Islamification of home towns like Dudley
•• Dudley has invited the EDL to support its struggle against another mosque – the town’s eighth. If we can help stop this mosque we will be helping protect a home town and its families. A home town like yours. Families like yours.
While we are in Dudley, we’ll be demonstrating FOR England, FOR freedom and FOR our English future. And we’ll also be protesting AGAINST a barrage of assaults on us: Muslim rape gangs, halal, Trojan Horse schools, the burka, returning jihadis, sharia law, men treating women as second class, uncontrolled mass immigration. The list goes on. And on.
Just Wednesday this week, yet another report on Rotherham – and they STILL haven’t charged any of the men who abused the 1,400 English girls! The EDL won’t let them forget.
Just Wednesday this week, yet another report on Rotherham – and they STILL haven’t charged any of the men who abused the 1,400 English girls! The EDL won’t let them forget.
People ask “What is the English Defence League actually defending?” Assuming that’s not a smart-arse question, let’s begin a list here. Each item could be a post in itself. And every one of them has been the subject of many books.
Winston Churchill kicked off our list in 1939: "The essential aspects of democracy are the freedom of the individual, within the framework of laws passed by Parliament, to order his life as he pleases, and the uniform enforcement of tribunals independent of the executive. The laws are based on Magna Carta, Habeas Corpus, The Petition of Rights and others. Without this foundation there can be no freedom… As long as these rights are defended the foundation of freedom are secure…" Islam would demolish all these.
What else are we, the EDL, defending? Our belief in the democratic process, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, equality of opportunity, the presumption of innocence, small government, the individual before the group, religious freedom, trial by jury, the rights of the child, our Christian heritage. Again, Islam would do away with all these.
Join us on Saturday 7 February in the defence of Dudley and in the defence of England – our rich heritage, our proud history and our threatened future. Bring the whole family. Bring posters protesting the mosque or other aspects of the Islamification of Britain.
As you can read from their statement, they talk about how they will be demonstrating for freedom, which is why I have decided to photograph this group. And they are using the right to freedom of speech and press to get their point across to the world. After researching into why the EDL are coming to Dudley, I can begin preparing for the event. I will do this through looking at different photographers who produce work that is similar and also look at articles I may need to think about before going to an event that could potentially kick off and turn into a riot.