Counterjihad movement

The Counterjihad movement is a tendency which unites a disparate range of groups around an ideology of opposition to Islam.

A 2009 RUSI analysis by Toby Archer noted:

Counter-jihad discourse mixes valid concerns about jihad-inspired terrorism with far more complex political issues about immigration to Europe from predominantly Muslim countries. It suggests that there is a threat not just from terrorism carried out by Islamic extremists but from Islam itself. Therefore, by extension, all European Muslims are a threat. It plays on concerns over integration and multi-culturalism and addresses issues that affect most European states.

History

Gates of Vienna, CVF and the 910 Group

An early center of counterjihad discourse was the Gates of Vienna blog, run by American Edward S May under the pseudonym Baron Bodissey. In a September 2006 post on the site, Bodissey/May called for a new cultural war:

We agree with Fjordman and many others that the Jihad is just a symptom, and that the enemy lies within. This war is a civil war within the West, between traditional Western culture and the forces of politically correct multicultural Marxism that have bedeviled it for the last hundred years.

Bodissey/May suggested a number of tactics drawn from the experience of the US Conservative Movement:

Some of our readers are old enough to remember the conservative initiative back in the mid-’80s which aimed to organize the purchase of CBS and thus “become Dan Rather’s boss”. The effort caused some eye-popping alarm among liberals before it petered out later in the decade.

He also highlighted the role of the internet:

I have said before that the blogosphere is developing enormous power, but so far it has been a reactive power, and not a proactive one. When we swarm something, we have a real effect, and can collectively sway the course of events.

Acording to the Conservative blog A Western Heart, this post provided the inspiration for the formation of the 910 Group:

The 910 Group was initiated in the comments on a Gates of Vienna post and is barely two months old. Yet it is growing incredibly rapidly, and is much larger than all of us.We are an international movement, with members in India, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Norway, and Canada, as well as the U.S.A. We comprise a self-selected group of people who share common goals: to oppose Islamic Fascism wherever it threatens us, and to promote the emergence of liberty in all the dark corners of the planet where ordinary people are degraded and oppressed.

The 910 Group would later be claimed by the US-based Center for Vigilant Freedom, which stated:

We started in late September 2006 with 28 members in the "910 Group," our citizens' network. In six months, we now have over 1,000 active members in 40 U.S. states and 21 countries, organized through online communities. In March 2007, chapters began to meet locally and organize public education campaigns in several nations and U.S. states.

UK and Scandinavia Counterjihad summit

On 14 April 2007, participants in this emerging network took part in the UK and Scandinavia Counterjihad summit at the Workers' Museum in Copenhagen.

In his speech to the meeting, Bodissey/May described Vigilant Freedom/910 Group as "a network of networks":

Anders and Ted are here to represent their respective organizations, Stop Islamisering Af Danmark and SverigeDemokraterna. Vigilant Freedom exists to coordinate their communications with others and their actions on behalf of the Counterjihad.

There is no chain of command — nor will there ever be — in Vigilant Freedom. No party line. No one in control of what happens. Our unity and mission arise from a common goal: to resist the Jihad in all its forms. Anything else is details.

He went on to announce a planned demonstration:

The next big action will be the protest in Brussels on September 11th. SIAD and Akte Islam initiated the effort, and communicated with a British group to help plan it. The word spread through Gates of Vienna and the 910 Group to lots of other internet outlets, and now the plan has grown to include parallel actions in Australia, the United States, and Canada.

The following speaker, Anders Gravers of the Danish anti-Islam group SIAD, stated that the British organisation mentioned had been No Sharia in England:

In cooperation with No Sharia in England, we agreed to try to expand the ideas of SIAD to the rest of Europe through the umbrella organisation Stop the islamisation of Europe SIOE. I would very much like to share SIOE with 910 group, but we will get into these things later tonight.

Brussels Demonstration

The SIOE demonstration was subsequently banned by the mayor of Brussels. Filip Dewinter of Vlaams Belang asked members of his party to attend without party insignia. Udo Ulfkotte, reportedly an SIOE representative, contested the ban, saying "Our organization is democratic and peaceful, and has expressly rejected any link with the extreme right and with political parties." SIOE and Ulfkotte were represented at a subsequent hearing by Belgian Senator Hugo Coveliers, with Bart Debie of Vlaams Belang acting as Ullfkotte's interpreter.

Ulfkotte later reportedly attempted to cancel the event because he "was was not happy with the fact that the far-Right was increasingly usurping the demonstration." However, British and Danish co-organisers said they intended to go ahead.

Two members of the Belgian Vlaams Belang party were arrested at the event, along with Italian Northern League MEP Mario Borghezio.Gravers handed a petition condemning the ban to UKIP MEP Gerard Batten.

Counterjihad Europa Brussels 2007

On 18/19 October 2007, the Center for Vigilant Freedom sponsored a Counterjihad Brussels Conference at the European and Flemish Parliaments.

The event was notable for the attendance of Filip Dewinter, head of the Belgian far-right party, Vlaams Belang. According to Paul Belien, while "the VB did not organise the conference, it provided an important part of the logistics and the security of those attending."

Other speakers included the anti-Muslim writers Bat Ye'or and Robert Spencer and Andrew Bostom, and Ted Ekeroth of the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.

Counterjihad Vienna 2008

The Counterjihad Vienna Conference was held in Vienna on 10 May 2008. Keynote speaker Serge Trifkovic argued that:

an education campaign about the teaching and practice of Islam should result in legislative action that would exclude Islam from the societies it is targeting - not because it is an intolerant “religion,” but because it is an inherently seditious totalitarian ideology incompatible with the values of the West.

Bodissey/May described the event as a 'working meeting':

One of the purposes of our meeting in Vienna was to move the center of gravity for our activities out of the United States and into Europe itself, among the people who will bear the brunt of Eurabia and who thus have the greatest incentive to resist it.

There will undoubtedly be more European workshops, and I (and other Americans) may well be involved. But action in a distributed network should be planned and executed close to where it is most needed and where it will be the most effective.

Counterjihad organisations

CVF network

Center for Vigilant Freedom | 910 Group | Counterjihad Europa | International Civil Liberties Alliance

External Resources

• Toby Archer, Countering the 'Counter-jihad', RUSI Monitor, September 2008.
• Daniel Luban and Eli Clifton, POLITICS: Dutch Foe of Islam Ignores US Allies' Far Right Ties, Inter Press Service, 28 February 2009.