Everyone has the ability to change, though change takes time, self-reflection, soul-searching, tears, happiness, ‘eureka’ moments and possibly a change in familial relations as they get used to changes in the individual. Take for example, the ‘conversion’ of Tommy Robinson where he decided that he wanted to leave the EDL simply because he could not control the ‘extreme’ elements in his group which makes the conversion even more laughable given the comments he has previously made. Here are some examples of previous tweets made by Tommy Robinson:
The above tweet made by Robinson was made on the 20/6/2012 or take the following tweet:
Or maybe this statement which I am sure Tommy wants to try and forget:
So, in three tweets, we have shown opinions from Tommy Robinson where he believes that Muslims (i) inbreed (ii) the Koran is evil (iii) Muslims breed terrorists (in fact, he suggests that they genetically are programmed to plant bombs – in the form of their children).
So, you would think that someone who is feted around as a poster boy for the Far Right made good would (i) break links with EDL followers publicly (ii) start to show some flexibility of mindset, for example, around elements like Islam and (iii) understand that tweeting people with EDL on their Twitter handle might be a bad thing. We will show you how Tommy Robinson has done none of the above. So here we go:
Tommy Robinson continues to this day to talk to EDL followers, some of whom have been active for years and whom he is aware are core EDL sympathisers. In fact, when told by Hope Not Hate that he is speaking to someone that they have documented an article on, Robinson does not respond and simply moves on :
Or take this tweet where Robinson has a conversation with ‘Queen Lareefer’, an EDL sympathiser who has been active on Twitter for some time now. We have listed her tweets below his to show the kind of individuals Tommy is busily having a chat with, though we should also add that highly aggressive tweets against anyone, whether EDL sympathisers or not, are not helpful nor what anyone should be tweeting out to others, irrespective of their views.
Moving onto the second point which we mentioned earlier that a flexibility of mindset on say, Islam, would start to show a mental shift in Robinson, we came across the following tweet and the date of the tweet is worrying. This is a statement made very recently and according to Robinson, Mo Ansar has strengthened his belief against Islam during his 18 month documentary journey with Mo.
Or take this statement which is not only fundamentally untrue, it could be regarded by some as being inflammatory and being prejudicial against the Somali community since it suggests that they are potentially a ‘suspect’ community. Here Robinson links immigration to ‘Somali terrorists’ and he implies that the Government is allowing in people who could be Somali Al Shabab (sic) terrorists. Once again, such a statement could easily be read as putting a question mark on every Somali who comes through the immigration (or asylum) process, since according to the ‘reformed’ Robinson, they could be Al-Shabaab. If this tweet does not demonstrate what a complete load of rubbish Robinson harps on about, we are not sure what else would.
Or let us take this tweet where Robinson once again, is openly talking to someone who is well known to us and who is an ardent EDL supporter. You would think that with EDL in the Twitter tag Robinson would think twice about engaging with them. Clearly, this does not apply to the ‘reformed’ Robinson. Here he is just today, having a conversation with @Watford_EDL:
Just to remind readers what @Watford_EDL tweets out, here are some less than civilised examples from someone who calls himself the Reverend, though we are sure that no Christian wants such an individual even to associate themselves in any way shape or form with Christianity or any church. Here he deludely talks about ‘Islam starting the blood shed and allowing it to continue for 1,400 years.’ (Not an ounce of brittle deluded thinking here – no not at all!) Or when he mentions, more aggressively and worryingly, when ‘we have managed to combat ot (sic) back.’
Or take this tweet by ‘the Rev’ when he states the following, not even realising that the Crusades were launched against Muslims. But that does not matter to some people in the EDL whose main aim is to promote twisted untruths and prejudice.
So, on the basis of just a few of the tweets and comments out there, has the Damascene conversation of Tommy Robinson taken place with a real mindset shift, We think not! Do we think that he should be cutting his overt links to the EDL – certainly yes, if he is to be taken seriously. Lastly, has Tommy Robinson bothered to acknowledge two simple steps that we had openly asked him to fulfill if we were to be able to develop future engagement with him. The answer is once again, no! Not a peep or a tweet and we think that this in itself, speaks volume.