AFDI/SIOA/SIOE/SION/EDL/BF Global Alliance Event 9/11/2012

by Sheila Musaji

On September 11th, 2012, the AFDI/SIOA/SIOE/SION/EDL/BF Global Alliance held what they called variously - an AFDI Freedom of Speech Congress - an International Freedom Defense Congress, etc. in New York City.  This event was a follow up to their much vaunted AFDI/SIOA/SIOE/SION/EDL/BF Global Alliance Rally in Stockholm.  The article AFDI/SIOA/SIOE/SION/EDL/BF Global Alliance Rally in Stockholm Fizzles outlined the background of the formation and efforts of these hate groups and included their announcement of the New York gathering.  Here is that article which provides important background to the current event:

  In our TAM article AFDI/SIOA/SIOE/SION/EDL - If At First You Don’t Succeed Add Another Acronym we discussed the planned gathering of anti-Muslim hate groups in Stockholm planned for today.  That article also includes background on the individuals and organizations involved.

Pamela Geller had posted an announcement about this gathering Worldwide Counter-Jihad Alliance to Launch with Stockholm Demonstration on August 4 back in June.    

According to their SION press release

The first worldwide counter-jihad initiative will begin August 4 with the First Annual Global Counter Jihad rally in Stockholm, Sweden. Representatives from Stop Islamization of Nations (SION), Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), the English Defence League (EDL), and allied groups will speak.

The Global Counter Jihad rally will feature the president of SION and executive director of SIOA, Pamela Geller, as well as SION Vice President and SIOA associate director Robert Spencer. Also speaking will be the EDL’s Tommy Robinson, SIOE’s Anders Gravers, and other worldwide leaders from official Stop Islamization and Defence League groups

“The conference,” said Geller in a statement, “heralds the launch of a worldwide counter jihad alliance. Freedom fighters from Europe and America, as well as India, Israel, and other areas threatened by jihad, will at last be working together and forming a common defense of freedom and human rights.”

In January of this year, we reported on SIOA’s first announcement of the formation of this new coalition, SION:  Hate Groups Unite to Form an International Hate Coalition.  When that big announcement was made six months ago about the formation of SION, the groups included were:  Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE).   The announcement of this “new” coalition includes the groups: Stop Islamization of Nations (SION), Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE), the English Defence League (EDL), and allied groups.  There is nothing new here except that the EDL is now included as well as “allied groups”.  It will be fascinating to see who these shadowy groups are.

It appears they are attempting to re-brand themselves and align together “globally”.  In the article SION:  Hate Groups Unite to Form an International Hate Coalition that I published in January, I noted that:

David Duke attempted to re-image the KKK as a “moderate” group who are simply proud of their race.   Duke attempted to tone down his rhetoric and present the KKK using positive terms.   Duke, and a number of other Klan leaders, denied being racist, but expressed concern about whites being in danger of losing their culture from an onslaught of Blacks and non-European immigrants.  They said things like Our land is once again being destroyed by the same treason. This time it is not only confined to the South, but it is affecting the nation as a whole and “we don’t hate blacks, we just love whites”.   They presented themselves as “pro-white” rather than anti-Black and anti-Semitic.  They claimed that their “movement” was necessary to combat “anti-white and anti-Christian propaganda” and “to promote “White Christian civilization.”  

Taking a page from this attempt to re-image hatred, a core group of Islamophobes is trying to camouflage their ideology by using and abusing terms like “freedom fighters”, “truth tellers”, and “patriots” to cover their extremism and hatred.

International hate groups have just announced that they are uniting in a global anti-Muslim coalition.  Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) are joining together in a coalition called Stop Islamization of Nations (SION).

These groups like the “new” Klan define themselves in positive terms. They say that they are dedicated to defending human rights, religious liberty, freedom of conscience and the freedom of speech against Islamic supremacist intimidation and attempts to bring elements of Sharia to the West.  They call themselves a coalition of free people determined to stand for freedom and oppose the advance of Islamic law, Sharia.

In March of 2012, as Bob Pitt of Islamophobia Watch has noted in an article with much more information on this SION gathering —  ” The last international protest organised by the EDL and its allies, in Aarhus in March, proved to be a bit of a humiliation, with the small group of “counterjihadists” heavily outnumbered by anti-fascist protestors. No doubt the EDL hopes that SION’s support for the Stockholm demonstration will pull in a few more people.”

The SIOA and the SIOE planned a big rally in July, 2011 but the French and European authorities denied them a permit to hold the rally.  Geller claimed that this was a sign of the “collapse of democracy in Europe” and wrote a vicious article attacking the government for “capitulation to Islamic supremacists and violent radical Leftists” fo

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