Did Tommy Robinson bring the UN to Luton?

By Dr Niall McCrae

Luton is a town in Bedfordshire, famous Bedford vans and Vauxhall cars, and for cheap holidays by EasyJet. Its football club, Luton Town, is nicknamed ‘The Hatters’, after an earlier industry. Last season supporters were chastised for singing the praises of another local product, the controversial figure of Tommy Robinson.  This unremarkable town was selected for the Strong Cities Network, a United Nations scheme to boost security and to suppress any threats to civil order such as terrorism or interracial tension.  Why Luton? And is Tommy Robinson implicated in some way?

 

Strong Cities

 

The Strong Cities Network is a United Nations initiative, launched in 2015 to build resilience in major cities.  The principles of Strong Cities are: –

 

1. A commitment to address violent extremism in all its forms
2. Violent extremism and prevention efforts should not be associated with any particular religion, nationality or ethnicity group
3. A commitment to work in partnership with local communities on an inclusive, collaborative, and non-discriminatory basis and in compliance with international human rights standards

 

Members in the UK are Birmingham, Londonderry, Leicester, London, Manchester and Luton, among around 140 cities around the world.

 

Institute for Strategic Dialogue

 

The Strong Cities Network is led by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a global organisation dedicated to tackling extremism, disinformation and polarisation.  Promoting open borders and welcoming of refugees, the ISD was angered by right-wing parties discouraging European governments from accepting the United Nations Global Compact for Migration¹. At a United Nations meeting in New York, five countries voted against the deal (Hungary, Poland, USA, Czechia and Israel) and twelve abstained, but 152 countries (including the UK) approved.

 

The political agenda of the ISD was described by Tina Brooker (Unity News Network, 21 September 2020): –

 

‘It’s not just any old alliance that is behind the ISD. A quick search of the group’s website reveals the identity of its Board of Trustees: a cadre of internationalists that is second to none. The four major American metropolises have handed over control of their law enforcement policy and practice to the ISD, who in turn is controlled by a who’s who of top tier globalist, one-world government, CFR, Trilateral, Bilderberg, Rothschild power brokers. And, in its various reports, the ISD has made clear that the disarmament of civilians, particularly those found in the ‘right wing’, is the only sure way to safeguard the world.’ 

 

In the UK, the Strong Cities Network works closely with the Prevent anti-radicalisation scheme. The focus of Prevent has widened from Islamist terror to other extremists, particularly the far Right. Indeed, Muslim communities are regarded as vulnerable and as victims of hate, overlooking religious intolerance, Sharia observance that defies liberal rights and values, and support for terrorism (albeit from a minority). Islamist terror incidents, which have killed dozens of British citizens since the London tube bombings in 2005, are typically followed by warnings of a far-right backlash.

 

The town that became a Strong City

 

For the modestly-sized town of Luton to be chosen as a Strong City may seem strange. However, it has features common to other English cities in the scheme. The borough council is dominated by the Labour Party with 32 councillors, against 12 Lib Dems and 4 Conservatives. Its multicultural populace includes a rapidly growing Muslim community with strong ties to south Asia.  Until this year the mayor of Luton was Tahir Malik, who resigned after he attended a large garden party alongside fellow Labour councillors Asif Masood and Waheed Akbar, contravening Covid-19 lockdown rules.

 

A large diaspora from Peshawar has settled in Luton. In October 2018, coinciding with the Building Strong Cities conference in Birmingham, a bilateral city exchange was arranged between Birmingham and Peshawar. The delegation from Peshawar visited Luton, including the main mosque in the town. The Strong Cities Network website reported the event: –

 

‘The delegation from Peshawar met in the morning with representatives from the Borough Council, including Cllr Mahmood Hussain (Executive Member for Children and Young People) and Cllr Aslam Khan (Executive Member for Safer and Stronger), and the Community and Prevent Coordinators….The Luton delegation underlined how extremism needs to be understood within the broader safeguarding spectrum that also includes gangs, drugs, domestic violence, female genital mutilation, knives, and sexual health and exploitation. They also introduced Luton’s strategy for building a stronger community, ‘Many Voices, One Town’. The delegates then had a chance to discuss their own mechanisms in Peshawar, including their public liaison committees made of local community members and aiming at addressing community issues.’

 

By focusing on Peshawari links, the visit displayed the post-nation ideology of Strong Cities. The report referred to challenges within Asian communities, but the ISD is more concerned about xenophobia.  Right-wing groups have been active in the town for many decades, to the consternation of councillors representing  culturally diverse wards.

 

Luton is the home town of working-class activist Tommy Robinson. Enraged by a crowd of local Muslims abusing the Royal Anglian Regiment on returning from active service, Tommy Robinson founded the English Defence League.A Sun newspaper report (27 February 2012) described a town riven with hate between the far Right and radical Muslims.  Tommy Robinson left the EDL when it attracted blatant racists. When the fringe far-right group Britain First organised a demonstration in Luton in 2015, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby was among 407 signatures on a community statement denouncing the march for fanning the flames of hate. It is difficult to imagine Welby signing a petition against a Muslim extremists’ rally, and if he did, it would probably be to warn against Islamophobic reaction.

Religious tensions are attributable to the forces of globalisation and uncontrolled mass immigration. Arguably, groups like the British National Party, EDL and Britain First are secondary causes of the tension, with Islamification as the primary cause. The government and mainstream media are complicit in denying a voice to ordinary citizens who are concerned about dramatic cultural change in their area. Those who raise their heads above the parapet are insulted as ‘Gammon’ or racist bigots.

Policing of lockdown protests

 

City mayors, many of whom have a progressive globalist mentality, enable the Strong Cities Network to bypass national democracy to gain a foothold in British power structures. In a mostly urbanised society, a high proportion of the British population has been signed up to a global scheme (mostly in blissful ignorance).

 

Strong Cities membership has been useful to mayors in suppressing protests against Covid-19 emergency laws.  The term ‘far-right’ is frequently used alongside ‘conspiracy theorists’ to delegitimise lockdown critics. Any right-wing presence at rallies is highlighted, including people bearing placards opposing the ‘New World Order’, mentioning the QAnon paedophilia theory or supporting Donald Trump. Such vilification appears to work, as social attitudes are heavily influenced by mainstream and social media.  Fear of perceived racism is also dangerous: in the inquiry into the Manchester Arena concert bombing, which massacred teenagers, a security guard admitted that he was reluctant to approach the culprit despite his suspicious behaviour, because he was not white.

 

In Melbourne, brutal policing of protests has horrified Australians. Similarly disproportionate force has been applied in Berlin and London. Sadiq Khan, mayor of London, failed to explain to the London Assembly why the Metropolitan Police (for whom he is chief commissioner), stormed into a peaceful crowd with batons. ISD and Strong Cities ideology may explain the double-standards in policing at recent London events. Black Lives Matter protests, which were actually violent, urged defunding of the police, and some officers knelt before protestors to show their support. Freedom rally-goers, by contrast, are treated as dangerous extremists by riot police.

 

Such policing tactics appear to be playing a global tune, with Strong Cities as conductor. As observed in Brooker’s Unity News article: –

 

This move toward international integration of global law-enforcement agencies runs in unequivocal opposition to the locally controlled police that are a part of and accountable to the community they serve. The Strong Cities initiative will prove likely be another brick in the wall of enmity between police and people that grows higher with every encounter. ⁶

 

Lockdown in Luton

 

Luton is not currently in the highest tier of Covid-19 restrictions, but this may change very soon. Would a protest in the town centre be policed by traditional British common sense, or by the new global totalitarianism? If lockdown sceptic Tommy Robinson is involved, presume the latter.  Apparently, he has already brought the UN to Luton.