Tag Archives: Jay Clark

Nottingham march not EDL? Don’t make us laugh

On Sat 1st March the EDL organised “memorial events” up and down the country in a disgusting and exploitative attempt to make political gain out of a brutal murder. One of those was held in Nottingham. In the Nottingham Post’s write up of the event they chose to focus on the question of whether it really was the EDL organising the event or not, rather than the exploitation of a man’s murder to whip up hatred against the Muslim community. The fact is that the event was timed to coincide with a load of other events organised by the far right group and was openly advertised on the Nottingham EDL Facebook page.

EDL march organiser, Jay Clark

EDL march organiser, Jay Clark

Let’s be quite clear – there is no doubt that this was organised by the EDL. The organiser, as quoted by the Post, was none other than Jay Clark, former organiser of the Nottingham EDL division who is still very much involved in the group’s politics. Despite his attempts to disassociate himself from the EDL, Clark led their contingent at Nottingham’s St George’s Day march last year and organises St George’s Day events in Clifton with East Midlands EDL members. He has threatened to “wipe out” independent media websites in the past for making clear the links between himself and fascists.

EDL members Adam Bilyk (left in green hoody), Donna Walker (carrying wreath) and Emma Laker (glasses and pink shirt)

EDL members Adam Bilyk (left in green hoody), Donna Walker (carrying wreath) and Emma Laker (glasses and pink shirt)

Alongside Clark were other prominent Nottingham EDL members. Donna Walker laid their wreath flanked by Adam Bilyk (last spotted at the English Volunteer Force launch in Birmingham) and Emma Laker. Whether these people still consider themselves EDL or just fellow travellers, their  anti-Muslim agenda differs little from that of the official EDL line.


Jay Clark bows out

Fresh from threatening to wipe Indymedia clean out of Nottingham, Jay Clark is now desperately trying to dissociate himself from the EDL. His supporters claim he hasn’t been actively involved in Nottingham EDL for over a year and we should stop picking on him.

The “over a year” is a bit of an exaggeration. Jay was prominently involved in the St George’s Day event in Clifton last month, an event which was organised and stewarded by Nottingham, Newark and Leicester EDL members and which was MCed by Tony Curtis. Tony is a Nottingham EDL member who has spoken from the same platform as Saint Tommy at a number of national demos including Luton at the start of this month. Jay also marched with other EDL members in front of their massive Nottingham division flag on the Nottingham march. If Jay was really looking for a fresh start, he could’ve tried harder.

That said, he is clearly not as involved as he once was and doesn’t go to demos any more, so calling him the Nottingham organiser is inaccurate. That’s a title that would be better to give Richard Carroll AKA Richard Nottingham, who is currently dealing with the logistics. Another important figure is Tony Curtis, who seems heavily involved with the national leadership and was making international links at the Luton demo.

Richard Carroll

Tony Curtis

The Nottingham division once boasted of being one of the largest divisions in the country but it’s a shadow of its former self. People like Jay have realised that being prominent in the EDL is a thankless task: being targeted by anti-fascists, getting hassle from the OB, being publicly associated with a drunken rabble of racist hooligans, and then getting shit from your own footsoldiers when you try to instill some discipline. When it is clear that the EDL has nothing new to offer and no real sense of direction, you might as well give up all that shit and go fishing.


EDL organiser threatens independent media

Nottingham EDL organiser, Jay Clark, has made threats against the Nottingham Indymedia website in relation to an article on the site exposing the presence of the EDL and BNP at this year’s St George’s Day march. “It’s about time these pathetic cunts got wiped clean out of Nottingham” he wrote on Facebook. Asked whether he meant the EDL or the BNP he clarified “Nottingham Indymedia there a bunch of cunts”. He added that “it was them that put me all over the net leading to me getting raided for an harmless picture” referring to this repost of a photo from Hope Not Hate. Fellow EDL member Chris ‘pigs head on a stick’ Payne called Indymedia “fucking maggots”.

This is not the first time the EDL have threatened Indymedia. A group, including John ‘Snowy’ Shaw who is now leader of the North West Infidels, attempted to disrupt a meeting of the Sheffield Indymedia collective in 2010. Disrupting and attacking what are seen as left-wing or anarchist political meetings and stalls is a sideline for the EDL that they may well return to as their numbers on demos continue to plummet.

The irony is that Indymedia collectives are just providing a platform for anyone to post local news, such as “Fashwatcher”, the anonymous person who posted the article about St George’s Day. Jay could have posted his own responses on the article or his own write up of St George’s Day if he’d wanted to. Also, his assertion that it was Indymedia who put his face all over the net is not entirely accurate given that Hope Not Hate, an organisation with national rather than just local reach, published the original article.

The fact that the EDL are making threats against independent news sites is an indication of how seriously they take freedom of speech. Their response to criticism is not to engage in debate but to threaten to “wipe out” their critics and turn up in mobs to meetings with the intention of intimidating people. These are typical fascist tactics that show them for exactly what they are.


Nottingham fascists on St. George’s day

Nottingham Indymedia reports that some local fascists were seen attending the official St.George’s day parade today, although without their public branding.  The local EDL also organised Saturday’s parade in the Clifton area of the city in memory of soldier Kieron Hill and Nottingham organiser Jay Clark even got quoted in the local paper. Not everyone thought the event was as successful as the Post made out though. One local said “it was not the turn out I expected” and “it seems as tho everyone just wanted to head to the pub”. When the EDL are in charge that’s what we come to expect. It seems they headed straight to Weatherspoons after the Nottingham march as well.

The revelations will be a blow to the local Labour party’s attempts to portray themselves as anti-racists. The St. George’s Day march has grown from a tiny group of football fans in a pub in Radford to the large march through the town centre that it is today largely thanks to the Labour city council’s promotion. It will be extremely embarrassing for them that the event is being used as a platform for groups like the EDL.

It’s no big surprise that fascists will be at such public events, especially on St.George’s day, as it’s one of their best chances to safely show their collective ugly mugs in public.  The far-right, opportunists as they are, will always seek to use any space they can to gather and organise, and piggybacking on mainstream events is a relatively easy way to achieve this if they can get away with it.