The Nazis Came To Skokie--Now The Islamists Are Coming To Wootton Bassett

Remember back in 1977:

The National Socialist Party of America (a Neo-Nazi group) planned a march in the town of Skokie, Illinois, a largely Jewish community. Some Skokie residents were Holocaust survivors. The neo-Nazi leader, Frank Collin, originally had proposed a march in Marquette Park on Chicago's Southwest side where their headquarters was located. The Park District asked for a huge insurance bond to indemnify them against any damage caused by the anticipated violence hoping that this requirement would dissuade them from marching. The neo-Nazis then threatened to march in Skokie.

Now it seems that a similar kind of group is making a similar kind of threat in Great Britain:

A town famed for honouring dead British solders returning from Afghanistan expressed its dismay yesterday at plans by an extremist Islamic group to march through its streets.

Islam4UK, which calls itself a ‘platform’ for the fanatical Al-Muhajiroun movement, said its supporters will parade through Wootton Bassett in the near future.

The group’s website said the event is being held ‘not in memory of the occupying and merciless British military’ but of the Muslims ‘murdered in the name of democracy and freedom’.

Read the whole thing.

In the end, the US Supreme Court upheld the 'right' of the Neo-Nazis to march, ruling that a swastika was a form of free speech but did not constitute 'fighting words'. The group ended up marching elsewhere, having achieve the notoriety and exposure it wanted.

Islam4UK will no doubt also get the same kind of notoriety it wants, taking advantage of the laws of the land. The Skokie incident did not invite emulation--whether other Islamist groups will try the same thing is anyone's guess.

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

Technorati Tag: Skokie and Wooten Basset.