“Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die," Elon Musk told the large crowds at Saturday's “Unite the Kingdom” rally.

“Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die," Elon Musk told the large crowds at Saturday’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally.

More than 100,000 people descended on Britain’s capital on Saturday for one of the country’s largest far-right rallies in decades.

The “Unite the Kingdom” rally was organized by Tommy Robinson, a convicted fraudster with a violent criminal record, and attended by billionaire Elon Musk via video link. Amid a sea of flag-waving and soccer-style chanting from large crowds that exceeded expectations, violent clashes with police led to dozens of arrests.

It came amid a surge of nationalism in the U.K., with a far-right party topping the polls, and the murder of American conservative activist Charlie Kirk — an assassination Robinson used to mobilize support in the run-up to the event.

  • phutatorius@lemmy.zipEnglish
    1·
    15 hours ago

    got into position of power due to the suppression of moderate leaders by authoritarian regimes ie. Taliban

    The Taliban came long after Al-Qaida and had very similar ideology. They were organised and funded by the Pakistani security service, the IIS. The original Taliban groups were Pakistani seminary students harassing the less backward elements of Pakistani society. The movement was later spread to Afghanistan. And the Taliban were allied with Al-Qaida, never attempted to suppress them. Some other Middle Eastern governments tried to suppress them (Saddam’s Iraq, successfully; Egypt’s corrupt military junta, far less so). The Taliban hosted Al-Qaida fighters and training camps, and elements of the Pakistani military provided Bin Laden with safe haven on a military base.

    Al-Qaida started as a Wahhabi-based xenophobic movement to purge Saudi Arabia of Western influence. The Wahhabi movement itself was a fanatical Sunni movement founded over 200 years ago with the intent to exterminate non-Sunni Muslims and non-Muslims. The Saudi and Qatari royal families are Wahhabi. The former from a more virulent faction than the latter.

    Anyway, that’s just one of your bullet points dismantled. In general, the idea that every group of extremists was somehow inevitably caused by some kind of social upheaval or injustice is simplistic and has no predictive value.

    • Petr Janda@gonzo.marketsEnglish
      1·
      10 hours ago

      Furthermore, while not every extremist group formed because of society ailments it is** a well known factor recognised by scholars*.

      There is robust evidence that radicalisation is a social process and that identity is a key factor in why individuals become involved in violent movements. In conflicts involving violent extremism (as opposed to terrorism directed against the West), socio-economic discrimination and marginalisation do help to explain why extremist groups are able to recruit support in large numbers (Allan, Glazzard, et Al. 2015)

    • Petr Janda@gonzo.marketsEnglish
      1·
      10 hours ago

      Sorry the inclusion of Taliban was a mistake, was typing too quickly. What I meant to say was the Afghan Marxist government .

      Studying the history of al-Qaeda is a key to understanding the ideology and even the mentality of the movement as a whole. It began in Afghanistan in 1979 in response to the introduction of Soviet troops into the country, which caused an influx of foreign fighters from all over the Islamic world. > (Vasiliev & Zherlitsyna, 2023)

      Why did the Soviets invade Afghanistan?

      In April 1978 Afghanistan’s centrist government, headed by Pres. Mohammad Daud Khan, was overthrown by left-wing military officers led by Nur Mohammad Taraki. Power was thereafter shared by two Marxist-Leninist political groups, the People’s (Khalq) Party and the Banner (Parcham) Party—which had earlier emerged from a single organization, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan—and had reunited in an uneasy coalition shortly before the coup. The new government, which had little popular support, forged close ties with the Soviet Union, launched ruthless purges of all domestic opposition, and began extensive land and social reforms that were bitterly resented by the devoutly Muslim and largely anti-communist population. > (Encyclopaedia Britannica , 2025)

      The aim of the Soviet operation was to prop up their new but faltering client state

      There you go.