Far Right Terrorism Increasing AGAIN

Why, some wonder, do those out there on the far right maintain their pretence that all those Scary Muslims™ are out to get us? After all, the number of terror-related incidents that can be attributed to followers of The Prophet have actually fallen of late, so why the continued focus on them? Ah well. This serves the far right well, because the real terrorism growth industry is happening on their own doorsteps.

Earlier this year, the Guardian reported that “The number of people referred to a UK government counter-extremism programme because of concerns about rightwing extremism has risen by more than a quarter, official figures show … In the year to March 2017, 968 such individuals were referred to Prevent, an increase of 28% from the previous year”. So what about referrals for suspected Islamist extremism?

“The majority of referrals … continue to relate to Islamist extremism, for which 3,704 of individuals … were referred. This was a 26% decline from the previous year”. These were a majority, but were in serious decline. Also, “In the year to March 2017, 6,093 individuals were subject to a referral owing to concerns that they were vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism. This was a decrease on 7,631in the previous year”. Another overall decline.

Far right terrorism was the growth industry. This growth has now been revealed to have not merely continued, but accelerated. The Guardian has now reported that “The number of people referred to the UK government’s counter-extremism programme over concerns about far-right activity has risen by more than a third, official figures show … In the year to March 2018, 1,312 individuals were referred to Prevent, an increase of 36% on the previous year, and accounting for 18% of all referrals”.

Also, “For the first time, a similar percentage of individuals received support from the Channel scheme for concerns related to Islamist and rightwing extremism. Channel … provides specialist support to people who are at risk of being drawn into terrorism … Of the 394 individuals who received Channel support, 45% were referred for concerns related to Islamist extremism and 44% for concerns related to rightwing extremism”.

This news comes hard on the heels of the Independent’s article headed “Number of far-right terror attacks increases as overall deaths from terrorism fall, report finds”, which goes on to tell “statistics revealed the number of far-right terrorists imprisoned in Britain has more than tripled in a year, rising from nine to 29 in custody by the end of March”.

But the Indy also notes “However, the yearly report found global deaths from terrorism had decreased by 27 per cent, with the largest falls occurring in Iraq and Syria as Isis continues to lose territory, manpower and resources”. Terrorism on the whole is in decline. But the far-right variety is on the increase, here and in the USA.

Small wonder that all those out there on the far right keep on targeting Muslims, despite the decline in Islamist terrorism. Anyone might conclude this is mere deflection.

Do not lose sight of the far-right appetite for terror. Because their hunger is growing.

Enjoy your visit to Zelo Street? You can help this truly independent blog carry on talking truth to power, while retaining its sense of humour, by adding to its Just Giving page at

www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/zelostreet2