Staring into Britain’s angry face

Georgina Wright admires a brave inquiry into what makes the far-Right tick

The World Today Updated 27 November 2020 2 minute READ

Georgina Wright

Resident Senior Fellow; Director, Europe Program, Institut Montaigne

Angry White People: Coming Face to Face with the British Far-Right
Hsiao-Hung Pai, Zed Books, £12.99

The rise of the English Defence League (EDL), a street protest movement that originated in Luton in 2009, took many observers by surprise. In the space of two years, it boasted about 35,000 supporters, with many more thousands of online followers. Yet, little is known of EDL supporters – or what drives them to espouse far-Right rhetoric and anti-Muslim resentment. It is in this context that Hsiao-Hung Pai sets off on a two-year journey to uncover what drives support for the EDL.

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