North East Against Racism flying demo

Saturday 29 May was meant to be the day of the English Defence League’s ’secret’ protest. So secret, in fact, that its location was revealed months ago as Newcastle upon Tyne, giving anti-racists enough time to organise a whopping three separate anti-racist protests, all ostensibly setting out to ‘oppose’ the EDL.

The outcome was far from decisive. The EDL turnout was not nearly as high as anticipated, with most reports giving estimates of between 800 and 1000 at their demonstration. The day passed off relatively peacefully, with no arrests on either side, and there was no repeat of the widespread rioting and violence the EDL caused in both Stoke and Dudley in recent months.

Sections of the anti-fascist movement have been quick to declare the day as  a ‘huge success’  and a victory, with ‘anti-racists dominating the city’. This is simply not true. The fact is that the EDL were able to hold a police-sanctioned march through the city centre, ending at an outdoor rally with speakers and music, before they dispersed en masse to pubs around the city to continue their drunken, xenophobic chanting. This ability to openly organise and assemble in the streets, effectively unopposed, was a massive confidence boost for the EDL. What’s worse is that later on the EDL continued to maintain a large presence in the city – groups of young males in EDL hoodies and t-shirts were on virtually every street corner, and outside every pub, well into the evening.

The EDL demonstration

The anti-fascist response was marked by its disunity and poor turnout. North East Against Racism (NEAR), a grassroots organisation similar to the Glasgow and Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliances, assembled early on, with the intention of staying mobile, avoiding police ‘kettles’, and confronting the EDL. NEAR had spotters around the city, as well as at the service station of the outskirts of Newcastle where some of EDL were gathering. Having discerned that the EDL were beginning to assemble outside of the central railway station, we marched down to confront them. Skirting through backstreets to avoid police lines, we reached the group of around 100 EDL. A tense stand-off ensued, with police forming lines to attempt the separate us from the EDL. Tactically retreating, we marched back and forward a number of times to the station. However, the NEAR demo, although called with the best of intentions and tactics, faced two main problems. We numbered less than 100, severely limiting our ability to disrupt the EDL or challenge police direction. On top of this, the EDL were everywhere – this was two hours ahead of their official demonstration start time, and EDL supporters were spread out across the city. No sooner had we massed beside one group of EDL supporters than another would start appearing behind us. We retreated back to the Monument, where local trade unions were holding a rally against the EDL. Unfortunately, this gave the police an excuse to keep us there, and the NEAR mobilisation disintegrated.

So what did the labour movement response to fascism entail? A couple of lonely union banners, shit music, some woman dancing with a hula-hoop, a few speakers and a shockingly low turnout of no more than 150 is probably the best way of summing it up. Outright lies as well – one speaker applauded the police’s actions while informing the assembled turnout of embarrassed looking trade unionists, confused onlookers and obscure paper sellers that the EDL had been ‘denied the right to march in our city today’. Surrounding the union rally was huge lines of police, which only served to alienate the public from the event, and either way, did not stop a leading EDL member, Joel Titus, from swaggering his way through the crowd earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, as the EDL began to assemble in the city centre, Unite Against Fascism were massing on a quiet road a couple of miles away. What followed was a stage-managed display of militancy, with angry chanting and plenty of talk of ’smashing’ the EDL, before the 500 or so protestors marched into a pre-arranged tight police kettle within what was just about shouting distance of the EDL. If you shouted REALLY loudly, that is. Which they did of course, not that you could even see the EDL through the thick lines of police, parked riot vans and so on.

The word reached us that NEAR were regrouping in another part of the city. Rumours abounded that the EDL were going to descend on Fenham, a mixed area of the city with a significant Asian population, as they had in Stoke, where groups of EDL went on the rampage through a predominantly Muslim area of the city, smashing up shops and vehicles. Avoiding police detection, NEAR maintained a strong presence in Fenham for the rest of the day. Thankfully, this precautionary step remained as just that and there was a no show from the EDL. Nonetheless, with the UAF and TUC demonstrations both packed up and gone home, all that remained in the city centre from the events of earlier on was large numbers of boozed-up EDL members, as well as the accompanying heavy police presence. Fortunately on this occasion, the EDL kept up their non-violent, peaceful facade and the streets of Newcastle remained free from the scenes of destruction seen elsewhere.

EDL: a fun day out for all the family!

It’s uncertain where the anti-fascist movement in England, or the EDL, go from here. It is clear that UAF, particularly following their disasterous attempts at playing militant in Bolton which ended in their leading members’ arrest and a farcical push-and-shove contest with the police, have no interest in direct confrontation with the fascists. They will continue to maintain that marches to show the EDL that ‘they are not welcome’, while barely setting sight on them, is the best strategy to oppose them. The NEAR demo on the other hand had real potential, but sadly lacked numbers. A decisive point could have been attempting to occupy the space where the EDL were finishing their demonstration. While police stood idly around the edges, leading EDL members were setting up a PA system in the middle of the Biggmarket. Several of us were able to wander freely through – with more numbers we could have taken the street.

The future for the EDL is difficult to predict. Last year, many predicted that they would burn themselves out within a few months. This has evidently not been the case – they now have a solid base of support that they can mobilise anywhere in England, from Aylesbury to Newcastle. In the short term, they look set to be planning demonstrations over the summer – perhaps an attempt to capitalise on the upsurge of football-related patriotism that England’s involvement with the World Cup will generate – including extremely provacative demos in Bradford and Tower Hamlets in east London. In the long term, the EDL leadership are attempting to make inroads into UKIP – a party with which they share both overt Islamophobia and an obsession with Geert Wildeers. With the BNP in organisational and electoral disarray, could a new popular front of the radical right, backed up by a street army of football hooligans, be about to emerge?

The tactics we need to defeat the far-right have already been displayed twice in Scotland. Mass street mobilisations to directly confront and stop the fascists can and will be effective. But for this to truly happen, unity of the anti-fascist movement is essential. Unfortunately – and as we’ve gone into on several occasions before – the established organisations have no such interest in directly stopping the fascists. Until then, its up to organisations like GAFA and NEAR to do so, and NEAR should be commended for taking the initiative with their demo in Newcastle on Saturday. It’s just a shame that there wasn’t a bigger turnout.

UKIP are the most successful minor party in British electoral history. Despite having no MP’s, no official backing from any major newspaper, and only 70 councillors UKIP were able to beat the Lib Dems and come third in 2004’s European Elections. Last year they went further, coming second and beating the governing Labour Party. Today UKIP send as many MEP’s to Brussels as Labour do. This is a formiddable achievement for a party that was only founded in 1993.

Despite this fantastic growth, there has been very little discussion or criticism of UKIP on the Left. This is despite UKIP representing a “radical” right-wing constituency, with MEP’s further to the right than most Tory MP’s and who would attack the standard of living of working people quite dramatically if elected.

Most concern on the Left to radical right wing parties has been directed to the growth of the BNP, who picked up 2 MEP’s at the last European Election. UKIP is very obviously and clearly not the same kind of party as the BNP but there is definitely competition between both parties for the same anti-EU, anti-Immigration, nationalist vote. This vote isn’t homogeneous however and there are important differences. UKIP attract a wealthier, home counties right-wing vote, compared to the BNP who attract support from much poorer areas in English cities.

UKIP and the BNP also have differences in how they view society should be organised; UKIP are made up of Thatcherites who are too Eurosceptic for the Tory Party but still uphold the free market and libertarian values. The BNP in contrast support protectionism for British companies – this has led to some on the Tory nutter right to attack the BNP as “Left-wing”. Farage, UKIP’s former leader and best known public figure says the difference between them and the BNP is that they are the “do what you like party” and the BNP are the “hang em and flog em party”.

Parliament for the jocks you say? What ho, no, let them use the one behind me!

Of course the biggest and most fundamental difference between the two parties is that the BNP is still a neo-Nazi organisation pretending to be a populist right wing one, while UKIP is just a populist right-wing party. UKIP doesn’t believe in the racial supremacy fantasies of the BNP and has no problems with ethnic minorities as candidates or members. It’s for this reason that it would be unimaginable (and wrong) for UKIP to be no platformed the way the BNP is.

Despite these important differences however, UKIP deserves a lot more attention and criticism from the Left than it has got. It’s generally been ignored by the Left as it is not in any position to control the Government or Local councils and because its not a fascist organisation like the BNP. However UKIP may not always be the eccentric party of ex-Tory Daily Mail readers, able to attract a bit of a laugh now and again with some Bernard Manning style comments about women or attacking the EU President as a damp rag.

UKIP’s potential danger can be seen in the man they invited last week to the House of Lords – Geert Wilders. UKIP’s leader, Lord Pearson invited Wilders to broadcast his anti-Muslim film “Fitna”. Wilders was also welcomed to London by the English Defence Leage, producing an unholy trinity of football casuals, ex-Tory lords and Wilders. This display was another example of the EDL are acting as violent thugs for ideas which are circulated and promoted by well heeled members of the establishment who are far more “respectable” than they are.

I likesh a shmoke and a pancake, but I don't likesh the Mushlimsh

UKIP have tried to justify their love in with Wilders on the basis that we need to have a discussion about “radical Islam”. Time and time again however Wilders has made clear that his problem is with Islam, and sees no difference between moderate and radical Muslims. Wilders today is the most successful far-Right politician in Europe, and has a real chance of becoming the next Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

Wilders has made it a demand for any coalition Government in which his Party for Freedom (PVV) takes part, that the hijab is banned from all public institutions; meaning any Muslim who wears the hijab will be banned from working in or using a library, swimming pool, school etc. Wilders does not even attempt to cover his attack on Muslims by saying its about secularism – he openly says Jewish skull caps and crucifixes will not be affected by this law, as they are a part of western culture.

People should remember that the hijab is not the burqa. Unlike the burqa, which is an extreme form of Islamic dress worn by a very small number of Muslims in Europe the Hijab is a far more modest headscarf little different from a nuns habit. The hijab is worn by a massive proportion of Muslim women – banning them from wearing it is a clear attack on their civil rights. There is no practical difference between someone who wears a hijab, a turban or skullcap in how they do their job or use public services. They have been singled out because they are Muslims.

Wilders has also called for the banning of the Koran, and for Guantanamo bay style facilities for Muslims in the Netherlands. He is also a staunch defender of Israel – Wilders PVV is in fact interested with fighting a war against the freedoms of the Netherlands’s Muslim minority.

How far UKIP will go down the PVV road remains to be seen, but it is clear that they are attempting to win support not just from attacking the EU but now from attacking Muslims. UKIP have become the first party in the UK to call for the banning of the Burka in all public places. This is further than even the BNP wants to go – they only want the burka banned in govt buildings. Whatever criticism can be made of the burka for it’s attacks on women’s rights it’s clear that if UKIP are cosying up with Wilders it is unlikely they are banning it to emancipate Muslim women.

UKIP also need to be dug up by the Left for their hypocrisy on the issues of democracy and accountability they claim to uphold. UKIP have won virtually all their support on their largely correct attacks on the European President and European Commission for being totally unaccountable and unelected – but they see no contradiction between these institutions and having an unelected Lord as leader! There is no attack on the House of Lords from UKIP on what it is, an undemocratic chamber which has the power to stop laws being made by a parliament with elected MP’s.

UKIP’s policy on Scotland also betrays their Tory roots – they call for the abolition of the Scottish Parliament, an act that would return Scotland to the bad old days of the 80’s where our votes were irrelevant, and the votes of middle England would decide who rules Scotland.

After all as bad as the EU parliament is, its done nothing like force the poll tax on Scotland using MP’s elected in England – but then again, that wouldn’t bother UKIP much seeing as they argue for a “flat tax”. A flat tax means that everyone pays the same amount of tax for their services regardless of their income, which was of course the exact same principle the poll tax used. They also call for a reduction in the rate of corporation tax, referring to Thatcher and Reagan’s UK and USA as a justification. This flat tax would also mean less funding for public services, cutting jobs and services in order to transfer even more wealth to the rich. This “freedom” for companies to do whatever they want is part of UKIP’s attack on the alleged “social democratic consensus” at Westminster.

Both this flat tax and reduction in corporation tax would be another salvo in a war which has been going on for 30 years, a war between the richest 1% of the population who have seen their wealth skyrocket whilst the working majority have seen their wealth stagnate or barely increase. Alongside their cosying up to someone who is determined to deny public services and jobs to Muslims in the Netherlands, it shows up UKIP as being a bit more dangerous than their charismatic and dotty English Toff MEP’s suggest.

Right now UKIP are unlikely to put into practice any of these policies. Both parties of the radical right in the UK, the BNP and UKIP have major barriers to growth. In the case of the BNP it’s their racism and neo-Nazi baggage. For UKIP its being identified as solely interested in Europe.

The PVV in the Netherlands shows that these barriers can be overcome however. If UKIP and the BNP dealt with these barriers by dumping Griffin and other neo-Nazis, paid more attention to domestic affairs and founded a new radical right party along the lines of the PVV there is little to stop them from emulating Wilders success. There is clearly a very large vote for opposing the EU, immigration, political correctness and for old school Tory values that Cameron has had to cede somewhat to take the centre ground.

Such a party of the radical right would pose a threat to Scotland’s democratic rights, working peoples status in the tax system, funding to public services and civil rights of Muslims in the UK. Remember that the next time you see Nigel Farage guffaw on Question Time and ask if anyone wants to go for a punt and a Pimms.

Regular readers of this site will know of two attempts by the so-called “Scottish Defence League” to march in Glasgow in Edinburgh to demonstrate against Muslims in this country. On both occasions the SDL have been kettled, unable to march – and in Edinburgh unable to make even a token static protest. On both occasions democratic, grassroots and broad anti-fascist organisations have been formed, with SSY members working with different anti-fascist campaigners to physically stop the SDL from marching. These organisations have been responsive in nature, and have only formed in the cities where the SDL have planned to march – but it has left us with a network of anti-fascists, in Glasgow Anti-Fascist Alliance and Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance.

This Saturday both groups will be coming together to have a national anti-fascist meeting to discuss the way forward for anti-fascists in Scotland. The SDL have been convincingly thrashed both times they have attempted to march or demonstrate but it is now clear the SDL are changing tactics and the anti-fascist alliances must respond to this. They have shut down their facebook, bebo groups etc and now are reliant on a hardcore of their members to come out and demonstrate. They have given up trying to publicly advertise their demonstrations and are now reliant on contacting those who have already been on previous demonstrations.

This in itself is a victory, as it severely stunts the possible growth of the SDL as an organisation but it also makes it harder for anti-fascists to combat them. After the Edinburgh disaster for the SDL, they announced they would be having a memorial event in Lockerbie on the 27th of March. Again this shows they have been thrown out of the cities in Scotland and marks a retreat for them. However instead of demonstrating on the 27th the SDL organised a demo last Saturday – this was entirely in secret, with no press coverage of any kind. Again, a blow considering the media coverage they obtained in both Edinburgh and Glasgow.

What it does raise though is the possibility of “lightning demos” – where the SDL contact a few dozen of their trusted members to organise a brief, static demo in major cities in Scotland – possibly outside key targets for them, such as Mosques or the Parliament. The anti-fascist movement needs to be able to respond to this effectively, particularly as the conditions will be very different from in the past in terms of policing etc.

We also need to discuss how we deal with other fascist organisations, such as the National Front. Long dormant across the UK – and in particular Scotland, where they never had anything like the base they had in England – they are now planning a “Kriss Donald memorial” later this month. The NF is trying to stoke up racial tension and exploit the tragic murder of a young boy for their own fantasies of racial war.

The biggest threat we need to face is not forces on the street however – its the established party of the far-right across the UK, the BNP. The BNP took 2 MEP’s last year, alongside their dozens of councillors and GLA seat. They are trying to make the break into political respectability, and with Griffins infamous appearance on Question Time are making some inroads. While the BNP have no councillors in Scotland, and have never picked much support north of the border its clear they are now trying to break on to the Scottish political scene. In the Glasgow North East by-election they came 4th, not far off beating the Tories and holding on to their deposit.

The BNP are now talking about standing in up to 12 seats across Scotland, which would be their largest set of candidates in any General Election in Scotland. While the BNP do not have any chance of winning the seats – and are very unlikely to hold their deposit in any of these seats either – these elections will be used to boost their profile for the 2011 Holyrood Elections. The BNP will be trying to get a PR seat by winning 5-6% across a region, most likely Glasgow.

At the moment this appears unlikely, particularly as Scottish Elections don’t give the BNP media coverage on the basis of their successes down south. What their strategy most likely will be is to boost their profile in national elections across Scotland in preparation for the 2012 council elections. All the BNP need here is 16 – 20% in one council ward to take a councillor. The BNP built their base in council halls in England, its logical they would use the same tactics up here – where they do not need to win a FPTP election.

The anti-fascist movement not only needs to deal with the far-right in their political organisations but with a wider acceptance of racist views in society in general. It’s now commonplace to hear migrants being blamed for taking jobs, and attacks on Muslims as being disloyal, terrorists etc. Most of the people who make these kind of comments would never vote BNP, but they can influence the major parties through voting for them to accept these ideas.

If the organisations, and more importantly the ideas of the far-right are going to be beaten anti-fascists have to evolve a strategy beyond “Don’t vote Nazi”. We need to flesh out, and campaign as for a strategy that undercuts why people are attracted to racist parties and ideas. That means uniting working people for positive demands around housing, education, employment and wages. SSY hopes that the national anti-fascist meeting this Saturday begins that process, and helps to build a national Scottish Anti-Fascist Alliance.

Saturday, March 13, 2010
6:30pm – 9:00pm
upstairs in the Forest Cafe, 3 Bristo Place, Edinburgh

After being convincingly routed last month the SDL are talking about having another march, this time in Edinburgh on February 20th.

The last time the SDL marched they were outnumbered 1,500 to 80 and were unable to march anywhere. They spent the day cooped up in a bar, a totally different situation from other parts of the UK where the EDL ran riot, intimidating Muslims outside Mosques.

SSY is supporting a planning meeting this Wednesday, December the 9th at 7pm in the Meadow Bar on Buccleugh street. I’ll be speaking and giving a brief background on the EDL/SDL and we can discuss and plan openly and democratically how to no platform the fascists – the same way Glasgow Anti-Fascist Alliance did in the run up to the SDL’s Glasgow demo.

Lets keep Edinburgh Fascist free, no pasaran!

Facebook group for the event

Image by John Lanigan

Almost two months of organising against the Scottish incarnation of the fascist English Defence League paid off yesterday – the SDL were outnumbered 50 to 1 by anti-fascist demonstrators, unable to march and spent most of the day kettled in a pub in Glasgow. Earlier fears of the SDL marching on Glasgow Central Mosque, attacking anti-war and pro-Palestine stalls on Buchanan St or assembling in George Square were unfounded thanks to the presence of well over a thousand anti-fascist demonstrators.

While the SDL spent their whole day stuck in the Cambridge Bar anti-fascist demonstrators had freedom to march all across Glasgow in what were effectively illegal marches. It was this presence which stopped the police from allowing the SDL any kind of demonstration in Glasgow, bar a pathetic 60 pace “march” outside the Cambridge Bar to police lines. The SDL themselves had to be taken out on double decker buses for their own safety.

Theres lots of things we could have done differently on the day – there was a split in the demo between those who wanted to stay at the Cambridge where the SDL were and those who went to Glasgow Green.

SSY members and GU Left Society members argued throughout the build up to this demo that we should have a mobilisation in the city centre early on in the day, as the SDL planned to demonstrate in the city centre well before the Scotland United rally. Having a rally away from the city centre and after the SDL were due to turn up therefore couldn’t be the only way to confront the SDL. At first UAF opposed the 10am kick off but later came round to supporting it.

The split in the demo between those who went to the Green and stayed at Cambridge is a lesson for any future demos the SDL or the far-right try to organise; many people did not stay at the Cambridge because the SDL presence there was tiny, and it was believed they would try to hold a larger rally later on in George Square. That made getting kettled outside the Cambridge an unattractive prospect, especially as there were rumours 100 SDL supporters would be coming in on the Trains at 12 to assemble in George Square.

As it happened the only SDL presence was in the Cambridge and in retrospect the demo could have stayed there for most if not all of the day. If part of the demo had to split off for speakers etc then in the future it should be somewhere much closer to the SDL – for example George Square.

Despite this the day was a resounding success, the SDL were totally unable to march or advertise themselves or their message. Just take a look at their comments on their Facebook group – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=227558430152
The free march the EDL had in Luton was totally denied to the SDL.

SDL’s tiny “demo” kettled by the police

This wasn’t just down to a large anti-fascist mobilisation but a mobilisation which was committed to meeting in the city centre and confronting them – not simply going to the Green. SSY comrades played no small part in many of the meetings in the build up to this demo in arguing and promoting that city centre confrontation and we should be proud of our role in making sure the SDL had a bad day in Glasgow.

NO PASARAN!