Protesters express anger at Dirty Des campaign of hate

Dan Edwards reports on the attempted storming of the Daily Express offices by activists opposed to their hate campaign against asylum seekers and the LGBT community

On Thursday 15 June, between 70 and 100 people gathered outside the Northern & Shell Building, home of right-wing rags The Express and The Star, to express their outrage against the recent wave of racist and homophobic articles which demanded the deportation of LGBT asylum seekers, claiming that Britain has “no room for gays.”

There were several speakers from different campaign groups and trade unions, and an open letter was passed around for people to sign up to, condemning the blatant bigotry of the articles and demanding a retraction and apology. One of the speakers from the NUJ attacked the owner of The Express, part-time porn baron and full-time scumbag Richard “Dirty” Desmond. He is a notorious union-buster who attacks his workers’ ability to organise and crushes demands for decent wages and the ability to control content. Everyday articles are often turned into right-wing rants against the poor and marginalised people by Desmond’s handpicked editors. REVO members spoke to a writer at the paper who said he was sick of the editorial stance and gay-bashing going on.

Some of the speakers also linked the issue of the capitalist crisis with the rising racism and homophobia we are seeing. They emphasised that it was a great tool for the ruling-class that seeks to stop workers’ fighting back, and uses these ideas to turn working-class people against each other, so that we don’t turn against them.

After the speeches, protestors marched towards the main entrance to hand in the open letter to the managers of both papers. The security guards were not too keen on this idea (to say the least), and reacted very aggressively- trying to punch and push people, as well as trying to nick their placards and signs.

It was a shame that there was no visible presence from LGBT activist groups Stonewall and Outrage, despite the fact that Stonewall had jointly called the demonstration in the first place.

If we want the right-wing press to stop making these bigoted, divisive comments, then more protests like these are necessary, encompassing all groups who suffer from the bigotry in papers like the Express. What’s more, the workers at the companies need to be encouraged to organise and take action- not just against shoddy working conditions, but against the shoddy stories they’re told to write.