Anti-Fascism — Revolution

Fascists get cold feet in Rochdale and Leicester

February 4, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Rival fascist groups the EDL and the Infidels tried to hold demos in Leicester and Rochdale today. It seems the cold and declining size of the rallies persuaded most of the fascists to stay at home, no doubt winning their crusade somewhere on the internet.

The Infidels’ Rochdale demo was all the more pathetic considering the splinter group’s hype about making 2012 ‘the Year of the Infidels’. All talk, in other words.

Money talks and bullshit walks. And this applies even more in the messed-up world of Britain’s fascist fringe. Although EDL turnouts are decreasing, it has still got at least enough financial backing to keep Tommy Robinson’s coke habit on the road.

The fact that the fascist demos are generally getting smaller is to be welcomed. As police repression of protests is increased, the fascists have no one to fight and end up fighting themselves. This is driving a wedge between the moderate, racist wing, and the hardline fascists whose tactics are shown by their attacks on the working class movement.

Nevertheless, despite a handful of exceptions, for example Bradford and Birmingham, anti-fascist forces have not been able to prevent the EDL from marching. UAF remains hamstrung by its reliance on trade union and labour money – sticking to mobilising around ‘celebrating’ diversity, when the fascists attack ‘diversity’ with boots and fists.

Labour and the trade union leaders are not going to support a mass working-class movement to defend our communities against racism and fascism. This is because such a movement would be a reflection of the wider working-class resistance to attacks by bosses and politicians.

Fighting racism goes hand in hand with defending maternity wards. The bosses are whipping up nationalist shite so we invent enemies amongst ourselves, instead of uniting against the parasite 1%.

Fascists will grow in confidence as the ruling class is forced into more and more extreme measures to subdue opposition to its privilege. Wherever fascists organise, racist attacks rise.

The response of the ruling class to any dissent or opposition to its cuts program has been uncompromising: hundreds jailed and seriously injured during the Student movement, restrictions on the right to protest and punitive sentences for those involved in the August riots.

The violence of the fascists, and the violent reactions of the state are two sides of the same coin: a reflection of our society, where violence is monopolised by one class and used to achieve the exploitation of another.

Any movement against the cuts must be a movement that rejects all the ideas which the bosses use to divide us. It must be prepared to build the democratic forces capable of defending our communities and campaigns from the violent attacks of the police and fascists.

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No Platform for fascists: what it means – why it works

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Racism: not just a bad idea

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How not to defeat the fascists

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Filed Under: Anti-Fascism, Anti-Racism, News Tagged With: anti-fascism, anti-racism, EDL, infidels, leicester, rochdale, uaf

EDL shows its true colours with attacks on #Occupy and Trade Union movement

November 13, 2011 By Chris Clough Leave a Comment

The last few weeks have seen an upswing in the movement against cuts and their cause – capitalism. Thousands of young people have occupied public squares and named capitalism as the enemy, and in Britain millions of workers are preparing for industrial action on November 30th. But this upsurge in left wing protest has led to a violent response from the fascist EDL.

On the 30th of October around 20 EDL and National Front thugs attacked the Occupy Newcastle camp in the middle of the night. They punched, kicked and stamped on occupiers as well as throwing bricks at tents. Then, during Remembrance Day, which the government has used to whip up nationalist and pro-war feeling, the EDL took the opportunity to take strike against the left.

In London hundreds were arrested after EDL members promised on facebook to “do what the government couldn’t” by clearing the Occupy London camp. It also later emerged that in Liverpool dozens of thugs tried to attack the Unite trade union’s North West HQ; fortunately trade unionists defended the building and drove the EDL off.

The EDL claims to be against Islamic fundamentalism but it becomes obvious to anyone who does some research that their agenda goes far beyond this and that they are a racist organisation. But they are all the more threatening because they are fascists. Fascist groups are a type of organisation that grows out of the crisis in capitalism and attempts to resolve its problems when the police and parliamentary democratic framework can’t. They do this by making the working class divided through racism, but also by attacking the organised working class and breaking their resistance and thereby temporarily restoring profitability to capitalism. That’s why these attacks are significant – because the EDL is ditching it’s media-friendly ‘anti-Islamisation’ in favour of a return to old-fashioned trade union bashing.

These events demand immediate action from the left and working class movement. We need to defend our communities but also our organisations and demonstrations, like the occupy camps. To do this we need a mass, working class, democratic organisation that is disciplined and prepared to not only defend itself but also to physically prevent the EDL from organising wherever they are.

Everywhere the EDL have a presence they can grow and everywhere they grow and pretend to be an alternative to the misery that capitalism creates. The anti-fascist movement needs to expose these lies and put forward the only real solution to the crisis, a united working class fight back against capitalism that incorporates all ethnicities, genders and sexualities. But arguments alone are not enough and the violent nature of the EDL shows that they also need to be met by an immediate response on the streets.

Fascist attacks increase across the country

No platform – what it means and why it works

Fascists march in Leeds – socialists fail to unite

Filed Under: Anti-Fascism, News Tagged With: EDL, fascism, uaf, unite

Fascist ‘Infidels’ plan march in Durham

November 10, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Following their mobilisation in Leeds in October, the North East Infidels, a split from the English Defence League, have announced a demonstation in Durham starting at 1pm in Millenium Square this Saturday.

The anti-fascist mobilisation in Leeds was plagued by sectarian division between left-wing groups, preventing a united response to the fascist threat.

Wherever the fascists are allowed to march, racist attacks rise as their foot-soldiers are emboldened to carry out their strategy of controlling the streets through boots and fists.

It is vital that anti-fascists and all those who support freedom of religious expression mobilise to drive the Infidels off the streets this weekend. There can be no peaceful debate with those who carry out armed attacks on our Muslim brothers and sisters and working-class organisations.

Read more:

Fascist attacks on the increase

Fascists march in Leeds – socialists fail to unite

No platform: what it is and why it works