Anti-Fascist Network

Anti-NF welcoming committee

re-blogged from South Wales Anarchists

Anti-fascists in Merthyr stood with people from surrounding valleys communities on Monday in a show of force against fascism and racism.

Following recent threats, attacks and attempts to recruit by the boneheaded South Wales National Front, locals called on other antifa to join them to show that there is no welcome for fascist scum in working class areas.

The National Front have been gaining traction in South Wales since the collapse of the BNP and have seen both their membership and levels of activity increase recently. They remain a tiny group of confused men, but as their confidence grows, so does their use of violence.

Since 2013 there have been two known violent attacks on migrants by members of neo-Nazi groups in Wales. A few weeks ago the NF attempted to ‘disrupt’ and intimidate a Communist Party meeting in Merthyr which George Galloway was due to attend, returning that weekend to spread their poisonous message in town and distribute their hate-filled propaganda. On Monday Galloway returned to give his speech. We want to make it clear that as antifa we were not there to support him or the Communist Party (with some of us confronting him over his anti-working class views and political ego-boosting), but to defend our own communities which were built by migration.

30 of us met in town, splitting into groups which would watch the entrance to the meeting, the main public transport routes into town, the High Street and pubs. We covered the NF propaganda that hadn’t already been torn down with antifascist stickers, stopping off at the recently-imposed and seemingly always empty UKIP office on our way. The fascists failed to show.

Valleys Antifa

There was much discussion about the nature of fascism in the valleys and the extent to which force is necessary to combat it. As grassroots anti-fascists, we believe that racism needs to be confronted directly. Standing a mile away from their demonstrations with placards, signing petitions or relying on racist politicians and police achieves nothing.

However, confrontation doesn’t always mean violence. The economic problems in our area mean that a lot of people are looking for alternatives to mainstream politics and, unfortunately, neo-nazi groups like the NF sometimes pretend that they are that alternative. The reality is that they are just a more violent version of the status quo.

The ‘Valleys Frontline Firm’, set up by the National Front to recruit, has had some success in appealing to the disillusioned.

Luke Pippen: The face of British patriotism

They were founded by NF Deputy Organiser and violent pulp Luke Pippen, after the leader of the ‘Welsh Alliance’ was outed as a paedophile. Pippen is well-known to antifa organisers in South Wales. He regularly goes to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph, commemorating those who died fighting Nazism, and has tattoos of swastikas and Hitler on his torso. He is hate-filled human slime with a tendency to be violent towards people he sees as ‘different’. It is impossible to ‘talk fascism out of him’. Other means are needed to make sure his agenda is never fulfilled.

Whilst organised racists are active on our streets we must use whatever tactics we can to stop their violence, which means talking to people we think might be tempted by their poison and physically stopping those who try to spread it. We must all be antifa – keeping our eyes open to the potential these people have and preventing them from turning their violence on people with different views and backgrounds.

All info on local fascists to valleysantifa@riseup.net

To the NF, we say that when you come back to Merthyr for your free buffet in a “local” pub, don’t think that you will be unopposed just because you haven’t told anyone you’re coming. Everyone who bins your leaflets, looks at you with disgust or wonders what such a group of ignorant zombie-clowns are doing in our home is your opposition. Antifa is everyone who confronts you for your backwards views and we are everywhere.

Help keep our streets clean – send any info on fascist activities to valleysantifa@riseup.net