There’s a number of important anti-fascist call-outs to support over the next few weeks. Midland Anti-Fascists seem to have unfortunately ended up with the lion’s share of horrible far-right racists descending on their towns and cities in April and May.
Saturday 18th April – Counter the racist Islamophobic EDL in Solihull
Saturday May 2nd – Resist the West Midlands Infidels in Coventry
Saturday May 9th – Oppose Britain First in Dudley
reblogged from Plan C
This is a call out from Plan C Manchester to oppose the March for England in Blackpool on April 25th.
On April 25th, the first Saturday after St George’s Day, the March for England (MfE) will attempt to march again. For several years MfE has been a gathering point for the far right but now it’s been chased out of Brighton by large and well-organised antifascist mobilisations, its organisers – who have a history of involvement with fascist and ultra-nationalist groups – are trying to bring it to Blackpool.
The MfE is only one of a series of street movements (the EDL, Germany’s Pegida) and parties (UKIP, Holland’s Freedom Party, or Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland) expressing some kind of populist nationalism: the idea that if the nation liberated itself from accumulating threats, we could return to the good old days of a Britain of “long shadows on cricket grounds, warm beer, invincible green suburbs, dog lovers and pools fillers” (Quote: John Major). It is revealing that amid the “new normality” of austerity and the crisis of political representation, the demand to “rebuild [the] old world on the ruins of the new” seems to many to be the most radical demand possible.
The mobilisation against PEGIDA in London yesterday was a resounding success. Rather than the tens of thousands their German parent organisation has managed to bring out on to the streets, PEGIDA UK managed about 70, among whom were many very familiar faces from the extreme right, including some notorious neo-Nazis, destroying their claim not to be a far-right racist organisation.
There was a counter-demonstration by UAF which attracted over 300 people and an ‘all-London anti-fascist bloc’ co-ordinated by London Anti-Fascists, South London Anti-Fascists, North London Anti-Fascists and Dywizjon 161 comprised of 100+ people. PEGIDA ended up barricaded inside a pub, surrounded by anti-fascists and having to be rescued by the police.
Brighton Antifascists report back from Oxford yesterday.
Yesterday was the EDL’s national demonstration in Oxford. After bottling it in Brighton, they were relying on having a good day to retain some credibility. Unfortunately for them, that’s not exactly what happened.
The pitiful EDL turnout, around 150
View original post 435 more words
It’s a busy day this Saturday 4th April for anti-fascists as the EDL try to hold a national demo in Oxford while PEGIDA UK try and emulate their Islamophobic German idols in London.
Final details have now been confirmed for counter-mobilisations against both of these events.
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.
This Saturday 4th April sees anti-fascist mobilisations in Oxford against the EDL and later in the day in London against PEGIDA. Try and support these extremely important mobilisations if you can. It may well be possible to do both in a day if you’re feeling ambitious!
From London Anti-Fascists
PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West) is the name of an anti-Islamic, anti-left movement in Germany that rose dramatically to prominence after mobilising tens of thousands of white German citizens to their weekly demonstrations. Many of the German far-right participated and formed a large proportion of those that attended. What followed after the demonstrations were racist attacks of migrants and refugees. The story is all too familiar, when reactionaries take to the streets, minorities, non-whites, trade unions and “lefties” become the target of attacks. PEGIDA act as a lobby group aiming to mobilise and spread reactionary support that focuses the target towards a perceived Islamification of the west.
PEGIDA UK are trying to gain ground and mimic the rapid rise of this movement in the UK. Though overshadowed by groups like the EDL, PEGIDA UK is attempting to be a more softer, cuddlier form of xenophobic anti-Islamism but this is obviously just a tactical pretence to not repeat the “mistakes” of the EDL. At the first PEGIDA UK rally in Newcastle we saw many of the usual faces from the BNP, NF and other assorted Neo-nazis. We, anti-fascists and anti-racists in London, need to ensure that this movement is dismantled before it can gain any sort of traction.
One Nazi takes a tumble after meeting anti-fascists
The dregs of Britain’s neo-Nazi scene imposed themselves on Manchester today for their annual ‘Worldwide White Pride’ day. For the last two years the march has been held in Swansea and previously saw neo-Nazi Darren Clifft jailed after he hung an effigy of a golliwog whilst dressed as a KKK member.
So no worries here about accusing people of being Nazis when they might only be extremely right wing racists. No – these were proper Nazis. Any many of them were only too proud of it.
Join us in Oxford on April 4th to oppose the EDL and their exploitation of the child abuse issue to promote their racist agenda.
Full details to follow nearer the time. Check the Facebook event
Child abuse doesn’t have a race.
Join us in solidarity, strength and support of survivors. April 4th, Oxford.
March for England having a bad time in Brighton
Tired of their annual humiliation in Brighton, EDL rejects the March For England decided to give up and try again in what they hoped would be the less hostile territory of the North West. Hence this year for their dose of bigotry by the sea they are headed to Blackpool on April 25th. Unluckily for them, anti-fascists from the North West are gearing up to oppose them there too.
A new alliance ‘Oppose MFE‘ has been formed in the North West to mobilise for the 25th. They say:
“Europe is seeing the return of right wing nationalist movements and parties. Off the back of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris, coupled with the state’s failure to identify and protect vulnerable people in Rotherham, the far right are attempting to mobilise people’s fears and channel them into chauvinist nationalist politics. Parliamentary politics is lurching rightwards as mainstream parties copy UKIP’s rhetoric. If events like MFE get more successful, they will feed into this broader resurgence of the far right by giving it a presence on the streets.”
Anti-Fascist Network 