Anti-Fascist Network

The EDL in Shotton last year, before two of them got nicked

Support anti-fascists in the North East: Get yourself to Shotton this Saturday!

Meet 1pm at Shotton Colliery memorial on Front Street, DH6 2ND

North East Anti-Fascists have been organising to oppose the EDL and North East Infidels in Shotton on Saturday. They have been working together with the Durham Miners Association and co-ordinating with local UAF to get numbers out on the day. People have been leafletting in Shotton and in other areas in the North East with the leaflet below and transport has been organised.

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As reported in various places, extreme Polish right-winger Robert Winnicki was speaking in a number of venues across England and Wales last week. Winnicki is the honorary president of Młodzież Wszechpolska (MW) which translates as The All Polish Youth Movement, an extreme nationalistic, homophobic and anti-Semitic organisation. Winnicki himself is infamous for his speeches against “faggots” and saying that homosexuality is an illness that has to be cured, not accepted. During one of his speeches in 2012 he said “we are building a force of which faggots and leftists are so afraid”.

He was due to speak in Cambridge, Aberystwyth, Bristol and London.

The original advertised venues (mostly Catholic churches) appeared to know nothing about Winnicki speaking. The event in Cambridge took place despite protests in the Polonia Club as advertised. However, the Bristol event originally advertised for a church ended up taking place in  a pub after the church denied all knowledge. The event in Aberystwyth was originally advertised to take place in the University but ended up taking place in a secret location after protests from the Students Union, anti-fascists, LGBT and women’s groups.

In London, Polish anti-fascists organised to oppose Winnicki. Members of London Anti-Fascists joined them. About 30 anti-fascists confronted approximately 60 Polish Nazis. One anti-fascist was arrested.

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This is a call out by the North East Anti-Fascists to all concerned – watch this space for a further announcement as to exactly what is being planned.

To be honest we ignored the EDL in Shotton last time, we have better things to do actually than chase these losers around all the time. However, there is a growing consensus in and beyond the North East Anti-Fascists that they cannot be allowed to organise unnopposed.

Therefore the North East Anti-Fascists commit to opposing the EDL and Infidels in Shotton, what form this takes is yet to be decided, but we suggest that you talk to friends, arrange transport and days off work if necessary. It has not been clear whether this event was going to happen, as we shared a post by the EDL regional organiser who cancelled the event, but it appears that they have had a change of heart after the Infidels decided to carry on with the event, so not to be outdone the EDL apparently are claiming it too. This unholy alliance of the EDL, Infidels, and any old Nazi are promoting a demo in Shotton on November 9th 2013.

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Come by the stall and pick some up to distribute around the country!

Anarchist Bookfair, Saturday 19th October, 10am-7pm at Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS.

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Come and meet us at the Anarchist Bookfair!

We’ve had a very busy year, from the EDL’s sudden resurgence in May to last week’s shock resignation of their leader, from stopping the BNP marching in June to the huge mobilisation in Tower Hamlets for September 7th, from stopping the March for England in Brighton in April to numerous solidarity demos outside the Greek embassy. In between we have organised to stop fascism everywhere from Southend to Brighton, Portsmouth, Bristol, Berwick, Leeds, Bradford, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Sunderland, South Shields, Croydon and Sheffield to mention but a few!

Things continue to rapidly change and develop and we continue to grow as we try to meet the challenge of combatting racism and fascism in all their forms.

The bookfair is from 10am-7pm at Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS.

We will have a stall there all day and a will be holding a public meeting from 12-1pm with a range of AFN speakers presenting an introduction to who we are and what we do. There will be time for questions and discussion about the important next steps for anti-fascism.

Come and chat to us if you are interested in getting involved or have questions, if you want to set up a group or are in a group that would like to join the network. Look forward to seeing you there!

EDL splinter group Casuals United threatened an English Disco Lovers event in Bristol at the weekend. Bristol Anti-Fascists report…

Casuals United disco disappointment in Bristol – Embarrassing without even getting on the dancefloor!

A very amusing day was had by antifascists in Bristol yesterday as the Casuals United gave us an exemplary demonstration of total irrelevance. Their “loads… heading for Bristol” (er… last count was 8 of them!) were clearly a figment of an overactive facebook fantasy. We did have a seriously good look around for them but “all the Bristol lads” and the “loads swerving Bradford” to come to Bristol were conspicuous by their absence at both the English Disco Lovers flash mob in the day and their dance night that evening. What we did see was a group of 8 looking a bit lost in the Galleries shopping mall, taking photos of an anti racist shopfront and promptly retreating to the nearby Bayhorse pub when things started getting a bit edgy (i.e. when 2 mall security guards showed a bit of interest and got on their radios). The Bayhorse pub, it should be noted, is the closest pub to New Bridewell cop shop, so a good choice for anyone seeking to avoid any trouble or feel safe drinking next door to the police. They tried to put a brave face on, but the look of the day was very much, “Is this it?”. Very disappointing. Still, in cloud casual cuckooland it can all still be tweeted and claimed as a victory and the mismatch between what they say and what actually went on is hilarious as in their minds they heroically closed down the “disco shop”. However, despite a walk by and a few photos taken by what we can only assume is the Casuals’ finest (all 8 of them!), the shop, staffed, seemingly, by a few young students, remained open. You can polish yer trainers, but you can’t polish a turd, lads!

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[reblogged from Bradford Anti-Fascist Network]

For all their bluster about Bradford being the BIG ONE less than 250 English Defence League braved the Yorkshire rain to try start their race war in the city. They didn’t stand a chance, the Police were out in force but so were the people of Bradford. Around a 150 went into the official demonstration area run by the UAF and were kettled there far away from the EDL but a similar number of Antifascist activists along with perhaps 300 other locals went into the streets to face the EDL and voice their anger at their city being invaded by these bigoted, racist, nut jobs. The EDL were drowned out as Anti-fascists and locals mocked their chants and raised their voices with their own. The streets of Bradford truly belonged to the Bradfordians and there was a festival feeling as even the cops couldn’t help but smile at the  humour of the diverse crowd reworking football chants and singing anti-fascist songs together. Bradford Anti-fascist Network was at the fore of the protest and our members were cheered by other locals as we shouted down the vile EDL. We handed out 200 leaflets on the day calling for the anti-fascist mood to be carried over into other actions, which was positively received.

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The now officially racist EDL under their new ‘National Organiser’ Tim Ablitt (previously arrested in connection with a bomb attack on a mosque) are still coming to Bradford this Saturday 12th October.

They will be arriving by train at Bradford Interchange or parking up in Bridge Street. They will then be quarantined in the Queen pub from 11am onwards, which is planning to profit from their presence in the city. We encourage everyone to ring the pub on 01274 767901 and complain about this.

They will be having a static rally rather than a march and speeches will apparently be held at 2pm.

The police have prepared two sites to keep the EDL away from the city centre and remove their ability to attack locals and spark the race war they have stated they want to start in the city.

The council have laid down tarmac and have erected fencing at point B. But as of Wednesday 9th October West Yorkshire Police Press Office have confirmed the EDL static demo will be at point A on Bridge Street.

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