July 25th: International Day of Solidarity with Anti-Fascist Prisoners

14 07 2015

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The Anti-Fascist Network is supporting New York City Antifa‘s call for an international day of solidarity with anti-fascist prisoners.

They write:

Antifascists fight against those who—in the government or in the streets—dream of imposing their fascist and other Far Right nationalist nightmares on the rest of us. Throughout the world, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, and racist bigotries are on the rise. Antifas are on the frontline in confronting these reactionary politics, and we will not forget our comrades imprisoned in the course of this struggle.

The July 25 International Day of Solidarity with Antifascist Prisoners originated in 2014 as a Day of Solidarity with Jock Palfreeman, an Australian who is imprisoned in Bulgaria for defending two Romani men from an attack by fascist football hooligans. Groups around the world took action: holding demonstrations, benefits supporting the Bulgarian Prisoners Association, writing to Jock, and talking about the plight of the Romani and Sinti people in general.

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Reports and thoughts from Saturday’s anti-fascist actions

7 07 2015
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Hundreds of anti-fascists drown out 23 Nazis in a cage on Whitehall

Saturday was a very busy day for anti-fascists as the full spectrum of far-right racists took to the streets of Britain. The targets of their hatred were Jews and Muslims. And Jews and Muslims stood up to oppose them, together with local people, trade unionists, and anti-fascist and anti-racist groups who all joined forces against the far-right.

The events of Saturday are very instructive in showing where the far-right and its opposition is currently at in Britain.

In Sheffield we had an EDL national demo. The EDL was once by far the largest far-right street movement in Britain. On Saturday they pulled about 200 people on to the streets, which shows the extent of their decline. In Stockton-on-Tees, a demo called by the EDL splinter group the North East Infidels brought out a whole coalition of groups to the right of the EDL who got almost the same numbers as the ‘official’ EDL – about 150.

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Racism against anyone increases racism against everyone

2 07 2015

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Anti-Fascist Network statement on neo-Nazi demo Saturday 4th July 2015

Groups from the Anti-Fascist Network are joining with many others this Saturday to oppose neo-Nazis airing their anti-Semitic filth, with their talk of the ‘Jewification’ of Britain. We think it is vital to oppose fascism everywhere to stop hatred and oppression stifling the lives of all our communities.

Because of its virulent old-school Nazi politics this demonstration has received a lot of publicity. This is partly because it is so unusual. Although there has been a very worrying recent rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain, it is still almost unheard of for anti-Semites to attempt to organise openly and hold a public demonstration targetted at a large Jewish community in the area where they live.

Although this sort of openly neo-Nazi politics is rare and is recognised as utterly abhorrent, racism and far-right hate-mongering are unfortunately not at all rare in Britain in 2015.

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Update on anti-fascist mobilisations this Saturday

1 07 2015

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UPDATED Thu 23.30

This Saturday 4th the AFN will be mobilising in different locations across the country to oppose multiple far-right threats. Join us on the streets to show the fascists how isolated they are!

The situation with some of these fascist demonstrations has changed since our last post.

  • Westminster: Oppose the Nazis – meet at 12.30 – junction of Richmond Terrace and Whitehall: Facebook event
  • Sheffield: Stop the EDL march – meet at 13.00 – Hallam Square: Facebook event
  • Stockton-on-Tees: Unite against Islamophobia & oppose the North East Infidels – meet 12.30 at Old Town Hall: Facebook event

For continuing updates on the situation with all these mobilisation keep checking our twitter feed.

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Thanks from Luton Anti-Fascists to those who turned out on Saturday

30 06 2015
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The crowd on the day opposing Britain First

Luton Anti-Fascists posted this message after the demonstration against Britain First in Luton on Saturday:

“Thanks for all the anti-fascists who turned out yesterday to oppose the fascists Britain First and to show solidarity with Luton Antifa’s first action. This is just the first step in setting up a militant anti-fascist movement in Luton to rid our town of the disease of fascism. Today as a group we forced Britain First to retreat and divert from their planned route, so thank you again to everyone who stood in their way and would not let them pass. Please contact us via the page or email (lutonantifascists@riseup.net) to get involved with further meetings/actions.

NO PASARAN !”

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Luton demo details for tomorrow

26 06 2015

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UPDATED FRIDAY 15.30

Anti-fascists from Luton UAF, Luton Anti-Fascists, members of the Anti-Fascist Network and other groups are meeting at the train station at 12.00: Facebook event

Britain First are meeting at the train station at 1pm. The planned route of their march is shown above.

At time of writing the leaders of Britain First are in the High Court disputing a police injunction banning them from Luton. It remains to be seen what will happen if the police are successful and they are banned from their demo. Watch our twitter feed for the latest info.

Anti-fascists should assume the fascist march will still go ahead.

The High Court has not supported the police’s attempt to get Britain First’s leaders banned from Luton. We can expect the fascist march tomorrow to go ahead as planned. Details of the anti-fascist mobilisation remain unchanged.

See you on the streets!





Oppose Britain First in Luton this Saturday

25 06 2015

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Join anti-fascists at Luton train station at 12 noon: Facebook event

This Saturday 27th, fascist BNP splinter group ‘Britain First’ are planning on marching through Luton, which apparently they think is a “mini-caliphate”. They aim to harass and intimidate the Muslim population of Luton and to whip up racial tensions in the town.

Luton UAF and the newly-formed Luton Anti-Fascists have both called counter-demonstrations. Members of the Anti-Fascist Network will also be attending. Join us on Saturday!

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Anti-fascist action dates for the summer

17 06 2015

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The Anti-Fascist Network is announcing two national call-out dates for the summer, which are:

On July 4th groups from the north will concentrate on opposing the EDL national demo in Sheffield, while groups from the south will support Jewdas’ demonstration against neo-Nazis in Golders Green in North London.

On August 15th we are making a national call-out for everyone to support the mobilisation against the neo-Nazi ‘White Man March’ in Liverpool.

We call on all those opposed to racism, Nazism and Fascism to join us in these actions.

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Oppose the far-right in Dudley on Saturday

12 06 2015

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Meet 10.30am outside Dudley Council House, Priory Road, DY1 1HF

This Saturday 13th in Dudley there is an attempt to launch a new right-wing street movement. The awkwardly-named All Football Fans/Firms March Against Islamisation (AFFFMAI) appears to be an attempt to copy the emergence last year of the German HoGeSa (Hooligans Against Salafism), which itself was copying the EDL.

It seems unlikely that this will ‘break the mould’ of the far-right and far more likely that it will be all the same old faces under a different banner.

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No Platform for the far-right: An open letter to the organisers of ‘Does Islam clash with British values?’

8 06 2015
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Golding, Waters and Yaxley-Lennon

This letter is in response to an organisation called the Islamic Research and Education Academy, which has organised a discussion on Friday 12th June under the title ‘Does Islam clash with British values?’ So far, so normal. However, as part of this debate they have chosen to invite Paul Golding, leader of Britain First, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA ‘Tommy Robinson’, ex-leader of the EDL) and Anne Marie Waters of UKIP, ‘Sharia Watch’ and founder with Yaxley-Lennon of the Islamophobic ‘Victims of Islamic Cultural Extremism’.

We believe this invitation extended to some of the most well-known names in the Islamophobic far-right is dangerous and that at best the organisers could be accused of naivety. It is also not clear that any of the speakers from the ‘Islam’ side of the debate represent a significant number of British Muslims.

Fascists and racists on the extreme right thrive on respectability. For this reason there is a long tradition of not giving them a platform to spread their views.

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