Stop the EDL in Batley Saturday August 9th

29 07 2014

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Saturday 9th August, 11.30, Batley Town Hall

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On Saturday 9th August join Leeds Anti-Fascist Network, Sheffield Anti-Fascist Network and other groups from the Anti-Fascist Network in opposing the EDL in Batley, West Yorkshire. Anti-fascists have been out distributing thousands of leaflets door to door in Batley and talking to local people, putting in the groundwork fro a successful local mobilisation.

Leeds Anti-Fascist Network write:

On Saturday 9th August the racist English Defence League (EDL) will be demonstrating against the creation of an Islamic faith school in Batley. We believe this is an attempt by the EDL stir up animosity between communities in order to build support for their message of hatred and racial division. We will be opposing the EDL on the 9th August.

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Boro community rejects the racist EDL

1 07 2014

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This Saturday saw the people of Teesside take to the streets to oppose a national EDL demo in Middlesbrough.

Our previous posts have covered in detail the supposed rationale behind the EDL demo (‘grooming’ appears to have overtaken terrorism as their current favourite thing to blame all Muslims for). Sterling work was put in by North East Anti-Fascists and Teesside Solidarity Movement to create a broad-based local opposition to the fascists.

On the day about 200 anti-fascists gathered. There had been a call out to dress in red and to bring red banners and flags to go with the organising theme ‘We are Boro’. Red being the colour of Middlesbrough FC and the traditional colour of workers’ solidarity.

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Stand together against the EDL in Middlesbrough this Saturday!

27 06 2014

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Assemble 11am, Ayresome Gdns, Linthrope Rd, Middlesbrough

The EDL have called a national demonstration in Middlesbrough for this Saturday 28th June. Teesside Solidarity Movement and North East Anti-Fascists have been working together with other local anti-fascists including Unite and Unison in a broad coalition to organise a response.

Last year in the immediate aftermath of the Lee Rigby killing the EDL got 2000 at their national demo in Newcastle. Middlesbrough won’t see numbers anything like that – the EDL have splintered and shrunk massively since last year, with continuous pressure from anti-racists and anti-fascists as well as the defection of the leadership, huge internal arguments and entire ‘divisions’ leaving en masse, unhappy with the new leadership.

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Stevenage turns out against the EDL – Sat 7th June

8 06 2014

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On Saturday 7th the EDL held a regional demo in Stevenage in Hertfordshire, supposedly protesting about ‘Muslim grooming gangs’. The pretext for this being two men and a woman from Stevenage who have been charged with offences related to the sexual trafficking of two under-age girls. They are currently innocent until proven guilty and will go to trial next year. The two guys happen to have Muslim names – that therefore makes this a ‘Muslim grooming gang’ apparently. When white people with English names are arrested for sexual offences funnily enough it isn’t immediately related to the religion we presume they profess and there are no demos against ‘Christian grooming gangs’.

The local Trades Council and Stevenage Against the EDL did a sterling job of mobilising local opposition to this racist hate-fest as 200 local anti-fascists and trade unionists took to the streets to show the EDL that they were not welcome in Stevenage. The local newspaper reported approximately 300 EDL had come to the town for their demo.

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Oppose the EDL in Stevenage Sat 7th June

3 06 2014

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Meet : Town Centre Gardens, 1pm, Saturday 7th June (behind the swimming pool)

The ever-diminishing EDL are dragging their sorry arses to Stevenage in Hertfordshire this weekend. They are supposedly protesting ‘grooming incidents’ in their ongoing campaign to racialise child abuse as something that only Muslims do.

Plenty has been said about the EDL’s opportunistic and racist use of sex-abuse stories to generate anti-Muslim hate and also about their remarkable silence about any sex-abusers with white skin, especially the paedophiles and rapists within their own ranks and within the wider ‘patriot’ movement, whom they more usually ignore or even defend.

Luckily the good people of Stevenage are not sitting back and letting racists march through their town unopposed spreading lies. Local opposition has been mobilised by the local chapter of the National Shop Stewards Network and by Stevenage & District Trades Union Council.

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World’s Shortest Ever Far-Right Demo: EDL in Colchester

22 05 2014

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Today Essex EDL were set to do a wreath laying ‘commemoration’ of Lee Rigby’s death at the Colchester war memorial, hoping to use memories of the killing to boost their own failing movement. Essex Anti-Fascists organised a crowd of 100 locals to oppose the 25-30 EDL who made it, approximately 3 of whom were from Colchester, the rest shipped in from around the region.

Lee Rigby’s mother has made it clear what she thinks about the far-right utilising her son’s death for their political gain, but do they listen? Do they fuck. When it comes down to a choice between being respectful and using something as a stick to beat Muslims with, hating Muslims wins out every time.

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Oppose the EDL in Colchester Thursday 22nd May

19 05 2014

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Meet 11am, Colchester war memorial

Aim to arrive on time and try to travel in groups

IMPORTANT: If you are traveling from outside of Colchester, please email essexantifa@hush.com

This year the EDL once again plan to descend on Colchester town centre bringing scenes reminiscent of last May’s march which saw Nazi salutes on the war memorial and brutality from both police and the far-right. We call once again on locals, students and anti-fascists from far and wide to join us in Colchester on the 22nd of May to say no to the EDL.

Whether it be a march, gathering or meeting – fascists must be countered at every opportunity!

Essex Anti-Fascists: Facebook / Blog

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Report on Newcastle mobilisation against the EDL

19 05 2014

A brief reflection on yesterday from North East Anti-Fascists:

The English Defence League’s mobilisation in Newcastle yesterday was choreographed around the theme of their latest bogus non-campaign to tackle Asian grooming gangs. It goes without saying that we feel the exploitation of this issue and the use of emotive images of children, leading the observer to consider sexual abuse to be quite sickening. Sickening, given that the fascists use this issue to spread fear, hatred and division, sickening, given that (thankfully) this represents zero and nil campaign in reality, sickening in the lack of consideration for the survivors and victims, evident in the careless treatment of this issue. North East Anti-Fascists have already highlighted examples of sex offenders within the English Defence League/fascist spectrum and have speculated on the use of this issue as cover for abusive behaviours within its own ranks.

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We’ve always been united! Stand against the EDL in Newcastle Sat May 17th

12 05 2014

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For Latest info: North East Anti-Fascists

This coming Saturday 17th May, North East EDL plan to hold a demonstration in the West End of Newcastle under the pretext of protesting about ‘Muslim grooming gangs’.

It’s a regional EDL demo, but in these days of declining numbers for the EDL, the difference between ‘regional’ and ‘national’ demonstrations has tended to become a bit irrelevant – the numbers they get on the day having more to do with whether they are stronger in one area than another.

Hence the recent EDL demo in Rotherham getting significantly more numbers than when they held ‘national’ demos in Exeter or Slough, places where they have little presence.

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Rotherham demo report

12 05 2014

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by Sheffield Anti-Fascist Network

Last Saturday the English Defence League (EDL) held a national demonstration in Rotherham, ostensibly against “Muslim grooming gangs”, although this excuse was tacked on weeks after the demo was announced.

Child abuse needs to be tackled wherever it occurs but the EDL’s treatment of the issue is completely opportunistic and disingenuous. They blame all Muslims (or all Pakistanis or British Asians) for the actions of a small minority but they have nothing to say about child abuse perpetrated by Christians or white people (including their own supporters) and certainly don’t portray it as representative of those abusers’ ethnic or religious communities. They have nothing to say about the cuts to children and family services or about the chauvinistic attitudes that led the police to ignore the voices of vulnerable girls in Rotherham and allowed their abuse to continue.

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