March to nowhere?

27 04 2015

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re-blogged from Brighton Anti-Fascists

It’s been a busy weekend for Brighton Antifascists, despite the March for England not even trying to hold their annual crap-fest of a march this year.

The weekend began early with “Pompey” Dave Smeetyon (leader of March for England) and about 10 of his sad looking mates turning up in town  on Thursday to celebrate St Georges day by doing a quick photoshoot on the pier then spending the rest of the evening hiding in the beer garden of the King & Queen, checking nervously over their shoulder in case antifascists turned up. Despite various threats they didn’t try going within 100m of the Cowley.

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Latest Info for Oppose the March for England in Blackpool this Saturday

22 04 2015

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UPDATED WED 22nd:

  • Travel with our transport or aim to be in Blackpool for midday
  • Exact location to be revealed on the day
  • Keep checking OpposeMFE Twitter and Facebook for the latest info and for updates during the day.
  • More info for the day here

Anti-fascists from around the country will be joining local people in Blackpool this Sat 25th to stand up against the racist ‘March for England’.

For seven years the March for England descended on Brighton. At first posing as merely an innocent St. George’s Day parade, it was in fact stuffed with far-right racists and fascists, allowing them another opportunity to parade their hatred through the streets.

After several years of robust opposition from the people of Brighton who turned out in their thousands to tell MfE that they were not wanted, the fascists finally gave up and have decamped to the North West where they hope they will get a friendlier reception.

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The nation can’t save us, demand the future!

13 04 2015

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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.

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Stand up to March for England in Blackpool – April 25th

23 03 2015
March for England having a bad time in Brighton

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.”

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Idiots’ guide to the idiot far right

15 01 2015

To welcome in 2015, the Anti-Fascist Network has put together an idiots’ guide to the idiots on Britain’s far right. No need to thank us, it’s a public service.

British National Party

Introducing the man who will revive the fortunes of the BNP... Adam Walker

Introducing the man who will definitely revive the fortunes of the BNP… Adam Walker

Formerly known as Britain’s most successful and ambitious fascist group since the 1930s, recent years have not been kind to the BNP. Membership and electoral support for the party has plummeted after a disappointing performance in the 2010 local and general elections. This unleashed a series of bitter internal disputes culminating in longstanding party leader Nick Griffin being unceremoniously booted out during 2014.

Alongside Griffin, most prominent party members who were at least semi-competent and kept the show on the road have either resigned or been expelled. This has left the BNP bereft of people with the kind of basic skills necessary to do organise election campaigns or community work. Adam Walker, Griffin’s replacement, is uniquely poorly placed to lead the party. Although he lacks political skill, charisma or any observable talents, he does have a conviction for chasing children in his car and threatening them with a knife. Read the rest of this entry »





Antifascism in the UK: Highlights of 2014

5 01 2015

reblogged from UK Aktion

January 1st 2015

This past year has been a busy one for antifascists in the UK, seeing many successful counter-mobilisations against the far-right, resulting in swathe of victories for antifascists. The year began with a bang when Hungarian fascist party Jobbik attempted to hold a meeting in London in January. Kicking off the year, literally, with direct physical confrontation, multiple tube stations were blockaded whilst militant antifascists chased them around London. Well-aimed boots drove these fascists to retreat and cower in fear in an Indian restaurant, making them think twice about meeting in London again.

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EDL in Slough, Feb 2014

At the beginning of February the EDL attempted to march through the diverse town of Slough. An impressive mobilisation of several hundred antifascists and locals easily outnumbered the EDL, blocking the high street in several places, forcing the local plod to clear the street violently with baton and horse charges. The ensuing scenes recalled to some the London riots of 2011, in the level of physical confrontation with the police. Considering the chaos, antifascist arrests were minimal and two pigs were injured whilst trying to defend the fascists. This was a very successful day for antifascists as the EDL march was outnumbered and disrupted all the way along it’s route.

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Barricades of Brighton: March for England run out of town

28 04 2014

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It rained on their parade, in more ways than one… A successful day for anti-fascists on Sunday saw the far-right March for England harassed, heckled and hounded out of Brighton during their annual humiliation by the sea.

The mystery is why they keep coming back…

Since 2008 the nationalist March for England have been coming annually to Brighton to parade their narrow-minded vision of Englishness through the streets of the town in ‘celebration’ of St George’s day. For the last four years they have been opposed by an ever-growing coalition of local anti-fascists and anti-racists who have recognised their ‘innocent patriotism’ as a not very good disguise covering their real agenda of extreme right nationalist politics, racism and xenophobia.

The March for England come to Brighton because for them it represents everything they despise – a tolerant, cosmopolitan, liberal town in which they have no foothold. Thus in their mind it has become transformed into a centre of “anti-English activities”. Read the rest of this entry »





UPDATED AFN national callout to Stop the March for England, Brighton April 27th

23 04 2014

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Meet 11.30am, bottom of West St, Brighton, Sunday April 27th

With only four days to go until Brighton’s opposition to the far-right nationalist March for England, details are becoming clear. In response to changed information coming from the police, Stop the March for England – the campaign group that has been organising the opposition to the fascist demonstration – has changed the details of the anti-fascist callout.

The fascist march will be held in the same location as last year – along a short stretch of the main seafront road. However, the police have announced they are running the route back to front, i.e. starting from the bottom of West Street heading towards the Palace Pier roundabout and then back again rather than the other way around. They are saying the march will start on Kings Rd just east of West St and stop just short of the roundabout so that it will be able to stay open to traffic. The police have also indicated the march will be starting at 12.30pm and should be over by 1.30pm.

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AFN National Callout: Stop the March for England April 27th

11 04 2014
Last year's March for England

Last year’s March for England

Humiliated in previous years in Brighton, the racist March for England are this year calling on as many EDL splinter groups and outright Nazis as they can to bolster the numbers on their annual parade.

Accordingly the Anti-Fascist Network is urging all anti-fascists to head to Brighton on the 27th April to support the mobilisation to Stop the March for England.

Brighton has become a line in the sand for the far-right. Because Brighton is a relatively liberal cosmopolitan city, they see it as a hotbed of “anti-English activities”. They hate Brighton and they know that Brighton hates them, but they keep coming back because they cannot be seen to back down.

This year’s March for England has the added significance that it is a national outing for the newly formed far-right alliance the United British Patriots, which hopes to be the successor to the EDL on the streets. Now is the time to stand up to them before they have the opportunity to achieve this ambition.

A big show of strength in Brighton will send a clear message to this new alliance of fascists and to the far-right in general that the people of Brighton will never accept a far-right parade to go through their town unopposed.

All anti-fascists should mobilise to support them. All out for the 27th in Brighton!

Details

Meet Sun 27th April, Palace Pier roundabout, Brighton seafront to line the route of the march.

Time TBC nearer the date.

Contact your local AFN group for details of any transport to Brighton.

For information from the streets in advance and on the day:

Twitter: @stopmfe

Facebook

Web: stopmfe.wordpress.com

Phone: 07870 306788

Email: stopmfe@ymail.com





Getting organised to Stop the March for England – Brighton April 27th

6 03 2014

For the last few years there has been an annual far-right event in Brighton held around St George’s Day in April. The “March for England” which is confusingly both an organisation and an event has held a march through the town to ‘celebrate’ St George’s Day since 2008.

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Last year’s March for England

Readers may be familiar with previous anti-fascist mobilisations against the far-right shambles. Campaign group Stop the March for England has organised thousands of local Brighton residents to take to the streets to oppose the racists, seeing them massively outnumbered and being escorted totally surrounded by police through huge crowds of jeering heckling Brightonians. In 2012 the route of the march had to be abandoned due to massive opposition on the streets and the MfE were chased all the way back to the train station.

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