A small crew of Brighton Antifascists mooched up to Nottingham yesterday to join Midlands Anti-Fascist Network in opposing the EDL. A piss-poor EDL demo was outnumbered 10-1 by local anti-fascists. And a good day was made even better by the fact some EDL seem to have “lost” their flag. Oops!
– Exact location: TBC
– Get involved Midlands: midlandsantifascists@riseup.net
– Get involved National: afncontact@riseup.net
– For more info check Midlands Antifascists on Facebook
– Facebook event for the day
NATIONAL CALL-OUT
Following their national demonstration in London on the 16th of July, the bickering remnants of the EDL (English Defence League) have announced another national demonstration in Nottingham on the 6th of August. However – Nottingham is a firmly antifascist city and has shown repeatedly over the past decade that racists are NOT welcome here! We’re calling for a strong counter-mobilsation on the 6th of August to give a much needed boost to the organised Left post-Brexit, and deal a critical blow to the tottering remnants of the EDL.
2016 is only a few days old and already it looks set to go off with a bang. Several far-right groups have already announced protests and the AFN is gearing up for a busy year.
Whatever happens with the election on Thursday, the struggle against racism and fascism will continue. Indeed it will continue with hardly a pause as Saturday May 9th sees two major mobilisations for anti-fascists in Dudley in the Midlands and Walthamstow in East London.
And whatever happens to UKIP in the election, the tide of racism and xenophobic anti-immigrant hysteria that they have both ridden and helped create will not disappear after polling day. Its toxic legacy will be long-lasting and we will be dealing with an increase in racist and far-right attacks because of it.
It’s unfortunate for the ‘new right’ of the EDL and the anti-Muslim ‘counter-Jihad’ movement, that as much as they constantly proclaim that they “aren’t racist because Islam isn’t a race” (© every racist ever), old-fashioned neo-Nazi Jew-haters keep popping up to remind everyone that all the same arguments they use against Muslims have been used before against Jews.
As a very good piece by Jewdas points out, all the same lies historically used by anti-Semites are now being applied to Muslims. And yet this Islamophobic hatred is far more culturally acceptable than anti-Semitism. Take the average rant about Islam from Britain First, the EDL, UKIP or the Daily Mail, switch all the words referring to Muslims and Islam to Jews and Judaism and see how much it sounds like the Nazis.
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
Some brief reports and thoughts from Dudley at the weekend.
Local and national media mostly seem to be repeating the police’s figures of 600 EDL and 50 anti-fascists. There are some divergences from this. Some media organisations estimated up to 1000 EDL. The UAF stated there were “several hundred” at their counter-demonstration to the EDL.
Midlands Anti-Fascists who called for a counter-mobilisation to the EDL reported:
“We didn’t have the best of days yesterday, with 27 Antifa being locked up for the day as a preventative measure. However, absolute solidarity to Berkshire Anti-Fascists, North London Anti-Fascists and Brighton Anti-Fascists for travelling up to support us. Yesterday we saw the fash protected by the police and the UAF stand around having their jolly as usual completely away from the EDL. Don’t believe the hype, it might have been reported that a militant wing of the UAF split off from the unity rally, but that was us and not them. As per.”
For demo details check Midlands Anti-Fascists Facebook event
This Saturday the EDL carry their racist travelling circus to Dudley in the Black Country. Like the fascists of the 1930s choosing to hold anti-Semitic marches through the East End of London, they target areas with a large Muslim population to parade their hatred through the streets and to intimidate and terrorise the population.
This march is the latest installment in the EDL’s campaign against the construction of a new mosque in Dudley. And of course, it being the EDL, violent measures are never far from the surface, as one Birmingham EDL activist makes clear:
Anti-Fascist Network 