There are already a lot of reports of what happened in Dover on Saturday knocking about, so we’ll keep ours short and sweet, and focus on the analysis. What does Dover mean for the Antifascist Movement in this country?
The day started with a 150-strong bloc of locals and AFN gathering in Pencester Gardens, forming up behind a large “Open the Borders” banner, and marching to occupy the fascists’ RV point at the Castle Inn.
The AFN bloc forming up.
September is shaping up to be a VERY busy month for Antifascists. There are going to be three (!) AFN actions, alongside several other non-AFN Antifascist demonstrations. The refugee crisis has pushed the far-right into a frenzy of activity and it is our social duty to combat them.
The dual mobilisations against fascists in Wakefield and Lincoln on Saturday both saw a good turn out. 100 local anti-racists stood up against 120 EDL in Lincoln according to the local paper.
Anti-fascists in Lincoln march against the far-right last year
Wakefield: 10.30am, Cathedral Steps
Lincoln: 12.00, top of Lincoln High St
As the far-right continues to simultaneously fragment and become more dangerous and extreme, anti-fascists are increasingly facing multiple far-right marches happening at the same time.
Rather than one occasional EDL demo of several hundred people we are now often seeing multiple smaller marches from across the spectrum of racist hatred, making it harder to keep tabs on them all.
This weekend, as well as it being the international day of solidarity with anti-fascist prisoners (see our previous post), there are anti-fascist mobilisations against the EDL in Lincoln and against the Nazi National Front in Wakefield.
UPDATED WITH ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
In amongst the headline-grabbing triumphs and losses of the bigger parties in the election, another story goes rather less reported – how have the far-right and fascist parties fared?
Pretty appallingly, we are pleased to report.
The far right are finished as an electoral force. The election results for the BNP and others could not make this clearer. In 2010, the BNP stood and won 563,743 votes. In 2015, eight BNP candidates scraped together 1,667, in what must rank as one of the most humiliating collapses in British electoral history. Not a single one of their candidates polled over 1% of the vote. Anti-fascists should be congratulating BNP leader and Rotherham parliamentary candidate Adam Walker, who managed to reduce the BNP vote in the constituency from 3,906 in 2010 to 225 in 2015, on the way he has run the party’s election campaign.
Regardless of the results, next week’s general and local elections are already good news for anti-fascists. The far-right has collapsed electorally and is not mounting a serious challenge in any constituency in the UK. This is a very different from 2010, when the BNP stood 338 parliamentary candidates. This time round they are standing 8. Despite an influx of former BNP members to other far-right groups, notably the English Democrats, other fascist groups have not been able to pick up the slack. Electorally, the far-right is at its lowest ebb for a generation, although this is partly because the vote won by groups like the BNP has swung toward UKIP.
We hate to kick a man when he’s down, but this represents a golden opportunity for anti-fascists to push these racist groups out of the political arena completely.
Anti-NF welcoming committee
re-blogged from South Wales Anarchists
Anti-fascists in Merthyr stood with people from surrounding valleys communities on Monday in a show of force against fascism and racism.
Following recent threats, attacks and attempts to recruit by the boneheaded South Wales National Front, locals called on other antifa to join them to show that there is no welcome for fascist scum in working class areas.
On Sunday 25th supporters of the far-right will be gathering in Dover supposedly to ‘support the truckers’. Their Facebook page says the group ‘Support the Calais to Dover Truckers’ is to support “truckers who are under constant attack from illegal immigrants”.
When this group first popped up last year you might have been forgiven for thinking it was some Daily Mail-esque racism-lite. However, when the group held their first demo on 27th September, it was very clear that this was not the case – the main component of the demo appeared to be from the National Front, and they were joined by the now rudderless free-floating Führer-without-a-Volk Nick Griffin and also Paul Prodromou of the South East Alliance.
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 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 »
Last Saturday 4th October, anti fascists in Newcastle opposed the National Front (NF) demonstration at Grey’s Monument in the city centre. The NF are white nationalists, openly old-school fascists, into Enoch Powell and swastikas. Presumably worried about anti fascists ‘jumping the pitch’ the NF organisers turned up over half an hour early. By midday they were joined by English Defence League, Scottish Defence League and North East Infidels supporters, showing the truth behind their online claims to hate Nazis. There were about 40 of them hanging around in all. Read the rest of this entry »
Anti-Fascist Network 