Unite Against Fascism Wales

Election Report:

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Fighting Fascism in 2012:May elections - Keeping the Fascists OutDefend Multiculturalism - Reject Islamophobia

Conference

May elections - Keeping the Fascists OutDefend Multiculturalism - Reject Islamophobia

Saturday 11thFebruary 2012Transport House, Cathedral Rd, Cardiff 10.30am - 4.30pmRegister at: unitewales@live.co.uk - registration from 10.00am

Confirmed speakers include:

Peter Hain MP; Andy Richards, President of Wales TUC; Zita Holbourne Black ActivistsRising Against Cuts; Luke Young, President NUS Wales; Weyman Bennet, SecretaryUAF; Derek Vaughan MEP; Zahid Raja, NUS Wales Black Students Officer; AmarjiteSingh VP Wales TUC.

Supported by: Wales TUC, CWU, NUT, NASUWT, USDAW, UNITE, PCS , UCU

Cost £5 and £3 concessions Register in advance and free lunch provided

'United We Stand'Unite Against Fascism Wales Newsletter Winter 2012

email: unitewales@live.co.uk web: unitewales.org.uk tel: 07704 356894

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➢➢BFP: TheNew Nazis Unite Against

Fascism WalesConference

Stopping➢➢page 3 page 4

the Nazis

LoveMusic Hate Racism CymruFor a moment think about what the word‘racism’ means to you. It defines how somepeople react, or say things. It defines howsome of us think and what we base oureveryday decisions on. It could be a simplechoice to avoid sitting next to someone on abus; maybe it’s irrationally blaming a groupof people because of their skin colour; orsimply pre-judging a person’s abilitybecause they have a different accent to you.Racism happens in all walks of life.Those who use racism as a premise inpoliticsdo it in order todivideandweakenus.Racism isn’t something that’s confined to theseventies. It’s just as real and lethal today—only recently, on the earlymorning of BoxingDay, twenty-three year old Anuj Bidve (apostgraduate student at Lancaster

University) was shot dead in front of hisfriends because of his skin colour.

Research by the National Union of Studentsreveals that one in six Black and MinorityEthnic students experiences racism oncampus—and almost one third don’t havethe confidence to report it to their institution.

But when you think about Stereophonics,Feeder or Super Furry Animals you don’tthink of hate. Welsh bands, singers andartists — the people on our radios, in ourclubs and on our Spotify playlists — they’re

living proof that cultures can and do mix.,Wherever you are, whatever your taste,music unites us and reminds us of our

humanity. Every beat drums in how far wehave come as people and how much ourmulticultural andmultiracial society truly hasto offer.

In Wales, the National Union of Studentslaunched Love Music Hate Racism Cymruover the summer. Its steering team is madeupof student leaders fromacrossWalesandthey are ready to help Student Unionsacross Wales put together amazing events,sendingaclearmessage to racistswhoseekto divide communities on campus.

In the UK, Love Music Hate Racism hasbeen going strong, with hundreds of eventsfrom the huge to the local, somefeaturing huge names such as Ms

NUSWales launch

'British Freedom Party'is the British Fascist Party

2 unite against fascism wales unite against fascism wales 3continued from front page page

The Labourmovement and opposing the Nazis

Dynamite, Hard-Fi, Babyshambles, Akala,Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly, Estelle, TheView, Lethal Bizzle, Roll Deep andBasement Jaxx. But just as important arethe local bands, the DJs, the MCs, the fanswho put together their own nights. Theykeep the whole movement going, and havea whole lot of fun in the process.

If this sounds like you, get involved withLove Music Hate Racism Cymru!E-mail us at zahid.raja@nus-wales.org.ukor follow us on twitter:www.twitter.com/LMHRChttp://www.twitter.com/LMHRCymru .

Zahid Raja.

The labour movement has a long and proud history offighting the scourgeof fascism, both abroadandwithinour own country. On the Continent we were united infighting Franco in Spain, and Hitler during World War2. In Britain the labour movement fought Mosley’sBlackshirts at Cable Street, and opposed the NationalFront in the East End of London in the 1970s.

After the devastation and misery that fascism causedduring the last century the labour movement is stillfighting the fascists, now in the guise of the BNP, theBFP and the English Defence League. The WalesTUC has supported our affiliates, and other actiongroups such as Unite Against Fascism, in the fightagainst these fascist organisations for many years,and the fight must continue.

One common factor in the modest upsurge of supportfor the far right movements in Britain during the 1930sand the 1970s was the grave economic backdrop. Intimes of economic hardship the fascists cansometimes seem more palatable to people who, inmore prosperous times, would never give them asecond thought. If this association of economichardship and fascist support is correct, then, in thepresent economic climate, where unemploymentedges towards 3 million, we have to be vigilant and onour guard. Anti-fascistsmust do everything they can toget themessage across that theBNP, theBFPand theEDL are no friends of the ordinary citizen

The trade union movement is mobilising with everysinew to fight back against the Con-Dem cuts. InCardiff last year thousandsof peoplemarched to showtheir opposition to cuts, and hundreds of thousandsmarched in London. These are cuts which seek tomake thecitizens ofWales and therest of the UKpay for the‘snouts in thet r o u g h ’mentality of theTories’ mates,the heads of thef i n a n c i a li n s t i t u t i o n s ,whocreated themess we arenow in. Thecuts are designed to complete the job that Thatcherbegan—to destroy the Welfare State and sell off anyvaluable assets to their pals, whilst driving downwages by dint of the deliberate creation of massunemployment.

The fascists are already using the effects of the Con-DemCoalition’s savagecuts to try tomakescapegoatsof minority ethnic groups and migrant workers. Liesabout migrant workers. Lies about massive benefits

and free cars for immigrants. Lies about migrantworkers stealingWelsh workers’ jobs. Lies uponmorelies. Their message can be boiled down to one four-letter word—HATE.

The Wales TUC isdetermined to exposethe BNP, the BFP andthe EDL for what theya r e— r e a c t i o n a r yracists who would makethe destruction of thetrade union movementand our campaigns forsocial justice as their toppriority, if they everachieved politicalpower. In their MickeyMouse politicalphilosophy they portray

trade unionists as “reds” and “commies”. Thisideological hatredof the labourmovement is not basedon any rational thought process. Like Hitler andMussolini, their political idols, they have an innatehatred of any organisation that sticks up for ordinaryworking people. Their hatred of our movement is, byassociation, an inbuilt hatred of the working classpeople of our country. This is somewhat ironic whenone considers that many of their grass roots activistswill be from a working class background, many of

whose families will have benefitted from the support oftrade unions over the years.

Wemust work to dispel the argument that ignoring thefascists is the bestway to defeat them. It is only by faceto facesteadfastopposition, suchaswehaveengagedin across Wales, that we will achieve this. We all havea duty to play our part. We have a duty to ourmovement, to our country and to our families to keepWales as the tolerant welcoming country it has alwaysstrived to be. To do nothing is not an option. We mustall act—shoulder to shoulder.

The BNP, the BFP and the EDL are no different fromthe hate-filled, bigoted skinheads of yesteryear, and itis our job to expose them as such. In the fight againstthe fascists we should draw inspiration from thosebrave comrades who knew all about direct action.Those hundreds of Welsh socialists who left theirhomes and families to fight fascism in Spain in the1930s, who enduredmiserable conditions on the frontline, who died for a cause that was international.

AsWales TUCPresident I applaud the National Unionof Students, not only for taking an early lead in the fightagainst the cutsandshowingus theway, but for joiningwith Unite Against Fascism Wales, and taking up thefight against the purveyors of hatred and intolerance.

Andy Richards.

2011 was a year of mixed news for anti-fascists. Onthe up side we saw the continuing decline of the BNPand the defeat of the EDL in their attempt to invadeTower Hamlets. On the down side there wasCameron joining the attack on multi-culturalism andthen the link up between the EDL and the BritishFreedom Party to provide a new electoral voice forBritish fascism.

The BNP continued its decline throughout 2011.Only 70 people turned up for the AGM. These werenot delegates but individualmembers out of a claimedtotal of over 10,000. Debts continued tomount as ex-employees won tribunal cases and legal expensesincreased. At the Feltham by-election on December15th their vote was, 540 [2.3%] down from the 2010general election result of 1714 [3.5%]. But still Griffinhangs on and still draws his MEP salary andexpenses.

Their other MEP Andrew Brons who lost the contest

forBNPchairmanby11votes alsohangson–waitingin the wings. He got around 150 to his ‘BNP Ideas’conference in October which decided to form a‘parallel structure’ within the BNP, ready to take over,but they have no means of forcing Griffin out. Somefascists have criticised Brons for not splitting but heargues that adding to the number of ex-BNP splinterparties will not help. But at the New Year he didannounce the formation of a Centre for DemocraticNationalists intended to be an umbrella group aimedat building unity NOT another party. However a verytiny party the Democratic Nationalists has affiliatedand offers to let other fascists stand under its label ifthey have no other ‘home’.

The good news continued when the fascists’street-fighting wing, the EDL, failed in its attempt toinvade Tower Hamlets in September. UAF Walessent a coach to support the very successfuldemonstration organised by UAF, East End Unitedand other local groupswhich kept the fascists out and

held a victory march. This was despite the fact thatboth the UAF and EDLmarches had been banned bythe Home Secretary.

November saw the first determined police actionagainst the EDL when on Remembrance Day theyarrested 170 EDL members who had gathered nearthe Cenotaph to prevent a planned attack on the LSXOccupation Camp, at St Pauls. Unfortunately all butfour were later released without charge.

The EDL/BFP link up. Throughout 2011 the EDLincreasingly showed itself to be the street-fightingwing of fascism. They continued their attempts toinvade towns throughout the country, to terroriseMuslim communities and attack mosques. They alsostepped up intimidation and attacks on trade union,left-wing and antifascist events. Then in Novemberthey announced a link up with the British FreedomParty. In preparation for this the ex-BNP leadership ofthe BNP was asked to stand down to make way for

former UKIP candidate Paul Weston as chairman.Since then the EDL organisers such as Tim Ablitt[South-west England] have moved over to becomeBFP organisers and there is a ‘special offer’ for EDLsupporters to joinBFP for half-price. One result of thisis that we now know more about the peopleorchestrating these moves and their internationalconnections.

The other result is that we have a new bid to replacethe BNP, one that has the classic fascist line up of a‘suits and boots’ – an electoral front and a streetfighting gang. It was the strategy used by bothMussolini and Hitler. Today Islamophobia takes therole of anti-semitism.

Will theybesuccessful? Thesevenyears ofmiseryand rising unemployment promised by GeorgeOsborne – so reminiscent of the 1930s - will certainlyhelp them. So will Cameron’s attack on multi-culturalism and promises to reduce immigration – as

if that had anything to do with the current slump. Butlike the NF and BNP they will be beaten provided wemaintain a united and unrelenting opposition thatmakes no concessions to their propaganda, allowsthem no platform and seeks to mobilise a massmovement. The first test will be in the May localelections.

In Wales? We know they plan to stand in parts ofEngland but as yet the BFP havemade no showing inWales. TheWelsh Defence League disappeared, asan organisation, following our successes againstthem in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport. In Wales wecan expect candidates from the remnants of the BNPand the National People’s Party [NPP] which is thelabel that the ex-BNP people in Britain First are likelyto use. A few may appear as ‘Independents’ so weneed to be vigilant.

Jeff Hurford

BNP = BFP: the British Fascist Party