Anti Fascist Gathering - Lancaster June 22
Submitted by RednBlack on Jun 19 2006 12:58
The British National Party (BNP) are standing in a local council by-election in Lancaster. The count is at Ryelands School on June 22nd. Please, if you can, help to opposse the fascists who will be turning up. We have already been active with anti fash leaflets / posters /and a public meeting. It is important to have a visible presence to these fascist scum bags on the evening of the election count. Thanks.
Jun 22 2006 23:41
#2
Cheers mate. I know what the N stands for... but they are a fascist organisation so I think the nazi tag is apt.
solidarity
x nb
Jun 24 2006 07:13
#3
Why people keep refering to the BNP as nazis as opposed to having Nazi's or nazi sympathisers within it is beyond me. Lets get this clear the BNP is not a nazi party, it is under the Griffin leadership increasingly a postmodernist fascist/nationalist party which has jewish members and indeed a jewish councillor in Epping forest Patricia richardson. Hardly nazi eh!. It is a party whose propaganda stresses racial differences and not superiority. It is a party that has made links with other ethnic groups like the sikh spokesman Rajinder singh in a common cause against islam. It is a party that stresses the cause of civil liberties and the environment not traditionl areas of concern for the british far right. It is in short a totally different beast to the far right of the NF and the old Tyndallite BNP more Pym fortune than Adolf hitler. To defeat this beast we need different tactics to the stupid searchlight UAF Nazi labelling and other duff propaganda of the declining dead left.
Jun 24 2006 07:33
#4
RednBlack wrote:
solidarity
x nb
There is actually a difference between fascism and nazism - Mussolini's Italy being the clearest example, a state that was fascist but not Nazi.
If labelling the BNP nazis worked, there would be no need for such semantics. However, despite a thousand documentaries, leaflets and articles calling them Nazis, there vote has gone up and up over the past few years.
Time for Plan B?
Jun 24 2006 07:42
#5
I'ts time some people on the left woke up to what we are dealing with here. The left are in denial they have gone from dismisal of the fash to disbelief and now denial. Time for plan b indeed
Jun 24 2006 08:57
#6
I agree with the point about there being a difference between nazism and fascism. And I don't think labelling them "nazis" ALONE (and doing nothing else) is effective. However I don't think the left should disagree about what we label them. "post modernist fascists off our streets" doesn't have the same ring to it! To me they are a bunch of far right wing scum bags... in power they would run us through whatever we labelled them.
We do though, I agree, need to be aware of their politics in order to oppose them effectively. When they organised here they put out lots of bullshit racist and islamophobic leaflets... Local activists (UAF - but also many others, anarchists and non-aligned) mobilised against them. Our own propaganda, meetings, and demo. It is what we do next that is important. We can stop them operating!
solidarity
x n
Jun 24 2006 11:02
#7
RednBlack, especially as I believe there is a group called the British Nazi Party (in northern Ireland I believe?) calling the BNP that is just silly, because it's not their name.
Jun 24 2006 14:44
#8
Point taken - I have editted the original...
Jun 24 2006 19:36
#9
It seems to me that at times the left in this country think we are still dealing with the old BNP marches, racist gigs, anti mugging patrols, and holocust deniers etc. I repeat we are dealing with a different beast and duff propaganda and nazi stereotyping is not going to work with these people. The UAF left's collaboration with Searchlight magazine a listening post spying on the left for the state does not help us either. I am not suprisingly calling on the antifascists to shout postmodern fascists either fascist scum will do rednblack but not nazis although the NF and WNP and certain individuals still deserve the nazi label.
Jun 24 2006 23:33
#10
If we take the problems of the UAF approach as given.. i.e we both agree that the UAF approach has serious flaws... they get into bed with the establishment which means they are no alternative... this leaves the bnp with fertile ground to exploit with their filth. The two worst parts of the demo in Lancaster were - 1. The prospective Labour councillor had his picture taken with the anti fash crowd... in a photo opportunity... he stood with them for 10 seconds then returned to the count! and 2. Most of the anti fash present clapped him when he got elected.
What I am interested to hear about, though, is how the distinction you make between nazism and fascism will affect how we (as in militant anti fascists / anti nazis) operate?
And, I'm still not convinced about the bnp being very far removed from previous "nazi" groups - wnp, nf, bnp of old... they may have a jewish member and try to engage with some sikhs in an opportunist attempt to whip up islamaphobia... but they still believe in racial purity... they are a white only organisation ("British or kindred European" whatever the fuck that means)... and they demand the right to organise in that way... They may well play down the "repatriation" policies and the race card now - but give them significant electoral gains and I think that jewish people and sikhs would be wise not to consider them anything other than a very grave danger... Also, it's no coincidence that racist assaults increase where the bnp organise... we unfortunately saw this in lancaster.
However we agree that they are a fascist organisation... so in terms of how we deal with them... I think that the following are all useful... militant confrontation... no platform... building a libertarian alternative in our communities / workplaces... propaganda against the bnp (leaflets / posters)... anti fascist social events (gigs or other)...
any other thoughts?
solidarity x n
Jun 25 2006 00:14
#11
The UAF are a bunch of basically middle class liberal fucks who have not adapted or cannot/will not adapt to the changing BNP and who forever parrott around searchlight propaganda about the BNP being nazi which as i have said is political cretinism of the worst kind and which in the last few years has not stopped the rise of this fascist party one jot. The UAF are so broad based as to have in their ranks Teddy taylor MP and Peter hain MP who are themselves reactionary fucks.
What we need is the building of a militant anti-fascist movement which includes anachists revolutionary socialists radical greens etc who would appeal to the poor white working class in particular and not just trade unionists and certainly not pop stars like Pete doherty similar in a way to the old Anti fascist action and similar to Antifa but to deal with the fascist BNP also requires different tactics from anti fascists and i think anti fascist researcher and campaigner Larry o hara's analysis in his excellent mag Notes from the Borderland issue 4 is very relevant and useful.
Jun 25 2006 08:18
#12
cheers for the reference, will see if I can find it to read. Isn't Antifa already the militant anti fascist organisation you describe?
I am not a member of uaf, but I don't think "middle class fucks" describes their supporters here in lancaster. It is their politics that is the problem - "liberal" most definately. There will be times though when militant anti fascists are working alongside uaf, and others who are not anarchists.
thanks again for the feedback, reference, and opinion.
solidarity n x
Jun 25 2006 18:31
#13
Just in case you need help Rednblack his website address is www.borderland.co.uk. Its not fully functionng yet because most of the articles in the NFB series can't be downloaded but you can order it using paypal on the website.
Jun 25 2006 22:21
#14
Correction Larry's thoughts on how to deal with the fash BNP are in issue 5 not issue 4 though i recommend that you read the whole series of NFB 1-7. Apologies for the mistake. Also recommend that you type Borderland's address in the address bar at the top of the page below your internet control functions as you cannot get to larry's site from the last post i put up.
Admin - discussion about is it worth campaigning against the BNP split here
Jul 5 2006 15:41
#15
Larry's comments on how to deal with the fash are reprinted in Issue 7 and are well worth reading. Although the article itself is way too big to reprint here, I'll tap in the key points later tonight so people can take a look.
Took longer than I thought but here you go:
Larry's Plan B is given in more detail in NFB Issue 5 (p.56-7) but here's the general gist:
- dropping the term Nazi as a description
- downgrading the obsession with pinning the 'criminal' label on the BNP
- taking the BNP seriously and not automatically assuming they will fade
- properly analysing BNP ideology
- exploiting tensions between elected councillors and the rest of the party
- street opposition where apposite
- closing down the BNP's political space by connecting with legitimate aspirations
Larry then goes on to supplement the above list with the following:
1) Detailed analysis of BNP policies and their fascist sub-text. Supplemented with strategic analysis. This hard work is essential. Shallow analysis like that of Copsey, whose work skewed the Democratic Audit Report, are lacking.
2) Rigorous examination of the precise weaknesses of the UAF/Together strategy.
3) Positive engagement with the Trevor Philips proposals on national identity, without his emphasis on using the state, or indeed the CRE interfering in elections.
4) Paying attention to housing policy, and expanding Housing Association properties.
5) Placing new arrivals into the country directly into prosperous neighbourhoods, like Hampstead, rather than already-overburdened (in terms of demands on services) working class areas.
'In the end, rather than mere opposition, we need a new social vision, articulating a self-sufficient equitable and sustainable decentralised model applicable to those local working class communities written off by the established political and economic system. Or else we will remain chasing the game - a deadly pursuit anti-fascists cannot afford to lose.'
mate what the fuck? The British Nazi Party?
BNP stands for british national party, and always has, even when they were nazi's. For the last 10 years, and even more so recently, they have moved to the centre ground, and could best be described in their terms as 'euronationalists' and in our terms as neo-fascists. You could make a case of calling them fascists, but considering you thought 'N' stood for 'Nazi' i don't thats within your remit, no offence meant.
I don't mean to be rude and well done for organising against these bastards, but if people go steaming in with badly formed rhetoric, chanting about nazis, they may well do more harm than good.
check ur PMs