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Blackpool demonstration against the BNP conference

Lancaster UAF | 15.11.2006 03:58 | Anti-racism | Culture | Social Struggles | Liverpool

North West Region UAF together with Blackpool Fylde and Wyre TUC have called a demonstration against the British National Party holding their badly-named Annual Conference in Blackpool.

The demonstration is an opportunity to show the people of Blackpool that there are antifascists out there who will support those who oppose the BNP and similar fascist organisations, and to show the BNP that there is opposition out here that is prepared to stand up and be counted. We need a BIG turnout for this one - it's likely to be the only large demonstration that will take place in the region between now and the council elections next May.

* Please note venue change *

Plan: If we discover the location of the BNP conference, we will relocate the demo on the day. If not, we'll have a number of speakers followed by a mass-leaflet of the shopping centre - particularly around where the BNP usually have their stall.
Location: Following discussions with the police, the demo has been moved to a better location at the square at the top of Victoria Street at the side entrance to the Winter Gardens. A map that clearly shows the location (marked by an asterisk) is here:  http://82.69.12.18/lancasteruafblog/media/1/mapofdemolocation.jpg
Directions: If you're coming from the prom, aim for Blackpool Tower and Victoria Street is just a few metres to the North of it. Victoria Street is pedestrianised so walk to the other end of it and you'll find us in the big square next to the Winter Gardens. For drivers, the best way is to park up in the Hounds Hill shopping centre multi-storey car park, go out through the shopping centre and you're in Victoria Street. Turn right and the demo is a fifty metre stroll.
Time: 12 noon
Date: Saturday November 25th
Notes: Some speakers have to be confirmed but we'll cover that in updates over the next few days.

Dress up warm. It's chilly in Blackpool in November.

This is our one and only opportunity to show Blackpool BNP that we are here and we are opposing them. It's vital to stop the growth of the BNP in the region and this is our opportunity to make a great start on that. Let's make it big and noisy. Please spread the word about the demo as far and wide as you can.

Amicus Fylde Coast Branch supports the planned anti-fascist demonstration in Blackpool - more here...  http://82.69.12.18/lancasteruafblog/index.php?itemid=541

Lancaster UAF
- e-mail: lancaster.uaf@zen.co.uk
- Homepage: http://82.69.12.18/lancasteruafblog/

Additions

Grass Roots to stop BNP

16.11.2006 15:30


Anti-fascist campaigners reacted with outrage on Friday of last week as Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party (BNP), and his sidekick Mark Collett were cleared of charges of incitement to racial hatred.

Griffin and Collett had been prosecuted over speeches at a BNP meeting in Keighley, West Yorkshire, that was secretly filmed by the BBC.

Griffin claimed that gangs of Asian men were drugging and raping white girls as part of an Islamic plot to take over Britain.

He spoke of “Muslim thugs and perverts”, “young paki street thugs” and Britain being “mongrelised out of existence”. Collett made similar allegations about “gangs of Asian males”.

In court Griffin argued that his comments were intended as criticism of Islam, rather than being directed at Asians in general.

“This isn’t a racial thing. It’s not an Asian thing. It’s a cultural and religious thing,” he said.

His defence team argued that Griffin’s views on Islam, expressed in 2004, had since become more acceptable. They cited recent comments by Jack Straw and other senior politicians to argue that such views were now legitimate public debate.

These kind of arguments regularly appear in both the right wing press and its “liberal” counterpart. They have directly fuelled the atmosphere of anti-Muslim racism around this case.

Jon Cruddas, Labour MP for Dagenham, east London, was quite right to say that the government’s “tough” stance on race and Muslims had played into the hands of the BNP.

He said, “We have to be honest in saying that the debate over the veil, talking tough on immigration and race or the language used in the ‘war on terror’ does not reassure people but actually makes the situation worse.”

Weyman Bennett, joint national secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said it was “tragic that a fascist organisation can hide behind free speech”.

But the verdict highlighted the need to build a united grassroots movement against the BNP that could challenge the fascists politically, he added.

“We need to be campaigning against the fascists in our workplaces and communities. The vast majority of people are opposed to the BNP - and we need to mobilise that force against them.”

Anti-fascists cannot rely on the judicial system to stop the BNP. The case underlines the importance of supporting Unite activity on the ground.

Anti-fascists from the north west of England will be travelling to Blackpool on 25 November to demonstrate against a conference the BNP plans to hold there.

Unite and the local TUC will hold a rally in the town centre, followed by a mass leafleting.

Campaigners against the BNP in Barking, east London, will be out on the streets this Saturday to oppose a planned BNP demonstration in the town centre that day.

A broad spectrum of trade unionists, anti-racist activists and faith groups has signed a statement condemning an organised and violent attack by BNP supporters on Unite campaigners in Morley, West Yorkshire recently.

Demonstrate against the BNP in Blackpool—assemble at 12 noon on Saturday 25 November opposite the main entrance to the Winter Gardens on Winstanley Grove.


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Comments

Display the following 13 comments

  1. yawn — Very tired
  2. Excellent — Keef
  3. We are too — Lol
  4. Thanks for the invite — Combat Combat 18
  5. Great — Sheesh
  6. See you there — BNP supporter
  7. You forgot — Ret Marut
  8. Free speech — simon
  9. Morley Action Against Marxism — Anti-Red Action
  10. Beware — Stuart
  11. Prick Griffin - Friends in high places — Combat Combat 18
  12. Watch this man move — Dave S
  13. 500 delegates - hahaha where were they??? — Blackpool Dave
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