Anti-facists leaflet against BNP in Hastings

Sussex Anti-facists | 01.06.2009 16:49 | Anti-racism | Social Struggles | South Coast

Today, Anti-facists leafletted the streets on Hastings discouraging people not to vote for the BNP in Thursdays EU and council elections.

Sussex based anti-facists spent today leafletting the streets of Hastings in an attempt to discourage people from voting in the election at all. Distributing leaflets encouraging people not to participate in the system that has brought us to the situation we are in now by voting. Voting for other parties in the election will simply perpetuate the many problems that the BNP are manipulating to their own facist ends.

During the day, they also dropped a banner over a main road leaving Hastings saying "Stop The Facist BNP".

Sussex Anti-facists

Comments

Hide the following 24 comments

How does not voting help?

01.06.2009 19:00

Not voting still means the government will get in. Voting doesn't preclude doing direct action or organizing. Voting can be a tactic it legitimises nothing by default. Not voting is not a step towards anarchism because there will still be someone elected. Voting on the other hand allows you to get the least bad one in.

Voter

How does not voting help anti Fash?

01.06.2009 19:22

The EU seats are based on PR.......... if you dont vote (anti BNP) then you increase their chances of getting an MEP...... Jeez, rocket science it aint!

Bob

Rocket Science?

01.06.2009 21:30

Leave voting to the Trots and other unprincipled idiots. According to the logic being put forward by UAF and Hope Not Hate a vote for New Labour, the Tories, or even UKIP, is a vote AGAINST racism. What utter drivel. Voting DOES validate a rotten, corrupt system.

Anarcho

@ Anarcho

01.06.2009 22:10

"Voting DOES validate a rotten, corrupt system"

So your happy to see the BNP get seats.... that is bound to make it less 'rotten' is it?

Kick the BNP into the gutter once and for all then I'll start getting the boot into the 'rotten' bastards.

Bob

@ Anarcho

01.06.2009 23:27

I still don't get the principle in not voting, as it does not achieve anything, not voting isn't a way of preventing authoritarian politicians – vote or not someone gets in. Voting Green (for example) is far better than letting the BNP get a seat. Voting does not stop you smash the state.

Voter

omfg

02.06.2009 01:25

get out of your UAF bubble,- this is reality , voting for anybody just gives you opportunity to choose pair of shoes that will kick your arse for next few years and thats it. All anarchists know it for a long time, perhaps its time for you liberal ankers to learn the same?

antifa

voting

02.06.2009 01:40

not to long ago i heard about a party "worth voting for" that would "stick up for the working class" and was "the anti-fascist party" i voted RESPECT, then i saw the leader meowing like a cat, glorifying the wearing of fur, promoting the use of animals in research, justifying and promoting the Cuban administration, and talking negatively about gay rights.

my green party candidate is a fox hunter,

the local socialist party are a bunch of stalinist, pro-cuban bearded weirdos.

who do we vote for? what will they do? what power will they actually have?
vote for Guy Fawkes.

all politicians are bastards. - smash the state

anarcho

Against Fascism, Against Capitalism

02.06.2009 10:59

The fight against fascism is inseperable from the fight against capitalism. In the past fascism has been the last line of defence for the ruling class when their privelege has been threatened by the actions of workers organising for a society run along socialist lines. Voting for Labour, a party that has overseen the sale of public assets to private companies, has increased the gap between rich and poor and pitted migrant workers against domestic workers, is not going to stop the rise of the far right.

Do you realise how ridiculous and patronising you sound when you call on people to vote for the party that has screwed them over for the past 12 years or the one that screwed them over before that?

Fair play to the anti-fascists who did this leafletting, just because it's election time it doesn't mean we all have to compromise our principles by offering our support for one or other set of pro-capitalist bureaucrats. Class struggle anti-fascism doesn't stop just because it's time to elect our executioners.

BruisedShins

Spoil your ballot

02.06.2009 11:22

That way you increase the voter turnout and push up the number of votes the BNP need to gain a seat.

MonkeyBot 5000

re: spoiling your ballet

02.06.2009 12:39

Mathematically this won't make it harder for the BNP to get in at all.

However you may wish to do this on moral grounds.

since the system for the european elections isn't 'straight' proportional representation (ie it is not 20% of vote = 20% of seats) it is done in a series of rounds, i believe the only really worth while tactical vote is a vote for the party most likely to come in '4th' in your area.
a vote for anyone likely to get less votes than the bnp will not make any difference to the result at all, and a vote for one of the main three parties is less likely to prevent them from getting a seat.

Personally, i'm not sure about the moral / long term strategic impact of voting in the european elections.

Ether

voting is not the be all & end all,our grandparents fought for the small right

02.06.2009 13:38

so if you want to vote& get involved in community etc then do, if you dont dont, but please be less hardline whilst seeming to snuggle around with hardline "antiwar"stalinists please, Ive done it myself in the past,urgh.
How can voting for a party into serious change be validating the corporate system?, which is trying to erode what little democracy we have left.Yep representative democracy as it is sucks, personally iam vvvbored of protesting on the sidelines, to help us get to real democractic revolutionary change we do need good people as MPs,MEPs & councillors.

Green party do have a working class base & really care about fairtrade & green issues. A shame theirs still good people seeming to follow hardlines with Marxism dictatorial tendencies it seems like "say no t to eu","respect" etc.
Improved Direct democracy like that in Switzerland& ancient greece but better with economic direct democracy also is acheivable& has many roots in anarchism. If some good people in coop party & others were up for it we could really have a real positive revolutionary situation in the UK

http://www.stopnickgriffin.org.uk/sites/stopnickgriffin/election_info.html

BNP top members do say disabled kids should be murdered at birth, people need reminding of this as many"disabled" & people with learning difficulties are v valuable members of society, being often extra caring & in case of

http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/discussions/posts/list/36/BNP_say_it_would_be_~39~kind_to_kill~39~_the_disabled-180651.page

Green syndicalist

Picture of Banner

02.06.2009 18:51

Banner

asdg

what bollox

03.06.2009 08:57

hi im from hastings, and i think your tactic will feed right into what the BNP want. Those who may vote for the BNP are looking for an alternative, and it doesn't sound as if your offering one at all, there are other parties, namely the greens, who have a broad socialist, environmentalist bent, and so there are viable alternatives within the system

i think this will give people more of an exuse to vote BNP mainly because they can then say that the left have no solutions to there problems- i.e. unemployment, housing etc- when this is precisely the time we should be encouraging people to come to the left...

shame on you for doing this...

riku

???

03.06.2009 12:49

shame on you for being naive, ignorant wanker.. all politicians are SCUM, including Greens.

antifa

antifa

03.06.2009 16:19

antifa, I don't think calling people wankers will help your cause.

I don't think most parties care how many people vote so long as you vote for them, so not voting won't make much difference.

Richard
Homepage: http://brennybaby.blogspot.com

FAO Green Syndicalist

04.06.2009 10:21

"How can voting for a party into serious change be validating the corporate system?"

One word - MUG!

Since when did any political party or politician ever do what it said to win power once in power?

Participating in elections simply helps reinforce the facade that we have a say in the running of our lives.

Anarchist

Shame on YOU

04.06.2009 10:24

If elected do-called Green politicians would act exactly like the rest. We see this in mainland Europe where they even side with the fascists.

Sod the lot of 'em.

Don't vote for any of these scum.

Voting is a waste of time

An abstention or a spoiled ballot is a boost for the BNP

04.06.2009 11:42

Sorry - you can't claim you're fighting the BNP if you neglect to do the one simple, practical thing today that would stop the BNP getting a seat on the European parliament. And that's voting for a different party.

Encouraging people to abstain or spoil their ballots only benefits the BNP and UKIP. Especially when the voter turn-out is looking so low.

And saying "Yeah.. but, like, all politicians are fascists, you know?" just makes you look like someone who's too stupid to do any research or who bandies the word "fascist" around at random. (Though you probably could get away with including the Conservatives in the fascist category, at a stretch, given the dodgy European coalition they are planning to join.) What aspect, of say, the Green party's equality policy worries you?

A spoiled ballot won't count in the proportional representation system being used. There's an argument for a campaign for a "none of the above" box, but in the absence of one, a spoiled ballot is just a form of self-pleasure. Even if a third of people returned spoiled ballots it won't make it any trickier for the BNP, as it will be the percentage of valid votes that count.

Boasting about being anti-BNP and then not voting is like boasting about being... I dunno... nice to pensioners, then sitting idly by in a pub garden watching as a granny is beaten up. "I thought you said you wanted to improve the life of pensioners." "Yeah - but I don't want to step in because stepping in would be engaging in the system, you know? And I'd prefer to wait for the imaginery system in my head to start."

Norvello

Leaflet went down well

04.06.2009 13:34

The leaflet was well received on the day, and lots of people liked the message that all politicians, including the BNP, are scum. It wasn't just about don't vote though, most of the text was about community and workplace organisation and solidarity as alternatives to both the anti working class fascists of the BNP, and the other parties.
And the idea that you can't claim to be fighting the BNP unless you participate in elections is just silly. If you feel the need then go and vote for whoever but don't kid yourself that its more important than the everyday business of trying to spread a sense of solidarity and resistance to capitalism. Anti-fascism without anti-capitalism is nothing but defending the status quo.

antifascist

A question

04.06.2009 15:27

I have an open question.

I consider myself an anarchist. I just voted.

This is not because I see voting being able to stop the BNP, or as being a useful strategy in itself for combatting fascism. The state is the problem, not the solution, and truly stopping fascism requires the co-ordinated action of the working class.

However, MEPs are given access to substantial amounts of money - both in their salaries and expenses claims. I would rather this not be given to the BNP. And voting is one way to stop that from happening.

Electoralism - either by standing for office ourselves or focusing on elections as a strategy to combat fascism - is not capable of stopping fascism. However, voting in a particular election for a specific reason, as one of many tactics?

I really don't see the problem.

anonymous

Answer

05.06.2009 11:38

"I consider myself an anarchist. I just voted"

Then you're a hypocrite and an idiot.

Simple as

@ simple as...

05.06.2009 12:25

"Then you're a hypocrite and an idiot."

No he/she is smart and tactical. He/she are not stuck in some dogmatic ideology and will do whatever is necessary to get change.

Voter

dumbmatic idiotocy

05.06.2009 13:37

"He/she are not stuck in some dogmatic ideology and will do whatever is necessary to get change. "

So, s/he is an anarchist who believes that you can change things by voting?

How is that different to a liberal reformist?

electoral officer

@simple as

06.06.2009 23:10

"Then you're a hypocrite and an idiot. "

It's nice to see debate on Indymedia is up to its usual standard. (And, for that matter, that you have the ability to tell so much about a person from a single comment...)

Relying on the state - either through standing in elections or by seeing the electoral process as a source of change - is an utter dead end. This does not make every single interaction with the state some sort of irredeemable compromise.

Euro MPs have access to a metric fuckton of cash through salary and expenses. I would rather this not get into the BNP. I see voting as one means of achieving this. If that makes me a "hypocrite and an idiot" then so be it.

anonymous