open letter to the uaf
Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance | 28.02.2010 22:04 | Anti-racism | Social Struggles
Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance
Open letter to the UAF, 28 February 2010
Fellow Anti-Fascists,
We recognise the hard work of the UAF in building for the anti-Scottish Defence League demonstration, and were pleased with the cooperative relationship we had with Unite Against Fascism in the lead up to it. We were working together in the spirit of a united response to the SDL.
We were heartened to hear in the UAF meetings we attended, that the UAF considered that there was room for the two complimentary demonstrations on the day. We hoped that the problems that occurred in Glasgow were behind us, and that the UAF and Anti-Fascist Alliance could cooperate this time.
However on the day of the demonstration some members of the UAF intended to disrupt our protest, and take it back to the Scotland United march, despite these previous assurances, and the spirit of cooperation that existed before. Some UAF and Scotland United organisers spread disinformation, and said things that were known to be untrue, to the crowd as it marched to confront the SDL at the bottom of the Royal Mile. These untrue statements included: "there are no SDL in that pub, only Hibs casuals", and "150 fascists are about to attack the Scotland United demonstration". This led to confusion and people leaving.
Unity and superior numbers are our strengths against violent racists
like the SDL. However these strengths were jeopardised by this
behaviour, and put the safety of anti-fascists at serious risk. We would not like to imagine what the situation could have been like, had the depleted number of anti-fascists met a large group of SDL thugs at the bottom of the hill.
We hope that this letter will start a fraternal discussion about how we can avoid similar situations in the future, and how we can ensure
greater level of unity and cooperation between the UAF and Anti-Fascist Alliance so that we have the best chance of defeating fascism. We look forward to cooperating with you against the SDL/EDL in Lockerbie and Bolton.
In Solidarity,
Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance
Open letter to the UAF, 28 February 2010
Fellow Anti-Fascists,
We recognise the hard work of the UAF in building for the anti-Scottish Defence League demonstration, and were pleased with the cooperative relationship we had with Unite Against Fascism in the lead up to it. We were working together in the spirit of a united response to the SDL.
We were heartened to hear in the UAF meetings we attended, that the UAF considered that there was room for the two complimentary demonstrations on the day. We hoped that the problems that occurred in Glasgow were behind us, and that the UAF and Anti-Fascist Alliance could cooperate this time.
However on the day of the demonstration some members of the UAF intended to disrupt our protest, and take it back to the Scotland United march, despite these previous assurances, and the spirit of cooperation that existed before. Some UAF and Scotland United organisers spread disinformation, and said things that were known to be untrue, to the crowd as it marched to confront the SDL at the bottom of the Royal Mile. These untrue statements included: "there are no SDL in that pub, only Hibs casuals", and "150 fascists are about to attack the Scotland United demonstration". This led to confusion and people leaving.
Unity and superior numbers are our strengths against violent racists
like the SDL. However these strengths were jeopardised by this
behaviour, and put the safety of anti-fascists at serious risk. We would not like to imagine what the situation could have been like, had the depleted number of anti-fascists met a large group of SDL thugs at the bottom of the hill.
We hope that this letter will start a fraternal discussion about how we can avoid similar situations in the future, and how we can ensure
greater level of unity and cooperation between the UAF and Anti-Fascist Alliance so that we have the best chance of defeating fascism. We look forward to cooperating with you against the SDL/EDL in Lockerbie and Bolton.
In Solidarity,
Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance
Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance
e-mail:
edinafa@lists.noflag.org.uk
Homepage:
http://www.edinburghantifascist.org.uk
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