The Nottingham antifascist benefit gig last night was a great success. The Sumac experienced a very busy Thursday night indeed as Belgian dub punksters Cop on Fire and Bristolians Half Boy/Half Rat dished out some heavy vibrations. The gig raised over £100 for UK antifascist prisoners.

More than just being about the money the gig was an opportunity for supporters of antifascism to rally behind the cause and show their support for comrades inside the prison. Once people heard there was an antifascist benefit going on all manner of offers of help and support were offered to the organisers. A very big thank you goes out to the people who took on security duties, skipped food and cooked and served dinner, who kept the beer flowing and of course the sound man. Last but no means least, a big thanks to everyone who turned up to enjoy themselves and give some money to the cause.

The gig was put on by Notts ABC to support antifascists jailed after an altercation with fascists at Welling railway station in 2009. More than two years later 7 were convicted of conspiracy to commit violent disorder in May this year and 6 have been sentenced to between 15 and 21 months in prison. None of the fascists were arrested. A second trial will take place next month. Check out http://antifascistprisonersupportuk.wordpress.com for more details.

Both bands were great people to meet and committed antifascists themselves. Cop on Fire told us with great pleasure about an incident in Leuven where they caught some local Nazis, took their money for antifascist prisoners and made a note of the fascists' addresses from their ID cards. The fash were told that if there were any signs of fascist activity in the town they could expect some activity on their doorsteps. The result? Three years without even a single swastika graffiti. Half Boy/Half Rat are mates of antifascist prisoner Phil de Souza and drove all the way from Bristol and back yesterday just to support the cause. You can hear some very low quality recordings from the gig at the bottom of this article (it couldn't handle the bass!)

Events like these mean a lot to the prisoners we're supporting. On being told about plans for the gig Ravi Gill wrote to us saying 'Good luck with the gig and give my respect and thanks to all involved including punters.'

Don't worry if you missed it - you can donate to the prisoner support fund by Paypal on the website. There are also two more ABC benefit gigs at the Sumac this month:

Sat 27th Aug - Glasses + Freedoom

Tue 30th Aug - ReSist@s + El Dia

Please write to the antifascist prisoners and show your support. Their addresses are:

Andy Baker
A5768CE
HMP Highpoint North
Stradishall
Newmarket
Suffolk
CB8 9YN
HMP Highpoint North Prison Regime
(Scroll down to ‘Communications’ for details of how to send money etc.)

Thomas Blak
A5728CE
HMP Wormwood Scrubs
PO Box 757
Du Cane Rd
London
W12 OAE

Sean Cregan
A5769CE
HMP Coldingley
Shaftesbury Road
Bisley
Woking
Surrey
GU24 9EX

Phil De Sousa
A5766CE
HMP Elmley
Church Road
Eastchurch
Sheerness
ME12 4DZ

Ravi Gill
A5770CE
HMP Wayland
Griston
Thetford
Norfolk
IP25 6RL

Austen Jackson
A5729CE
HMP Wormwood Scrubs
PO Box 757
Du Cane Rd
London
W12 OAE