Anti-Fascist OAPs Attacked by Far Right

Vauxhall Zafira | 30.04.2012 20:27 | Anti-racism | Repression | Workers' Movements

Practical suggestions for self-protection after Anders Breivik wannabes attack elderly Anti-Fascists in Lewisham

Far right attack pensioner in Lewisham

Far-right hand-signals at the March For England

Far-right hand-signals at the March For England (bottom left)

Bill Baker inspires Anders Breivik

"Two pensioners handing out anti-fascist leaflets were set upon by extreme right-wing thugs in a shocking high street attack. Activist Andrew Smith, age 69, was helping man the regular Socialist Worker stall in Lewisham High Street on Saturday at around noon when he was head butted in the face, while his colleague, age 67, was punched to the floor. Mr Smith, a long-standing anti-fascism campaigner and retired teacher, needed laser surgery for a torn retina after the unprovoked assault... He told News Shopper that before the attack, the gang made reference to Brighton, where anti-fascists faced-off with the March for England right-wing group earlier this month. Mr Smith said: "They were shouting something about Brighton and accused us of attacking women and children"."

Despite the lack of ANY hard evidence (evidence like photos of the alleged victims' or their alleged injuries for instance), the EDL, NF and BNP etc have been touting round a story that, after they took women and children to the far-right March For England demo in Brighton, and after the EDL threw missiles at the counter-protestors, counter-protestors who fought back were (according to the EDL version of events) "attacking women and children". The EDL havn't shown any proof of their claims, but, always keen to believe their own bullshit, the brave warriors of British nationalism took revenge by beating-up 2 left-wing pensioners in Lewisham! Even worse, and to put this in even clearer perspective, in 2010 BNP Essex activist and March For England founder Bill Baker posted on Facebook saying the "sooner we start KILLING Muslims the better & THEIR SOCIALIST PALS", and in 2011 Anders Breivik murdered 8 adults and 69 children.

Whatever you might think of the SWP, practical suggestions for people setting-up political stalls etc are -

1/ Always set-up your stall in clear sight of CCTV (if you don't want to be seen by CCTV at all, it's probably best not to do street stalls in the first place)

2/ Always have one or more friends on hand with VISIBLE mobile phone cameras, camcorders, Flip-cams or similar, preferably recording all the time, at the very least ready to film at a moment's notice - very few Fascists will find the courage to attack if they know their face is going to be filmed

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/crime/9678991.Pensioner_head_butted_in_extreme_right_wing_thug_attack/r/?ref=rss

Photos -

1. Far right attack pensioner in Lewisham
2. Far-right hand-signals at the March For England
3. Far-right hand-signals at the March For England (bottom left)
4. Bill Baker speaks to Anders Breivik

Vauxhall Zafira

Comments

Hide the following 35 comments

What the Nazis did to Lewisham during WW2

30.04.2012 20:38

A V2 rocket fell on New Cross killing 168 people and injuring 121 others -

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/features/4778109.WAR__New_Cross_remembers_V2_bombing/

Foxes

Advice

30.04.2012 23:03

Don't expect any help at all from the cops (so fuck cctv). If you're leafleting or doing a stall, be prepared to defend yourself. Have comrades nearby, who aren't obviously with you, looking out for trouble and prepared to step in and stop it. This was a cowardly attack, but the SWP have never given a toss about the security of their members.

Antifascist

@foxes

30.04.2012 23:30

I think that was done by German Nazis.... and it was a world war.
Slightly different to what this article is about.

sarcasjm

@sarcasjm

01.05.2012 09:30

so you don;t understand the meaning of the flat-handed, right-arm salute then?

Not entirely true

01.05.2012 14:07

"the SWP have never given a toss about the security of their members." They did once, that's where Red Action came from, then they kicked them out so it's unfair to say the SWP have never cared about their members security, they had a fleeting moment 30 years ago when they did. Lol.

I agree, don't rely on the police for help with this, they don't care if it's violence from the right against the left, if the tables were turned like they were in Welling a couple of years ago where the state went all out to fit up the anti-fascists then that's a different matter but that's because the pigs love the fash. The best thing to do from now on is like some commenter said, defend. If the fash want to go back to street politics we've got two options, withdraw from the streets and let them have it unopposed, or fight back by being bigger numbers, more ruthless and more violent. For all the rhetoric about smashing the EDL etc. the SWP don't do a very good job of following through, it's maybe time they thought long and hard about their politics and how to put it into action.

NO PASARAN!

Northern A

Forgot to add

01.05.2012 14:08

I wish a speedy recovery to the comrades the bastards jumped. Get well soon

Northern A

Red Action

01.05.2012 22:57

Red Action were not some sort of security wing of the SWP, many RA members were never in the SWP, and in many parts of the country never had a presence.

AFA

There's one possible advantage to CCTV

02.05.2012 02:22

Or to filming privately. You don't have to expect anything from the fuzz, it is possible to privately prosecute somebody for asssaulting you. And if you appear on CCTV footage, you can require the owner of the camera to give you a copy of the footage by a subject access request under the Data Protection Act.
Of course, it's easy for me to talk about private prosecution since I am a paralegal and know how to go about it, and have developed patience at dealing with the plodding pace of the legal system. I am also aware that the fash are not l;ikely to be at all abashed at being prosecuted, privately or otherwise. See the reaction of the BNP in Liverpool to their then-member Peter Tierney being prosecuted for hitting a journalist over the head with a camera tripod. (His face was stuck all over their website as a "super supporter")
However, it depends how you want to tackle fascism. Showing them up to be thugs (through publicity associated with prosecuting them) will disgust enough people to limit their chances of winning elections or getting any widespread support. It will damage their chances of gaining political power.
It won't stop them spreading their nasty ideology to people ignorant, desperate, or stupid enough to follow them, or stop them from perpetrating or discouraging racial attacks. For that, the tried-and-proved method of putting the boot into them is needed.
But dare I suggest that both methods are needed, in tandem, and both are of equal merit. Moral force and physical force, both.

pinkolady

Bit o'shopping

02.05.2012 11:47

I'll take a tin of beans in a carrier bag over a camera any day of the week.

Antifascist

CCTV + video cameras

02.05.2012 12:09

Some folk seem to be almost willfully missing the point - I believe I'm right in saying CCTV evidence was very useful for Liverpool Anti-Fascists to prove they were assaulted by Peter "Quiggins" Tierney, but, even when that's not the case, the use of video cameras is about DETERRING an attack BEFORE it happens, in order to help ensure it DOESN'T happen

Pitiful

02.05.2012 14:49

It is pitiful and shameful that some antifascists are advocating cameras and prosecutions because they are not up to the job of defending their street stalls themselves. History shows that antifascists are far more likely to face prosecution than fascists. I've been at numerous 'events' where mugs with cameras have risked getting me and my comrades nicked.

Another antifascist

Stroll on

02.05.2012 20:49

It is pitiful and shameful that some people who post here are either a/ EDL trolls or b/ too dense to realise that, even if they wanted to, activists in their late 60s are unlikely going to be able to defend themselves against violent EDL hooligans, and I don't recall Liverpool Antifascists turning DOWN the opportunity to use CCTV evidence against Andrew and Peter Tierney -

http://liveraf.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/peter-tierney-guilty-of-actual-bodily-harm/ -

"High-profile BNP member Peter Tierney has been found guilty of assault and causing actual bodily harm to an anti-fascist protester on St George’s Day last year. During the incident, which was captured on CCTV, Tierney swung a camera tripod at the back of the activist’s head. The victim subsequently needed his head wound gluing up at hospital. The jury took just an hour to find Tierney guilty, rejecting the notion that he acted in self-defence and was “in danger for my life”. A spokesperson for Liverpool Antifascists said: “This is absolutely a positive result"."

http://liveraf.wordpress.com/2011/08/24/bnp-activist-andrew-tierney-found-guilty-of-assaulting-anti-fascist/ -

"Just over a year after Liverpool BNP’s number one Viking look-a-like Peter Tierney assaulted an anti-fascist with a camera tripod, was convicted for ABH and forced to don a fetching orange jacket for 150hrs community service – his unhinged brother Andrew has been electronically tagged for three months following a similar attack on anti-fascists in Liverpool City Centre last December. Tierney’s conviction follows the acquittal of a number of anti-fascists last month – who the BNP tried and failed to fit-up after they protested the presence of fascist stall on Church Street. Clearly too thick to remember the results last time they tried to ‘get the reds’ in full view of City Centre CCTV, wannabe hard man Andrew’s response to the protest was to wallop the first anti-fascist he could reach – and when his chosen target failed to fall over or retaliate after the first or second punch, thought he’d land a third – just for good measure, but to no avail. Entertainingly the last frame of the CCTV footage shows slow off the mark Andrew finally clocking the camera and realising he’s in the shit"

Xam

PHOTOS OF THE 2 ATTACKERS

02.05.2012 21:03

EDL Lewisham Attackers

Indy mods - please move up as an addition

Penguins

More photos of the attackers

02.05.2012 22:11

Hard to be sure, but could these be the same 2 guys?

Original photos -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbishie/6956418216/sizes/l/in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrbishie/7102463289/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Washington

Xam

02.05.2012 23:50

Antifascists in their 60's shouldn't have to defend themselves, they should have younger comrades there to help out - and not just snapping away with cameras or running whining to the cops. What Liverpool antifascists did is hardly a good example of antifascist practice, nor is it a usual one - the sort of behaviour you'd only generally expect from the SWP (who are too clueless to organise their own security), from Searchlight (who've spent 30 years painting antifascists as victims who need the state's protection), or from the sort of scumbag who baselessly bandies around accusations of fascism against any antifascist with whom they disagree.

Another antifascist

Suspect

03.05.2012 08:08

I feel sorry for these 2 old trots, but when I first read this article I thought it had swp/uaf/searchlies all over it.

oop north

A slippery slope

03.05.2012 10:02

I have to agree with some of the comments above. Anarchists and anti-fascists of integrity do not go running to the police.

Red & Black

Reply to AA

03.05.2012 10:06

Apologies for inadvertently pressing the buttons of certain "militant" Anti-Fascists, but just because someone suggests a possible course of action, your objections to which havn't fully been thought through, does not mean that person is from Searchlight, the SWP or UAF etc. I'm not making any excuses for the SWP, but you're reacting like an old punch-drunk boxer who squares up for a fight every time he hears the door-bell ring - I am not part of your preconceptions, and the political and strategic landscape has changed since your glory days. You say that "Antifascists in their 60's SHOULDN'T have to defend themselves, they SHOULD have younger comrades there to help out" - well, thanks for solving that problem with one wave of your magic wand, and of course I totally agree with you, but for those of us who don't have a team of Anti-Fascist bodyguards protecting us 24/7, camera-phones and CCTV still represent useful options.

X

03.05.2012 11:57

Coppers narks always have a lot to say for yourselves, but it doesn't mean that what they have to say is worth listening to. Your position doesn't just stink politically, it is tactically stupid. These things have beeo debated many times by antifascists who have always rejected the role of state tout, even when our enemies have embraced it. That is part of our collective identity as antifascists, and it doesn't surprise me that it would be lost on a cowardly gobsite like you. Hiding under CCTV cameras in the hope that your friends the cops will protect you not only makes you a fucking idiot, it gives you more in common with the BNP than with antifascists.

Ditto

03.05.2012 13:58

CCTV has not deterred committed antifascists from taking it tn the Fash, So it's even less likely tn afford 'protection' to the sort of caricature 'weak-kneed lefties' the Fash (and Searchlight) love to crow about. If the SWP are telling their members they'll be safe as long as there's a CCTV camera watching, they're talking shite - But what's new about that?

Muppetwatch

To AA and others

03.05.2012 14:39

Don't let the trolls wind you up lads. It's either a copper or a silly young Trot who knows fuck all. As always we need to organise our own security. Anyone who thinks the coppers would ever help out is stupid.

Ben

Your talking shit Xam

03.05.2012 15:30

It was the STATE that made the prosecutions you refer to NOT Liverpool Antifascists. And a fat lot of good it did.

@ntifash

LEARN TO READ

03.05.2012 16:52

Judging by some of the comments above this, definitely hit a raw nerve there ;)

But it seems those with the undisputed authority to set-out what constitutes "our collective identity" as Anti-Fascists weren't observant enough to READ the bit on Liverpool Anti-Fascists OWN website where they quote a report in which they themselves described convictions of Fascist attackers based on CCTV evidence as "absolutely a positive result"

But, then again, I guess Liverpool Anti-Fascists can't really be actual Anti-Fascists because the people posting above here havn't given them permission to be Anti-Fascists.... right?! So Liverpool Anti-Fascists must be coppers narks as well? Heaven forbid the EDL might be posting on here trying to convince left-wing stall-holders NOT to film Fascist attacks?!

Dog star

@muppetwatch

03.05.2012 17:03

Listen you genius, if you're so fucking hard you can defend a stall against all-comers without any cameras and without (if the police get called) the state getting involved... armed with your tin of beans in plastic bag... then FINE, CONGRATULATIONS, WELL DONE, WE AGREE, GOOD FOR YOU

For any old folk who want to set-up political stalls, who aren't lucky enough to have hard nuts like you on hand to guarantee victory in any confrontation, other options might be worth considering as well

Unstick the record

CCTV

03.05.2012 17:32

Lewisham High Street is COVERED with CCTV, didn't stop these 2 blokes being attacked though did it? Nor did the presence of the biggest police station in Europe.

Antifa Angel

Beanz?!

03.05.2012 17:52

Don't know what you're on about, you seem to have lost the plot troll. Something most antifascists know is ensure you have good security for your leafletting or don't do it. Otherwise you get incidents like this, which cowardly fash chalk up as a victory. The SWP/UAF have never learnt that lesson - or rather they've chosen to ignore it cos it's not them risking a kicking. Anyone pretending that CCTV is an alternative to proper security is being irresponsible - as well as stupid.

muppetwatch

Lost argument

03.05.2012 18:21

Looks pretty clear theres just one daft troll on here pushin the happy snapper arguement. Which they've well and truely lost I might add. Yeah I can read. I just don't read Socialist worker or the Police Gazette

JJ
mail e-mail: X
Homepage: X

Correction

03.05.2012 18:48

My post should say that the SWP/UAF LEADERSHIP have chosen tn ignore the lesson most antifascists learned years ago.

muppetwatch

Swastika in Brighton

03.05.2012 20:31

@JJ - maybe you *can* read, and if you can, all the more reason why you should have actually done so. As a case in point, you claim that the people you're arguing against have "lost" an argument, but you respond to the points they made about Liverpool Anti-Fascists describing convictions from CCTV evidence as "absolutely positive" by saying absolutely NOTHING about that. So, FYI, on that basis you have NOT won that argument - in fact you havn't even entered into it.

Another good example of not reading properly is what's been claimed about CCTV on Lewisham High St. The original article talks about using hand-held cameras and about setting-up stalls in (quote) "clear sight" of CCTV, so, no matter how many cameras there are on Lewisham High St, Angel's opinion is a fair point, but not proven, because we've got no idea whether any of those cameras captured any usable mug-shots. "Angel"? Hmmm? Isn't that preferred terminology of the EDL?

Either way however, no deterrent is wrong because it doesn't work ALL the time, any more than eg - AFA's deterrence could be said to have been "wrong" because it objectively failed to destroy the NF and BNP outright. These ideas are SUGGESTIONS to ADD to a LIST of possible options, no approach will ever work all the time in all circumstances, and few of these options exclude any other options

"A Jewish pensioner fled her home after racist vandals sprayed a swastika on her car. The 64-year-old was so distressed when she discovered the graffiti outside her flat in Whitehawk, Brighton, that she ended up in hospital."

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9687322.Pensioner_driven_out_by_racist_thugs/?ref=la#commentsList

Changes

Speaking of muppets....

03.05.2012 20:33

NO-ONE is "pretending that CCTV is an alternative to proper security", Sherlock

Holmes

'Changes'

03.05.2012 20:51

Yeah I can read, I also know what a straw man arguement is n thats a perfect example of one. As for argueing with 'people' ? I doubt it. OBVIOUSLY the cctv cameras in Lewisham high st weren't a deterrant otherwise the old antifascists wouldn't have got attacked would they?

JJ
mail e-mail: X
Homepage: X

Attn 'Happy Snapper'

03.05.2012 21:34

If you ever leave the safety of your keyboard and venture out with your camera/shield, I doubt there'll be many who've read this thread who'll feel sorry for you when you get it rammed down your throat. Look forward to seeing the pics!

Jack Black

So let me get this right...

04.05.2012 07:56

...the 'antifascist' 'tactic' being advocated on here is that if attacked, instead of fighting back, 'antifascists' take photographs and then give them to the cops?!! How fucking dum is that!!

Anarchist

Comment on original post

04.05.2012 10:59

While I feel sorry for the SWP members who were injured, weren't they actually just staffing an SWP (primary purpose selling 'Socialist Worker') rather than engaging in any form of anti-fascist activity (sorry but I don't define that as getting people to sign petitions so that you can then pester them at home)?

As for the CCTV/cameras debate, they don't seem to have afforded the victims of Anders Brevik much protection. Nor do they seem to have limited the behaviour of the EDL in any way, not just at Lewisham, but on all the other occassions when they've behaved violently and broken the law.

anon

Hiding behind cameras

05.05.2012 10:32

At least its one step up from hiding behind lollipops! Well maybe. Obviously written by a silly Trot rather by an antifascist.

K.Bullstreet