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Suggestions for Saturday's EDL & BNP demos

Martin | 31.05.2013 21:27 | Anti-racism

Suggestions for Saturday's EDL & BNP demos

BNP chairman Nick Griffin with Fascist flag-bearers
BNP chairman Nick Griffin with Fascist flag-bearers

EDL activist gives Nazi salute and shows-off Swastika tattoo
EDL activist gives Nazi salute and shows-off Swastika tattoo


As part of the far-right campaign to exploit and to make political capital out of the murder of Lee Rigby, the EDL and various hard-right splinter groups plan to stage demos all over the UK on Saturday, and the BNP will be marching in central London (assembling in Westminster at 1pm).

Obviously any nation-wide far-right mobilisation is very bad news, but on the plus side, the EDL responded to a situation where the police had a brutal murder to investigate, by turning up in Woolwich soon after, and pelting the police with bottles, pretty much guaranteeing the outcome where Help For Heroes refused donations from the EDL, where Lee Rigby's family called on people not to use his death as an excuse for violence, stating that that "Lee would not want people to use his name as an excuse to carry out attacks against others", and where Lee Rigby's regiment publicly condemned those who try to "exploit the death of one of our Regimental family for a range of self-serving and unhelpful reasons". Also on the plus side, the sheer number of EDL-related demos (estimates vary between 50 and 60 regional events) hopefully means far-right resources might be thinly spread (though don't rely on that). Nonetheless, a few thoughts on how to approach tomorrow's demonstrations...

1. Many far-right and a-political demos will be observing respectful silences in memory of Lee Rigby. Irrespective of who's organising or attending any specific demo, the far-right are desperate for Anti-Fascists to interrupt those silences, so they can smear Anti-Fascists as "anti-patriotic". During WW2 a staggering 2.5 million troops from the Indian sub-continent, including nearly a million Indian Muslims, fought to defend Britain from Fascism, and 130,000 Algerian Muslims fought to defend France as well, while Fascists here in the UK were jailed under a law called Regulation 18b, for being traitors and for siding with Nazi Germany, so if anyone's "anti-patriotic", it's the far-right. In fact the main Anti-Fascist counter-protest (assembling in Whitehall, central London, mid-day Saturday) will be observing its own 1 minute silence for Lee Rigby, however it's critical Anti-Fascists don't (accidentally or deliberately) disrupt ANY commemorative silences! Be observant, be cautious, and be aware of the possible consequences of ill-conceived or hasty actions. Never chuck anything (even in self-defence) unless you're absolutely certain the person it's going to hit is definitely a Fascist, and don't end-up giving the far-right a PR victory by kicking-off as anything but a last resort and in self-defence.

2. The achilles heel of the BNP demo is a long-term Sikh protest currently situated in Whitehall. So, while the less stupid Fascists will be smarming-up to the Sikh protest to try to pretend the far-right aren't really racists, the BNP are terrified their knucklehead element will harass the Sikhs and prove the BNP really are just racist scum. It's also unlikely all the EDL and BNP will be able to resist the temptation to offer racist insults, show-off Fascist tattoos and make Nazi salutes etc - so make sure your camera's ready to capture those moments, at an instant's notice, for posterity and for immediate posting on-line if and when they do (with that in mind be aware also of the possibility of agent-provocateurs). No matter what "side" you might (or might not) take in debate about liberal and/or militant tactics, no-one in even militant Anti-Fascism believes in using militant tactics stupidly, so let's make sure it's the far-right and not Anti-Fascists who screw-up on Saturday, and to do that we need to be respectful, dignified, observant and more than anything very careful.

 http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/30/drummer-lee-rigbys-regiment-urges-members-not-to-participate-in-self-serving-demonstrations-3822991/

List of EDL demos -
 https://englishdefenceleague.org/edl-news-2/1930-silent-walks-for-lee

Apologies for the last-minute posting, and if there's anything anyone needs to add, feel free.

Martin

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

Moderators!

31.05.2013 22:16

Please DON'T delete the post threatening violence by "nationalist"

Topper


EDL - Race Hate Speech

31.05.2013 22:28

EDL leader Tommy Robinson passes the mic to fellow EDL speaker who says "Send the black c***s home", to a roar of applause from EDL supporters, including applause & clapping from uniformed, hi-vis wearing EDL stewards (filmed Newcastle, 25 May 2013) -

Video on twitpic -  https://twitpic.com/ctnrw5

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AolV-_dQH30
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ1nXoOWRbE (mirror)
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuEfDKvv3DQ (mirror)

Laurie


theyve even gotta target painted on,saying hit me, they love it

01.06.2013 12:42

hope theres some football like york mosque today in trafalgar sq etc, worth a try, "vindaloo". http://video.uk.msn.com/watch/video/fat-les-vindaloo/2to9q2wh

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/28/york-mosque-counters-edl-protest-with-tea-biscuits-and-football_n_3346612.html

my grandad fought nazis from austria from the 1930s & my grandmas family fought stalin&nazis in poland& ukraine,it wasnt good, they weren't proud of it, it got vvdirty, lets not go there,
ta

georgina orwell


yes, but....

01.06.2013 15:52

they arnt Nazis

and they aren't german

stove in


Life Experience

01.06.2013 20:09

During my encounter with the Anti fascist grouping in Whitehall today as a casual passer by, I was surprised at the lack of life experience by the Anti-fascist there.

Whereas the Fascist maybe bonehead idiots who may work in the blue collar or manuel field the Anti-fascists from my observations had even less life experience. They consisted in the main of the mature long term unemployed/mature student types or students in the late teen or early twentys range- both of who have never held down long term jobs or had to struggle through lifes ups and downs paying bills, raising families and worrying about what the majoirty of working class people have to put up with in a general week to week basis.

The mature type of Anti-fascist seem to be drug addled drifters, whereas the student types who are experts on everything but masters of nothing seem to know all the answers from various books BUT have no experience in life.

Are we attracting the wrong sorts of people or are we doomed to attract bums and students who once they have left University will be NIMBYs living in the suburbs with their student activists days an embarassing memory??

Tommy Boy


@stove in

01.06.2013 22:35

How do you manage to work out that people like the EDL protestor with a Swastika tattooed on his chest, giving an Nazi salute, "arnt Nazis"?

You're a dickhead

Neil


@Tommy Boy

01.06.2013 22:43

It doesn't take much common-sense to work out that people with families to look after, tend to prioritise... looking after their families; or to work out that people with families tend not to engage in activities which might carry some risk of arrest!! The self-employed and people with fewer responsibilities do tend to be over-represented in the protest movement, but that doesn't mean other people don't share their opinions. Speaking personally, I'm self-employed, middle-aged and (though I say so myself) look ALOT younger, and don't generally wear my Sunday best on demos. Also, a number of my friends and relatives have been very seriously assaulted by Fascists, so no matter what the hell you think I just love getting revenge on BNP cunts

No shit Sherlock


@sherlock

02.06.2013 01:13

Why is it that you never turn up to confront the nf on 11 nov each year in london. Ansewer you would get dished enough said.

nf


"theyve even gotta target painted on,saying hit me, they love it"

02.06.2013 18:08

"NF" your comments say it all,I rest my case, though yes some on the left like the FRFI-RCG who are hardcore stalinists,-are just as violence loving as you,stalin who allied with Hitler to invade Poland. Iam not sure about using the word Nazi so much, WW2 was 100% SNAFU,FUBAR situ & levers were pulled left right& centre by some oligarchs who made bilions out of it.
It seems"we" dish you,"you" dish us& the only vfew lucky oligarchs get to profit from the mess.

georgina orwell


Answer to NF

03.06.2013 00:09

You can't answer any of the points raised against you, so you just change the subject and move on to another question!! Either way, the reason I "never turn up to confront the nf on 11 nov each year" is because the NF remembrance day mobilisation is a trap, set by people who, ironically, would have sided with Nazi Germany during the war, to try to lure anti-fascists into a situation where it's us who (if we fell for the trap) could be misrepresented as disrespecting war dead. Now do fuck off.

No shit