The Cambridge Evening News, monopoly local newspaper in Cambridge, seems to have been giving the National Front a remarkably sympathetic hearing in recent articles, uncritically reporting their boasts to get 100 people on their demo (which turned out to be about 12), and their slippery attempts to make their fascist position respectable. Are there fascists working for the Cambridge Evening News, or is this just a misguided attempt at 'objectivity'? And what can we do about it?
National Front to stage Oakington demonstration
Published on 10 August 2004
UP to 100 members of the National Front will be protesting outside Oakington Immigration Centre on Saturday.
Asylum demo: Protests at Oakington
Protesters from East Anglia will demonstrate outside the centre, before moving into Cambridge to distribute leaflets.
They are protesting against the increase in asylum seekers in Britain and the centres, like Oakington, which house them.
Tom Holmes, chair of the party, said: "The demonstration will bring people's attention to the National Front and the asylum situation in general."
Paul Blackham, a member of the National Front, said he hoped there would be around 100 people at the demonstration.
He added: "We don't want an immigration centre in Oakington."
A police spokeswoman confirmed the police knew about the protest.
She was unable to say how many officers would be attending the event but said it would be sufficient to cope with the demand.
A spokesman from the centre said: "We are not aware this demonstration is planned but it would be something that would be handled by the police."
National Front: Police aware of plans
"Alex Riley, chairman of Longstanton Parish Council, said: "The council and the people of Oakington in general would not support the activities of the National Front.
I would assume they would be people imported from elsewhere coming to demonstrate."
The immigration centre, on the former site of Oakington barracks, provides 400 spaces for asylum seekers. It was opened because there was not sufficient room at harbours and airports to accommodate the large number of people seeking asylum in Britain.
The centre had previously been due to close in November this year but will now stay open until the end of December 2006.
Anti-fascist group to launch counter protest
Published on 13 August 2004
ANTI-Nazi campaigners are planning a counter-protest to the National Front demonstration outside Oakington Immigration Centre tomorrow.
About 50 members and supporters of Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF) plan to gather at the same time as the expected 100-strong National Front demonstration.
CUAF is angry that the right-wing group has latched on to immigration issues surrounding Oakington.
A spokesman for CUAF, who did not want to be named, said: "People are outraged about the National Front's protest.
"If we can get a good crowd together we can show that the people of Cambridge have no interest in their politics of hate.
"We want to show that people in Cambridge do not want the National Front around. There is not any support for them in Cambridge. Their politics have never had a foothold here."
The spokesman said he did not think trouble would flare and doubted the National Front's hope to attract 100 people would be realised.
A National Front spokesman said: "We live in a free community and they can do what they like, as long as it's peaceful.
"They are silly people who are wasting their time and should find something better to do.
"We are a legitimate party going to stage a legitimate protest. We have informed the police and are not going to cause trouble."
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire police said: "We have been made aware that the anti-Nazi group may make a rival protest. We will take this into account and any policing will be done accordingly."
Alex Riley, chairman of Longstanton Parish Council, said there was no official council view on protests, but added: "I am sure I speak for the whole village when I say that we do not wish to see protests taking place outside the centre.
"In fairness to CUAF, they are only there because the National Front has chosen to go there in the first place. Residents do not want any trouble."
The National Front plans to protest against what it claims is an increase in asylum seekers in Britain and at centres, like Oakington, which house them.
Published on 10 August 2004
UP to 100 members of the National Front will be protesting outside Oakington Immigration Centre on Saturday.
Asylum demo: Protests at Oakington
Protesters from East Anglia will demonstrate outside the centre, before moving into Cambridge to distribute leaflets.
They are protesting against the increase in asylum seekers in Britain and the centres, like Oakington, which house them.
Tom Holmes, chair of the party, said: "The demonstration will bring people's attention to the National Front and the asylum situation in general."
Paul Blackham, a member of the National Front, said he hoped there would be around 100 people at the demonstration.
He added: "We don't want an immigration centre in Oakington."
A police spokeswoman confirmed the police knew about the protest.
She was unable to say how many officers would be attending the event but said it would be sufficient to cope with the demand.
A spokesman from the centre said: "We are not aware this demonstration is planned but it would be something that would be handled by the police."
National Front: Police aware of plans
"Alex Riley, chairman of Longstanton Parish Council, said: "The council and the people of Oakington in general would not support the activities of the National Front.
I would assume they would be people imported from elsewhere coming to demonstrate."
The immigration centre, on the former site of Oakington barracks, provides 400 spaces for asylum seekers. It was opened because there was not sufficient room at harbours and airports to accommodate the large number of people seeking asylum in Britain.
The centre had previously been due to close in November this year but will now stay open until the end of December 2006.
Anti-fascist group to launch counter protest
Published on 13 August 2004
ANTI-Nazi campaigners are planning a counter-protest to the National Front demonstration outside Oakington Immigration Centre tomorrow.
About 50 members and supporters of Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF) plan to gather at the same time as the expected 100-strong National Front demonstration.
CUAF is angry that the right-wing group has latched on to immigration issues surrounding Oakington.
A spokesman for CUAF, who did not want to be named, said: "People are outraged about the National Front's protest.
"If we can get a good crowd together we can show that the people of Cambridge have no interest in their politics of hate.
"We want to show that people in Cambridge do not want the National Front around. There is not any support for them in Cambridge. Their politics have never had a foothold here."
The spokesman said he did not think trouble would flare and doubted the National Front's hope to attract 100 people would be realised.
A National Front spokesman said: "We live in a free community and they can do what they like, as long as it's peaceful.
"They are silly people who are wasting their time and should find something better to do.
"We are a legitimate party going to stage a legitimate protest. We have informed the police and are not going to cause trouble."
A spokeswoman for Cambridgeshire police said: "We have been made aware that the anti-Nazi group may make a rival protest. We will take this into account and any policing will be done accordingly."
Alex Riley, chairman of Longstanton Parish Council, said there was no official council view on protests, but added: "I am sure I speak for the whole village when I say that we do not wish to see protests taking place outside the centre.
"In fairness to CUAF, they are only there because the National Front has chosen to go there in the first place. Residents do not want any trouble."
The National Front plans to protest against what it claims is an increase in asylum seekers in Britain and at centres, like Oakington, which house them.
Comments
Hide the following 6 comments
Suggestion
16.08.2004 10:15
Having a counter demonstration is a good idea; it allows the National Front their right to protest (and yes, the NF *has* this right), whilst making dissent clear. Any attempt to actually *prevent* the NF from demonstrating, is however not a good idea. You can't counter fascism by stopping other people in their freedom of expression, for all the obvious reasons.
I am pleased that this last strategy doesn't seemed to have been proposed.
With regards to the local situation, the detention centre is some way out of the village of Oakington, so providing the police/protestors get the logistics right, it would seem possible to have this whole demo thing go no where near the actual residents of Oakington.
Incidentally, I had gathered the detention centre was to be closed soon? If this is so, perhaps something to bring up in the media campaign ("the centre is unnecessary, as is shown by it's closure a mere 5 (or so) years after being opened").
As for the Cambridge Evening News, it's a small paper, highly unlikely to be staffed with fascists. Give the features team a ring, see if they want to do some kind of 'in depth' thing about the whole business. The detention centre was never very popular with the locals, but not - in general - due to a support of refugees.
The NF seeks to exploit fears about refugees, which - in much more mild forms - are quite widely held. These need to be addressed properly, if the CUAF action is to be succesful.
Crucially, CUAF needs to avoid patronising people who (rightly or wrongly) are scared of refugees. A patronising stance, or a stance which fails to address the issues at stake as seen from the perspective of (local) people might actually *help* the NF, in the sense that if CUAF appears out of touch with reality (over idealistic or naive), the NF message might seem sane and sensible by contrast.
And this, I think, would only help the NF.
All the best for the demo.
Anita
protesting against fascism *is* free speech
16.08.2004 12:22
And, though I understand the concern, in my experience anti-fascist protests are never counter productive. They may wind up a handful of easily-confused folk, but at the same time they give hope and a sense of not being the only one to anti-racists.
And anti-racists *are* the majority in every region. Part of the fascists' propaganda technique (inadvertantly helped by the media's love of a scare story) is to try to convince us otherwise, that the majority are secretly racist. But it ain't true.
Unite Against Fascism:
awake
More fantasy
17.08.2004 22:16
Anti-Nazi protesters avoid NF
Published on 16 August 2004
MEMBERS of the National Front and anti-Nazi campaigners demonstrated outside Oakington Immigration Centre at the weekend but the two sides did not meet as expected.
Peaceful protest: No clashes at demo
Fifty members and supporters of Cambridge Unite Against Fascism (CUAF) had planned to gather at the same time as the predicted 100-strong National Front demonstration.
But while protesters from the CUAF met outside the centre at 1pm on Saturday, 14 National Front protesters were in Cambridge city centre distributing leaflets.
The anti-Nazi group staged a peaceful protest in the sunshine with banners and placards before moving into Cambridge city centre to try to find the National Front protesters.
Meanwhile the National Front, having distributed their leaflets, made their way to Oakington by train to demonstrate outside the centre.
A spokesman from CUAF, who did not want to be named, said: "Our demonstration showed people in Cambridge are not interested in the politics of the National Front."
Tom Holmes, chairman of the National Front, said: "The protest all went as planned and we gave out our leaflets without any hostility. We did not see any opposition but we are not concerned with them because we didn't want confrontation."
A spokesman from Cambridgeshire police said: "Everything passed off peacefully. The protesters were monitored closely but allowed to progress with their lawful rights of demonstration."
m
NF fails to protest outside detention centre?
18.08.2004 08:36
Anita
Why should the press be critical
11.10.2004 00:10
Gus Honeybun
Spin
12.10.2004 21:20
No paper can report "the facts as they are presented" without including the biases and subjective viewpoints of its journalists and editors. But lots of papers pretend to do.
This offers the readers a false sense of security that they're getting just facts, so a lot of readers let their guard down and read uncritically.
If the Evening News reported verbatim the attendance numbers handed to them by the NF press officer without checking, alarm bells should be going off for you. Unless you think the NF press officer also puts out "facts".
Him