This Saturday June 29th, anti-racists mobilise in London against the Islamophobic EDL's provocation, as they attempt to use Armed Forces Day and a murdered soldier to turn people's sympathy for his family into vitriolic hate against all muslims. Join South London Anti Fascists to stop them.
1978 Altab Ali demonstration against the NF
1978 Altab Ali demonstration against the NF - lollipops
no more blood on the streets - annual Altab Ali rally 2012
I noticed that the UAF are opposing them with a march ending at Altab Ali Park (Adler Street) just down the road from the East London mosque which the EDL *think* they will be going past.
A little history on the park. 1970s: right-wing extremism and racist attacks on the Bengali community in East London had risen to unprecedented levels with the National Front standing 43 candidates in the area. Altab Ali was a young Bengali textile worker who was stabbed to death by a group of racists in an unprovoked attack on 4 May 1978 on Adler Street. An organisation against racist attacks was quickly formed, and ten days after the murder, between four and seven thousand members of the local community gathered in the park and marched against the NF. Anecdotally, I heard that in a quick burst of rain at the start of the demo, the cardboard Anti-Nazi League lollipops melted away, leaving many thousands of angry anti-racists waving sticks. It was a turning point which began a movement that eventually forced the National Front out of the area.
This Saturday's mobilisation against the EDL likewise comes after a period of rising racist attacks - it can also be a turning point that is the beginning of the end of the EDL.
https://www.facebook.com/events/161516007362471/
http://www.runnymedetrust.org/histories/race-equality/71/altab-ali-murdered-in-whitechapel-london.html
http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news__events/news/march/opening_of_altab_ali_park.aspx
A little history on the park. 1970s: right-wing extremism and racist attacks on the Bengali community in East London had risen to unprecedented levels with the National Front standing 43 candidates in the area. Altab Ali was a young Bengali textile worker who was stabbed to death by a group of racists in an unprovoked attack on 4 May 1978 on Adler Street. An organisation against racist attacks was quickly formed, and ten days after the murder, between four and seven thousand members of the local community gathered in the park and marched against the NF. Anecdotally, I heard that in a quick burst of rain at the start of the demo, the cardboard Anti-Nazi League lollipops melted away, leaving many thousands of angry anti-racists waving sticks. It was a turning point which began a movement that eventually forced the National Front out of the area.
This Saturday's mobilisation against the EDL likewise comes after a period of rising racist attacks - it can also be a turning point that is the beginning of the end of the EDL.
https://www.facebook.com/events/161516007362471/ http://www.runnymedetrust.org/histories/race-equality/71/altab-ali-murdered-in-whitechapel-london.html http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/news__events/news/march/opening_of_altab_ali_park.aspx
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