Opposing the National Front in Dover

We were well organised shipping in busloads of Antifascists from London, Birmingham, Oxford and Manchester to oppose the scum. Sadly it was in Dover were things went south for us. Although outnumbering the fascists greatly, it was disappointing to see that we failed to stop them from marching through the town.

Also disappointing to see was the reaction of many anti-fascists when it came to getting up close and personal to face the fascists. Whilst happy to chant from behind police lines, wave flags in the air and throw bricks and bottles at the fascist from a distance it was disappointing to see how quickly many of the Antifascists retreated when confronted by fascists breaking through the police lines. I was involved/witnessed 3 major confrontations with the fascists and lessons need to be learned to avoid a repeat of yesterday.

#1 Really the first brawl of the evening was when a group of 80-100 of us on the way to the main demo site encountered a much smaller group of Fash and gave chase. Although the fash ended up retreating, I was disappointed to see how most of the Antifa crowd hung back rather than taking the opportunity to give the fascists a good kicking. I'd say only 20-30 of us were game for a fight and gave chase, the rest hung to the back.

#2 This was a nasty one near some police trucks when a small group of 20 or so fash charged at us. It was pathetic, we outnumbered the fascist yet other than a handful of comrades willing to give it back to them the rest high-tailed it behind the police. I witnessed one fellow antifascist getting knocked out and another one left with a blooded nose after getting headbutted. We outnumbered the fascists and would have been able to do them if the rest had been up for it.

#3 This was near the end of the day, around 30 of us got surrounded near some railings by a larger group of fascists. Some of us were up for fighting back and tried but the sad thing is, the majority there were content to stand, heads down, silent and relying on the police to protect us whilst the fascist spat on us, threw bottles of piss on us, pelted us with stones, hurled paint over us and chanted abuse. It was a pathetic performance that left me questioning the state of the anti-fascist movement in Britain today.



Unfortunately, despite some on twitter claiming "victory" because a handful of fascist got bloodied by rocks and stones, the fact is this wasn't a victory at all. Part of the reason for this is because so many of the antifascists present were not street fighters and were not up for engaging the fascists in hand-to-hand fighting. Playing the big boy behind the police, when the fascists broke through many of them turned tail and fled leaving the few such as myself willing to stand toe-to-toe with them to get outnumbered and take a beating.

Lessons need to be taken from Dover to avoid a repeat of the scenes yesterday where many comrades were badly beaten thanks to the cowardice of the majority. Smaller numbers in smaller groups made up solely of fighters would be much more useful than a big mob of middle-class students who haven't had a fight in their life. These sort, the Champagne Charlie's pretending to be working class and opposing fascism from the comfort of Mummy's Mansion do the movement more harm than good because they can not oppose the fascists on a street level and so give the fascists reason to claim victory by running.

Yesterday was anything but a victory. I attended with a small group of Antifa from London and although willing to face the fash, we were often left outnumbered by the rest of the cowards more at home attending UAF concerts rather than physically opposing the fash. I wasn't harmed but one of our comrades had to go to hospital to fix a broken arm after getting stamped on by the fash and more of our number had cuts, bruises and broken noses after been left behind and abandoned by our so-called comrades.