We challenged the BNP; next time we must stop them!

Submitted by martin on 18 August, 2008 - 8:56 Author: Pete Radcliff

Many hundreds of socialists and trade-unionists rallied in Codnor, Derbyshire, on 16 August, to show opposition to the fascist British National Party's "summer festival" being held on a farm near the village.

Clear here to view leaflet advertising follow-on conference on September 27th.

First, thanks to all comrades who came, especially those who came after recent hectic activity with Climate Camp and the Tube cleaners' solidarity action. We staged a significant demonstration to show that the BNP are not welcome in the area, that they will not go unchallenged; and it was not just an affair of outsiders parading through the streets of Codnor for a couple of hours. The activity to build the demonstration has also helped to build a local anti-BNP network.

As I reported in my speech at the closing rally, we know local residents, living near the farm, who have been subjected to serious harassment by the BNP. Our demonstration showed those residents that they are not alone.

As we had said on the website http://nobnpfestival.wordpress.com before the day, what with the use of the Public Order Act to severely limit our demonstration, it wasn’t what we ideally wanted. Also, lots of people were looking for transport being arranged to Codnor, and there was comparatively little we could point to other than what AWL members across the country had pushed for and managed to get arranged.

Hopefully the agitation for our protest may have galvanised some more activists, and provided a spur to establish active campaigns elsewhere like ours in Notts.

I thought our Notts-organised rally, held pretty continuously from 9:15 was good. A lot of local people are now involved, spoke at our open mike session, came behind the Amber Valley Stop the BNP banner that had been made.

Unite Against Fascism had been reluctant to support the demonstration at all, and when they came to "support", they seem more concerned to pursue petty competition with, and try to elbow out, the local campaign, than actually to mobilise against the BNP.

They advertised a different assembly time - 11:00 rather than 9:00 - and when their coaches first turned up, kept their people for a while away from the rally already underway organised by Notts Stop The BNP.

In the middle of that rally - in the middle of a speech - they then marched their people away from the rally, without word or warning. Notts Stop The BNP were obliged to try to pull together the rest of the rally and follow the march, on pain of seeing the anti-fascists completely divided and many people confused.

On the march, the UAF indulged in a lot of hysterical and dishonest sloganising. They chanted, for example: "Nazi scum off our streets", often annoying and provoking local youths who may have no relationship at all with the BNP. Some people shouted back at the UAF visitors for the day: "these are our streets, not yours". Fair point, perhaps. And the BNP weren’t even on the streets, they were in a field!

At one point the local Amber Valley anti-BNP campaigners found themselves, and wanted to be, at the head of the march. They thought it would stress the fact that it wasn’t just geographic and political "outsiders". But they were incredibly brusquely and rudely pushed aside by the SWP.

The march went up to a road junction where the police stopped it, half a mile from the BNP site. We didn't have the numbers to push through and peacefully block one of the entrances to the site but no UAF steward informed the marchers of this. Besides so late in the day when most BNPers were on site such a protest would only have been symbolic. The UAF instead negotiated with the police, without reference to the local campaigners, licence for a "delegation" of 30 people to walk down through the police line towards the BNP site.

We had SWP national secretary Martin Smith standing on the police side of the line, smirking, while marchers pushed and shoved in a vain attempt to break that line.

UAF had insisted on its own rally after the march.

The tenor of the rally and many of the speeches were full of dollops of triumphalism, smug and inappropriate self-congratulation, and complacency. Only Dave Green of the FBU and Bob Crow could claim to speak from organisations that had given long term support for the campaign. Mine was the only one to acknowledge that we had not been successful at what we really wanted to do, that the anti-fascist movement is not in a good state; to condemn the use of the Public Order Act. It was the only one to say that we needed greater numbers if the BNP attempt the same thing next year, and that we need a genuine local and national campaign.

Please note that we are calling a follow-on conference on Saturday 27 September at Queens Walk Community Centre, Nottingham. Please try and get people to come and come yourselves if possible.

Comments

Submitted by david kirk on Mon, 18/08/2008 - 21:58

I thought the demo was one of the most inspiring, disappointing and illimunating days I have spent in the AWL.

Echoing what Gemma and Heather said, Pete, Liam, Tom and others has been tireless in their work on this and we should look to the Notts campaign as how anti fascist campaigns can be organised as a democratic workers movement campaign. As Heather says AWL comrades and others from the Socialist Party were at the literal vanguard of the demo during the confrontation with police. Many of the younger comrades and myself had never been on a demo of this nature and so I was not sure what to expect and how we would act. I think the comrades showed acted in a responsible,level headed but implacable way in the struggle with the police. This was shown when on the march back the police snatched robin and others from the crowd. We turned round got the march to stop and refused to be moved until they were released. The police quickly did this after they realised we wouldnt move on, but I think if we hadn't acted like this they would have started snatched more and arrested people. They did not repeat the snatchings.

The behavior of UAF in this entire saga shows the SWP actively acting in the capitalist camp and as an opponent of prolertarian anti fascism. We should expose UAF for what it is in the labour movement and not give a penny more of union dues. Many SWP contacts and even members on the march seemed disgusted by the behavior of the UAF stewards and at Weyman Bennett acting in collusion with the police. UAF lost control of many of their marchers who joined us arm in arm at the police line. We need to speak to these genuine class struggle socialists and tell them which side of the lines UAF is on. I do not think this is sectarian, it is necessary if we are going to halt the rise of the BNP to destroy UAFs corrupt strangle-hold on the labour movements anti-fascist work.

Submitted by Jason on Tue, 19/08/2008 - 07:29

I did put up a comment on here before unaccountably deleted on Sunday. I didn’t save it either so that was slightly annoying but never mind.

First of all excellent work to Amber Valley Stop the BNP, Notts County Stop the BNP and the Derbyshire activists as well as all the trade unionists who came on board.

The UAF support was welcome too and we should draw a clear line between the disgraceful behaviour of Weyman Bennett and one or two other ‘leaders’ of UAF and most who came on their alternative demo but came across to the main one.

Weyman Bennett collusion with police in asking demonstrators to be moved, in penning in demonstrators, in accepting public order restrictions not challenging them and negotiating with the police not the demo a select few- selected by him with no accountability- was a disgrace.

I think your objection to “Whose streets? Our streets!” is strange. This is a slogan expressing precisely that local working class people should control the streets not police or fascists. In Oldham in 2001 we agreed it democratically as a slogan and certainly no one came up with the bizarre interpretation that we were outsiders- we worked and lived in Oldham. You may be right one or tow people said this but the impressive thing about the demo I thought was that it did seem largely locally rooted and that though a few expressed bemusements there were more support. But yes slogans should be democratically agreed and I suppose any feedback is useful. But I thought that a strange point, though admittedly perhaps it does show that all slogans need to be discussed in advance and thought about, so on that level fair point- far worse was the collusion of UAF joint general secretary Weyman Bennett with police in penning us in so that the reality seemed at times to be whose streets? The police’s in conference with Weyman Bennett.

However, there was determination and energy on the day but we need to build it bigger and better in Stoke, next time in Derbyshire and elsewhere. The left- AWL, PR, SP, trade unionists, black workers and antiracist activists should be organising nationally and locally to rebuild an antifascist movement and we should caucus next time and organise tactics in advance. The police lines could have been broken at several points I feel.
My report here

Additionally, though, I think Saturday was a good start- much better than last year when there were no big organised protests as far as I'm aware and that it began to engage with issues like housing, hospitals etc. there obviously is a long way to go so the left doesn't seem to be like strangers coming in and telling people what we think. We need to rather engage with what working class communities feel are the burning issues and offer ourselves as a resource to campaign for e.g. high quality public services and expose that way the bankruptcy of fascism and racism.

Submitted by Pete on Tue, 19/08/2008 - 08:16

In reply to by Jason

Jason,
I have no objection to 'off our streets' as a slogan when it is clearly seen to said by local activists to re-assert the need to bring an end to BNP intimidation totheir communities. And if Amber Valley people were allowed to be seen as prominent on the march, as they should have been, that is more the way it could have been understood.
In the absence of that, and with the only other official chanted slogan from the UAF stewards was 'Smash the BNP', I do feel that it is a symptom of the ignorance on the chant leaders of local priorities. The local youths were probably nothing to do with the BNP but neither would many of them instinctively support us. Our hostility to the BNP would have been clearly evident, but our reasons for it: our opposition to racism, our desire for united action for jobs and homes would not have been known to them.
That is why the Notts campaign had chosen the slogans 'Jobs and Homes not racism'; Black and white unite' and 'Stop the BNP'.

Submitted by Jason on Wed, 20/08/2008 - 09:04

I agree that they should be chosen by the demo - though of course people can and will shout other things and that's generally fine (of course there can be exceptions).

I certainly agree that many on the march including many from the SWP were rightly disgusdted by UAF leader's tactics of negotiating with police behind the back of the demo.

We do need local democratic working class antifascist movements to be build and link together. It would also be good for ocialists to discuss tactics in advance. I think with some forward planning next time we will be anble in similar circumstances to break through the police lines. The urgent priroity for now is continuing the work, coming to the next event (such aa 27 Novemeber in Nottingham) and any other protests called e.g. in Stoke

Submitted by AWL on Thu, 21/08/2008 - 10:59

Hi comrades,

I think the slogan might also have included "services" (ie "Jobs, homes and services - not racism") and maybe we should have also had "Black and white workers - unite and fight" or something like that. However, it's obviously difficult to fit too much on a placard. The Notts Stop the BNP ones were excellent and in stark contrast to the populist pap of UAF.

Sacha

Submitted by Jason on Mon, 08/09/2008 - 14:39

at all as there were certainly no stones, bottles or even insults rained down on the police. There was apparently an attempt earlier by a smaller group of some 40-70 activists to get to the fascists' camp where according to media reports there was something of a battle with the police. But not at all on the main demo. Actually the police suppressed our democratic right to protest. There was some pushing and shoving but the comment by the anonymous RAMC (from a forum 'member' who only joined to make this post) 'RWB March Derby' is obviously a lie.

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