International Day of Protest against Fascism in Europe
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Monday January 14, 2013 17:14
by Unite Against Fascism
This is a protest called by anti-fascists and Unite Against Fascism in the City this coming Saturday (19th) in solidarity with those in Greece opposed to the violent activities of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, which include a recent serious attack on an MP for the Syriza Party as well as numerous attacks on immigrant workers and minorities. This protest will take place at 1400 assemble at the Fountains in the city centre. The protest is be part of an international series of protests in towns and cities throughout Europe (see the call from the UAF at where you can also sign a statement).
http://uaf.org.uk/2012/12/uaf-condemns-fascist-attack-on-mp-in-athens/
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Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28A petition AND a march. Those Facists have got no chance now.
Seriously people have you considered that Far Right parties are gaining support because their policies are appealing to people right now. Golden Dawn has seen membership rise by over 60% in the last 12 months and even the knuckle daggers at the BNP are doing better.
Why are they attractive and we are not.
Because every time someone proposes a response to fascism, someone else gets on here and shoots it down as not being the purest form of resistance. I'm an anarchist, but honest enough to admit that anarchist responses have even less appeal to "the masses" than UAF's.
Whats wrong with a march in support of anti-fascists?
Sounds a good idea to me.
Obviously its going to take more than that, but in Greece they are doing more than that as well. The support for anarchism and communism is triple the support for Golden Dawn, and (as always) the fascists have no policies to persuade the working class to vote for them, only fear and hate of 'them lot'.
Golden Dawn is a threat, and should be taken seriously. But Greece has fought and won against fascism in the past, just like we in Britain have fought and beaten fascism, in the ballot and on the street, time and time again (in fact, EVERY time), and we're still doing it.
How about a march to celebrate? Sounds good to me!
despite some dubious expereinces with the UAF in the past, sounds like some pretty sound and non sectarian (greek)folks who first called the demo, and it'd be a poor show if the anarchists didn't turn up. Making a case for different strategies in person (anyone can speak on the PA apparently) will do far more good than posting comments on here!
Turn up.
Walk in nice regulated group with 'stewards' there to keep everyone in line.
Get to speech area.
Listen to usual faces making usual noises.
Push away repeated attempts from SWP to sell you paper.
Go home and wonder why you bothered.
The threat of fascism is very real in Greece, just because UAF are involved, shouldn't provide an excuse to anybody, not to get out onto the streets !
The reason the con/dems are able to continue smashing our class almost unchallenged,, is because of our lack of unity on the left... Let's rise to each occasion, in the case of fascism We ALL need to pour onto the streets. Communists, Anarchists, Trade-unionists infact everybody that disagrees with fascism.
if the uaf are the only ones there then yes thats what it will be, but since its technically not their demo. if they arnt it might not be *shrugs*
"But Greece has fought and won against fascism in the past, just like we in Britain have fought and beaten fascism, in the ballot and on the street, time and time again (in fact, EVERY time), and we're still doing it."
FFS Boyd, do you think every fascist and falangist wears a badge and marches around in big boots going "I'm a Falangist come and get me". Of course they don't.
What they do now is sponsor SPADS in parliament, organise - yes ORGANISE - smily face charities, think tanks, lobby groups and the like. They network across nationalities and across interest groups like women, ethnic minorities, professions, so that they've got people in place where it matters, when it matters.
Why do you think the authoritarian net is closing in on us here now?
The idea that Fascism is some sort of a threat in Europe is laughable. Golden Dawn is having a little 'fizz' at the moment but like the NF before them they will soon fade away when the immediate crises passes.
There are always individuals trying to talk up the threat of the Far Right when in reality none has existed for years. There is an argument that says without the Far Right the Far Left ceases to have a role - could that be true ?
"There is an argument that says without the Far Right the Far Left ceases to have a role - could that be true ?"
Nope.
Mosley goes down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTnA8EJM4iY&feature=you...layer
The decline of the European Left is mirrored in that of the Right. Both ends of the political spectrum have lost support because they failed to represent the views of the people they claimed to speak for.
for those that want it; https://www.facebook.com/events/150023345147885/
Solidarity callouts against Golden Dawn
Golden Dawn are a growing threat in Greece to all those who wont sit quietly whilst the Greek coalition government attacks its own citizens at the bidding of the IMF & EU. The Greek government uses a form of racial nationalism to sidetrack and divide the opposition, and Golden Dawn both benefit from this strategy, and act as the thugs on the street (supported by the police) to terrorise where they can get away with it. Similar situations are arising elsewhere in Europe, and we need to do our bit to stop Golden Dawn now before this divisive cancer spreads any further. Parallels have been drawn between Europe in the 1930's and now, and with the current European recession worsening and austerity measures against the working class increasing, those parallels risk becoming reality.
Greek anti-fascists have called for solidarity on 19 January whilst they march in Athens. In the absence of any obvious fascist targets in Bristol, a solidarity demo makes sense. Other options could include asking Greek businesses in Bristol, including bars, cafes and restaurants, to make public statements of solidarity against Golden Dawn. There is also a Greek church by J3 of the M32.
English version of the original 30 November 2012 callout by Athensantifa19jan - http://athensantifa19jan.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/the-i...uary/
Athensantifa19jan call for international solidarity - http://athensantifa19jan.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/a-cal...rity/
Athensantifa19jan poster
I speak as an ordinary person who speaks to many other ordinary people, in fact based on the opinion of people I speak to probably a significant proprtion of the population.
The main reason that these right wing organisations are gaining so much support is because we (the average person) are sick of getting left wing political correctness rammed down our throats 24/7, the mainstream political parties are all supporting this PC bullshit and the voters have nowhere else to turn other than the far right.
Where's the left wing political correctness in opposing fascist & racists? It is every free person's duty to keep these anti-democratic thugs at bay.
History shows us that fascist parties/governments do not have the interests of ordinary people at heart - look what Hitler & Mussolini did to their countries, and the countries they tried to impose their sick ideolgies on.
Wake up and smell the reality 'Myself' - you have just managed to insult the millions of ordinary people who gave their lives to fight the fascists in WW2.
You are a disgrace to ordinary working people.
Golden Dawn and other Far Right parties in Europe are seeing membership and support rise while the European Left continues its never ending trip down an intellectual Cul De Sac.
The simple, difficult to accept fact is that these Far Right parties offer a simple Nationalistic based series of policies that seem superficially attractive. For many of the traditional working class in the UK parties like the BNP and UKIP are addressing very real concerns that would probably never occur to readers here.
I give as an example my uncle, a traditional Labour voter all his life, active in CND who did volunteer work for his local hospital for many years. Where he lives perhaps half of the road now contains immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh, he has seen his local Church close and become a Muslim Community Centre, his daughter has been shouted at for wearing "skirts too short" none of his immediate neighbours speak English. For him immigration is the Number 1 issue in elections both local and general. I don't consider him a racist but he has seen a way of life change in the past 15 years that to his mind is to the detriment and he regards only the BNP and UKIP offering policies that show his concerns are being listened to.
The UK Left needs to wake up before it disappears into obscurity.
Ian,
I have seen identical situations in Leeds where my parents and brother still live. The people raising these concerns are not the EDL or BNP goons we see at demos these are ordinary people who have seen their entire communities turned upside down by mass immigration. Where we might talk of multiculturalism, they see their culture being destroyed and another imposed upon it. These have been the traditional Labour supporters who know see the party ruined by Blair / Brown and now run by a London Metropolitan elite who have no link to them. My brother said during local council elections the best organised party with the greatest number of 'door knockers' was the BNP ! They will never vote Tory, the Lib Dems are seen as sellouts but the BNP is getting support because they are good at working on local issues, playing up to peoples concerns and not avoiding the race issue like the mainstream parties.
Anybody who thinks like your relatives is a racist.
Why can't you see that ?
Why do churches close? Because hardly anyone goes to them anymore! Despite the immense wealth of the Church of England & Roman Catholic hierarchies, based largely on land & property ownership, they choose to close such churches and sell them off, pocketing the proceeds, and probably investing in high yield investments.
Mass immigration is not that mass, and consists of people who have an entitlement to come here, as a result of historic activity (what was the British empire) and decisions taken by the white British ruling elite. In most years immigration is almost completely offset by emigration of (mainly) white people who choose to go and live abroad.
Entire communities are not turned upside down by immigration, they are turned upside down by the local and national ruling elites via the decisions of their political parties. These elites are inherently racist and dont want non-white people living in their areas, so send them all to live in working class areas (where the public sector housing tends to be). Hence there are few non-white faces in places like Clifton.
On top of that its an unavoidable fact that society does evolve and change over time. Change often causes confusion, and a lack of understanding can lead to fear, that is often exploited by those such as the BNP & EDL. Both these groups have an appalling record of working long term on issues, they parachute in and out, stirring trouble where they can. Indeed wherever the BNP have been elected locally they have been found to be absolutely useless and quickly descend into farce.
Back in the 50's people had the same fears over the arrival of people from the West Indies. Over time they have been assimilated into communities - now interracial-marriage is quite common for example, just as English people marry Welsh or Scots. With each generation we have a new group of people coming to the UK, Some, such as Indians or Pakistans appear more obvious than say east Europeans, largely because they have a distinct culture, and different skin colour. We, as working class people, allow ourselves to be divided by our differences, instead of focusing on our class similarities - naturally we are encouraged to do so by the media of our ruling elites, as after all divide and rule is their name of the game.
None of this is rocket science, its fairly basic history, but it does mean we need to stop and think a bit about it, as opposed to giving knee-jerk reactions to what are often myths perpetrated by others with an axe to grind. I live in a working class street full of different people. Our Pakistani neighbour often passes us excess food they have cooked; the black woman down the road hands out surplus cherries from her tree every summer; the white care mechanic over the rooad is forever giving people a hand with their cars, especially on cold days like today; and so it goes on. Its not difficult, it takes a little time and thought, differences do occur, but they can be outweighed by our common concerns, There is no reason to be scared.
You have completly misinterpreted my post, I don't support the far right and I doubt meny "ordinary people" would IF there was a viable alternative in somebody who is prepared to speak out against politicla correctness and uncontrolled immigration (control of immigration is NOT racist)
From what I have understood by listening to "ordinary people" they are so sick of the looney left PC bullshit that they are turning to the extremist parties out of sheer frustration. I work in the public sector and was told by a manager to remove the Xmas tree from our office in case it offended non christians yet I am expected to respect my muslim colleagues right to pray during work time & am not allowed to eat in front of them during ramadan. This is one example of why the fascist parties are thriving. I also suspect that this would anger many of those who fought in the wars against fascisim as they were actually fighting for freedom against oppresion yet I am being oppressed & if I try to speak out against it I will be branded a racist.
i dont think it's quite that black and white (hahahah, oh dear)
by your standards @antifa, Ian's relatives might be displaying racism, but your class analysis is too simplistic if you cant get, that's how some people feel and why.
Not to say i'm defending that point of view but im bewildered by the fact you dont understand our social system.
Your (and some larger proportion of anarchist community's) "politics" amount to a liberal PC attitude of good vs bad and re enforces the idea of a smug anarchist milieu, knowing better than everyone else.
This is an issue of class - one that if you really understood, you wouldn't refute. you'd reckonise that the majority of your comrades have a sliding scale of privilege,
something i think alot of the anarchist movement miss interpenetrates, even "class war", on arguably the other end of the spectrum, i think has a too simplistic view of what class is -There's not three ridged class ranks people fit into, if you think that in anyway you have absolutely no understanding of our society and you'll just end up hitting your head against a brick wall/ being a reactionary idiot.
Immigration *does* affect communities, chances are you don't live in post industrial areas with high immigration rates and you have no first hand knowledge or experience of cultural / economic changes that have occurred in those area's and the subsequent social consequences...("good", or "bad")
Yes, obvs, it's actually the governments er...fault....but
The way PC anarchist *deny* people having this real reaction means it's never going to break out of the millieu or connect with anyone outside of standard type.
I don't need a middle class oxbridge class analysis to know racism when I see it
These people are racists. End of discussion
So, from these comments & opinions, we can deduce that it is racist to believe that this country is losing it's own cultural identity, however it is quite acceptable for us to be prevented from celebrating one our traditional national/religious festivals in case it offends people from other countries/backgrounds/religions in case it offends them?
If i went to live in another country where their culture, beliefs and traditions were different to mine I would respect their way of life and wouldn't have the audacity to expect them to change anything to suit me, it is after all their country not mine.
I guess I must be racist in spite of the fact that i care not one iota what clour someone's skin is, what god they worship or what country they were born in, to me we are exactly the same, if that makes me racist then so be it.
Hasn't our culture been manufactured and delivered by the USA?
Alternatively...
...I've known the whole character of neighbourhoods change because capitalist developers gentrify the area. Priced out we were.
Communities have been under attack by breadheads for ever. Arguing between ourselves via a computer ain't gonna solve a thing. Stop witch-hunting maybe and get out there and mingle :^))
I'd suggest the real enemy is capitalism.
When you refer to "we" and "ourselves" who exactly do you mean?
I hate to tell you this but those of you who believe in the principles that this site supports are a tiny minority of the population. most of us either disagree, aren't interested or simply ignore you because of the manner in which you conduct yourselves and try to put your messages/point of view across. Put simply most of the population see you as nothing more than looney extremists.
Over the last year I've noticed a huge increase in what you all refer to as "trolls" posting comments on this site, has it not occured to any of you that these "trolls" are ordinary people telling you that they think that you are wrong?
You can carry on calling them names and ignoring them if you wish but what you really need to be doing is explaining your views and trying to persuade them that you have some sensible answers. Blaming the "capitalist elite" for everything does not hold water with most people, the very term "capitalist elite" is enough to make you sound like a looney extremist and make most people switch off. try giving a viable, realsitic alternative that is an attractive proposition to the masses (living in an eco commune is NOT an attractive proposition to most of us)
If you really want things to change you need support
With you 101% mate
You maybe comfortable in diluting your principles to the font of popularity with the TV watching classes but I'm not. Sure we are a minority right now but Anarchism is the fastest growing political movement in this country and we are not going to sell out like the Labour Party did just to get 'votes'.
The only war we need to fight and win in this country (and world) is the Class War.
I am sick of hearing how we must do this and do that to get popularity, what we need to do is educate, encouraging political activism and strikes in schools, workplaces and the streets. The ruling elite has only the power that we give it and there is not that many of them.
"diluting your principles to the font of popularity with the TV watching classes"
WTF?????
I call poe on you.