The anti-fascist demo was vibrant though disappointing with the actual numbers marching while over at Liam’s blog he estimates around 2,000 and he’s right.
Lots of union banners such as FBU, RMT, PCS, Unison, UCU, NUT, Unite/T&G, CWU and have probably missed some out. Lots of young people there as well.
We marched from Tooley Street to Trafalgar Square. The cops tried to crack jokes as opposed to crack heads and didn’t see one imperial stormtrooper……
Kinda positive day, shame about the numbers.
More pics on my Flickr account.
June 21, 2008 at 7:39 pm |
Numbers a bit disappointing for a march through the empty streets of Central London.
Meanwhile just think what impact 10% of those turning out might have made in Barking leafletting door-to-door where the BNP are standing in two crucial by-elections. Or the money pumped into producing all those glassy leaflets and posters for the march could have been spent on anti-BNP materials for the by-election.
Were these by-elections even mentioned (they take place on 3 July)? Unlikely as theres not one mention of mobilising for them on either the LMHR or UAF website.
Still; no doubt a few extra socialist newspapers were sold. Pathetic!
If anyone still thinks this is the strategy to stop a party that can stand in 642 wards in the 1 May local elections with an average of 13.4% of the vote then they are stock on planet plackard. Wise up, the march was badly attended because it was
ill-conceived and more should have had the guts to say that in the first place.
Mark P
June 22, 2008 at 12:20 pm |
Thanks for the report and the excellent pics. At least there was a good vibe on the demo. I didn’t go – I’m firmly in the ‘oh gawd not ANOTHER London demo’ camp on this one. On the other hand I don’t think there’s any need to be quite as sanctimonious about it as Mark P is in his above comment. None of us have a monopoly on useful ideas for combatting fascism. Different organisations and individuals will find different ways of organising against the BNP, and I think that’s a fundamentally GOOD thing. I don’t appreciate the SWP implying that anyone who doesn’t go on these marches is some kind of class traitor. Nor do I like people implying that anyone who does go along has to be some kind of idiot, which seems to be Mark’s position.
June 22, 2008 at 12:40 pm |
Thanks Briz Blogger. I very much agree with your very sensible comment.
I went on the demo in good faith and there were a lot of young people, TU banners and it did have a positive vibe. But the numbers were very small. And it is back to the drawing board to build networks, strategies and alliances.
June 22, 2008 at 2:57 pm |
Its not those who went on it who were the idiots. Its the organisations with all their sophisticated analysis and resources who seriously think that a central London demo is going to stop a sophiticated electoral machine like the BNP’s who are being idiotic at best, self-indulgent at worst.
The simple fact is that 200 activists leafletting door-to-door in Barking and Redbridge yesterday would have seriously dented the BNP’s by-election campaign. Unison alone has ten times that number of members in just Barking.
Leading people round the empty streets of Central London takes us no nearer to stopping the BNP. The BNP prioritise work in localities, why doesn’t the Left? What exactly is the enduring appeal of listening to speeches in Trafalgar Square?
Sanctimonious? Possibly. Angry, most certainly. We are in danger of losing the battle with the BNP and the reasons why are mostly in the hands of those who lead national campaigns like UAf/LMHR and control large amounts of resources given to them by trade unions. A tenth of the turnout and resources put into this idiotic ‘parade’ might have made a difference in Barking and Redbridge this weekend. It didn’t, why on earth should we applaud that?
Mark P
June 22, 2008 at 7:00 pm |
Nice pix Louise.
Here are my efforts:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bolshie/
Small demo but quite photogenic.
June 22, 2008 at 7:26 pm |
Thanks for the kind words. Your pix are good as well, Paddy. I know what you mean about the demo being photogenic.
June 23, 2008 at 2:28 pm |
I’m not sure if you got my earlier message but in case you didn’t I’ve ‘borrowed’ your (excellent) pic of the Stoke protester for a blog post I did earlier today and an anti-racism feature for the Red Pepper website:
http://plattitude.blogspot.com/2008/06/bnp-laughs-while-left-falls-out.html
Let me know if it’s a problem and I’ll remove it but I hope not as it’s such a good pic. (It’s properly credited and linked, of course.)
June 23, 2008 at 2:51 pm |
Hey Steve,
Didn’t receive your earlier message (probably got lost in the spam… it does happen and it is annoying). But many thanks for using one of my pics, that’s ok and thanks again for the kind words.
Louise
June 24, 2008 at 10:49 am |
I was out at Chadwell Heath on the three days of action over the last twoo weeks and am glad to see the responses here about how useless the march against rascism was.
It wouldn’t have made any difference if there had been the ten thousand that the SWP are claiming, interestingly enough there is no report on the UAF site.
What happened on Saturday was a final show down between the tactics of the spectacular and the lollypop and the unglamourous, difficult and sometimes dangerous one of going onto the nearly all white estates in the outer areas of London and engaging with the people who actually vote for the BNP.
I have had a full and frank exchange of views in the letters pages of the Hackney Gazette over the last few weeks with the local Trots, in particular Sash Simic of the SWP and a Carl Taylor of Hackney Independent. My last broadside can be seen on line.
The left have got to get rid, once and for all, of the idea that we need unity to beat the BNP. Unity with whom around what? Unity with a bunch of SWP control freaks who will destroy what they cannot use and bleed dry?
There is no need to start building another anti BNP front, one already exists. Go into the Searchlight web site and there are some forty groups around the country operating in their own areas to their own agendas. A movement like this cannot be taken over and controlled which is why SWP/UAF have been trying, unsuccessfully to sabotage it. There are even UAF groups which have broken with London because of inactivity and sectarianism.
What is needed is effectiveness and that means getting out and engaging with BNP actual and potential voters and that is something SWP/UAF will never do.
I think that last weekend was a sea change in the anti fascist movement and a lot of people are going to have to start taking a long hard look at where they are going.
June 24, 2008 at 4:33 pm |
Terryfitz,
Good points there, went to a poorly attended UAF event in Bristol, admittedly our local Fash have made very little impact.
As an EX SWPer myself I’m pretty immune to them, but agree that we have to relate to people on the doorstep and although calling the BNP “Nazi Scum” might make us feel better and is certainly true, we (the left in general I’m a Green Left and Green Party member) have to do the hard work on the doorstep, relating to working class people and voicing their concerns.