UAF demo in 2008
Tomorrow there will be a mobilisation against the fascist EDL in the East End of London.
The national demonstration against the English Defence League on 3 September will now assemble in Whitechapel. The new assembly point is 11am, corner of Vallance Road and Whitechapel Road, London E1.
Theresa May, Home Secretary, “banned” the march but the EDL are planning to hold a static demo. Please come to the counter-demo organised and supported by anti-fascists tomorrow to defeat the ideology of racism, hate and violence. On the issue of state bans the LRC press release sums up my feelings:
We did not add our names to calls for the EDL march to be banned however. We believe the most effective way to defeat racism and fascism is to campaign and mobilise against it. The EDL cannot be banned out of existence, it must be defeated by political campaigning to mobilise communities against the bigotry they promote and the hatred they incite.
As socialists, we also have an analysis of the state. Unlike liberals, we do not believe the state and its police force are neutral actors, but protectors first and foremost of the capitalist order. Socialists must resist the lazy thinking that believes the state can fight our battles for us and the delusional thinking that it will act in our interest, especially under an extreme right wing government that is determined to rip up the last vestiges of social democracy.
State bans can so easily be used against the left and progressives. And precisely it should be the anti-fascists and anti-racists organising against fascists like the EDL (RMT have prevented EDL from using Liverpool Street Station as their meeting point). Progressives should look at confronting, mobilising and politically defeating racism and fascism and not look to the state. Solidarity to everyone tomorrow facing down the EDL.
¡No pasarán!
I just got back from Tower Hamlets, a brilliant turnout black white and Asian, gay and straight people, trade unionists local people all united against the EDL. I heard that the EDL didn’t go anywhere near the furthest they got was Liverpool St. No pub in Kings X and the Cally Road would give them entrance. Trade Union banners from far and wide there.HOMES AND JOBS FOR ALL