'United We Stand'Unite Against Fascism Wales Newsletter Autumn 2013

email: secretary@uafwales.com web: uaf.org.uk tel: 07704 356894

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page 2 ➢➢➢ page 4➢➢➢Governmentramps upbigotry:don't let themdivide us

supported by:

Islamic Societyfor Wales

In September the Mosque in the quiet Neath village of Tonna was attacked. When two whitelocal residents attempted to restrain the young man responsible for the attack, he attackedthem too. The attack demonstratesWales is not immune from the backlash of bigotry againstMuslims following the murder of soldier Lee Rigby.Local MP for Neath and former Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain said:'This is a vileracist attack. Tonna, a quiet village with a reputation for caring and tolerance, has beenshocked to the bone. It is a shameful, ugly stain on the local community. We will not tolerateIslamophobia or racism in our communities. But I am proud of the two local residents whosought to restrain the youngmanduring his attack on theMosque. The fact that he turned andattacked them violently just shows what an unspeakably vicious incident this was.

I have spoken to the local Police Inspector and I am reassured that the Police will leave nostoneunturned in ensuring that theman responsible is brought to justice and that such viciousracist thuggery will not be tolerated. I am absolutely horrified at what happened and it justshows that racism lurks under the surface of even the most respectable neighbourhoods inour country. Politicians of all parties must provide a strong lead in fighting it.'

A man has since been arrested and remanded in custody until December.

After theresignations:is the EnglishDefence Leaguefinished?

is the EnglishDefence Leaguefinished?

don't let themdivide us

Birmingham in July: an EDL membershows-off his tattoo supporting thebombing of Mosques. Racist attacksagainst Muslims and Mosques haverocketed since the killing of soldierLee Rigby, in London in May.

OnSeptember 7th. The EDL planned to march into the Londonborough of Tower Hamlets and hold a rally in Altab Ali Park.Tower Hamlets is home to a large and vibrant Muslimcommunity, mainly of Bengali extraction. Is also houses theEast London Mosque. The motives of the EDL leaders intargeting Altab Ali Park become clear when it is recognised thatthe park is named after a young Bengali social worker stabbedto death by racists in 1976.

A demonstration to occupy the Park was organised jointly byEast End United and Unite Against Fascism. Enough anti-fascists fromSouthWaleswanted to support the demonstration

to make it necessary to hire a coach to take us there. This wasdone with financial assistance from the local governmentworkers' union, Unison. The EDL was not only prevented fromusing the Park to spread hatred, and to intimidate the Muslimcommunity. It was actually prevented fromeven entering TowerHamlets, so great was the resistance to their presence.

Members of South Wales UAF gave the following thoughts onthe day:“We arrived at the Park shortly after the start and immediatelyI was impressed by the numbers gathered. Imoved to a position

EDLdefeated in TowerHamlets, yet again

'A VILE RACIST ATTACK...A SHAMEFUL,UGLY STAIN ON THE COMMUNITY''A VILE RACIST ATTACK...A SHAMEFUL,UGLY STAIN ON THE COMMUNITY'

where I could see the speakers andwas absorbed with the mix of greatspeeches, fantastic weather andthe geniality of the crowd, which Iestimate at about 5000. A speakerwhograbbedmyattentionwasMaxLevitas who had stood up toMoseley's Blackshirts in CableStreet in 1936. It was a privilege tolisten to his impassioned talk aboutthe fascists, and how they'vechanged their targets through theyears, but still maintain theirmessages of hate andintolerance.” (Alex).

“I had to be persuaded to go. NowI'm really glad I went. I believe thatthe thousands of us gathered therereally made a difference”. (Ali).

“We came together in Solidarityand in doing so, in strength. A localGP took the platform and talkedabout her experiences of living in acommunity, working and livingtogether in peace, whichcontrasted with the EDL fascistscare-mongering. We listened tomusic by local artists, held our'Muslims and Gays Against theEDL' (one that stood out!) and ourtrade union banners, high andproud. We were together in peaceand celebration.” (Kat).

“It was utterly outrageous that thefascist EDLwould try to have a rallyat a site where a racist murder tookplace in the 1970s. I feltstrengthened from sharing the daywith others of different faiths andbackgrounds opposing hatefulideas. I also visited theMosqueandlocal people were pleased to hearof how far the Wales coach hadtravelled to oppose theEDL.” (Pete).

“A peaceful victory march to theEast LondonMosque rounded off asuccessful day showing the EDLand other fascists they are notwelcome.” (John).

continued fromfront page

the end of a fascist street gang?

To widespread publicity, the EDL leaders 'TommyRobinson' (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) and KevinCarroll have said goodbye to the EDL - but not to the racistpoliticsof Islamophobia.This isachangeof tacticsnotachangeof heart. Their association with the Quilliam Foundation (seeright) - and total lack of any admission that past racist thuggerywas wrong - indicates their attacks on Muslims will continue.

The reason for leaving the EDL is not hard to understand – itfollows the failure of their attempted Tower Hamletsdemonstration in September. This was the third defeat in a rowfor the EDL's desire to intimidate the local community. And itwas the umpteenth time the few hundred thugs they couldgather to spread theirmessage of hatewas rejected by a unitedmulti-cultural community. But, as the rise of the far-right andfascists in Europe shows, it could have been different.

the EDL – a different tactic by the far-right

TheEDLbegan in Luton 2009. InMarch a small group of youngMuslims had protested at a local “Welcome home fromAfghanistan” march by the Royal Anglian Regiment. They andother Asians were attacked by onlookers. In April and Maytherewere two demonstrationswhich led to the formation of theEDL.

Although it hasbeencommon for fascist groups tohavea 'streetfighting’ wing, such as Mussolini’s “Squadristi” or Hitler’s SA,the EDL was a bit different. We now know that EDL had beenbacked from the beginning by a shadowy group of very wealthybusiness people who were active in the international anti-Islamic movement. One, who used the name Alan Lake, told aconference in Sweden in September 2009 they must build an'anti-Jihad' movement and be “ready to go out onto the street”.

At the time the EDL (and its Welsh and Scottish sections)appeared to be based on a network of football hooliganswithout any political aims other than supposedly being against'Muslim terrorists'. It also claimed not to be racist and pushed tothe fore the one or two black and brown faces they initially hadattracted. They claimed to represent the ‘the poor downtrodden

English white working class’ and raGeorge rather than the Union Jack ofCarroll continued these lies in thconference.

At first the message had some sucpundits could be found to discuss theand the ‘white working class’. Thmainstream politics – it helped bring aLabour initiative for example. Howdemonstrationsdidnot succeed inbuildmuch outside the football hooligans athey started with. The vile chantsdemonstrationsmade it clear to all but tthat this was a racist organisation thMuslims. We also saw a number of attleft-wing targets as the more openly fabecame apparent.

the ballot box and the street - tw

There was then an attempt to graft onwouldhavecreated theclassic fascist celectoral politics.. The tiny British Frover and Paul Weston, former UKIP pbecame its Chair. It subsequently linkKevin Carroll become its Deputy Cha

But the attempt to get the EDL thugpolitics was amiserable failure. The strsuffered a setback in September 2011into Tower Hamlets. Then in Septehumiliated by a 4000 strong anti-fascisThe police had to stop them marching

Before they could recover Robinson wfalse passport (and other unresolveissues) and in January he was jailed fonow claims that it was during his timeleave the EDL, but there was no signApril.

Then in May there was the killing of

2 unite against fascism wales

allied to the Cross of St.the BNP. Robinson andheir resignation press-

ccess – inevitably somee nature of ‘Englishness’his had some echo inabout the short-lived Bluewever the almost weeklydinga following thatwentand BNP supporters thats and placards on theirthewilfully deaf andblindhat hated Islam and alltacks on trade union andfascist nature of the EDL

wo tactics of fascism

n an electoral wing whichcombinationof street andreedom Party was takenparliamentary candidate,ked up with the EDL andair.

gs interested in electoralreet demonstrations also1 when they failed to getember 2012 they werest demo inWalthamstow.g or even holding a rally.

was arrested for using aed charges on financeor 10 months. Robinsone in prison he decided toof that on his release in

Lee Rigby in Woolwich.

Both the EDL and the BNP called a number of demonstrationsin an attempt to exploit a backlash and revive their fortunes.Both were unsuccessful thanks to the opposition organised byUAF, which was helped by the dignified appeal by the Rigbyfamily against the use of Lee’s name to promote hatred andviolence. Around Britain local UAF groups organised 'Don't LetThe Racists Divide Us' rallies. We reported on the two verysuccessful ones, involving localMuslim leaders inNewport andCardiff in the last newsletter.

Under the impact of repeated anti-fascist protests, Robinsonand Carroll were reduced to a charade about ‘charity walks’ asa way around police bans. They also tried to take over or latchon to a number of wreath-laying events but local demosprevented this. In Cardiff we had 150 people turn out at under24 hours notice ready to stop such an event from being used byfascists. As a result EDL members continued to formbreakaway groups.

However, far from giving up, the EDL leaders continued callingdemonstrations over the summer and gambled on building upto a march through Tower Hamlets which would have restoredtheir street credibility. The 5000 demonstrators who opposedthem put a stop to that attempt.

what now?

The EDL, its splinter groups and other nazi organisations liketheNFwill continue to be try to bea threat.However theattemptto create fascist gangs in cities across the country capable ofintimidating Muslims, ethnic minorities and working classorganisation has failed. It has failedbecauseof the repeatedandunitedopposition thatUAF, backedby the trade-unionmovement and others, has been able to organise. Withcontinued Tory austerity, imagine where we would bewithout UAF and others opposing the Nazis? As in otherparts of Europe the fascists would be a far greater threat.

Robinson and Carroll may now try to carve out new careers forthemselves as ‘experts on extremism’ with an Islamaphobicagenda - just as the founders of the Quilliam Foundation did.It will continue to be our job to oppose them and all otherexamples of fascism, Islamophobia and racism.

The press-conference whereRobinson and Carrollannounced their resignationwas hosted by the little-knownQuilliam Foundation. If wasfounded in 2008 by MaajidNawaz and Ed Hussain. It isusually regarded as being setup to fight Islamic terrorismwith expertise based on thefounder's experience ofextremist Islamic groups , inparticular Hizb utTahrir. Inreality its target is all ‘Islamist’organisations. It defines‘Islamist’ as “the belief thatIslam is a political ideology,as well as a faith”, andtherefore includes a widerange of Muslim organisationsthat completely reject the useof terror and violence. TheQuilliam Foundation claimsthat: "The ideology of non-violent Islamists is broadly thesame as that of violentIslamists; they disagree onlyon tactics” But surelyarguing with people instead ofbombing them is a hugedifference?

In 2010 the Guardian revealed thatQuilliam had produced “A secret listprepared for a top British security officialaccusing peaceful Muslim groups,politicians, a television channel and aScotland Yard unit of sharing the ideologyof terrorists. The list was drawn up forCharles Farr, the director general of theOffice for Security and Counter-Terrorism(OSCT), a directorate of the Home Office.Farr is a former senior intelligence officer.

The document sent to Farr is entitled"Preventing terrorism; where next forBritain?" It lists alleged extremistsympathisers, including the MuslimCouncil of Britain, the main umbrella groupin Britain for Islamic organisations. It alsoclaims that a Scotland Yard counter-terrorism squad called the Muslim ContactUnit is dominated by extremist ideology.”http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/aug/04/quilliam-foundation-list-alleged-extremism

The Guardian also suggested that thefinancial problems of the Quilliam mayhave influenced their move to includerightwing extremism in their remit. Itreported the “millions” that they originallyreceived from the government had shrunkto £532,099 in 2012.

HOWTHE

MASSMOVEMENT

BROKE THE EDL

HOWTHE

MASSMOVEMENT

BROKE THE EDL

theQuilliam

Foundationunite against fascism wales 3

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/aug/04/quilliam-foundation-list-alleged-extremism

Honorary President: Peter Hain M.PChair: Ali Ahmed Vice-Chair: Maggie Simpson

Treasurer: Amarjite Singh Secretary: Jeffrey Hurford Liaison: Julian Goss

‘The threat from the BNP and fascist groups in Wales is real and immediate.They bring division to our communitiesand all thinking, compassionate people should oppose them. Now is the time to mobilise on an all-Wales basis, tomeet the threat from these racist, fascist thugs as it arises.’ Peter Hain MP

Name/organisation ................................................................................Email..................................................................Address .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Phone ................................................................................................Union ......................................................................

UAF Wales annual membership fees are: Individuals: £5 and £2 for concessions Organisations: Local £20, Walesunfunded £40, Wales funded £100 Return to: UAF Wales, 271 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff CF51JB

Join UAF Wales!

Government and press bigotry will fuel the far-right

The Government seems determined to ramp up racism oncemore.

They recently sent scaremongering vans round six Londonboroughswheremany immigrants live, urging 'illegal immigrants'to leave Britain. The Advertising Standards Agency has sinceruled that themessage on these vanswas dishonest, and shouldbe withdrawn.

For three yearsnow,ministers havebangedonabout immigrantsfrom the EU being 'benefit tourists'. For three years the EU haspolitely asked the British Government to produce evidence forthis. They have been given no answer.

This may be because the Government's own research clearlyshows that EU migrants contribute more to the welfare state,through taxation, than they take out in benefits. And they aremuch less likely to claim Job-Seeker's Allowance than British-born workers.

Nevertheless Theresa May proposes to inflict even moredraconian measures on EU migrants. In the same week thatGeorge Osborne promised to make it easier for Chinesemillionaires to come to Britain, May announced that EU workerswould have to pay £3000 for the privilege of coming here.

A further raft of measures to compel landlords and others todiscriminate against EU migrants was also announced. This willcontribute even more to the hostility already felt by migrants andasylum seekers.

So a Sunday newspaper can get away with a banner headlineclaiming that 600,000EUmigrantsaredrawingbenefitswhen thereal figure is a tenth of that. The journalists in question,encouraged by the Government's bigotry, arrived at thispreposterous figure byadding in students,OAPsand the familiesof claimants.

Theworsening climate of bigotry and hostilitywill only encouragethe racists and fascists in ourmidst. And it will inevitablymake lifetougher for ethnic and religious minorities amongst us.

Migrants make a substantial contribution to the economy, enrichBritain's culture and improve the standard of its public services.The multicultural and prosperous Britain that exists today hasbeen created by generations of immigration and the acceptanceof refugees.

Political parties need to stop exploiting racismand xenophobia inthe hope of securing votes, and the media need to end thepublication of sensational and unfounded stories, otherwise all ofus will be worse off. Bigotry against one group, if it is not roundlychallenged, is always turned against other groups.

The government's racist van (left) told illegal immigrants to 'go home' - echoing the vile taunts of the National Front in the 1970's to ethnicminorities. The brilliant response to this by Liberty, the campaigning human-rights organisation, is pictured right.

http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/index.php