Fighting Talk - 21

8/3/2019 Fighting Talk - 21

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IFighting Talk April ' 9 9 1ssue21FRONT COVER: Riot policj3sttscking striking. mlne-wcrkers, () rg reave Colliery 1984. HomeSecretary Jack Straw recently announced thatwithin ten Y!!ijlrs25%of Metropolitan Po!ice officersshould come from ethnic minority backgrounds.This is supposed to have something to do with. civil rights! Somehow we doubt whether it w ill .make a truncheon in the face taste any better

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3 In the Area.__AFA news from around the country.

6 Behind Enemy Lines...FT Parachutes into Enemy Territory

7 Analysis ...Race A ttecks and 'AntiRacism'

1)Time for Act ion2) Not Black & White

11 Levelling the Score...Tackling Fascism at Footbal l

13 Anti-Fascist History...The His/ory & Development of AFA Strategy

20 Between the Sheets...How the Mainstream Media Tackles Fascism

21 Reviews

':AFA o n the Internet:The AFA Web Site is back on line at:www.geocities.com/capitol hiII/senate/5602

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Contact the National Office for details of local activities / contacts

AFA CONTACTSCardiff AFA Edinburgh AFA UlcIa Wolverhamplon AFA 0 PO Box421 0r Edinburgh EH111 00 0~ -IBirmingham AFA Z rPO Box3311 0 GlasgowAFA ~25 Howard Road East Ul PO Box 180, Glasgow G4 9AB Z0Birmingham B130RZ ~'" ZI'Leicester A~f 0c/o Nal ls AFA :E Brighton AFA~ c/o LondonAFA -INottingham AFA rm : : : cPO Box 192, Ul BristolAFA mNottingham NG1 1FJ c/o London AFA UlWolverhampton P.FA 0Colchester AFA C-IcIa PO Box 3311 clo PO Box 87 : : : c25 Howard Road East Ipswich IP4 4JOBirmingham B130RZ

\ExeterAFActo The Flying Post, PO Box 185Bolton AFA Exeter EX4 4EWcIa Manchester AFA . z Herts AFALancaster AFA 0 cIa London AFAc/o Manchester AFA ::Il-I Ipswich AFA: : : cLiverpool AFA m PO Box 87PO Box 110 z n Ipswich IP4 4JOLiverpool L69 BOP Z

Z KentAFAManchester AFA m c/o London AFAPO Box B3 -I:ESouth West PDO 0 LondonAFAManchesler ::Il BM 1734M155NJ ; ; 0 : ; London we 1N 3XXNorth East AFA OxfordAFAPO Box ITA cIa London AFANewcastleNE991TA Southampton AFAc/o London AFAPrestonAFAcIa Liverpool AFA Surrey AFA cIa London AFASheff ield AFAcIa West YorkshireWest Yorkshire AFA AFA (Ireland) z nmcIa London AFA PO Box 3355 rDublin7 :t >WiganAFA Ireland Zc/o Manchester AFA 0

Please note that a number of AFA branches have had recentproblems with their PO Boxes. When writing to an AFA b~anch pleasenotify the National Office so we can check if mail has arrived.

AF tA ' NAT IONA l... OFF ICEq ..' OZQQ! t$ .9~_~t. ".:
http://www.geocities.com/http://www.geocities.com/


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AFA ROUND-UP

...... ...,.....~-:7:=:7 Welcome to Issue 21of Fighting Talk. Westart with ou r usua Iround up of news andviews from the frontline against fascism

A n AFA benefit was held inNewcastle in December,featuring the North East's finest,Red London and Red Alert. The gig wasa great success and well attended. Thefascists have been active in the NorthEast recently and it was anticipated theremight be an attempt to attack the gigso the Northern Network mobilisedstewards. As predicted, an hour intothe gig about 15 large fascists showedup, led by ex-London BNP activist SimonBiggs and including members of thefascist band Crashed Out.Biggs charged across the road wieldinga spring-loaded cosh followed by twoothers liberally spraying ammonia, tryingto blind the AFA stewards. The stewardsengaged the fascists and Biggs was putdown while the two ammonia mensquealed "no weapons!" as they wereconfronted and chased. All the fascistsfled into the night. The weapons used,particularly the ammonia, indicate anescalation in the level of violence;although out of step with general BNPstrategy, this has been noted.

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AFA ROUND -U PSEARCHLIG HT .A FA took the unusual step ofissuing a statement announcingthe closure of the Leeds andHudderslield branches in April 1998 (see

FT19 for details). The primary reasonwas the involvement of Searchlightoperatives at an organisational level,despite AFA policy "that Searchlight hasa seperate agenda to our own ... andhave in the not too distant past usedindividuals and organisations tomanipulate, exploit or subvert AFApolicy and initiatives." The conclusionwas that "membership or associationwith the Searchlight team is incompatiblewith AFA membership." Any futurerelationship with Searchlight will be doneformally through the National OHice.When it became clear that Searchlightwere continuing to try and influencethe Northern Network through theirsupporters in Leeds AFA, they werechallenged. Leeds AFA vehementlydenied any collaboration, and inparticular insisted that an unnamedjournalist friend, who was the sourceof information AFA was supposed toact upon, had nothing to do withSearchlighl. Well, to cut a long storyshort, the 'unnamed journalist' has justbeen installed as the new editor 01Se~rchlight!

C IV IL B IG HTSc .MQ~Me.NI ..cc1;eN.atiOnalCivil Rights Movementwas launched in London onSunday 28th March. Severalhundred people a1tended the event,including London AFA who gave outa leaflet which made a number ofproposals regarding the directionthat the Civil Rights Movement needsto take to avoid excluding the whiteworking class.Since the Lawrence Report waspubllshed a number 01 people havecommented on the need to includewhite working class people in the civilrights equation or lace tile possibility offurther division between black and white.Despite these comments there were norepresentatives of Ihe Hillsboroughfamilies or similar white British victimsof injustice to speak alongside therelative~ of black people murdered byracists. It is pertectly possible to providethis balance in future and the London AFApresence on the Steering Committee wil lbe arguing for this.

As anti-fascists we are only too aware ofhow eager tile BNP are to claim to bethe sale representatives of the whiteworking class and the AFA strategy isdesigned to prevent this scenario. Somemonlhs before the Civil Rights Movementwas launched AFA was involved in aconference on race attacks, and it wasclear that there are youth and communityworkers who share AFA's concerns thatexisting race policies are not working andin some cases making things worse.Urgent steps need to be taken to preventworking class communities becomingeven further divided along racial l ines.Although AFA was already developing astrategy to tackle the issue of raceattacks, the Lawrence Report andsubsequent launching ol lhe Civi l RightsMovement has put the issue onlo an evenwider agenda. Working class militanlsmust take the opportunity to challengethe failed policies of the past and arguestrongly for 'civil rights for ail'.

Best of '98 - can you spot us?

W E ST M ID I..A ND S-. .

The BNP have attempted to win supportin Redditch, via the Lodge Park anti-mosque camapign. New regional BNPpress officer, Simon Darby of Cannock,achieved considerable media coverageby claiming Ihat the BNP had distributedseveral thousand leaflets around theissue and had a prornisinq response fromthe residents concerned. AFA supportersin the area knew this was a completefabrication. So in order 10 stress the pointand try to allay any local concern an AFAstewards group vislted the area inOctober, distributing 3,500 leal letsaround the vicinity of the proposedmosque site. The Redditch papers ran a

story Irom AFA stating that the BNPwould be "removed" trom the area if theydid show. This in turn prompted the BNPto make a public statement the followingweek demanding police protection fromAnti-Fascist Action. A few years ago thiswould have been considered somethingof a propaganda victory on AFA's part.However the BN P haven't sudde ntybecome media masochists. This moveshould be viewed in the context of a partygeared towards mainstream acceptance,a fascist outlit trying to imitate itsEuropean counterparts in l ifting itself outof the ghetto 01 fringe politics. One of theirstated aims in this pursuit of respectabilityis to 'legitimise' their own politicaloperation, which effectively criminalisesAFA from the outset. AFA observers andsupporters should bear this in mind.Redditch was only a 'toe in tile water' - thefirst tentative steps of a new, potential lymore dynamic and strategically improvedBNP.All in all they've been surprisingly patientwith their tactical shift, particularlyconsidering the fact that the formerNational Democrats' Black Countrybranch is thriving with both resourcesand numbers. This reflects a greaterpol itical maturity than previously shown like AFA, in the absence 01 immediateand consuming street activity they'relearning to operate with a beller longterm perspective. The Black Countrybranch alone has enough members tohold 'public' events and, with a little helpfrom the sensationalist media, create awave of public hysteria. They willcontinue to exploit media negl igence andgullibility, but they will not foolishlyexpose themselves to AFA attack. IfRedditch is to be taken as a reflection oftactics then they will box clever, untilsuch a lime as they have a mandatewithin the communities in which they'reoperating, such as happened in EastLondon in lhe early 90s, and much ofEurope - the templates from which thestrategy was derived.Since the autumn the BNP have madeTipton a focal point for their grassrootswork, as we predicted they would. Ridingon the back 01 the NF's electoralpersistence in the 70s (polling up to16.9%), and the National Democrats'subsequent Residents Association work,the BNP have made efforts to reintegratefascism into a potentially receptivecommunity.

In Great Barr 2 BNP members recentlycleaned up a neglected churchyard,apparently gaining gralitude and supportlrom local residents who'd spent yearsdemanding the council take action tono avail. Again, a reflection 01 the

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AFA ROUND-UPshortcomings of purely physicalopposition where such a low key,locally supported, populist formula isapplied. How can AFA counter that?Smash the gravestones, owing to thefact that they represent a small butnonetheless significant furtherance offascist ideology? Obviously not. Its asmall example of a big shortcoming, ofAFA's previously limited physical solution.AFA members in Newtown were quickerthan the BNP in recognising the scopefor addressing local concerns, without thebarrier of preconceived ideology, and weknow how easy it is to sway peopletowards progression, in our case, orreaction in the case of the BNP.Don't take our word for it - readSpearhead or the British Nationalistand you'll see the objective clearlyoutlined. Its a strategic shift thateffectively negates the use of streetviolence as a singular counter measure,and AFA combatants and supportersshould be aware of these developments.AFA intelligence officers will reliably tellyou that the West Mids BNP have a goodenough looking mob to give AFA a decentcontest - but the fact that they haven't isproof of the seriousness with which theytake the national policy of "No moremeetings, marches or punch ups". Ifmil itants, including many seasoned andvalued veterans, choose to ignore themand persist with only wanting to getinvolved "if it goes off", then we may findourselves in a situation much like that inFrance, or any number of other Europeancountries, a few years down the line.If West Mids BNP remain focused,disciplined and resilient we might findourselves doing too little, too late.As a footnote it should be stressed thatno-one in AFA ever adhered to acceptingthe 'Anybody But Fascists' syndrome, soprevalent in the ANL and other superficialbandwagon opportunists. AFA is, by itsvery make-up, of the class and for theclass. AFA's undoubted physical dexterityhas only ever been billed as a rearguardaction, a means to an end, not the enditself. With a blatantly anti-working classgovernment attacking our class, and thefascist BNP courting respectability whilstbasing an entire class strategy aroundexploiting Labour's betrayal, where, ifanywhere, do AFA militants stand? At thiscritical point we each ought to ask; "Whatdifference do I make?".

IREL.ANDAt AF~ Ireland's annual meeting inDublin, also held in October, amessage of support was read outfrom Mick O'Riordan. anti-fascist veteranof the International Brigades. "Comrades

AFA's annual ral ly commemorating theBailie of Cable Street was held in Londonat the beginning of October. There wasa publ ic meeting on Friday 2nd Octoberwith speakers from the Celtic CampaignAgainst Sectarian Attacks, NewtownIndependent Residents Association(Birmingham), AFA and a guest speakerfrom Red Anti fa (Berlin) in Germany.

'()CTOBEfi fI~l~l...' .

On Saturday a well attended internaldiscussion reviewed the cu rrentsituation and discussed strategies forthe future, and this was followed bya successful Cable Beat Street gigfeaturing the excellent ska sounds ofSelecter, and OJ Gary Clail. OnSunday 4th October there was ascreening of the Black Panther film'All Power To The People' and the '43Group', introduced by the veteranMorris Beckman.

of Anti-Fascist Action, warmest greetingsto your gathering in Dublin. 62 years agoon another October there was a fightinganti-fascist militant demonstration whichinflicted a victory against Sir OswaldMosley's Blackshirts, protected as theywere by the British Tory Party's policeforce. This has gone down in history asthe BatUe of Cable Street of October 4th1936. T~.e British fascist forces attackedthat East London Jewish area in the bel iefthat they would strike terror against itsworking class inhabitants and at thesame time they would inveigle the Irishimmigrants, mostly seamen anddockers, to be on the Blackshirts' side,or to be passive spectators of the fascistpogrom. But the opposite happened. TheIrish stood shoulder to shoulder with theirneighbours and defeated both theBlackshirts and their pol ice protectors.Both the Cable Street battle and theSpanish struggle were splendid examplesof unity and al liance. Salud! No Pasaran!Passaremos!" It is always good to seeanti- fascists from a previous generationendorse the actions of militants today.Sill in I reland its good tohear that, further north,Cliltonville supporters flewa large 'ClHtonville Redskins'banner at the game againstLinfield in November. This was inresponse to fascist flags beingflown by Linfield and Glentoransupporters.

Selecter on stage and the CableStreet banner.

CHUMBAWUMBA ~. .February's postbag brought awelcome surprise in the shapeof a 500 cheque from Chumba-wumba "towards the continued productionof Fighting Talk". We would like to takethis opportunity to publicly thank the bandfor their generosity and we can safelysay this issue is sponsored byChumbawumba!We would also like to thank the LegalDefence and Monitoring Group for theirgenerous donation of 100. As AFAprepares to step up a gear to meet thechal lenges of the coming period we hopethe examples set by Chumbawumba andthe LDMG will be followed by others!

AND FINALLY ..aHere at FT we're always looking towiden our horizons, and browsingthrough September's issue of 'Chat'magazine we were drawn to an articlein the True Story section titled "Myhusband was rubbish ... now I've gotthe best man." The words wereobviously moving, if predictable, butthe pictures ... the 'best man' in thestory, with name and address kindlysupplied, proudly poses in a (Blood &Honour) Squadron T-shirt!

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BEH INDE N E M Y L IN E Sith Vern Ethered

The recent BBC documentary on the FarRight (see "Between the Sheets p.21)was intended to give the impression of abunch of sad nullers in terminal decline.February's Spearhead, however,revealed in advance of the programmethat the BNP was under no illusion as tothe documentary's intention but still sawit as a good chance to get mainstreampublicity: 'The BNP ... prefers to dwell inthe real world of national politics ratherthan the ivory-tower world inhabited byIhose with no serious hopes ofgraduatingbeyond cranky "fringe" political statusand who can therefore afford the luxUlYof treating television as if i t did not exist".As part of its continuing internalorganisational upgrade, Nick Griffinadvocates that the BNP needs to moveaway from the tendency 10 think in termsof geographical branches and groupsand adopt a "Tasks not Towns" approachusing modern communications. Griffintalks of "teams" working to expand thescope and sophistication of the party'sorganisational machine and "circles"which will "assist with work to improvetheparty's image and rates of recruitment,by developing and exploiting parallelsbetween nationalist policies and theconcerns of specific groups of people,identified by common denominators otherthan geographical location". Examplesof these teams include the MediaMonitoring Group, Internet Team andthe Merchandising Team. The MediaMonitoring Unit already appears to behaving some success by respondingquickly to any media coverage of theBNP and insisting on a right to replywhich usually gives at least some of theirviews an airing. In terms of circles moregeneral issues are tackled includingAgricultural & rural matters: anti-EUcampaigning; youth movement andparents & families. The idea of thesecircles is that they should be semi-autonomous to the party proper, fulfi ll ingan outreach and induction function.Despite occasional forays into completelybarking land, it has to be said that thenew found "realism" and ambition of theBNP is very much in evidence throughouttheir publications. Back in August, oldtime NFer Paul Tinsley attributed the

growth in morale and optimism in theParty to its more mature approach, askingthe question "Has British Nationalismcome 0 1 age?" and comparing thepresent approach to that of the 70's and80's. Whilst the BNP's stance on race"remains completely unchanged" thepresentation is different. Hostility to olherraces isn't even on the agenda (! ) andthe emphasis is on white survival notwhite supremacy.At the same time in the glossy Patriotmagazine Tony Lecomber, whopersonally exemplifies the shi!t~n tactics,reasons that "undisguised fa"$cism isnever going to come to power except inthe most extraordinary circumstances.For this reason the nationalism of Fini'sNational Alliance and Le Pen's FrontNational are far more attractive bedusethey present national ist pol itics in a non-threatening form. It is for this reason thatany hint of "fascism" has beet:abandoned by both these parties whilstsimultaneously retaining a broednationalist stance. And it is for this reasonthat both parties have achieved thedegree of success they have. Clearly,nationalism does not equal fascism. Or,at least, it doesn't have to".The BNP is repositioning itself and insome cases we probably have to bethankful that their past is such a burdento them, because otherwise they areprobably putting out more socialist(albeit national socialist) propagandathan the whole sorry Left put together.Witness the following statement on aleaflet aimed at a Welsh audience "WithBevan and his fellow idealistic socialistsall dead the only detance ordinaryworkers have now against theexploitation and uncertainly caused byglobalisation is nationalism".When you look at the monthly reports ofactivity in Spearhead the list of subjectsand areas where the BNP is putting outpropaganda is sobering: anti-Euro "Saveour Sterling" leaflets; "Whos' CullingBritain's Farmers" leaflets; unwantedbuilding developments inGloucestershire; closure of middleschools in Bradford; Scottish BNPmembers and supporters of Land &

People demonstrating outside home ofBookers Foods director; demonstratingagainst George Soros; SoulhBirmingham BNP dist ribuling leafletswarning about two con-artists preyingon pensioners; anti-paedophileleafleting in the Mansfield and Ashfieldarea outside schools. If readers think"so what, no-one is going to listen tothem", think again. The anti-paedophileleaflets apparently got a positiveresponse from parents, and whenteachers appeared on the scene to havea go at the BNP on the basis of theirdemonised image. Telling parentsconcerned about real or imaginedthreats to their kids that they shouldn'tlisten to someone, "because he's afascist", is not going to work.Alongside this grass roots activity (whichno one else can claim to be rivalling atthe moment) there is the upcomingEuropean elections in June. As NickGriffin stated in October "Realistically,the media demonisation of the BNP as"neo-nezi" is still so effective, and theanti-EU vote is likely to be so fragmentedbetween us, UKIP and variousindependents thai we are unlikely to wina seat.". But the real prize for the BNP isthe national TV broadcast and 20 millionleaflets delivered free by the Post Office."This will enable us to target places suchas new towns with a substantial "whiteflight" element in their populations, aswell as hitting areas, which, despitehaving great potential, have neverreceived a nationalist leaflet betoie',Barnaby Ore from London and MarkMatthews from Coventry are talking aboutsetting up a BNP Youth Wing on thelines of the French FNJ and the GermanDVU after the Euro-eleclions. Orestresses that its purpose is not to seek"deliberate confrontation with the Far Left,for to do so would only help them to pullback their support which is otherwisefading away. .. .". But it is clear that hesees it as a force in waiting and doesanticipate a return to street confrontationin the future: "victory wil l only be realisedby a unified approach by both the suitedand the booted". But for the meantimethe French model is to be followed -suits and pearl rinses to the front, bootsand cashes biding their time in the rear.The worst mistake we can make is toassume that "biding their time" means"packed up and gone home". The BNPis more active now than it has ever been.And if it can persuade enough peoplethat it does address their concerns (andrio-one else does) and thaI all thatswastika waving is a thing of the pastthen as Paul Tinsley puts it: "For anyliberal readers out there, mark my words,this is your worst nightmare come true".

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ANALYSISRACE ATTACK S' ,_ .~

Tim e for Actionr 'In December 199B Anti-Fascist Actionwas invited to participate in a seminaron race attacks, held in east London.Along with youth and communityworkers, academics and localcampaigns, the meeting was veryconstructive and ill ustra ted thegrowing concern that official anti-racist strategies are not working. Thefollowing article was AFA's openingcontribution to the discussion."Our involvement here revolves arounda number of long standing concerns: (a)that race attacks are at an all time highand rising (up another 6% nationally inBritish Crime Survey figures this year),(b) that the Far Right are positioningthemselves to take full advantage ofLabour's abandonment of the workingclass, (c ) that current race strategies aidand abet in dividing society on raciallines, (d) the BNP's change of strategyputs their destiny in their own hands.

Sections of the liberal media even soughtto lecture, and draw comparison with ourEuropean neighbours France, Germany,Italy and Austria where the genie is welland truly out of the bottle. If nothing elsethe Lawrence inquiry has hopefullyshattered that smug complacency. Allavailable studies and statistics show thatracism is very much alive. Race attacks,probably the most reliable barometeron a par with Germany where theRight are again marching in theirthousands and have just recentlyregional government.When addressing the is 7C : . '7: ' . , .. . . : ; .~,- : : . . , ' . .. .attacks the Home Office " , n , r i r i , , , , , , j , , , r lthe new legislationmessage to th.e_,~;~:4;~i~;;J~:.f2:;ia way that CO""" _~._"".the Establishmha.Je got it wLawrenceof casesof farToday we live in a country whose not a ~";i'i"',","'-,

citizens believe it to be scrupulously but rl$IPd?~~~,\:i~D~~,!~S~.,~~:~J~~~e!d,fair but where one in three openly th l; 1admit to being racist, where the level cause, it wasand intensity of race attacks has been youth, Johnlikened to political terrorism, and that encouragedwhose youth has been judged the ~ k \ , h i ~ ~ d ; " c g : ~ A . ' j ~ ; ; "e cry of 'Rights foreactionary in Western Europ\country where the dis p roporti Y c ( l t E l i ' ;A;;:~rfgi8g:,~~~:the same platform itnumbers of ethnic minorities e in a short space of time

I ent fascist party.in police custody has beenby the United Nationselecta ral support for thr ......c: ...:(despite standing lessrisen by over 1000%reality of Socialtheir former co "".':"C,::-.',":'C:.Jorthodox Left Y"."~I",~""~

Prior totheseregard an aberration, rather thanas part of a general rightward drift. Priorto the Lawrence inquiry. the commonlyheld assumptions were that racism andfascism were all but extinct in this countryat least, and we had multi-cultural ism tothank lor it. Unlike others in Europe, wein Britain had addressed the problem withsufficient vigour, resulting in a society atease with itself. ran the argument.

P now regularly condemn race"''''''-''-, from a white viewpoint of course,ut also generally; making politicalcapital from linking the growth to thereality of races living cheek by jowl. Theprospect of legislation that would seekto discriminate on sentencing on issuesrelated to race, as proposed by thegovernment, wil l have them rubbing theirhands in glee, as confirmation of an'institutional unfairness' against the whiteworking class. Next time round when thebattle cry 'Rights for Whites' is raised itmay well resonate not only in BethnalGreen, but in the political mainstream ashas already happened elsewhere inEurope.Additionally no matter how well shaped,further legislation cannot hope to dealpositively with the problem. Race attacksare at heart politically motivated. As

militant anti-fascists wefirmly believe the issue needs

to be urgently addressed but itwi ll take anti-racist pol icy itself tobe redefined to do so effectively.As for the question of 'unfairness'

is more than a perception.n appears that councils go

eir way to suggest a greaterof bias at a policy level thanht actually be the case. Prior to the

",,,,,rprw., murder, another black youthRolan Adams was stabbed to death inthe same area of south-east London.The trigger that time was the deliberateclosing of a local youth club usedpredominantly by white kids, and thesimultaneous opening of another nearbydesigned intentionally to be usedpredominantly by black kids. Rolan waskilled coming from there.Undaunted, only months later CamdenCouncil closed a 'white youth club' andsimultaneously opened one intended forthe exclusive use of Asian youth. Thecombination saw racial tension instantlyincrease one hundred fold. On bothoccasions the BNP, responded to theinvitation to intervene. Once again thetension eventually led to murder, this t imeof a white kid Richard Everitt.In both examples, it was the Labourcouncils rather than the Far Right whoquite deliberately racialised the situation.The latter merely sought to interpret andexploit the opportunity. And it was ofcourse the responsibil ity of anti-fascismto clear up the mess.A month ago, on Nov 17th (1 998), in areference to an independent inquiryinto the running of Tower Hamlets, anEvening Standard editorial commented:"Amongst the welter of serious allegations,racism is the most disturbing. It takessome doing to be suspected of beinganti-Bengali by the Bengali residents

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ANALYSISRacist Attacks: 20 Years On - No ProgressBelow lel1: the funeral of Allab Ali, murdered by racists 1978Right: Simon Ndekwe, beaten up by racists 199B

and anti-while by the whites, but thecouncil seems to have managed it. Nodoubt it will claim that it is the councillors'attempts to be even handed that haveled to the criticisms from both sides, butthe form of the complaints suggests thatit is more a matter of bias - or worse - inone direction or the other."Once again council policy, in the nameof anti-racism presumably, appears tobe pro-actively engaged in pittingcommunities against each other. Fromthis and other evidence, it is now ourbelief that the flaw is systemic. While tiledamage to inter-community relationshipsand the cause of anti-racism/anti-fascism is often irreparable.Fascists are made not born, and in all ofthis the Far Right are positioningthemselves in formally socialist terrainas champions of the underdog. For themof course the dogs are all the one colour.That they succeeded in gett ing just under10,000 votes in just three constituenciesin this part of east London in May 1997shows a resonance for their ideas notelectorally evident since the mid 1970's.That in May next year they expect to havebetween 6 to 10 million leaf lets deliveredfree door to door, courtesy of putting upcandidates to the tune of 50,000 showsthe extent of their ambit ion.This new found confidence is a result ofboth a continuing deterioration amongthe Left generally, and is complimentedby their abandonment in 1994 of the'marches, meetings, punch ups' strategyin vogue since the 1970's.The upshot isthat by and large their political destiny isfor the lirst time in their own hands, inthat their strategy now is not to seek outconlllct with their opponents, but to takestrenuous steps to avoid it.The incentive for British fascism tojettison the once cherished profile of a'party of strength' was two-fold. First,their wish to emulate the success of the

Euro-Nationalist strategy on thecontinent, which in effect means'putting votes before principles in orderto attain the power to put principles intopractice'. Second, a recognition that inthe largely clandestine war of attritionbetween Left and Right they were theheavy losers. In political terms they foundthemselves in a hatchet fight ~thout ahatchet.In that the most serious damage on anational level, part icularly between 1990and 1994, was not only to public im'ageor their ability to recruit, but to theirinfrastruclure; their cadre. Inevltablytargets for the opposition, and inva~ably'head first in' they were all too oftencarried feet first out, and eventually lostto the PaI1y.Recently a leading strategist explainedthe mindset: "Since the oppositionactively seek confrontation, it followsthat we must continue with the policyof avoiding it wherever possible,putting our efforts into grassrootscampaigning rather than high profilepublic activities announced longenough in advance to allow ouropponents to mobilise against them.If AFA can be 'persuaded' to leave ourcandidates, canvassers and leaflettersalone that is all we need 10 win".According to the current BNP leadershipthe difference between winning andlosing now is assidlously avoiding ratherthan seeking out confrontation. That thischange of strategy is being rigorouslyimplemented means that for the momentmilitant antl-Iasclsrn has been outflanked. It is precisely because it is unableto lay a glove on them that they aregradually building an infrastructure andelectoral expertise virtually unhindered.This in time, they believe, will allow themto compete on a level playing field interms of resources and expertise with themajor parties, beginning with selected by-elections. This ability combined with the

other ingredients will, they consider,complete the 'normal isation' of theirposition within the political mainstream.All importantly, mainstream success isdependent not so much on their abilityto painstakingly create an audience, butto draw instead from the vast reservoir ofreaction whose existence is acknowledgedby both sides, but is so far largelyuntapped. As we see it the counter-strategy designed specifically to drainoff this reservoir must be two pronged.Race attacks are the sea in which theFar Right swim. It is self evident that thead-hoc race attacker of today, given theopportunity, will become lhe organisedfascist of tomorrow. Consequently weconsider that the cutting edge of aneffective counter- strategy at Ihis juncturewould be a broad-based and nationalanti-race attacks campaign, designedboth 10 politically highlight the hiddenepidemic, and reverse the isolationbetween victim and perpetrator at agrassroots level.Clearly, this process 01 'draining off' canonly be successful if, and when, othergovernment sponsored race initalives areencouraged to consider how they mightinadvertently be 'feeding in'.Since the early 1960s across Europe,by appropriating the arguments of theLeft, fascism has astutely been exploitingthe right to maintain racial and culturaldifferences, to the extent that the conceptof race as the only, or primary, dynamicin a multi-cultural society cannot anylonger be left unchallenged. The politicalsituation demands that in the name ofanti-racism that premise is confrontedhead on, and now is the time to do it.Otherwise, as Machiavelli noted, "politicaldisorders can be quickly healed if seenin advance, when tor lack of a diaqnosisthey are allowed to grow in such a waythat everyone can recognise them,remedies are too late."

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ANALYSISRACE ATTACK SW hen Michael Mansfield acannounced the setting up ofa Civil Rights Movementafter the Stephen Lawrence enquiry itpresented anti-fascists with achallenge. If the Far Right couldcapitalise on the growing level of raceattacks it would give them a majorboost and so any movement set up todeal with the issue will have animpact, one way or the other, on theanti-fascist movement. AFA has beendiscussing the possibility oflaunching a new initiative around raceattacks for some time (see previousarticle), and the new Civil RightsMovement has forced the pace. Belowwe reprint a copy of the leaflet LondonAFA distributed at the foundingconference.In Britain the Far Right have been forced,through physical confrontation, onto themargins of society. As we all know,conditions are very different in the restof Europe. Here the absence of anelectoral profile for the Far Right hasallowed government, media, racerelations and political circles to regardrace attacks as no more than anotherform of anti-social behaviou r. TheStephen Lawrence inquiry has highlightedthe limitations of the analysis and callsfor a more fundamental review of racismin society.Race attacks are at an all time high.Estimates based on British Crime Surveyfigures, put racially motivated incidentsat between 2,500 and 3,000 a week andrising. The recent Joseph Rowntreereport suggests that this figure needs tobe adjusted upwards due to even greaterlevels of under-reporting than previouslyfeared. Moreover, it is clear that racistviolence has been on a steadily risingcurve since 1982.THE FAR RIGHT, MORE SYMPTOM

THAN CAUSE?It should be noted with concern thatBritain now has a race attack record onpar with Germany, where membershipof the Far Right is numbered in tens ofthousands, and where fascist partiesrecently entered regional government. Inthe past the growth in racial incidentsmay often have had a relationship to Far

Right activity in the area. Today, itis quiteincorrect to lay the blame for race attackswith the relevant fringe groups such asCombat 1B.The BNP have sought to break theirforced isolation by shifting towards moreelectoral models, learning from theirEuropean counterparts. With their callfor 'Rights For Whites' they havepresented themselves as the champions

of the white working class feeding off theracialisation of working class communityproblems.This tactical retreat by the BNP hastaken them out of the headlines. Theyare much less visible to those who don'tlive in their target communities and theirnew direction is less newsworthy. In theBNP's own words from 1994: "No moremeetings, marches, punch-ups''.

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ANALYSISBetween 1982 and 1998 despite havingstood fewer candidates, the Far Right'snumber of votes rose by roughly onethousand per cent. Now the BNP, whichclaims a thirty five per cent growth inmembership in 199B alone, intends todistribute recruitment propaganda to anestimated twenty million people as partof its European election campaign inJune 1999.So while the BNP are working hard toposition themselves to benefit from thecurrent racial tensions they remain asmuch symptom as cause.

SO WHAT IS REALLY GOINGWRONG?Despite good intentions, current equalopportunities practice contributes to thedeepening racist climate in the country.The orthodox equal opportunity approachis individually focused and morally based.It sees racism as an individual problemor set of flawed personal beliefs.Crucially, it falsely assumes that there isa uniform access to power by all whitesand uniform denial or access to powerto all blacks. The resulting strategies:anti-racist training, education for youngpeople and advertising campaigns havebeen rigorously applied. The clearproblem is that despite being reached bythis model, people's views are not beingaltered for the better. Instead, many onlylearn to express racist views where theyfeel "safe'.This doesn't bridge the divides withinsociety, it just builds a wall of silence.The fact that banning racist language inthe home is even being discussed is aclear indication that orthodox equalopportunities models have failed tomarshal widespread support.A failure in anti-racist training andeducation fails all in society. It presentssimplistic and patronising identities ofmany black people (what has beendescribed as the "samosas, saris andsteel drum" approach) while many whitepeople are left feel ing that a celebrationof cultural diversity means any cultureother than their own. This situation hasbeen exacerbated by the Signif icant cutsin youth and community services whichhave resulted in reduced activities andopportunities, particularly in inner cityareas. This all allows the BNP to stepin and offer a racist identity to the'cultureless' white working class. Somuch for fostering better communityrelations!The main problem with the orthodoxapproach is that it over simplifies theproblem and divides local communitiesinto 'perpetrators' and 'victims'. Thisportrays white people, particularly theworking class, as inherently racist;

10

resulting in policy that all too ollenracialises very real social problems:housing, education, access to councilservices, lack of meaningful politicalrepresentation, etc.The genuine grievances about socialinequalities, which the white working classshare with many of their black workingclass counterparts, are dismissed througha fear of pandering to the 'perpetrator'community. In a society where the gapbetween rich and poor grows ever wider,a policy of redistributing the limitedresources available to working classcommunities on ethnic grounds, can onlyset the most impoverished against eachother.Racists are not born, they are made.Race attacks are the extreme outcomeof this process. Race attacks havebecome part of a systematic attempt insome areas to make them, or to keepthem, 'white'.As such this race attack epidemic hasmore in common with political terrorismthan street crime. In all arsas.ot policyand practice the government 1s callingto r work to be eVidence-base1:l. Thevigorous application of orthodox equalopportunities through the Town Halls,should have loosened the grip of racismon each successive generation. Oruthecontrary, according to research in SouthEast London, racist attitudes in schoolchildren are more extreme than thoseheld by their parents. \In any other field, such a systematicfai lure would have lead to a questioningof both policy and practice. The racerelations industry prevents the necessarydebate on its work by accusing its criticsat racism. It is vital that such a responsemust not be allowed to dominate thefuture Civil Rights Movement.

motive is later identified. Against thisbackground the notion of 'additionalsentences' is simply a distraction: yetagain being focused on the individualrather than tackling a wider politicalproblem. Other than providing mouthwatering propaganda for right-wingextremists, it can expect to have notangible effect.

SUMMARY Orthodox models of equalopportunities racialise social problemsin such a way as to set communitiesagainst each other. Equal opportunities models whichassume that there is a uniform accessto power by all whites and a uniformdenial of access to power to all blacksmust be rejected. Anti-racist strategies that are notbroadly accepted as reasonable andrational by working class communities(both black and white) are counterproductive and deflect attempts to tackleextreme racism. The impact of systematic cuts inyouth and community provision and itsrelationship with the rise of racial tensionshould be seen as a straightforward caseof cause and effect. The race attack epidemic is asymptom of a wider problem and cannotbe solved by additional legislation. Race attackers are made not born. Organised and systematic racialviolence must be addressed from apolitical rather than criminal perspective.

PROPOSALS1. As a matter of urgency the isolationof the victims of race attacks must bereversed through a pro-active, grassroots strategy.2. All deaths in police custody to beinvestigated by an independent andaccountable body.3. The Civil Rights Movement shouldinitiate an independent review of currentequal opportunities policy and practicein order to support the adoption of anevidence-based approach.

DOES THE ANSWER LIE WITH THECRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM?Despite the total failure of the criminaljustice system to respond effectively tothe murder of Stephen Lawrence, it hasbeen argued thatr---------------------------------------------~legislation is thesolution. There isalready a sub-stantial lack ofconfidence in thepolice amongethnic minorities.This is based onthe dismal clear uprates for raciallymotivated crime,compounded bythe police's abili tyto only detect aracial element inone in three crimes Hillsborough Families fighting for justice for ten years - theywhere a racial too should be pan of the civil r ights movement


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FOOTBALL

L E V E L L I N GT H E S C O R E. I h e S i l e n c e o f . M c O a n n .

~~~ _ > ~ > R epresentatives of Celtic FansAgainst Fascism and Anti-Fascist Action recently attendeda conference at Celtic Park under the titleof The Equality Goal. The conference,attended by more than 200 people, wasfunded and run by Glasgow City Council,The Ethnic Business Forum and CelticFootball Club.The main thrust of the invited speakerswas to highlight the position and ex-perience of blacks and Asians in sport,football in particular. The gatheringdiscussed how best to open up the sportsarena as an avenue for social andbusiness integration of the black andAsian communities.The purpose of the CFAF and AFAmembers attending the conference,however, was to take this rare opportunityallowed to us to question Celtic'sManaging Director, Fergus McCann, inan open forum on the club's apparentsilence on the sectarian murder byLoyalists of 16-year old Celtic supporterMark Scott and the subsequent attemptedmurder of Irish Celtic fan, Sean O'Connor,in the same area.We wanted to ask Fergus in light ofCeltic's much vaunted Bhoys AgainstBigotry campaign, why the club hasmaintained an undignified silence onthese and other attacks upon Cel tic

REDATTITUDEAnti-fascistMan. Utdfanzine

1.20 UK1.60overseasAvailablefrom:Red Attitude

PO Box 83SWDOManchester M15 5NJ

(cheques payable to "Red Attitude")

supporters. With all the publici ty soughtand received by Bhoys Against Bigotrywe wanted to ask whether this campaignwas not in itself a political attack uponour own fans (albeit a less violent attackthan that of the Loyalists) and upon thehistory, culture and traditions of Celtic.

Paul Elliot and the evil gnome McCann

TIOCFAIDHARLA!Anti-fascistCeltic

magazine1.00 U.K.or 5 fo r 4 issues8.00overseasAvailablefrom:TAL

-------- BM BOX 266LONDON WC1 N 3XX(cheques payable to "TAL")

Bhoys Against Bigotry has so far onlyconcentrated on a narrow definition ofbigotry (defined by Fergus McCannhimself) which has actually been divisiveand unnecessary. The bigots accordingto McCann are those Celtic fans 'whocelebrate their Irish Republican polit icalleanings by singing rebel songs insidethe ground. This tradition goes as farback as the earliest days of a club whichwas founded by Irish Nationalists andsupporters of the Fenian Movement. IrishRepublican supporters of Celtic havebeen among the most progressivepolitical elements at the club. It isamongst this group of Celtic supportersthat you will find the biggest support foranti-sectarianism, anti-racism and anti-fascism, McCann has for most of his fiveyears in office made it something of apersonal crusade to antagonise, provokeand isolate this large section of Celticsupporters.When our delegation arrived at theEquality Goal conference, Mr McCannwas in attendance, posing for pressphotos with the organisers and speakers.He was bil led to speak himself, howeverhe looked decidedly uncomfortable onseeing us and within minutes it wasannounced by Celtic's public relationsofficer, Peter McLennan, that Mr MGCannhad suddenly and mysteriously beentaken ill and would not now address theconference. I wonder if it was anythingto do with us being there?!?There is no doubt that our presence hadbeen noted by Celtic's staff. On arrivingwe had asked the organisers if we coulddistribute our leaflet which detailed thesectarian attacks upon our supporters byLoyal ist bigots from Bridgeton. We wereadvised that all l iterature from attendingorganisations was to be put on the stallat the entrance to the meeting room. Thestall contained various leaflets fromparticipating groups; Kick It Out, FootballUnites - Racism Divides etc. We duly putour pile of leaflets on the table next to

WELLPREPAREDAnti-fascistAston Villafanzine

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PREPAREDPO Box 3311BirminghamB130RZ

(cheques payable to"Well Prepared")

11


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FOOTBALL

those of the other anti-racist organisations.However, checldng on the table onlymoments later, we found thai someenterprising member of Celtic 's staff hadremoved our leaflets from the slall andthrew them in a nearby bin. So much forequality!

of the audience, McLennanstaled that no action hador could be taken overthis incident in their ownstadium as the club hadno jurisdiction or controlover those involved. Evenwhen extremely bigotedand sectarian behaviourhad taken place in front ofmillions in Celtic's ownstadium, the club wereunwilling to countenanceany action. A bl ind eye wasturned to the behaviour ofa team of professional

footballers singing a hate-fuelled anti-Catholic song.McLennan was then put under pressureto explain why Celtic had remained si lenton the sectarian attacks against oursupporters. He claimed thai he could say

The conferencevarious speakers including Paulex-Celtic and Chelsea defendera potted history of hisHe spoke of his own exboth on and off t

for

McCann 11and howrabble (thesongs whichand he boasted hbanned for life f

When asked by a member ofaction had been taken by the clrelation to their policy and support forBhoys Against Bigotry, when Ihe majorityof-the Rangers learn had been capturedlive on TV in the Celtic dressing roomsinging the sectarian Orange anthem 'TheSash' after this season's League CupFinal at Celtic Parle To the amusement

Despite the CFAF wereapproached at the end 01the meeting bya number 01people who were sympathetic,including two academics and a deputyheadmaster!

The Celtic Fanzine Tiocfaidh Ar La (TAL)has uncovered evidence that suggeststhat the newly appointed ManagingDirector of Celt ic, Allan MacDonald OBE,has extensive links to the arms tradebetween British Aerospace (BAe} andbrutal regimes like Indonesia whereBAe's ground attack aircraft, the Hawk,was used in the massacre of thousandsof people in East Timor.A spokesperson for Ihe TAL Ianzlne,Louise Cooper, said: "We find it somewhatironic Ihat Fergus McCann should havespent so much of his time al Celticlecluring a section of our fans concerningtheir supposed backing for what Mr.McCann defines as 'tettotism' in Irelandand then goes and chooses as hissuccessor a man whose previousemployer is linked 10 State terror aroundthe world. Celtic fans will see this quiterightly as a case of double standards yet

by Fergus McCann, in an areabig business sees football clubs

an easy touch to boost theirreally be looking closely

would want these

rent and morethe abrasive

01 TAL puted as

be a

s Trade),the top

equipmentAbu Dhabi,and Saudi

r was aware oftinthesale

re equipment to thepart, if any, he played

h deals? TAL's LouiseI . "We need to have some

Mr McCann has sat in histower for five years ponti ficating

about Bhoys Againsl Bigotry and attackingCeltic fans for whal he perceives assectarianism. In the light of this week'sappointment of Mr MacDonald as Ihe newMo, perhaps Mr McCann should look abit more closely allhe kind of companyhe keeps himself."

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1fanti-/ascist history * anti:'!ascist history *anti-fascist history *

One fascist gets a lesson in the reafity of "controlling the streets" - Speakers Corner, Hyde Park, May 27th 1989From the day Anti-Fascist Action(AFA) was founded fourteen yearsago, we have always been best knownfor the use of physical force againstfascists on the streets. While beingrightly proud of this record the presentsituation requires that militant anti-fascists develop a political strategythat is just as effective as the physicalone has been in the past.There has never been a blue-print formilitant anti-fascism, either political orphysical, and AFA has had to develop its

own strategies. As the general politicalsituation changes anti-fascists need tomove with the times. In Britain, wherethe main fascist threat comes from theBritish National Party (ENP) who havewithdrawn from 'street activities', thereis a danger that if anti-fascists don'tfollow the fascists in to the politicalmainstream then we will be outflanked.Some anti-fascists think that adopting apolitical strategy means the physical sideof the struggle has been abandoned, butthe key to AFA's future success lies in

our original founding statement whichcommits the organisation to "physicaland ideological opposition to thefascists". The ph ysical side of thestrategy has been implemented sosuccessfully that the fascists were forcedto withdraw from the streets in 1994 -now isthe time to develop and implementa political strategy with the same level ofenthusiasm and commitment.To understand the position we are nowin it is helpful to look at the history ofAFA as it has developed over the years.

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li t anti-fascist history * " anti-fascist history * ' anti-fascist history * .1977 -1985The beginnings ...Although AFA was formed in the summerof 1985 the roots of tile organisation canbe traced back to the anti-fascist squadsin the late 1970s. The squads were thephysical force wing of the Anti NaziLeague (ANL) which had been launchedin 1977 to counter the growing threat ofthe National Front (NF).The NF had made inroads into the whiteworking class, and in 1974 they set upthe NF Trade Unionists Association andwere actively involved in a number ofindustrial disputes. This growing supportamong the white working class led toincreased opposition from the Left andthe Trade Union movement and when theNational Party (a split from the NF) wontwo council seats in Blackburn, in May1976, it was clearly time to turn thegrowing a nti-Ias cis t protests intosomething more dynamic.By 1977 organised opposition to the NFreached new heights, in particular atLewisham in south London where an NFmarch came under heavy and sustainedphysical attack from several thousandanti-fascists. Shortly after this the AntiNazi League was formed by the SWPand every fascist activity was nowopposed.The ANL strategy combined imaginativepropaganda and physical opposition.Popular bands, sporting celebrities andother individuals with a high profilewere used to endorse the anti-fascistmessage, making sure it had a widerappeal than the usual left-wing campaign.Hundreds of thousands of leaflets weredished out, badges sold, stickers andposters put up. The message was simplebut effective; the NF=Nazis. In the 70sthis message was sti ll effective, bearingin mind that the Second World War hadonly ended 30 years previously, andBritain was very much out of step withthe rest of Europe where the Far Rightwere small and isolated and could onlydream of reaching the level of supportthat the NF had. Indeed the French FNsent activists over to Britain to study themethods of the NF which they havesubsequently put to good use.The propaganda on its own would neverhave been enough, and the ANL squadsprovided the necessary physicalopposition. The previous years had seenthe NF pursue a traditional fascist

strategy of trying to control the streets.Left-wing paper sales were attacked,public meetings smashed up anddemonstrations harassed. Between1977 and the general election in 1979the ANL squads systematically turned thesituation around- attacking fascist papersales, meetings and marches. Thedamage that was done to the NF atLewisham was methodically reproducedaround the country. The middle classeswould no longer turn out in publ ic, womenand old people found it increasinglydangerous to attend activities and anti-fascist successes in the street battlesdrove away many more. The tide hadturned and the fascists were starting tobecome isolated.Many original members of AFA learnttheir 'trade' during this period and sawhow the effective combination 01 masspropaganda, carnivals, stunts, andphysical confrontation could be. Howeverthe political situation wa!{ about tochange dramatically as the T'qries wonthe 1979 general election, playing therace card as Thatcher talked aboutunderstanding people's fears of being"swamped" by an alien culture; the NFvote collapsed. ~The NF spl it into 3 smaller orqanlsationsand entered a period of reorgani,ation,but anti-fascists remained active:' Thefirst problem to be dealt with was theclosing down of the ANL, the only activeanti-fascist organisation. The ANL's mainsponsors, the SWP, had themselvesentered a period of reorganisation andstarted to close down all the campaignsthey had launched which had succeededin drawing in significant numbers ofworking class people, like the ANL.With regard to the ANL, the SWP'sargument was that now that the NF votehad collapsed and the organisationdisintegrated, the Tories were the realenemy. The squads were to be disbandedand the organisers, many of them SWPfull-timers, were withdrawn. The onlyproblem was that many ,of the activistsrefused to go. Although the NF was indecline the fascists were still active, andnow that Iheir electoral prospects haddisappeared there was a new intensityto their violent attacks on the 'opposition'.Apart from attacking political opponentsthey also maintained high profile papersales at places like Brick Lane and ChapelMarket (in London), held demonstrations,recruiled among the disillusioned youngworking class at football grounds and

around the punklOi/ska music scene. Aswell as maintaining this high level ofactivity they provided the politicaljusllfication and motivation for the rapidlyincreasing level of racist attacks.This provided the 'squadists' with thenecessary reasons for keeping up themomentum that had been buil t in the anti-fascist movement.The fascist gangscould be confronted and beaten and thesquads were able to attract working classsupport. The importance of challengingthe racists and fascists in working classareas should not be underestimated, andwhen the middle class leadership ofthe ANL J SWP, with absolutely nounderstanding of the situation on theground, decided to expel the 'squadists'in 1981, the future became much clearer.The so-called 'squadists' were never just'streetfighters' and had always hadwider political ambitions and becomingindependent of the conservative Leftstarted the process of challenging thetradit ional left-wing blueprint 0 1 how toachieve progressive social change whichnow sees AFA in the forefront of a newattempt to bui ld a genuine, independentworking class movement.The early 1980s was a period of intenseanti-fascist activity, without the mediacoverage of the late 70s and involvingsmaller numbers. Nevertheless, the battlefor the streets was still being fought. TheANL still existed in name up to 1982, butthe occasional activity they cal led wouldsimply be a protest march on the otherside of town from the fascists. While Ihissort of non-confrontational activity had noeffect on the fascists, it also failed toattract anyone else to the anti-fascistmovement.Increasingly, independent groups of anti-fascists were taking the initiative, withsolid bases in Manchester, Hatfield andLondon. In Manchester 8 anti-fascistswere jailed in 1981 for taking a firm lineon fascist intimidation while in London ayear-long campaign saw the NF drivenoff their prestigious sales pitch at ChapelMarket (see Fighting Talk 19 lor the lullstory). Hatfield, a small town north ofLondon, was an example of how anti-fascists, based in the community, couldwin popular support for their views andwhen the ska band Madness played therein 1980 a large contingent of fascistskinheads who had travelled up fromLondon were severely beaten by thelocals who turned out in force.

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7 f-a nt;,;'fa sc ls th is to ry * a lltiifa sc is t h is to ry ,.. a nti:.j'a sc is t h is to ry " * 'At this time there were also high profilecampaigns in support of young Asiansin Bradford and Newham who had beenarrested for defending themselves andtheir communities from racist attacks.Although there was no national co-ordination there was militant opposit ionto the racists and fascists. This increasedlevel of mililancy inevitably led to growingpolice interest in those responsible,causing further problems for anti-fascistswho were in danger of being isolated andpicked off.While mil itant anti-fascists were havingincreased success on the streets therewas no political strategy running along-side that would have allowed them to fillthe political vacuum that was beingcreated with the removal of the fascists.Getling rid of the fascists seemedsufficient. After the 'squadlsts' wereexpelled from the SWP in 1981 adecision was taken to form a neworganisation in order to stay politicallyactive. This group was Red Action andwas the link between the anti-fascistactivists in Manchester, London andHatfield. Militant anti-fascism was con-sistentiy promoted in the Red Actionpaper and not surprisingly it was RedAction who, out of practical necessity,were soon to initiate the launching of anew, national anti-fascist organisation.1985 - 1989AFA's Early YearsAs the fascists started to reorganise (theBNP was launched in 1982) and withracist attacks increasing, it became clearthat anti-fascism needed to be putback on a wider agenda and a newnational organisation was required. Oneincident in particular led to its formation.In 1984 the Greater London Councilorganised a large open-air rally andconcert as part of their campaign againstunemployment. Halfway through a groupof 70 or 80 fascists appeared andattacked the audience and the bands onstage. Initially taken by surprise anti-fascists quickly reorganised and drovethe fascists of I. A retaliatory attack waslaunched on a fascist pub that eveningto make up for the earlier lack ofpreparedness. The point was that thefascists were getting bolder, attackinglarge left-wing activities in broaddaylight, and Red Action decided this hadto be dealt with, A leaflet was drawn upand circulated to anyone interested andas a result of this discussions took placewith a variety of groups about launching

a new anti-fascist organisation. Aconference was called in the summer of1985 and attended by 300 peoplerepresenting a wide range of groups.The militants, represented by groups likeRed Action and the East London DirectAction Movement, made a crucialmistake at this conference becausealthough it was their initiative, acting oninformation received that the fascistswould attack the meeting, they spent thewhole meeting outside on stewardingduties. This meant that from the veryoutset the political orientation was beingdictated by others. Political naivety

played a part as well, the militantswrongly assuming that regardless ofwhat was decided in meetings everythingcould be rectified on the streets, andwhen the fascists were themselvesambushed after the meeting this seemedto underl ine the point. Despite this error,which wouldn't be resolved until therelaunch in 19S9, the new organisationquickly set about achieving someimportant results.The first activity took place in November1985 when AFA took over the assemblypoint for the annual NF RemembranceDay parade. These parades were animportant part of the fascists' activi tiesattracting several thousand at theirheight, providing an annual focal pointfor their supporters and frequentlygaining media coverage. On thisoccasion the fascist stewards were

unable to remove AFA and the NF marchhad to assemble elsewhere and wasdelayed for an hour. Not that dramaticbut a signal of intent for the future.It is worth looking at the RemembranceDay marches over the next few yearsbecause they illustrate the differenceswithin AFA. Although the larger left-wingorganisations did not join AFA (eg. SWp,Mili tant, Communist Party, etc.) it wasmade up of some smaller socialist andanarchist groups, various groups activewithin the race relations lobby like theNewham Monitoring Project and theRefugee Forum, Searchlight, and non-aligned individuals. It ranged frommilitant anti-fascists who had seen theeffect of physical confrontation on thefascists to groups who wanted to putpressure on the government to changevarious laws and fund particular projects.Initially the contrasting agendas workedtogether and when AFA called a NationalDemonstration on Remembrance Day1986 over 2,000 people responded,making it the biggest anti-fascistmobilisation since the 70s. It made thefront page of the Daily Mail on theMonday morning which was a significantstep in putting anti-fascism back on theagenda. The struggle between fascistsand anti-fascists, fought on the streetsaround the country since the collapse ofthe ANL, had been almost completelyignored up to this point.The following year another march wascalled, basically because the previousone had been so successful and after theNF march a large contingent of fascistswould make their way to TrafalgarSquare to attack the Non-Stop Anti-Apartheid picket outside South AfricaHouse. The AFA march was a way ofgetting a large number of anti-fascistsinto the area to confront the NF, whichwas successfully achieved.By 19S8 there was an argument about athird march; around the question of whatwas the point of having the march. Themarch was getting smaller, the mediahad lost interest, and it was becomingan annual event with no discussion aboutits effectiveness. The militants were keento oppose the NF on Remembrance Daybut felt a march wasn't the best way.lnthe interests of 'unity' the militants- wentalong with the march again, and scoredanother notable success against thefascists afterwards.

* a nti1 fa sc is t h is to ry 7 fi:a llti" fa sc is t liis to rY ; jtanti-lascist h istorY ,./i ~ ~ ~ ~ ,~ .'___" ~~~ _~~_.~,,~_~~,~,,_"""",_;,~,,"{ ~_~~ ~~~~:r"~?~ : "-~:!~ "~ "3~ "~-;;=

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* ' anti-fascist history *anti~fascisthistory *,anti~fascisthistory. ,..By 1989 the Remembrance Day marchcaused a split . The liberals called a marchwhich attracted less than 300 (comparedto 2,000 in 1986) while the militants tookover the fascists' assembly point andcontrolled much of the surrounding area.A number of fascists were preventedfrom reaching their march and the NFwere seriously delayed. Such was thepressure they were under, coupled withthe defeats they had sulfered inTrafalgarSquare over the previous 2 years, thatfor the first time the NF didn't try to attackthe anti-apa rtheid picket afterwards,presumably relieved just to get out of thearea in one piece.For the militants this episode highlighteda 1(8Ycomponent of anti-fascism - to beeffective. There is no blueprint but anymobilisation must have a specificpurpose. While the liberal agenda calledfor protests against fascist violence, lormore police involvement, and for theState to deal with the problem of agrowing Far Right, the militants weredeveloping a strategy that would stop thefascists being able to operate openly andchallenge them in the constituency theyhad most success in - the white workingclass. Rather than appealing to thevictims of fascism the militant strategywas aimed at the potential recruits.The firs! 4 years of AFA's existenceweren't negative, the decl ine 01 the NFRemembrance Day parade being oneexample of AFA's success. In 1986 anNF march in Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolkwas 50 thoroughly disrupted that thethen NF leader Nick Griffin (now asenior BNP figure) actually stoppedholding demonstrations altogether.Another area of fascist activity was theNF's White Noise Club, set up topromote fascist bands, but 'financialmismanagement' soon saw the bandsbreak away from the NF to set up theirown Blood and Honour organisation(B&H). By 1988 they had establishedthemselves in London's West End,gettlng 2 shops just off Carnaby Streetto stock their merchandise and usinglocal pubs as meeting places. At this timethe European situation was changingrapidly with the Far Right gaining supportin many countries. In Europe the fascistskinhead scene was an integral part ofthese moves and many Europeandelegations arrived in Carnaby Streel 10meet Skrewdriver and B&H supremo IanStuart.

AFA set up Cable Streel Beal (CSB) in1988 to address the problem of B&H andof fascists attacking gigs by bands theyconsidered a problem - the Pogues(Irish), Desmond Dekker (black) and theUpstarts (socialist). Some high profilegigs were organised and got nationalmedia coverage which allowed AFNCSBto highlight the growing problem offascism at home and abroad, and topromote a strategy to deal with it - noplatform.The key date in the campaign againstB&H was 27th May 1989. The fascistshad booked Camden Town Hall for athousand strong rally, which at 10 ahead would raise a fair bit of money. AFAdiscovered the venue and gol i t banned,despite opposition from Searchlight whowanted to monitor the event, and calleda counter-demonstration at the fascistsredirection point, Speakers Corner.Hundreds of fascists were attacked andchased off and never madeidt to therearranged gig in Kent, and later thatevening one of the fascist shops wasattacked and ransacked. So on one dayB&H's boast of being in control wascruelly exposed to an internationalaudience and the last of their shops l.vasforced to close down. Shortly afterwardsIan Stuart moved to the Midlands. .ThaireHorts to operate openly and moveintothe mainstream had been defeated.'The other important point about 27th Maywas the hundreds of anti-fascists whorallied to AFA's call to confront theboneheads. This highlighted anotherinternal problem which was having anorganisation but no structure that couldaccommodate activists. AFA had been'run' by individuals who represented onlythemselves. This meant that in London,for example, hall a dozen individualscould outvote the 2 Red Action delegateswho represented 100+ stewards!Apart from the lack of democracy therewere other hostile agendas at work, andat the very first national conference in1986 a Searchlight-led anti-ana rchistsmear campaign was launched which ledto Class War being suspended and allthe other anarchist groups and RedAction walking out in solidarity. RedAction returned later to prevent theinitiative being lost altogether. Thefollowing year there was an attempt toget Red Action expelled on a host oftrumped up charges. These weredefeated but clearly signal led that therewas a fight on for the future direction and

eftectiveness of anti-fascism. The 1987conference also saw a proposed namechange for the organisation, Irom AFAto Anti-Racist Anti-Fascist Action(ARAFAl. The signif icance 01 this wasthai it was an attempt to change AFAfrom having a very practical, sometimesphysical, strategy designed to fightfascism that was meeting with growingsuccess to a more conservative lobbyinggroup, grant-funded and establishmentfriendly. This strategy is still familiartoday, one of pUHing race above class.This move was also defeated.By 1989 these internal disagreementshad come toa head over the RemembranceDay march and the good response to theMay 27th mobilisation showed there wasa receplive audience for militant anti-fascism. London AFA called a conferenceand relaunched itself around the originalfounding statement with the additionalpoint that we were not fighting fascismto maintain the status quo but from a pro-working class position. On this basisthe anarcho-syndicalist Direct ActionMovement (DAM) rejoined (after theClass War walkout) along with theTrotskyist Workers Power. The liberalswithdrew.So with Red Action, the DAM, WorkersPower and non-aligned individuals AFAstarted to reorganise. Branches were setup to accommodate activists and astructure implemented that meant AFAwas run from the bottom up; in otherwords controlled by the activists. AFAwas now democratic and had an agreedstrategy.While the Left spent most of the 80sfailing 10 'kick out the Tories' the militantsin AFA recognised that it was Ihe FarRight who had the potential to recruit inthe white working class. The first step intrying to build any progressive workingclass movement was to remove thefascist influence from these areas. Onlythen, once the space was created, couldthe Left fill the vacuum. The Left's fai lureto prevent the fascists from physicallydominating them meant that anti-fascismassumed a key role.The early AFA years had succeeded ingetting anti-fascism onto a wider agendaand as the Far Right started to grow inthis country and especially Europe it wasan important achievement. This periodhad also shown that it was not possibleto have an elfeclive anti-fascistorga nisation with two conI radictory

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.anii-Jascist history. *anfi-fascist history ,.. anti-fascist history *-- -~- - - -~ - ~--strategies. The liberal anti-fascist strategyis Anyone But Fascists (ABF), as seenon the Isle of Dogs where a Labourcouncil's corruption and indifference tothe local working class population ledto the situation where the Far Right, inthe absence of any credible left-wingalternative, was able to get a councillorelected in 1993 (the BNP's DerekBeackon).The ABF response was to campaignvigorously for the Labou r Party in thenext election, which succeeded inunseating the BNP, but leaves thesituation unresolved with Labour back inpower who were responsible for theproblem in the first place. The militantstrategy is more ambitious: create anindependent working class alternative toLabour and the BNP. Although this

organised around a militant strategy wasin Manchester. Of the other groups thetwo best known were Tyne and WearAnti-Fascist Association (funded by thelocal council) and Leeds, both active butfollowing a Searchlight pro-State agenda.1990 onwardsAlmost as soon as AFA had beenrelaunched the BNP initiated their RightsFor Whites.campaign (RFW) in 1990.Starting in London's East End when awhite boy was stabbed by Asians, i t soonspread around the country and focusedon the bad conditions experienced by anabandoned white working class. The BNP

meant as a deterrent. The level offascist violence against AFA was alsoincreasing, with a bomb being throwninto an AFA public meeting in eastLondon in November 1990. (No one wasinjured.)The BNP had completely overtaken theNF as the dominant fascist party now andtheir activities started to cover the wholecountry. In Scotland they became activefocusing on support for Ulster Loyal ismrather than the traditional anti-blackracism south of the border.As the temperature increased it wasobvious the rest of the Left wouldbecome involved. Left-wing papersales, especially the SWP, were beingregularly attacked throughout thecountry and as the fascists continued topick up support the Left would suffer if

AFA was seen to be the onlyorganised opposition.Initially AFA's attitudewas to approach these" ~ ' ~ I f iroups with a view to co-operation. Although there

was no intention ofsurrendering AFA's indepen-dence or strategy it w~s feltthe increased forces available

to these groups COUld,if workingto an agreed plan, increase thepressure on the fascists and helpto stop the State picking off themilitants. AFA's approaches were

rejected out of hand by the entire Left.Despite this, 1991 saw AFA's mostambitious campaign to date beinglaunched in east London, which had beenmade a national priority by the BNP.60,000 leaflets were distributed on theestates, work was done with schools andcommunity groups, the Unity Carnivalattracted 10,000 people, the fascist papersale at Brick Lane was put underpressure, the BNP were forced out oflocal sympathetic pubs and in November1991 a 4,000-strong AFA demonstrationmarched through Bethnal Green - thesupposed BNP heartland - cornpletelyunopposed. Young white Eastenders hadseen the 'lefty' stereotype challenged andthe BNP turned over, and contact wasmade with groups of young Asians. As1991 drew to a close the situation lookedpromising, but all that was about tochange.

example is more recent, it summarisesthe contradictions that existed in the1985-89 period. It is often wronglyassumed that the difference betweenliberals and militants is simply about theuse of physical force, but in AFA's case itwas a political difference.With three national organisations onboard it was now planned to expandAFA's field of operations. Although therewere other AFA groups around thecountry the only group outside London

started towork in local areas, dealing withlocal issues, and by August 1990 theywon 25% of the white vote in a localelection in the East End. While theelectoral strategy showed a level ofsupport for the Far Right, because theBNP held public election rallies andmeetings it allowed AFA to play havocwith their organisation on the ground.In September 1990 3 AFA activists werejailed for a total of 11 years for an attackon a prominent fascist skinhead; clearly

The Left did get involved, but not with AFA,and having withdrawn from anti-fascistpolitics since the 1970s they now

17

jfallti./jascist history jfanti-fascist his~ory.*.q.n~-Ia~cististor! *~"_ ~~~-~ ~~~" -"~~? ,_ ,, _~~"",_?-~I~~_~"_~ ho" __ ~-";_.o~M ~~~~


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,tanti-fascist history * ' anti-fascist history litanti-fq.scist history * 'U N S C R E W S K R E W D R I V E R l

launched their own anti-Instead offilling the political vacuumthey simply tried to duplicatewhat AFA was doing. TheSWP relaunched the ANL,Militant set up YouthAgainst Racism in Europe(YRE), and the LabourParty, Communist Partyand black careerists est-ablished the Anti-RacistAlliance (ARA).April 1992 saw the nationalrelaunching of AFA which wasnow vigorously pursuingthe strategy particularly inScolland and the NorthWest. The BNP were veryactive around Rochdale,Oldham, and Burnley, townsjust outside Manchester'slasc ist - free zan e. The ;"'1!-F.",,;01 :.ctkJ1BI.Ieo. In.success of AFA in disrupting lonclon WC1H n"".,_the BNP's efforts can be seenby the response of thepolice who arrested two L-----.f:ll'l:'AFA organisers the nightbefore a planned activity in Rochdale.They were released without chargeonce the day was over. The level ofconfrontation was very high during thisperiod, which included the now famousBailie of Waterloo in September 1992.B&H and the BNP were working fairlyclosely together at this time and hadhoped a successful gig (pre-giginterviews were arranged with the Presson Waterloo Station) would enable B&Hto operate openly with all the pol itical andfinancial advantages this would havecreated for the fascists. The anti-fascistvictory once again put paid to their plans.

Assemble:, Saturday 12theptember 1992 at 4.30pmWaterloo BR

AFA had deliberately adopted the singleissue approach because when it wasrelaunched in 1989 around a pro-workingclass position the pol itical compositionof the organisation ranged fromTrotskyist to Anarchist, Stalinist toSocial Democrat. To keep the necessaryunity on the streets for the importantbattles at the time there had to be anagreement that AFA's role was to createthe space for a progressive workingclass organisation to fill; it wasn't AFA'sjob to fill it. By the time the BNP had wona council seat in 1993 it was becomingincreasingly clear that no one was willingor able to fill the vacuum. This wasunderli ned by the Left's support forLabour in the subsequent election 6months later which saw the fascists lose

(Brl~!i;' T,;,volca,d)

their seat. The wheel had turned fullcircle, the Left had capitulated.Although the BNP lost their council seatthey actually increased their vote by 30%.This continuing electoral success led toa radical change in policy by the BNP,and in April 1994 they called what ineffect was a 'cease-lire'. 'They issueda statement saying that there wouldbe "no more meetings, marches, orpunch ups." They would now concentrateon a Euro-National ist electoral strategy,hoping to emulate the success 01 theFrench FN.

The intensity 01 this period proved toomuch for some 01 the groups in AFA. Forsome the physical demands proved tobe too much, but politically it was

becoming clear that AFA would have tobreak with the traditional LeI! and thisalso caused problems. II was Labour'sindlfference to the white working classthat allowed the BNP to appear as theradical alternative, and yet most of theLeft wouldn't break with Labour. Thosethat did had absolutely no credibility;to illustrate this point the CommunistParty of Great Britain (formerly theLeninist) got 1i1oth of the BNP's votewhen they stood in Tower Hamlets inthe 1992 general election.The situation in London was slightlydifferent from the rest of the country,partly because the BNP fell they couldbuild on the political base they alreadyhad without the public activities. andpartly because AFA was moreestablished. The battle on the streetscontinued elsewhere for about a year.After B&H got smashed in London onMay 27th 1989, Ian Stuart moved tothe Midlands to run the B&H operationfrom there because the fascists wererelatively strong. By 1994 the tide hadturned and both east and west Midlandswere being fiercely contested with AFAsetting its own agenda. In the NorthWest the experienced BNP organiser'retired' at the beginning of 1995 due tothe continual pressure from AFA andlater that year the BNP's public activitiesceased in Scotland and the Midlands.To some it may seem that the war hadbeen won, but the reality was that theconflict was simply moving into a newarena.The BNP's change of strategy inevitablymeant that AFA needed to adapt to thenew situation, but the emergence ofCombat 18 (C18) kept the prospect ofstreet confrontation alive. Although it isnow clear that C18 were set up by theState, primarily to examine links withLoyalist paramilitaries, there was alsoan attempt to divert AFA away fromaddressing the major political issue ofthe BNP's growth by getting involvedin 'gang warfare' with C18. Althoughthey had previously existed as theBNP's stewards group from the outsetthey were promoted by Searchlight andthe media as something new andextremely dangerous.Something didn't add up. C18 publ ishedhit lists and bomb manuals that brokeevery law possible and yet they wereallowed to continue. It was clear theState were pulling the strings and il was

7t:antl~fascisthistory 7t:anti~fasc:isthistol~ 1tr;anti-faseisthistory ~;18


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*all~;'fascist Tzi~i:ory"!ranti-fascist history. *an!i~fascist histiJ_ry_ ~(suspected organisers, AFA groupssurrounded on the street and heldfor hours. Interestingly, an anti-Iascistprotest in Central London (May 98)called by the ANL but not supportedby AFA, had a very low key policepresence; precisely because AFAwasn't there. So although there isvery little public fascist activity, whenthere is, a great deal of time andmoney is spent by the State to preventAFA from making an impact.Politically AFA addressed theproblems thrown up by the BNPelection successes, particularly ineast London, by developing a newstrategy. 'Filling The Vacuum' wasagreed in May 1995 and still remainsthe key to the future. Essentially'Filling The Vacuum' recognises thelimitations of only being 'anti' fascistand not being 'for' something else.Riot police outside Little Driver pub, East London, after AFA attack on Ct8, 1511194. Now it is up to the anti-Iascists to takethe initiative and fill the vacuum in

also clear that Searchlight and theirsupporters were heavily involved.AFA helped discredit the myth of C18 onthe ground, in particular by disrupting theIan Stuart Memorial concert in 1994 (seephoto) and a UVF march in CentralLondon in 1996, but the role ofSearchlightin promoting them showed a greaterallegiance to the State's agenda than theanti-fascist movement.As pressure on the street forced the BNPto make political adjustments, by 1994AFA was also making changes. AFArecognised it was a three-cornered fightagainst the fascists, the State and theconservative Left. The damage thatgroups like the ANL did to antl-Iascismhas already been mentioned, but whenthey started claiming responsibility intheir propaganda for AFA victories likeWaterloo it was felt they must be publiclyattacked. A 4-page leaflet called 'Don'tbelieve the hype' was produced toanswer their lies and expose theirstrategy as being counterproductive.From this paint on AFA was quiteprepared to attack the conservative Left.In the past AFA had been reluctant to getinvolved in what were seen as beinginternal arguments, but the result of thiswas that AFA was either written out ofhistory or completely misrepresented.When John Tyndall (BNP leader) stoodin an east London by-election in thesummer of 1994 AFA produced a leaflet

which took 'anti-fascism' as far as it could,go. It described the BNP as being ultra-conservative and showed their pol iciesa'~being to the right of the Tories. In anare-a where people don't vote Torythis was the best propaganda AFAcould produce, and yet it was becomingintreasingly clear that AFA was fightingthe fascists with one hand tied behindits back. No progressive working classforces were moving in to fill the politicalvaCUL11Jlthat existed in working classareas a~~djust being 'anti' BNP was notenough', On top of that the police actuallyprevented AFA from distributing thisleaflet while the BNP were allowed tocanvass door to door. Militant anti-fascism was being criminal ised.As the BNP's public activities petered out,where there were clashes the policecame down hard on AFA. An AFAmobilisation in Kirkby in the Midlands(April 95) was attacked with extreme forceby riot police, one activist's leg beingbroken in 5 places. In Edinburgh shortlyafterwards a plainclothes police squadattacked a small group of AFA activistsand only revealed their identity when theystarted losing. 10 AFA members werearrested.More recently public AFA activities havebeen subjected to heavy policing -suspected activists stopped in the streetand photographed, special squadsassigned to monitor AFA, coppers onthe street armed with mugshots of

the absence of anyone else. Thealternative is to allow the fascists afree run.The 'single issue' aspect of 'AFA,introduced in 1989 to maintain unity aswe entered an intense period of streetactivity, has run its course. Although AFAwill always maintain its independence,militant anti-fascists must now see it astheir duty to ensure that the vacuumis filled, The election of a Labourgovernment in 1997, with the Toriesdiscredited and divided after 18 years inpower, gives the BNP the opportunity topose as the radical alternative.The battle for the streets has beenreplaced by the bailie for hearts andminds, and it is in the direct self-interestof militant anti-fascists to get involved.The 'revolutionary programmes' of theLeft are not relevant to working classpeople and the fascists know this. Anindependent working class movementcan fill the vacuum if it addresses theconcerns of ordinary people as itspriority.In different parts of the country AFAactivists have got involved with, orinitiated, campaigns around workingclass issues. This is the territory thatthe BNP have chosen to work in, as theFront National has successfully done inFrance, and th is is wh ere the newchapter of anti-fascism begins.

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~anti"lascist histo~""~JllJti:tat;.istlzis(o~ ~'.f!-nd~lascis.~i S } ( J r Y . ~ " "_ hA M " ~M ~ o.-.-" ~~ '" 4"~ - - c~"" " , " ! " _. ~__ '" -~~ ~ r,'


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MEDIA

with Elvis MondallantBetween the SheetsThe media have quite rightly highlightedthe ethnic cleansing taking place inKosovo, but the policy is not justconfined to the Balkans. In the north ofIreland ethnic cleansing is the order ofthe day in Portadown, When the OrangeOrder attempted to march down theGarvaghy Road in July 1998 then themedia gave the story prominence,showing the daily and nightlyconfrontations between supporters ofthe Orange Order and the RUC/Bri tishArmy.The sectarian murder of three boys atBallymoney took the wind out of theLoyalists' public campaign andconsequently the media coverage. Thenightly demonstrations decreased insize and intensity, camera crews andjournalists slipped quiel ly away.The Loyalists however did not slip away;this is their territory. The truth is thai eventsin July were designed to complement asustained campaign of sectarianmurder, firebombing and violent attacksagainst the Nationalist community in thetown.Since July last year the above aspects ofthe Loyalist campaign have beenstepped up. Catholic shoppers have beenattacked, businesses burnt out,Nationalists are in danger when theyenter the town so they travel outsidePortadown to shop. The events ofSaturday 5th September, nearly twomonths after Drumcree, give an insightas to the intensity of the Loyalistcampaign. An PhoblachtlRepublicanNews (10/9/98) reports:"A ten year old boy received hospitaltreatment following prolonged attacks onNationalists throughout the day and nightwhile a Catholic owned shop, the third inthree days was burnt to the ground.The trouble began at 3pm after a 'LoyalistRight to March' rally, addressed by formerLVF intermediary Kenny McClinton, brokeup with over 500 Loyalists descending o nthe car park of High Street Mall to attackNationalists with bricks, bottles andfireworks, and waving placards whichread: 'No Taigs In Portadown'."Over 40 Orange parades are organisedevery year in Portadown and theseparades form the centrepiece of Loyalistpublic activity. The Nationalist communityactively opposes only one of these

parades. That is the march to Drumcreethat uses, or attempts to use, theGarvaghy Road for its return leg. Thepeace process placed pressures on theBritish Establishment to prevent this legof the march taking place. However inprevious years military deployment hasensured a successful march for theOrange Order."These military operations Virtuallyamount to the imposition of martial lawand curfew upon the Catholic/Nationalistcommunities. In the Garvaghy Road in1997, at least 2,500 members of the RUCand Bri tish Army were used to subjugatethe local community whose populationtotals 6000 men, women and chi ldren.""Nationalist residents w o / 0 haveattempted to mount peeceiulsprotestsagainst Orange Order marches havebeen beaten and forcibly removed. Overtwo hundred people were injured inunprovoked assaults in 1996 and asimilar number again on July 6th 1997o n the Garvaghy Road alone." (GarvaghyRoad Residents Coalition web site),Trimble, who now has the Nobel P\acePrize on his mantelpiece, has refused tomeet with residents' representatives. InJuly 1997 however he did feel obliged tomeet Billy Wright (no longer with us) atDrumcree. Wright was leader of the LVFand headed up Loyalist death squads,based in the town, responsible for over150 sectarian murders since 1970.More recently, An PhoblachtlRepublicanNews (10/12/98) reports:"On Saturday 28 November, Nationalistsleaving St Patrick's Hall (from whereNationalist Robert Hamill w

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Fighting Talk - 21