This weekend I atteneded the anti-facist rally in Birmingham city centre, it was an interesting experience to say the least. What started of as a moderate rally both in tone and in turnout unfortunately took a turn for the worse.
A small number of racist individuals, decided to provoke the crowd and unfortunately a large proportion of the crowd took the bait. The rally which for many seemed to be a disguise for pushing a pro palestine agenda ending up undermining all of the Unite organsiers efforts and resulting to nothing more than yobbish and aggressive violent behaviour comparitive to an american ghetto.
Finally I decided to leave and after negotiating my way past the lines of riot police (who behaved admirrally if not a little to reluctant to intervene in the disquiet) I couldn't help but think that if we are going to succeed in defeating the racist and facist agenda at the next election then we need those who actually beleive in the anti-facist movement to mobilise like the other side have been doing.
I beleive that is where students can come into play and is why I along with the other officers this year will be trying to get as many of you to vote as possible.
I would really like to hear people's thoughts on this matter...
here you go sorry for taking so long to reply.
ReplyDeletehttp://edwardbauereeo.blogspot.com/2009/08/re-johhny-davis-anti-facist-weekend.html
I think you may be a bit confused...Unite *Against Fascism* is an SWP front group (did you think it was Unite the union?), so its not really surprising that the Palestine issue came up. Also, im sure a lot of those attending were making the comparison between the racism of the EDL/Casuals United/BNP (whatever the bone heads are calling themselves now) and the racist policies of the Israeli government, so its not incompatible with an anti-fascist platform.
ReplyDeleteOh, and if we are going to defeat the fash at the next election (which is almost a given because of how first past the post works) it wont just be by voting but also confronting their campaigning on the streets and exposing them for what they really are.
Keep the blog posts coming sabs , lets keep it up beyond the two month mark this year!
I certainly did not and would not want to indicate that the Unite Against Facism movement has a pro palestine agenda itself, instead what I was saying was that a large amount of people who did attend were using it to forward a pro palestine agenda. The waving of Palestian flags and the shouting of "free palestine" were not appropriate to the rally in hand and thus why I said what I did.
ReplyDeleteI actually felt it necessary to state this for the reason that I didn't want the disturbance that ensued to undermine the positive work that Unite Against Fascim or the SWP in this area do, rather to indicate that some of the people who were causing trouble (wielding sticks and charging through the city) were never there to support these efforts and so shouldn't tarnish their reputation.
Indeed I went on to urge people to get behind Unite's work and for students generally to make their voice heard, a clear indication that I support this work.At no point did I ever indicate that students should not attend these types of events, in facts my exact words were "if we are going to succeed in defeating the racist and fascist agenda at the next election then we need those who actually believe in the anti-fascist movement to mobilize"
At no point did I ever link the work that Unite Against Fascism do with the trouble that some caused at the protest and I think it is unfair that you infer that I did. As such I believe that my blog is a true reflection of what happened but I am prepared to reiterate that I do not link the activities of the protesters with the cause in hand themselves if you think this appropriate?
I hope that this has cleared up the confusion regarding my blog.
With regards to the moderation of comments on my blog, as the Welfare Officer it is inevitable that I will be talking about liberation and other potentially senstive topics. As such I want to ensure that my blog remains a safe space for all students to use. You may note that I have not stopped those who want to post anonymously from doing so.
people with political agendas will always be present to advance their views at any big gathering, which may indeed detract from the main message of Unite, but i'm sure your commentating on it like this is also damaging.
ReplyDeletethe fascist movement is obviously mobilising in the political arena, and we need to combat that with the student vote, but when a large rally is organised like this i think it would be terrible to not respond with a demonstration of anti-fascist support. your report should focus on the strong numbers that turned out specifically to oppose EDL, and encourage more students to Unite against fascism. the negative tone of this report could put people off from expressing their views in any other way than in 4yearly elections, handing the political tradition of rallies and protests only to extremists, unrepresentative of the rest of the population.
students have a strong history of leading rallies and potests, so please don't scare them away with exaggerated reports of hidden agendas and undermining messages- silencing the peaceful majority because they are scared of the violent minority- this is surely not what the commendable Unite would want!
i'm sorry you had a negative experience, but the more voices that are heard, the more powerful the real message will be.