Rain disperses far right group

Efforts by the English Defence League to hold a "meet and greet" in Kingston fizzled out in heavy rain yesterday.

The far-right group had been due to start their first formal event in the borough at 1.30pm on Saturday. Police, who maintained a highly visible presence in town and outside Kingston Mosque, said they recognised a number of suspected EDL members around town. However, they did not deliver any leaflets after heavy rain hit the town in the early afternoon.

About 20 people from the GMB union, Kingston Green Party, Socialist Workers Party, the Union Against Fascism and the South London Anti-Fascist Alliance held their own counter demonstration.

Matthew Smith, of Kingston GMB, said: "Unlike eight EDL members stuck on a table in Wetherspoons, we were out in the rain distributing 500 leaflets. It was an effort to make sure anyone who could be suseptible to know why the EDL are wrong."

David Gair, of Kingston police, said: "Whether their resolve was weakened by the weather I don't know. We have seen a few suspected EDL members, but they did not come out in great numbers."

Surrey Comet

Cheers to Zaahid and others for the heads-up

Swindon sponsor pulls out after Paolo Di Canio appointment

• Trade union cancels deal over manager's political views
• Di Canio has 'openly voiced his support for Mussolini'

Paolo Di Canio demonstrates his support for Benito Mussolini during his Lazio days.
Photograph: Paolo Cocco/AFP/Getty Images

A leading trade union has decided to end its sponsorship of Swindon Town in protest at the appointment of Paolo Di Canio as manager.

The GMB said the former Italy international, who was named manager yesterday, had previously voiced right-wing views of which it strongly disapproved. The union's local branch is believed to have paid up to £4,000 to the club this season as part of its sponsorship deal.

"Our local branch has decided to end its association with Swindon following the appointment of Paolo Di Canio," said a GMB spokesman. "He has openly voiced support for [Benito] Mussolini so it beggars belief that Swindon could have appointed him, especially given the multi-ethnic nature of the team and the town."

Di Canio is due to fly to England on Monday to complete the paperwork and be formally introduced as the new manager. The club have been relegated after finishing bottom of League One.

A statement from Swindon said the club are confident he would build a team with the "passion, pride and professionalism" to ensure it could return to League One "at the earliest opportunity".

Di Canio has spoken freely about being a fascist and an admirer of Mussolini. He has faced bans and fines for making the fascist straight-arm salute while playing for the Italian club Lazio. In his autobiography he praised Mussolini as "basically a very principled, ethical individual".

Guardian

BNP attempts to infiltrate wildcat strikes

Warnings are being sounded about far-right involvement in the Lindsey wildcat strike over foreign workers, with the deputy leader of the British National party telling politics.co.uk: "We'll be the last people there."

Trade unionists and anti-fascist activists have been alerted to the growing BNP presence around the picket line. The strike spread across the country yesterday, with heavy snow doing nothing to stop over 300 people gathering around the site as the sun rose.

"We'll be there for the foreseeable future," Simon Darby, deputy leader of the BNP, confirmed to politics.co.uk. "We'll be the last people there."

He continued: "Unfortunately Labour have sent in the Socialist Workers party storm troopers who have been aggressive against our people. Police were supportive of us, but the left got rather aggressive. The police said 'we can't guarantee your safety'. The last thing we want is clashes with the left on TV."

That particular event carried a different interpretation from anti-fascist organisation Searchlight. A spokesman told politics.co.uk: "The local trade union people have gone to the police and said we don't want these people anywhere near the picket line. They've got nothing to do with the dispute. The police said to the BNP 'if you bring your truck to the picket line we'll do something about it'. They were forced to move to about half a mile away."

Yesterday the party started handing out leaflets about the strike.

"It's all over the place," the spokesman said. "It has lots of typos but the basic reason it doesn't make any sense is that they don't understand what the trade unions are about."

The Socialist party, which has members on the strike committee, is also handing out a leaflet tomorrow, but one targeted at the Italian workers brought in to work. Written in Italian, the leaflet says Italian workers have more in common with their British counterparts than Italian management.

The BNP, which is at the site in its 'truth truck' (nicknamed the 'liars' lorry' by anti-fascist activists), are understood to be using a BNP-based union called Solidarity' to become involved in the strike, which expanded to include Sellafield nuclear power plant workers yesterday. Solidarity is a registered trade union formed in 2006. Its last returns to the certification office said it had only 100 members, although that number has almost certainly risen slightly since then. It does not have a certificate of independence, meaning it can't represent members at tribunals or in court and employers are under no obligation to recognise it.

The party has dedicated large sections of their website to the strike, with photos of Italian workers showing cameramen the V-sign displayed prominently beneath the slogan: "British job s for British workers – When we say it we mean it."

The response of the unions to a BNP infiltration has been mixed. A spokesman for the GMB union told politics.co.uk "We held mass meeting with our members. We recommended our members go back to work. They decided not to take our advice. You're talking to me about something that's not our responsibility."

But a political officer for the union took a different stance, telling politics.co.uk: "We want to make sure the BNP don't hijack this to peddle their hate. This is not a dispute concerning immigration or asylum seekers. It's completely different to that. I've not heard people say they can see a lot of BNP activity at the moment although I acknowledge there is some."

He added: "We'll make sure that members and people on picket lines are alerted to the fact they will be about and they will try to recruit. We need to be smart enough to know they will be there and act against it."

Police plans to bus in the Italian and Portuguese workers today are being treated as a statement of intent by strikers, with many saying it is reminiscent of the miners' strike in the 1980s.

View London

GMB members join in the campaign events to keep the BNP out in London elections

GMB members will be taking an active part in campaign events for the rest of this month to keep out the BNP in London’s elections on 1st May.

The Hope Not Hate bus tour will continue its progress across the Capital with events in Wembley, Dagenham, Barnet, Brick Lane, Brixton where thousands of anti-BNP leaflets will be distributed. GMB members will attend the 30th anniversary Love Music Hate Racism carnival being held from 12 noon on Sunday 27th April 2008 in Victoria Park E3 featuring a wide range of artists. GMB members will take part in the U Day on 29th April when the plan is to distribute leaflets outside every tube and train station in London. GMB members will also be part of the 30th anniversary Rock Against Racism event at Brixton Academy featuring Alabama 3 and Misty in Roots.

The main events in the schedule are set out below. The list does not include local activity by GMB Branches like delivering leaflets to housing estates, street meetings and other activities. GMB members are also campaigning for a vote for Ken Livingstone and the Labour Party in the London elections. GMB has made financial contributions to the Labour Party campaign and to all the campaign events listed below.

• Friday 18 April Barking & Dagenham (10am and 1pm Dagenham Heathway)
• Sunday 20 April Haringey (11am Bruce Grove station)
• Wednesday 23 April Billy Bragg event at the Barbican
• Thursday 24 April Enfield (11am Enfield Lock)
• Friday 25 April HOPE not Hate bus tour – Wembley & West London
• Saturday 26 April Barnet (leafleting in East Finchley)
• Sunday 27 April HOPE not Hate bus tour – Hope not hate party in Brick Lane
• Sunday 27 April Love Music Hate Racism carnival Victoria Park London E3
• Monday 28 April HOPE not Hate bus tour – The Bill and (Chelsea training ground – tbc)
• Monday 28 April Ring of Democracy (1pm City Hall)
• Tuesday 29 April U-DAY delivering leaflets to every London tube and over ground train station
• Tuesday 29 April HOPE not Hate bus tour – (Downing Street)
• Wednesday 30 April HOPE not Hate bus tour – (Brixton Street party 3pm – 6pm)
• Wednesday 30 April evening Rock Against Racism 30th anniversary show Brixton Academy

Mick Rix, GMB National Officer said, “We are entering a crucial phase in the campaign to keep out the BNP in London elections. As well as large scale music events to inspire the campaign there is activity on the ground all over London where GMB members are joining in to persuade their fellow citizens not to vote for the BNP. We need every person we can get to join in these campaign activities. In particular we need more volunteers to do the tube and train stations on the 29th April. This activity will make a difference when the vote is counted on 1st May.”

GMB

Anti-fascism Around The Country

Anti-fascists around the country have started campaigning against the threat posed by the British National Party (BNP) at the elections on 3 May.

Activists in the Yorkshire and Humberside region of Unite Against Fascism went leafleting last weekend in Leeds, Barnsley, York and Scarborough calling on people to use their votes against the Nazi BNP.

In the West Midlands, Unite leafleters, including Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors, covered Redditch’s Winyates ward. The BNP’s David Enderby gained a council seat there last year – but has since been convicted of assaulting his wife.

Unite campaigners in Luton will blitz the Farley Estate with anti-BNP leaflets this Saturday. Luton Unite is calling on people to assemble at 10.30am at the Farley Community Centre on Delphine Way.

Meanwhile Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) has kicked off a national tour of universities to build support for the movement against the Nazis.

Full details of the tour are available at http://www.lovemusichateracism.com/

LMHR has also teamed up with the NUT and NASUWT teaching unions to launch a range of anti-fascist educational material for schools. This includes a CD compiled by Drew McConnell of Babyshambles which will be distributed free to schools across Britain.

Activists in the GMB trade union in Barking & Dagenham, east London, turned out last Saturday to campaign against the BNP in nearby Thurrock, Essex, as part of the Daily Mirror’s “Hope Not Hate” tour.

Tom Baillie, branch secretary of Barking GMB, told Socialist Worker, “The majority of people in this borough reject the fascist politics of the BNP – and we’re out to show that.”

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=11036

Socialist Worker