A couple of apologies...

Apologies to everyone for disappearing for a few weeks but I was suddenly taken ill, which kept me out of action for a while, then this was followed up with a pretty disgusting bug which kept me fully occupied for a week or so. My computer, obviously bored with being ignored for weeks on end, decided to teach me a lesson and destroyed both my main hard drive and my back-up drive. Consequently, all emails that have been sent to Lancaster Unity since I got ill have disappeared into the ether. If you were kind enough to sent in an article recently, please resend it and accept my apologies for the loss. I now have two new hard drives and an external drive. Belt AND braces.

And big kudos to John for keeping things going with no explanation until now. :-)

Antifascist

Antifascist Film Day at Bradford's 1 in 12

Click image for full-size

To commemorate the liberation of the survivors of Auschwitz, a day of antifascist films is being held at Bradford 1 in 12 Club on Saturday 23rd January. Drop in for one film or come and watch them all. There’ll be fab food throughout the day, as well as the Leeds Anarchist Black Cross bookstall.

Entry is free of charge, but donations are welcome, and any money made will go to support antifascist prisoners. Doors open at 12 Noon.

Film Times:

• 12.30pm: Hitler – The rise of Evil – Robert Carlisle stars as history’s biggest bastard.
• 4.30pm: The Pianist - Adrian Brody stars in an epic story of survival in Nazi-occupied Poland.
• 7.30pm: The 43 Group – The inspiring story of the Jewish ex-servicemen and women who smashed Mosely’s fascists off the streets of post-World War 2 Britain.
• 8.00pm: Edelweiss Pirates – The true story of young antifascists taking on the Nazis in war-time Cologne.

NO PASARAN!

Antifa

More intimidation tactics by Peter Tierney and Merseyside BNP

Today, activists from Liverpool Antifascists delivered leaflets in Halewood. The event was an overall success, but once again Merseyside BNP revealed that they rely more on intimidation tactics than on politics to get their point across.

As we set off from the Summerfield on Hillfoot Avenue, there was a brief encounter with a BNP supporter. Mistaking the antifascists for the BNP, he had joined us and asked whether Peter Tierney would be turning up soon. One activist explained to him that he was in the wrong group, whilst grabbing the opportunity to offer him a leaflet and explain why the BNP were not the party for anybody genuinely concerned with the plight of the working class. Events later in the day suggested that an antifascist making a similar mistake would have gotten more than a leaflet.

Despite the gloomy weather, there was a good turnout of activists, who managed to cover a significant area and deliver 500 leaflets in the surrounding working class estates. The event was extremely succesful and, as with a leafleting session around the shops the previous week, the response from the public was an overwhelmingly positive one.

On the way back to the original meeting point, however, we encountered Peter and Andrew Tierney. The brothers, along with an unidentified third fascist, had been delivering leaflets of their own and were just about to leave in Peter’s Land Rover. When they recognised several of the antifascists, however, they were quick to grab their cameras and start taking pictures.

Within moments, they were circling around the tired group of leafleters, taking photos as close as they could and chasing around those who tried to turn their face away. Their clear aim was to intimidate and provoke a small group of passers-by (at this point, they had distributed all their material and had nothing on them to identify their allegiances) which included two women, one of them elderly. At one point Peter, still awaiting trial for assaulting an antifascist back in April, referred to one man as a “shithouse” for not rising to the provocation. His brother Andrew, whose photographs and videos have emerged on Redwatch and various other neo-Nazi hate sites, suggested instigating a third-party assault. “Let’s get some local lads in, nothing to do with us, of course,” were his exact words, after feigning gangster-status by declaring that the leafleters should leave because “this is our territory.”

However, Liverpool Antifascists held our ground. If we had left, we risked being followed, which left individuals particularly vulnerable once they had to part ways. And if we had arisen to the provocation, it looked as though more BNP supporters would have emerged from the nearby pub to support the Tierney brothers. Instead, we stayed where we were until the two thugs got bored, seeing they weren’t getting a rise, and scuttled off.

To those familiar with the BNP, or indeed the Tierneys, this incident will come as no surprise. It also serves as a timely reminder that the party remain, despite their propaganda line, violent goons willing to threaten and intimidate anybody who dares oppose their fascist politics.

We must make sure, no matter what, that these thugs are not allowed to gain ground in Liverpool, Knowsley, or elsewhere.

¡No Pasarán!

Liverpool Antifascists

Neo-Nazis Murder Schoolgirl in Irkutsk

Neo-Nazis killed a 16-year-old girl in Irkutsk, Russia because they thought she was a member of an anti-fascist group, according to an October 17, 2008 report by the Jewish.ru web site. On October 18, three neo-Nazis beat Olga Rukosyla to death after noticing that she had red laces on her shoes, a sign of membership in an anti-fascist group. Witnesses, however, assert that she merely wore the laces as a fashion statement rather than as a sign of any political affiliation. Neo-Nazis and anti-fascists often clash violently in Russia; it is not clear from the report if police have made any arrests in connection with the murder.

UCSJ

Where Now? A debate on the way forward for anti-fascism in Britain

Last month Searchlight launched a debate on the direction and priorities for the anti-fascist movement. This month we print three of the many responses we have had to our initial article. These are the views of readers rather than Searchlight but we are genuinely keen to widen the debate.

If you would like to contribute to the debate please click here

Original 'Where now?' article
Community organising to beat the BNP
Targeting the BNP leadership
The answer is political

HOPE not hate