Four nazis arrested at anti-BNP protest

The image is blurry but you can still see these nazi twats sieg-heiling

North West UAF held a vibrant and noisy protest outside the BNP's 'Victory Rally' today. Exactly how many of their party attended the rally is unclear. But it is interesting that there was no sign of them at the hotel windows, no display of numbers or any celebration.

Just over 100 people from around the region took part in the protest; which was great, given that there were only a few days in which to organise and publicise it. Banners included those from Blackpool Trades Council; Blackpool and Fylde College UCU; Greater Manchester UAF and the local PCS.

Several speakers addressed the crowd and onlookers on the promenade. Points made included: why we say 'no platform for Nazis'; the fact that they are virulently homophobic as well as racist; the level of misogyny within the party and ended with a promise to Griffin that wherever he tries to appear publicly in the North West, we will be there too. Speakers talked about the fact that anti-fascists represent the majority and that UAF will organise protests to outnumber and oppose the Nazi BNP wherever they try to organise.

Andrew Wheatley, from Blackpool Trades Council, emphasised that, despite Griffin winning the North West seat, the BNP do not represent the majority of people in the area. Pete Marsden, of Blackpool UNISON, speaking in a personal capacity, criticised the “British Jobs for British Workers” slogan which had benefited the BNP.

Jain Gawn, of Blackpool and Fleetwood Unite Against Fascism, talked of the legacy of fighting Fascism in Britain, including the Battle of Cable Street and the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Jain also cited the recent attacks in Belfast as an example of where racism leads. Other speakers included Dione Bough of UNISON, Independent Socialist Councillor Michael Lavalette, and others.

Weyman Bennett, joint-national secretary of UAF, called for people to attend the demonstration against the Nazis’ “Red, White and Blue” event in August, while Dave Sewell of Manchester University Students Union spoke about the need to continue a No Platform position against the BNP.

Off to the clink we go...

There was anti-nazi representation from across the North-West, with protestors from Blackpool and Fleetwood, Lancaster, Wigan, Preston, Liverpool, Kendal, Manchester, Barrow, and elsewhere, and representation from the North West’s LGBT community.

A letter was read out from the two Blackpool MP’s, Joan Humble and Gordon Marsden, which had been sent to the New Kimberley Hotel, opposing the Hotel’s hosting of BNP events, stating “The Nazis too deceived, frightened and scapegoated people – just the same as the BNP try to do. Perhaps it’s no surprise then that many BNP activists try to deny the Holocaust.”

Unfortunately, the rally was not entirely free from Nazis. Several of them came out of the hotel to harass people. This is a new development for BNP gatherings in Blackpool and was obviously born out of a new confidence they've gained since the elections. We will have to make sure that that confidence is short lived. While many of their thugs lolling around in gangs were dressed in suits, a small group of skins sauntered over in ‘nationalist’ t-shirts and started sieg-heiling at the crowd (with a wall and cops in between, to protect themselves, obviously). Whilst this was met with fury and much shouting, no on attempted to physically attack them. Instead we slowly moved them on along the prom.

It was quite obvious that the episode was orchestrated purely to provoke us into a violent response. When the old Nazi salute didn't cause anyone to loose control and attack them, they started chanting the names of concentration camps, as a taunt. As they descended into a tirade of racial abuse the police intervened and four of them were arrested. It would be hard to find a clearer example of the fact that the BNP is a haven for hardcore, unreconstructed, Nazis.

Some of the crowd at the demo

As time went on we noticed small groups of thugs strategically positioned down the promenade. Like vultures they were gathering in order to pick people off as they left the protest. It was agreed that the best way to avoid anyone getting hurt was to leave the area outside the hotel together as a group. With the numbers involved, this became a demonstration in its own right. We marched down the prom singing and chanting.

While it was depressing to see them so confident and closer to our demo than in other years it is important to bear the following in mind: anti-fascists are by far the majority; it looks like we had far more people outside that hotel than they had inside it and while we can march through the streets, they can't. It is going to be a long, hard summer making sure that this remains the case. They've got their seats in Europe, but that does not mean we have to allow them the chance to take over our public places. As their 'Victory Rally' was such a flop, they’re likely to try again at the Red, White and Blue gathering. We need to make sure they have nothing to celebrate when they get there!

Home Secretary seeks ban on BNP protesting near Home Office

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says she wants to prevent the BNP from targeting Home Office buildings for protests after a strong complaint from the Public and Commercial Services union

In a letter to PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, Ms Smith says she shares our concern about the use of the Home Office as a "backdrop" for BNP demonstrations.

PCS wrote to the home secretary in April after the BNP held an anti-immigration demo outside Lunar House in Croydon, one of the department’s main immigration enquiry offices. With just hours notice of the event, the union organised a counter demonstration and pointed out that PCS representatives had previously been denied permission to hand out leaflets about members’ pay on the same spot.

The letter from Ms Smith makes clear that the Home Office will do everything it can to prevent similar demonstrations taking place near Home Office property, and that trade unions will be fully informed about any future demonstrations. Ms Smith also gives a "personal commitment that no such demonstration will be allowed to take place actually on Home Office premises".

PCS expects this pledge to be honoured by whoever takes over as home secretary if Ms Smith steps down, as has been reported, and the union will be taking this up at the earliest opportunity with Home Office management and any future home secretary.

The union also believes BNP members should be barred from employment in the civil and public services – as they are from the police and prison service – because their views are incompatible with the provision of universal public services, free from discrimination.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "It was an absolute scandal that the BNP was ever allowed even close to Lunar House, an office that provides an important and valuable public service to migrants and their families. But we are pleased that Ms Smith has given us a commitment that it will not happen again. If it is true that she is stepping down as home secretary then I will expect her successor to honour this commitment in every detail and see that this is taken forward as a priority.

"The fascist BNP has no place in our communities, it does not speak for ordinary people and its methods of scapegoating and victimising some of the most vulnerable members of our society must be opposed at every step. Furthermore, BNP members should not be allowed to work as civil and public servants and we will continue to press the government on this issue."

PCS

BNP members should be fired from Civil Service, says union

British National Party (BNP) members in the Civil Service should be fired, union officials have said.

At the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) annual conference in Brighton, delegates applauded the demand by Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary, that government employees who were also members of the BNP should be sacked immediately.

"The government should sack all members of the BNP that work in the Civil Service," Serwotka said. "There is no place for the division sewn by the BNP and their xenophobic cry of "British jobs for British workers" given to us by Gordon Brown."

The comments come as a series of wildcat strikes by workers at refineries and power plants have begun in a row over a Welsh employer's breach of an agreement to employ local labour.

Serwotka also backed the refusal by postal workers to deliver BNP election leaflets due to fear of a public backlash.

However, a BNP spokesman told Personnel Today that Serwotka was hypocritical and "out of line". "This is coming from a man who says we're totalitarian and tyrannical, it's out of line and decries belief," he said. "He needs to lay down on a couch and get his head checked."

Currently, only the police and Prison Service prohibit membership of the BNP by its staff.

Personnel Today

Campaigners' victory keeps BNP out of Hastings

Local PCS reps led a protest against the British National Party's plans to hold a Christmas quiz and social evening Ore community centre in Old London Road on Monday night (8 December 2008). However when local media made the community centre aware of the demo late yesterday afternoon, management backed down and cancelled the BNP’s booking.

Hastings PCS rep and delegate from the newly relaunched Hastings and District TUC Trades Council, Nigel Sheahan, hailed the decision as a major victory:

“As soon as we saw the Hastings Observer article last Friday about this event we organised reps from unions across the local area to come to hand out leaflets at the event. Fortunately the community centre cancelled on the BNP when they realised the strength of feeling. We needed to point out the public that by holding this event in a council-owned facility and selling golliwogs and other ‘patriotic Christmas gifts’ the BNP were clearly trying to stir up racial tension. Fortunately the community centre cancelled on the BNP when they realised the strength of feeling.”

Chris Laverick, local organiser for Love Music Hate Racism who joined in the protest added, “Its great that the combined efforts of us all has forced this positive decision, I am overjoyed that the community centre saw sense and kicked out the racists”.

Campaigners will be writing to East Sussex County Council for an explanation and an assurance that the BNP will not be welcome to use council facilities in the area in future. Protests are also being planned by anti-fascist campaigners for proposed BNP Christmas events in Hove (today, 10 December 2008) and Crawley (Saturday, 13 December 2008).

Wired Gov

BNP-backing officials in polls row

A Labour MP is urging Gordon Brown to ban members of the BNP from working on services dealing with the public after it was revealed that the Department for Work and Pensions has given permission for two civil servants to stand for the party in next week's local elections.

Michael Foster, MP for Hastings, is taking up the issue after the Public and Commercial Services union objected to Frank Swayne standing in Hastings and Daniel Thorlby standing in an inner city ward in Newcastle upon Tyne. Foster said yesterday: " It is outrageous that the DWP should have allowed these people to stand and I am asking the prime minister to look at this. We should follow the example of the police who do not employ members of the BNP because they would be perceived to be racist when dealing with the public."

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the PCS, plans to launch an attack on the department's decision at the Love Music, Hate Racism rally in Victoria Park, east London, on Sunday. He will say: "This department is supposed to be about helping some of the most vulnerable people in society, and promoting equality. How can it possibly be right for active BNP members to be working there?"

Swayne handles claims from single parents at the Hastings Child Support Agency office while Thorlby handles pensions claims in Newcastle.

A DWP spokesman said: "Standing for election as a local councillor is, for a civil servant at this level, permitted by the civil service management code."

Guardian

LMHR guerilla gigs and mass UAF leafletting on May Day

LMHR guerilla gigs and mass UAF leafletting on May Day - in link-up with PCS civil servant's union - to say 'Make your vote count - stop the fascist BNP'.

On Tuesday 1st May Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR) and Unite Against Fascism (UAF) are joining forces with the PCS (civil servants) union, who are taking national strike action that day, in their “Make Your Vote Campaign” to encourage people to get out and vote on Thursday 3rd May, to stop the fascist BNP gaining any further ground.

MayDay will be a carnival of anti-fascist and trade union resistance. The BNP already have 49 council seats - 49 too many! We will be putting on a “gig on a truck” at key places around Leeds & West Yorkshire, and Dudley, Birmingham and Sandwell, stopping off to distribute Unite Against Fascism leaflets which expose the thuggish racist reality behind the BNP’s suits and weasel words. It’s a fun way to tackle a serious issue and it works!

UAF & LMHR speakers will also address PCS strike rallies in other parts of the UK - trade unions unite people of all colours, religions and nationalities, while the BNP are seeking to divide us.

PCS members and other trade unionists, bands/DJs/MCs, and anyone who wants to join the opposition to the BNP is urged to come along and take part.

Tuesday May 1st

Dudley: 9am-10am, PCS picket lines, The Waterfront, Merry Hill, Dudley.
Birmingham: 11am Chamberlain Square, PCS strike rally
Birmingham/Sandwell/Dudley, 12noon-4pm
West Midlands events contact: Lee Billingham 07838 156052 westmids@lovemusichateracism.com

Leeds: 9am PCS picket lines HMRC Castle House / DWP
Leeds: 11am PCS rally, Queens Hotel
Morley: afternoon, venue tbc
West Yorkshire events contact: Alison 07828 150735 alison@lovemusichateracism.com

LMHR

Unions and the far right

This is part of a briefing document for members of the Public and Commercial Services Union

Unions and the far right

'(Trade Union members are) fixated on nonsensical Marxist dogma about equality and anti-racism something that makes these time-servers a menace not just to their members but to the whole of our society': Quote from BNP website

Why unions oppose the far right

Far right political parties may attempt to project themselves as 'respectable' politicians but they are fundamentally opposed to democratic politics and the values and objectives of both PCS and the trade union movement as a whole.

Despite the diametric opposition between union values and those of the far right, there are fascists who want to join unions and who are already members of unions.

It is crucial that unions are welcoming, safe and inclusive organisations. The involvement of the far right inevitably puts this proud ethos in considerable jeopardy.

Members of far right organisations within trade unions present problems. Even though they carefully attempt to distinguish between their overt out-of-work activities and what they do in the workplace, some have access to personal information on civil servants, local authority workers and the public. Members of far right organisations can capitalise on their positions within trade unions, with the chance that they will abuse positions of authority and discriminate against certain social groups. This not only has a likely effect on the prospects of promotion, training, and so on for black and ethnic minority members, but a more general negative effect on the climate of the workplace by creating cultures of fear and intimidation.

The far right try to join unions

Research by anti fascist organisations has shown that there are increasing numbers of people belonging to far right organisations joining trade unions. Searchlight magazine in April 2003 revealed that the British National Party (BNP) is actively encouraging its members to join trade unions.

The far right are urging their supporters to join trade unions to win large damages when they are expelled. PCS believes that the far right think that once trade unions realise they are going to be pursued for compensation they will stop criticising the far right and cease expelling them, thereby clearing the way for fascists to organise unimpeded within the trade union movement.

PCS policy

PCS has the constitutional and legal capacity to deal with members who are found to exhibit behaviour or ideas that are incompatible with our values of equality and social justice.

PCS rule 3.17 states:

'Any person who is, or becomes, a member of an organization which the NEC considers to be a fascist or racist organization, or who supports, or speaks or circulates material on behalf of, any organization concerned with disseminating racists beliefs, attitudes and ideas, or who undertakes actions against others (whether or not members) designed to discriminate on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origin, nationality, creed, religion, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, shall be subject to the disciplinary procedures under these Rules and may be expelled from the Union.'

In order to strengthen the above rule, the following motion to enable a rule change is being submitted by the NEC to the 2004 PCS Annual Delegate Conference:

'That this conference agrees that in order to adopt the recommendations of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Group and to bring the PCS Rule book in line with TUC Congress policy, the following changes to the PCS Rule Book should be made:

1. Delete rule PR1(f) and replace with new rule PR1(f):

To promote equality for all:

Through collective bargaining, publicity material and campaigning, representation, union organisation, and structures, education and training, organising and recruitment, the provision of all other services and benefits and all other activities including the union's employment practices; and

By opposing actively, all forms of harassment, prejudice and unfair treatment whether on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic.

2. Delete rule 3.17 and replace with new rule 3.17:

Any person who is, or becomes a member of an organisation which the NEC considers to be a fascist or racist organisation, or who supports, or speaks or circulates material on behalf of any organisation concerned with disseminating racist beliefs, attitudes and ideas or who undertakes actions against others (whether members or non members) designed to discriminate on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic or national origin, religion, colour, class, caring responsibilities, marital status, sexuality, disability, age or other status or personal characteristic, shall be subject to disciplinary procedures under these Rules and may be expelled from the Union.'

TUC policy

The 2002 Trades Union Congress sent out an unequivocal message that it would stand shoulder to shoulder with unions who expel fascists. The motion passed by Congress reads:

'Congress deplores the policies of the BNP and all racist and fascist organisations which are incompatible with the principles of the trade union movement. Congress commits to support affiliates who deny membership to, or expel from membership, members of the BNP or other fascist organisations.'

Legislation to stop the far right infiltrating unions

Currently the Employment Relations Bill is going through the House of Commons and the House of Lords. PCS and the TUC welcome the clause which was introduced at Committee stage and which will amend the laws on exclusion and expulsion of workers from unions so that where they are members of far right political organisations the union can choose not to allow them to join, or to expel them from membership.

This amendment is needed to change outdated Conservative laws. It will also remove the current provision of a minimum award of £5,900 where an expelled or excluded person wins a case against the union.

Currently the provision applies where the member has behaved in a way which was contrary to union rules. Many unions have preambles or statements in their Rule Books about promoting diversity and tackling discrimination, rather than actual rules. The TUC is seeking an amendment which would broaden the scope of the clause to include union's objectives. The TUC has discussed this with the Government and is hoping that the following could be included: in Clause 32, in section 4(1B) the phrase 'contrary to the rules of the union' should be replaced with 'inconsistent with the rules and objectives of the union'.

Advice and Support

Where individuals are found to be union members and exhibit values that are contrary to the above, members should report individuals to their branch officers and seek advice from their PCS Headquarters official or the Equality Health and Safety Department. In order not to fall foul of the law, it is important the individuals acting against the Union's equality values are properly dealt with in line with the union's rules and procedures.

The Prison Service as a public service employer has introduced as part of its terms of employment rules that allow them to dismiss anyone who is found to be a member of a racist organisation. Departmental Trade Union Sides in areas such as the DWP and Customs & Excise have also engaged in negotiations to adopt similar provisions in contracts of employment.

Get involved in campaigning against the far right.

If you are interested in getting involved in campaigning against the far right, PCS, together with many other trade unions, supports the broad and inclusive 'Unite Against Fascism' campaign.

Mark Serwotka, General Secretary
Janice Godrich, President

For further information, please contact:

Unite Against Fascism
PO Box 36871
London, WC1X 9XT
Tel: 020 7833 4916

PCS