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50 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
50 lines
3.2 KiB
Plaintext
AntiFascist Action by Rachel Rinaldo
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@DROP CAP = SEVERAL YEARS AFTER THE militant poll tax riots
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and demonstrations, it looks like political resistance in Britain is at a low
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point. Few serious squats remain, most of the anarcho-punks have been
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disillusioned or caught up in the New Age Traveller's movement, and
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even Class War could not raise a contingent for a demonstration at the
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European Summit in Edinburgh. As in the rest of Europe though, fascism
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is alive and well here in Britain, recruiting on the housing projects of
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cities like London, Glasgow, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
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Anti-Fascist-Action (AFA) has chapters throughout England and
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Scotland and is probably one of the most active groups around these
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days. They are dedicated to fighting fascists, such as the British National
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Party (BNP) and nazis, through propaganda and, if necessary, physical
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confrontation. AFA started the autumn with a successful action in
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London, where they prevented hundreds of nazi skinheads from getting
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to a Blood and Honour gig where the band Skrewdriver was playing.
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I've been involved with AFA Edinburgh for several months, but they
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formed about a year ago. In that time AFA has: plastered the city with
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stickers and graffiti (and wiped out BNP graffiti); held gigs at the
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Unemployed Workers' Center; had stalls at local clubs; picketed a
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bookstore for selling a book by a nazi revisionist historian; and written
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letters to the local BNP members. AFA Edinburgh and Glasgow also
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attended an annual anti-racist march in Glasgow, which twenty-five sieg-
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heiling BNPers tried to disrupt. Most recently, we've put up posters all
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over town, with a picture of local BNP members and their addresses and
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phone numbers, urging people to write nasty letters and harass them by
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phone. AFA members have been known to make annoying phone calls to
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local fascists and nazi skins at odd hours of the morning.
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AFA is an alternative to mainstream/liberal groups, most of which won't
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even recognize the existence of fascism in Britain. Groups like the Anti-
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Nazi-League are mainly fronts for various left parties and do little
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besides hold placards at big demonstrations. AFA especially concentrates
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on rooting out fascism in working class communities, the favorite
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recruiting place of the BNP. The mostly wealthy fascist leadership
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targets disaffected youth in such areas, turning their anger away from the
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establishment and towards neighboring minority communities.
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Not surprisingly, AFA gets a lot of criticism from the so-called left. An
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editorial in the University of Edinburgh left student newspaper called
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groups like AFA the violent fringe and leftist thugs. Other groups within
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Edinburgh have sharply criticized the anti-BNP posters and our
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confrontational tactics. But it is a pipe dream to think that merely by
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distributing leaflets and holding demonstrations, the fascists will go
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away. This kind of thinking on the majority of the left has fed the recent
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rise in fascism in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and even Sweden,
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where Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated. Mass demonstrations are
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important, but the reality of fascists on the streets must be dealt with
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before they can terrorize the local community and recruit vulnerable
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youth.
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