Monthly Archives: April 2011

Brighton Antifascists benefit gig

Apr 29

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March for England by Malatesta

Apr 24

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The usual toothless eejits went to Brighton and proved nothing.
The two things that plod hate most are political demonstrations and football crowds and today in Brighton they got both. March for England held a Saint George’s day demo – which they claimed was neither a parade nor a protest – and gathered a toothless retinue of football hooligans who put a crimp in a few people’s weekend. The cops responded in a heavy handed manner and despite outnumbering the March for Little Englanders by 2:1were visibly nervous. Your correspondent got questioned, frisked and shoved by a cop accusing us of throwing stuff at the MfE in the space of 20 minutes. The cops were hot and bothered, sweating beneath their riot helmets and 3 layers of uniform and with the abuse from the MfE – ‘Harry Roberts is our friend’ – it all added up to a frustrating bank holiday weekend for them, overtime notwithstanding. Shame. Plod was being very careful about arresting any of the MfE knowing how volatile they can be when denied beer and toilets. The MfE were optimistically hoping to mobilise similar numbers to the English Defence League demos but they were very disappointed: they got about 100 from a rough head count. They also seemed to be joined by the EDLs Weightwatchers Division.

Before the march, the MfE claimed 2 things that they subsequently forgot on the day: they said that it was to be a St. George march and not ‘political’ but ended up chanting ‘no surrender to the Taliban’? Not being local to Brighton we can safely assume that there are very few Taliban knocking around Kemp Town. They also said that this was nothing to do with the English Defence League but then, on the way back to the train station, they unfurled EDL flags. Oops! There is a photo of someone holding an Essex Infidels flag which has been seen on EDL demos before. On their website they had asked people not to display any EDL insignia. The MfE demo had known EDL members on it and the majority were not local. There were people from Essex, Eastbourne and Portsmouth thus proving that Brighton EDL is very weak indeed and that signing up to a Facebook page does not translate into shoe leather on the cobbles. Any half pissed moron can do that. Local numbers have had to be supplemented from other ‘divisions’ from afar. The cops had expected more and had drafted in bobbies from around the south east. They held a thin blue line between the MfE and the counter-protestors who hadn’t been kettled in. The counter-protest gathered at the train station and was contained by plod whilst other anarchists and anti-fascists kept well out of the cordon.

The march was all-white and obese, fat bellies wobbling in the sunshine and many ‘had strong drink taken.’ They sang the usual garbage about ‘English Til I Die’ (hurry up, please!), ‘You’re not English anymore’ and ‘No surrender to the Taliban’ to the general bemusement of Brightonians. They will of course see this as a great victory having ‘taken liberties’ in Brighton but, as with the EDL, they achieve nothing apart from annoying people. They had to ask permission to march and were heavily surrounded by plod, they were then marched to their meeting point and marched back again. All the publicity they have received is negative and they come across as unwanted irritants and outsiders on an otherwise pleasant bank holiday weekend. There have been other Saint George’s day marches in Brighton that featured war veterans. With the MfE hijacking the demo, the veterans wisely stayed away. The MfE were also supposed to end up in the King and Queen boozer but they had closed for the duration.

The March for England were very wary of being seen as EDL and had stated that the EDL, BNP etc were barred. But they showed anyway. There have been some interesting schisms in these nationalist grupuscules of late in case you don’t know. At the EDL’s Blackburn demo recently leader Steven Caxley-Trousers outed one of his online critics which led to a rather amusing brawl between the varying factions and stewards. This caused a rift in the north and 2 splinter groups – the North West and North East Infidels – were created. Also, the English Nationalist Alliance has been proscribed by the EDL after ENA head cheese Billy ‘Bunter’ Baker appeared on TV claiming to speak for the EDL. This annoyed Caxley-Trousers and ‘Cocaine’ Kev Carol who booted big Billy out. The March for England, although having a membership overlap with the BNP, EDL, ENA etc, try to distance themselves from such behaviour and the leadership remain relatively anonymous. However, the leaders of these various grupuscules have realised that there be money to make here. On their little websites, alongside some appalling ‘poetry,’ there is always a section entitled ‘Merchandise’ from which they sell a variety of nationalist tat. Caxley-Trousers clearly made a mint out of flogging his funny little burkahs and hoodies and there have been questions asked over where the proceeds have gone. There were also accusations of financial mismanagement from various quarters. Richard Price was a former EDL ‘leader’ who was arrested last year. Caxley and Cocaine Kev started raising money for this ‘political prisoner’ until it was revealed that Pricey had in fact been nicked for downloading child pornography – as well as cocaine and crack possession. Some of the disenfranchised EDL members are now asking what happened to the defence fund. There is a website set up by former EDL leader Paul Ray, a bizarre racist Christian who is bitter over being toed out of the EDL. His blog is full of ravings ‘exposing’ Cocaine Kev and Caxley Trousers over their dodgy doings – some of which is pretty believable. Caxley-Trousers is also facing charges of fraud which can’t help his case. Like with Nick Griffclops of the BNP the money may be the undoing of the EDL leadership: they just can’t keep their hands off the cash can they?

So although the far right are getting increasingly cocky with their flash demos there are too many schisms amongst them to form any coherent political block. And that is not including the usual football rivalries. The money and ego-trips are too tempting and the ‘leaders’ love showing off in the pub to their mates. These ‘English’ defenders and marchers also represent a minority of what many of us see as Englishness, i.e., tolerance, plurality and peace, cause local bother and have achieved very little politically beyond a good day out for ageing hooligans trying to relive their former ‘glory.’

 http://malatesta32.wordpress.com/

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Brighton Antifascists press release

Apr 24

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Brighton Anti-Fascists press release:

SUSSEX POLICE FACILITATE FASCIST MARCH!!

Organisers of March for England (MFE) in Brighton revealed their true colours today. Despite claims made by Matt Silva (MFE spokesman) in a press release last week, that members of the English Defence League (EDL) and English Nationalist Alliance (ENA) would not be made welcome at their event, the number of recognised EDL and ENA members made up the majority of the attendees. Exposing the MFE organisers as outright liars and proving that what they say cannot be trusted.

St. Georges day celebrations were yet again high jacked by the far right today. The MFE march was far from the family event it claimed it would be. Participants of the march hurled racist and homophobic abuse at passers by and anti-fascist protesters whilst being escorted through town by the police. Sussex police did all they could to make the day as carefree as possible for the far right by using kettling tactics against anti-fascist demonstrators and making ‘preventative’ arrests, while the organisers of the march made absolutely no attempt to discourage the abusive behaviour.

Not fooled by their attempts to paint a liberal image of themselves ( ie making false statements and waving a rainbow flag whilst shouting “You lot take it up the arse!”) the march was interrupted by anti-fascist demonstrations throughout the day and the MFE didn’t quite get the stroll in the sunshine they may have been expecting.

We will continue to oppose any attempts by the far-right to spread their vile and divisive ideology.

Brighton Anti-fascists 24.04.2011

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Oppose the March For England, Sunday 24th April

Apr 19

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The far right March for England will be holding a demonstration in Brighton this Sunday, 24th April. Despite their claims of being a non political celebration of St George’s Day, their supporters have a large overlap with the English Defence League and other far right and fascist groups, including those who recently attacked a Unite Against Fascism meeting on multiculturalism in Brighton. We’re calling on people to come out and oppose this gathering of the far right, so meet at the bus stops  in front of Brighton Station at 11am!

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Egos, factionalism & money

Apr 17

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And we’re back …
Egos, money, factionalism and more egos seem to be the order of the day for the far right. The English Defence League has been riven by the inevitable splits over regions, football teams and the political differences that seem to characterise most of the far right organisations in the UK. At their recent do in Blackburn Steven Caxley-Trousers ‘outed’ an EDL member for online abuse which led to a bout of brawling and disorder which their stewards, as usual, completely failed to control. As it seems they cannot fight with ‘Muslamic extremists’ they have to be content with fighting amongst themselves. Long may that continue. This ruckus led to a brace of splinter groups calling themselves the Northwest and Northeast Infidels. They claim that Caxley and ‘cocaine’ Kev Carol are siphoning off the money given towards campaigns. They claimed that Caxley and cocaine Kev had raised money for ‘political prisoner’ and convicted sex offender Richard Price which has never been accounted for now that Price is persona non grata and a ‘nonce.’ So where did the money go asked their internal critics? The Infidels were also touting a compromising photo of Caxley-Trousers to The Sun which infuriated the ‘leadership’ and caused much amusement to anti-fascists everywhere. Cocaine Kev has also never adequately explained the ‘assassination attempt’ last year which caused a brief media flap. Any explanations Kev? Egos, money, factionalism and more egos …

ENA: Enough Already!
Billy ‘Bunter’ Baker of the English Nationalists Alliance has also claimed he will spill the beans on the financial shenanigans of the ‘top’ EDL members but we shall have to see if he has the bottle to do this. Baker fell out with Caxley and Cocaine Kev after appearing on TV, apparently speaking – badly – on behalf of the EDL. This angered the ‘top boys’ and they ex-communicated him in a cloud of mutual abuse and allegations. ‘Fats’ Baker, jealous of the media attention and, more likely, cash that the EDL have gained is determined to make a go with his little outfit and their sparsely attended demos at Dagenham. However, Fats cannot get the numbers that the EDL do as they are more obviously a fascist grouping and therefore lack the attraction and subsequent cash and coverage that the obese 1 craves. Bill ‘Shitcake’ Baker is going down to Brighton for the March For England on 24 April. He turned up there last year with a handful of ‘chav scrotes’ and was vastly outnumbered and held up for hours by antifascists. The ENA ended up being marched away by the cops following a piss poor turnout. It can only be assumed that the 24th will be a repeat. The far right claimed it was a ‘red baiting’ event but it mobilised the Sussex antifascists who had a strong turnout and the ENA failed to achieve anything. Well done!

Various EDL groups around the UK have taken to attacking anti-fascist meetings in the hope of a tear-up along with flash demos such as those at Grays and Halifax yesterday. All public anti-fascist meetings need adequate security in case of these attacks as the hooligan element masquerading as the EDL are getting a bit cocky. However, we must ask, despite all this, what have the EDL actually achieved? They have had much media coverage but it is all negative and they continue to come across as a bunch of football hooligans out on the piss. Which is what they are. Their flash mob demos are basically a chance for a bit of aggro then back to the pub. The widely publicised ‘Muslamic Rayguns’ video has done them no favours and showed them up as a bunch of clueless eejits out on a jolly unable to articulate even their basic principles. I mean ‘Halal pork’? Crivvens!

The EDL also increasingly look politically incompetent. Whilst the government are slashing public spending and many people are under pressure economically, the EDL banging on about radical Islam looks irrelevant. It is not the ‘Muslamics’ who are putting people out of work, attacking education and failing to act on tax evasion is it? The EDL say they are against extremism but come across as extremists themselves. They say they are against Islamic extremists but have failed to identify many apart from Anjem Choudary and his daft Muslims Against Crusades who are pretty well-known to plod as it is. They are both as egomaniacal as each other and allow plod to keep an eye on who is doing what. BNP members and other Nazis are still confused about the EDL with some saying they are a ‘Zionist, Marxist, state-sponsored’ outfit and others hoping they can draw off some of the members into their various nutty grupuscules.

BNP? I Doubt It.
Egos, money, factionalism and more egos abound in other areas of the far right as well. The BNP is busy collapsing both structurally and politically. The BNP is suffering from resignations, defections and expulsions and the hopes of any electoral gain in the next year or two seem highly unlikely: Nick Griffclops is looking increasingly isolated and politically neutered; the reformists led by Eddy Butler have made no progress in mounting any effective challenge to Griffin; and the BNP continue to get negative media coverage, the most recent being a Welsh candidate over burning a copy of the Koran.

However, several BNP members have defected to the English Democrats, most notably Yorkshire ‘star’ Chris Beverley which emphasises a move away from blatant racism into something a bit more voter-friendly with words like ‘Civic Nationalism’ and without the heavy Nazi baggage of the BNP. How they fare in the polls will be interesting but, like most of these organisations, they are a single issue or protest vote. Voter apathy rather than ‘Civic Nationalism’ may secure a few seats on parish councils. Columnist for The Sun Gary Bushell is also backing the English Democrats so make of that what you will.

The fluffy splinter faction British Freedom Party – ‘It’s about culture not colour’ – are moribund and ineffectual. Former BNP ‘legal adviser’ Lee ‘Batty’ Barnes is pimping for them but he is mental. Batty Barnes recently published an appeal for unity amongst the far right at the Blackpool demo in May. This will no doubt be met with the usual silence that his missives produce. Fat chance fucko! Egos, money …

The National Front have been wheezing into action in between window-shopping at off-licences and buying incontinence pants. They have been making threatening noises about elections but really they only serve to further factionalise the far right despite their rather amusing motto ‘Strength Through Unity.’ Given that the NF is being steered by veteran splitter Eddy Morrison we can only assume this is an ironic statement.

Conclusion
The EDL’s strategy of flash demos is difficult to organise against and their attacks on public meetings necessitates adequate security. There have been rumours of them becoming a political party but this will just add to the numbers of tiny far right parties like the Fluffies and the NF and will mean a loss of membership. The demos are a good excuse for a piss-up and the vague possibility of a ruck. Party politics is not as glamorous. Anti-fascists will no doubt be heartened by the recent splits and Caxley-Trousers misfortunes, both legally and financially (See Malatesta blog). Like Griffin it could well be the money that does for him. The BNP is in serious trouble and it is only a matter of time before Griffclops is called to account by an increasingly disheartened membership and faces the implications of his legal and financial woes. Egos, money, factionalism and more egos …

PS. RE: Our Absence.
‘MacMalatesta’ is currently at HMP following a violent altercation in a Dundee cake shop with a hapless SDL supporter who ended up with more than egg-custard on his face. ‘Emma Goldman’ says she is ‘travelling’ although why she thinks Rhyl is on the backpacker trail we do not know. And ‘Malatesta’ is writing a book hence the lack of articles so far this year. Thanks to all who have reposted the articles.

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QUAKING IN THEIR BOOTS

Apr 17

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From Schnews:

Anti-fascists saw off an attempted attack on a Brighton UAF meeting on Tuesday night. A motley crew of EDL, Casuals United and the English Nationalist Alliance turned up to hassle the meeting on the defence of multi-culturalism, outside the Quaker Meeting Centre.

What started as a static demo by around 20-25 EDL turned into a frontal assault on the building. SchNEWS spoke to someone on the scene. “The EDL, two wearing Ulster Volunteer Force shirts, tried to batter their way into the building but despite the doormen being outnumbered they were beaten off after a bit of a kicking”. By the time anti-fascist reinforcements arrived the EDL had disappeared into the night.

Brighton Police, taking their usual dim view of all things lefty suggested that it was those hosting the meeting who were responsible for all the aggro.

Meanwhile both sides are gearing up for the thinly disguised EDL family day out that is the March for England, in Brighton on Sunday 24th April – for details closer to the time see https://brightonantifascists.wordpress.com

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EDL? MAC? Same Thing

Apr 7

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The Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) and English Defence League (EDL) are really 2 sides of the same idiot. Last week saw the MAC protesting in Trafalgar Square during the 2 minutes silence. It also saw the EDL in small numbers ‘protesting peacefully’ against them. But despite their apparent differences they often serve the same purpose in inflaming anti-Islamic sentiment and allowing the state to monitor extremists.

The MAC acted disgracefully and disrespectfully with their publicity seeking poppy burning stunt on Thursday. The EDL turned out about 40 members to confront them. The police separated them and saw that both the EDL and MAC got their publicity fix and achieved nothing. Sharia law was neither implemented nor stopped. Following the poppy burning incident the EDL and Casuals United have both reported increased interest in their websites and are claiming that they have gained many new members. However, signing up to Facebook and being an effective activist are completely different things: what matters is shoe leather on the cobbles not writing LOL next to some anti-Islamic web statement. The EDL demos have been getting smaller despite growing web traffic.

The EDL are politically naïve do not understand either the Muslim community nor the array of opposition against them. The EDL think that anyone who disagrees with them automatically supports extremists like MAC. They think that UAF, local Muslim community associations and antifascists are all the same which is clearly not true. The EDL stereotype all Muslims as extremists as is clear from their web forum: they completely fail to differentiate between publicity seeking characters like MAC, who are no threat really, and the vast majority of Muslims in this country who simply want to get on with their lives peacefully. The MAC do not represent the Muslim community in general and are more like the delusional incompetents portrayed in 4 Lions, full of their own self-importance and following either an agenda that is unrealistic or 1 that is a wee bit more suspicious.

Earlier this year, The Independent published an interesting, if speculative, article on the secret services coercion of vulnerable Muslims in prison. Candidates facing either prison sentences, citizenship difficulties or deportation were approached in order to gain information on radical Islamicists in the UK. It is not too difficult to see the advantages of this, i.e., join up with a dodgy outfit like Anjem Choudhary’s Islam4UK or MAC, monitor what is going on and provide information to the feds. Also the publicising of groups like the MAC helps the state justify the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and promotes the extremist image of Islam.

And the exact same can be said for the EDL. That there are hooligans and criminals at the helm of the EDL is obvious: their glorious leader ‘Tiny’ Tommy Robinson AKA the more poshly named Stephen Yaxley-Lennon is under pressure from the feds on several fronts, for his organisations violent conduct on the streets of Britain and also for more mundane matters. The last couple of weeks have seen Tommy nicked over fraud allegations as well as at the demo on Thursday – which is the 6th time this year. Rumours have been flying around the internet that Tommy is being pressured and compromised by the state. The EDL leadership is a volatile mix of extremists from the BNP, Combat 18 and other fascist groups as well as more unsavoury characters from the various football firms. Their hoodies emblazoned with their hometowns, enormous amounts of CCTV monitoring, stop and searches and general surveillance allows the police to know exactly who is doing what and when on the far right.

Tommy’s blatant publicity stunt on Thursday of jumping over a barrier into a large bunch of coppers to ‘take the flag’ of the MAC was a calculated move. It meant he could get his wee face on telly to impress his mates and elevate himself to martyr status. Few political activists in their right minds would do this as it means an obvious nicking, a night in jail and the time wasting and expense of the judicial process. Tommy has been nominally charged with assaulting a copper but whether the charges stand given the amount of evidence is dubious: he basically leapt into the coppers arms and was immediately surrounded and didn’t have time to do anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ZFVc2uwMY
Some cruel wag suggested it gave Tommy a chance to speak with his MI5 handlers but ‘Malatesta’ finds that very hard to believe. Tommy also needed to save face after the embarrassment of having HIS flag snatched by Dutch Antifa the other week which has been widely publicised and can be seen here at about 9.50 in. The ‘No Surrender’ EDL then ran away.
http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=11633256

What is just as interesting are the photos of other demonstrators. Over the last couple of weeks the Welsh Defence League ‘leader’ Jeff Marsh announced a name change to the Cymru Defence League due to the constant exposure of links with the Nazi Combat 18 outfit. C18 member Luke Pippen helped run the Casuals United website and organise things in Swansea with Marsh. This association is now over apparently but guess who turned up at the EDL demo on Thursday and was photographed wandering around with a loudhailer rallying the troops? Only the melon headed Luke Pippen of C18 whose chest sports large swastika tattoo. Oh dear.

Homophobes
The non-homophobic EDL have also been rocked by a rather unpleasant row over on their forum. A member of the LGBT division approached some blokes in EDL tops in a pub and started talking to them only for the situation to rapidly descended into violence and the guy received a beating. Read all about it!
http://s1.zetaboards.com/EDL_The_Forum/topic/3922963/1/
This does not look good for the ‘gay friendly’ EDL and illustrates the kind of people the EDL attracts. It also shows that what the EDL say on their website and what goes on in reality are often mutually exclusive.

‘Malatesta’ NB: Copyright free. Pass it on to anyone who may find it useful. All the Malatesta Articles are available here: http://malatesta32.wordpress.com/2010/08/

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