EXIT RACISM STAGE RIGHT!

There have been widespread reports of increased xenophobic attitudes, abuse and hate crimes in the aftermath of the European Referendum results. The racism and xenophobia that runs through our society have been thrust out into the open. The apparent post referendum increase in racist attacks and more open expression of anti immigrant sentiments has been a long time coming.
Anti-migrant rhetoric has dominated newspaper headlines for years and is fuelled by politicians and the racist border policies of fortress Europe. There are so many disillusioned, angry people, impoverished and left for dead by mainstream politics, who seem ready to point their anger in the wrong direction.
The divisive referendum was a gift to far right extremists and a big confidence boost to racist bigots and fascists everywhere. It was also never a choice of our making, but one between one set of bosses or another.

The problem is not the result of the referendum but the underlying everyday racism and xenophobia that it has encouraged and made so visible. If the vote had gone the other way we would have seen the same upsurge in racist attacks and violence. The only difference would be less triumphant and more angry, vengeful perpetrators of such attacks.
It’s going to take more than wearing safety pins or similar gesture politics to effectively defeat racism and fascism.
Antifascists have been fighting these racist, anti working class ideologies for many years. We believe solutions lie not in parliamentary politics but in our own streets and communities.

OUR SOLIDARITY KNOWS NO BORDERS

Immigrants have always been blamed for the problems created by politicians and the rich. Sadly, many people accept the endless misinformation and lies, allowing themselves to be duped, manipulated and divided. Immigrants are easy targets and scapegoats for misdirected anger. Here’s a few answers to some common myths used to attack them:

“Immigration is out of control”
The U.K. Border regime is one of the toughest in the world. Over recent years border controls have been been massively increased and racist immigration and asylum policies have meant misery for thousands of people. It’s no surprise that In reality, the vast majority of refugees and asylum seekers head for countries other than the UK and poorer countries nearer their countries of origin. Media hysteria about being “invaded” bears no relation to the reality of our closed borders. But ever tighter border controls and stricter policies do not stop people trying to find a better life. More secure borders result in people taking more dangerous and life threatening ways to attempt to cross them, and many people are killed by trains, lorries or drowning.

 
“They take our jobs and benefits!”
It has repeatedly been shown that migrants’ contributions to the UK far outweigh benefits claimed.  Asylum seekers are not allowed to work and immigrants ultimately end up in low paid jobs instead of claiming benefits. They are the worst exploited of our class. It is not migrants that are slashing public services and mounting attacks on worker’s pay and conditions but the government and bosses waging a relentless class war on us all.

“They take our houses!”
Migrants are not responsible for a chronic shortage in social housing, massive rent increases and gentrification. Our housing problems have a lot more to do with a market driven, not by tenant’s needs, but by the needs of property developers and greedy landlords. Migrants and refugees are more likely to end up in overcrowded and intolerable living conditions or homelessness than most of us.

“The U.K. is seen as a “soft touch” and a destination of choice for immigrants”
Thousands of the migrants arriving in the EU are refugees fleeing war and persecution. They have had to leave their homes, their families and everything they have known. Many have suffered unimaginable horrors and atrocities. We cannot blame people for trying to find safety and a better life. Yet when they arrive they are treated as criminals and less than human. The reality of life in UK for refugees and immigrants is anything but an easy option.

“WELCOME MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES!

RACISTS AND FASCISTS IN THE SEA!”

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What a fantastic day! Not, of course, for the fascists who had a day they will never forget! What happened on Saturday on the streets of Liverpool will go down as one of the great moments of antifascist history. The goose-steppers cannot, if they have any self-respect, claim this as a victory, although knowing their pathological bullshitting ways, they may yet be able to convince themselves otherwise.

The NORTH WEST INFIDELS along with NATIONAL ACTION and some confused Polish nationalist ultras decided to hold a measly “proud to be white and racist” demo up in the North – only they appear to have chosen the wrong city. In a pathetic attempt to catch antifascists and locals off guard Shane ‘diddyman the grass’ Calvert declared that his band of white supremacist fuckheads would host a demo in Manchester, while in reality they headed for Liverpool to attempt to spread their white supremacist filth.

We can’t know for sure what was going through their minds before deciding to host this demo in such a place as Liverpool, but when they chose to host a neo-Nazi demo in a city that has, over it’s history, suffered the worst bombing outside of London by Hitler’s Luftwaffe in the blitz, has destroyed The Sun newspaper’s trade within its own city limits, has celebrated a proud left-wing history, kicked out National Action last August, and is a community built from people of so many backgrounds, did they really think that they would be able to take to the streets of Liverpool without any resistance?

Numbers on their side were, according to reports on the day, at a miserable count of fifty, possibly because most fascists who did not attend decided better than to dig their own graves in Liverpool. BRISTOL ANTIFASCISTS along with other groups affiliated with the ANTI–FASCIST NETWORK went to support MERSEYSIDE ANTIFASCIST NETWORK’S counter-mobilisation at Lime street station. The day started off well and by the end of it all there was no doubting how successfully events had turned out for those who came out to oppose the fascists on the steps of St George’s Hall. Almost immediately after the NWI planned demo had started, Merseyside AFN along with support from other locals had already surrounded The Crown public house, who were unfortunate hosts for the Nazi scumbags. True to their words, the fash decided to use their method of attack of attempting to walk amongst the antifascists. Almost as soon as they infiltrated the group two boneheads were forced to flee following a physical reminder that they were in the wrong group. Then the hooligans from Poland arrived, kitted up in their new anti-antifa merchandise in an attempt to show off the latest in their fascist fashion craze, the critics were merciless in their response as three of the hooligans had to be rescued by the police after being surrounded by clearly pissed off antifascists and a fourth attempted to run away only to find out that he had run in a circle back to the same group of pissed off folks he was running from!

Eventually the police began their attempts to move the scum out of the pub and back onto the streets, while meeting heavy resistance from antifascists easily blocking their advance. As this was happening, a number of fascists from a separate group were spotted on the steps of St George’s Hall and were almost immediately surrounded by antifascists and numerous locals; the police at this moment moved in to protect the far-right and try to prevent the public from confronting the Nazi thugs. The police, realising that they could not possibly help the group from the pub join with their fellow Nazis now trapped on the steps, had no other option but to escort the pitiful group to the Lime Street Station ready to to be sent away for their own safety. They managed to march a few hundred yards only to be sent back home. By this point, word had got around Liverpool of the far-right presence in the city and many more locals turned up to confront the Nazis on the streets. The diversity of the antifascist resistance was impressive, from kids to old age pensioners. Along with them arrived plenty of eggs to remind the Nazis of their previous defeat in Liverpool last August. Volley after volley of eggs, flour, bottles, and bricks turned the fascists from being all smug that they had “taken” the steps of St George’s Hall to being defeated and humiliated after receiving a battering of groceries and masonry.

The police, as the situation developed, were desperate to protect the fascists from the ever growing mob of Liverpudlians, who by the end of the day reached as many as one-thousand in strength, along with many more onlookers from across the street. Agitated by the overwhelming constant barrage of missiles from the locals, the far-right made four attempts to try to break out of their cordon to confront the mob that had now completely surrounded them, but the space around them only got smaller and smaller each time – by the end, they were quite literally in a corner, appropriately covered in filth and with an undeniable feeling of deja vu! In one attempt to break out they came close, but Liverpudlians from across the city and from many backgrounds raced up the stairs towards the police line to face them off and make sure that any Nazi who escaped the cordon would not come out of it unharmed.

Later on in the afternoon, after getting some much needed back-up, the police tried to move the far-right thugs off to the station, but they were not going to withdraw so easily. Even as they left, hundreds of people surrounded the group and continued to humiliate them as they were being escorted away by police; it was much like a pillory for the Nazis, all they could do was walk and carry their injured in shame as they were mercilessly pelted by missiles and eggs. Eventually they made it to the station under heavy police protection and were transported away from Lime Street station, hopefully never to return.

It was an outstanding victory today for the antifascist movement, and the credit truly goes to the good people of Liverpool who have shown – by means of direct action and solidarity amongst their community – how to defend their city against the threat of fascism and its violently racist agenda. Other groups from the wider AFN were also in the thick of it to support Merseyside AFN and the community, but we are sure that in our absence the people of Liverpool could easily have confronted these boneheads without trouble and still sent them packing. It would be an even greater achievement to see this impressive example of community response to the far-right echoed in whichever city, town or village they dare to show their faces at again. In fact, the next best opportunity for this will be here in Bristol when the SOUTH WEST INFIDELS and NEW BRITISH UNION will be hosting their next neo nazi debacle on the 12th March. See you on the Streets!