By Berkshire Antifascists
The DFLA are coming to London on October 13th. Wanna know you can help out and be a proper-good-Antifa? Well now that Antifa has become an SEO friendly term, you can’t move for thinkpieces and blog posts. We thought we’d join in with our very own listicle. We’re like, totally top content-creator millenials too, you know.
Four days to go until our opposition to the next ‘Free Tommy’ anti-Muslim hatefest in central London.
We will be meeting at 1pm at the International Brigades Memorial in Jubilee Gardens on the south bank of the river and will march from there.
In case you missed the news, the racist far-right are mobilising around a campaign to free Tommy Robinson, the notorious Muslim-hating ex-head of the EDL, sent to prison for interfering with a grooming gang court case. Their last demonstration in London brought 10,000 violent bigots on to the streets, screaming anti-Muslim abuse, threatening and attacking people. This was the largest far-right demo in Britain since the 1930s.
We need to spread the word and get feet on the streets against the far-right ‘Free Tommy’ demo in London on July 14th. Facebook event here
To get you started, here’s some downloadable posters and flyers.
Let us know what you do with them and any issues or thoughts.
Click on the images to download print-ready PDFs. Stick it through a photocopier and bob’s your uncle!
The far-right are coming back to London on Saturday July 14th. Last time they brought 10,000 racists on to the streets united by their hatred of Muslims. They are bringing together all the disparate factions of far-right under the ‘Free Tommy’ banner, campaigning for release of EDL founder and ex-BNP member Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who got himself imprisoned for being a serial disrupter of important criminal trials.
They are also going to form a large ‘pro-Trump’ rally just one day after the massive anti-Trump protests on the 13th.
All the same figureheads of the alt-right who backed Trump and brought him to power are now backing Tommy Robinson – Steve Bannon, Breitbart, Milo Yiannopoulos, the Proud Boys, Info Wars. Trump’s Republicans have even raised the bogus ‘Free Tommy’ issue in the Senate. They are trying to build a Trumpian alt-right in the UK. It is essential that all anti-racists and anti-fascists try and come together to oppose this new far-right threat.
We call on all anti-racists to protest Trump on the 13th and to join us in opposing the ‘Free Tommy’ mob on Sat 14th.
Our counter-mobilisation event is here. More details will be released nearer the time.
Spread the word.
originally posted on While Rome Burns
So… Saturday.
10,000 far-right racists take over Whitehall and Trafalgar Square yelling anti-Muslim hate, pulling Nazi salutes and screaming the name of Tommy Robinson. They assault journalists, attempt to attack anti-fascists and try to break through the gates of Downing Street. They take over and trash a sightseeing bus, forcing driver and passengers to abandon it. They force back the cops, chucking bottles, traffic cones and street barriers, and then roam uncontrolled, chanting racist slogans from the EDL days. They are addressed by a series of celebrity Islamophobes. Speaker after speaker openly incites hatred against Muslims to the delight of the cheering crowds.
The opposition was minimal. A small counter demo of about 200-300 people down the other end of Whitehall. Those who joined it deserve all credit for being there. They were under fairly serious threat of being attacked by breakaway mobs from the main demo.
This was the largest far-right demo in the UK since the Second World War. More than triple the size of any EDL demo that ever happened. Twice as big as the “Day for Freedom” only a month ago.
Mass mobilisation is far from the only trick in the anti-fascist book. This isn’t an argument against squaddism, local electoral politics, media exposés or anything else in the anti-fascist toolbox. However, it is an important tactic, and it’s important to get it right.
Mass demonstrations, whether marches or statics, have historically been important to fascist movements in much the same way as they are useful to the Left. They provide a sense of solidarity and a feeling of a job well done, meaning that participants go home feeling part of a broader movement and willing to put that bit more effort into day to day political activity.
