Unite Against Fascism

Unite Against Fascism
Formation 2003 (2003)
Type Anti-fascist pressure group
Headquarters London
Key people

Honorary presidents - Doreen Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon, Ken Livingstone
Chair – Steve Hart, political officer, Unite
Vice chair – Christine Blower, general secretary, NUT
Vice chair – Hugh Lanning, deputy general secretary, PCS
Vice chair – Azad Ali
Vice chair – Jennifer Moses, national official for equality and training, NASUWT
Treasurer – Jane Loftus, deputy general secretary, CWU
Joint secretary – Weyman Bennett
Joint secretary – Sabby Dhalu
Assistant secretary – Brian Richardson
Parliamentary Officer – Peter Hain MP
European officer – Claude Moraes MEP

European officer – Glyn Ford
Website http://www.uaf.org.uk
UAF members outside the BBC Television Centre protesting against the appearance of BNP leader Nick Griffin on Question Time.

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is an anti-fascist[1] pressure group in the United Kingdom, with support from politicians of the three largest political parties in the House of Commons, including the former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and the late Labour politician Tony Benn.[2] It describes itself as a national campaign with the aim of alerting British society to a perceived threat of fascism and the far right — in particular the British National Party (BNP) — gaining a foothold at local, national and European elections, arguing that "there is a real danger that the BNP could get a significant platform in elected institutions."[3]

As of 2014, its honorary presidents are Doreen Lawrence, Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon and Ken Livingstone. Its joint secretaries are Weyman Bennett of the Socialist Workers Party and the Anti-Nazi League, and Sabby Dhalu, formerly of the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR).[4] One of the UAF vice-chairs is Azad Ali, who in 2009 was suspended as a civil servant in the Treasury after he wrote approvingly on his blog of an Islamic militant who said that as a Muslim he is religiously obliged to kill British soldiers in Iraq.[5]

History

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) was formed in Great Britain in late 2003 in response to electoral successes by the BNP.[6] It began as a coalition that included the Anti-Nazi League, the National Assembly Against Racism, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and leading British unions such as the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) (now Unite) and UNISON. According to Red Pepper magazine, UAF was set up by the Socialist Workers Party and the National Assembly Against Racism.[7] In 2005, the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight disaffiliated from UAF after an argument over tactics to defeat the BNP.[8][9]

At UAF's 2007 national conference, speakers ranged from cabinet minister Peter Hain to Edie Friedman of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), as well as figures from the major UK trade unions.[10] At UAF's 2009 national conference, Bari was again a guest speaker.[11]

Protests against the British National Party

Unite Against Fascism states on its website that its aim is to deny the British National Party any chance of "gaining an electoral foothold"[3] stating that "there is a real danger that the BNP could get a significant platform in elected institutions." It claims the support of organisations representing labour, teachers, and rights activists.[12]

In November 2007, UAF organised a rally of over 1,000 people when BNP leader Nick Griffin and holocaust denier David Irving spoke at the Oxford Union.[13] On 9 June 2009, UAF demonstrated against a BNP press conference given by Griffin and Andrew Brons outside the Palace of Westminster following their election as MEPs. Demonstrators marched towards the group with placards, chanting anti-Nazi slogans, and threw eggs at Griffin, forcing the abandonment of the press conference. Members of the press were also hit. The protesters also kicked Griffin's car and beat it with placards as he was led away from the scene.[2] Two members of the public were hospitalised as a result of the demonstration.[14] Griffin claimed that the attack was carried out with the backing of the Labour Party.[15][16]

The following day, UAF demonstrated at the BNP's next attempt to hold a press conference at a pub in Miles Platting, North Manchester.[17] They chanted anti-fascist slogans and tried to drown out Griffin by playing Bob Marley songs at high volume. One protester was arrested after spitting in the direction of a car belonging to a BNP member.[17]

In January 2010, when the Pendle branch of the UAF removed a wreath from the War Memorial in Nelson that was laid down by Councillor Adam Grant, a former soldier and current British National Party member,[18] Richard MacSween of the Pendle UAF said, "The BNP have left a wreath and we have removed it because we don't approve of fascism." In response, Councillor George Adam, from the Nelson and District branch of the Royal British Legion, said: "I'm annoyed - they have no right to remove that wreath. The BNP is a legitimate political party and they have a right to lay down a wreath just as any other members of the public do." BNP Councillor Brian Parker added: "It's disgusting, and it's theft."[15][16]

Arrests and violence

UAF demonstration in Leeds, 31 October 2009.

On 19 August 2009, police arrested 19 protesters during a demonstration by UAF against the BNP's Red, White and Blue Festival in Codnor, Derbyshire.[19] Four people were charged, three with public order offences and one with unlawfully obstructing the highway.[20][21][22]

On 22 October 2009, the UAF demonstration against Nick Griffin's appearance on the BBC's Question Time programme resulted in injuries to three police officers.[23] UAF national officer and (then) SWP National Secretary Martin Smith was found guilty of assaulting one of the police officers at South Western Magistrates' Court, London, on 7 September 2010. He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, with 80 hours' unpaid work, and was fined £450 pending an appeal.[24][25]

On 20 March 2010, demonstrations from UAF and the English Defence League (EDL) in Bolton led to violent confrontations and the arrest of at least 55 UAF supporters, including the UAF protest organiser Weyman Bennett, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit violent disorder.[26][27][28] At least three EDL supporters were also arrested, and two UAF members were taken to hospital with a minor head and a minor ear injury.[26][27] After Bennett was charged and released, he accused the police of being hostile to anti-racists and called for an inquiry into the police's actions that day.[29] The police, while criticising the EDL for "vitriolic name-calling" blamed people predominantly associated with UAF for provoking violence and said that they "acted with, at times, extreme violence".[30] All charges against Weyman Bennett were eventually dropped. In response to this news he was quoted as saying: "This is a victory for anti-fascists and for the right to protest. I’m proud to say that the threat of these charges has not deterred any of us from continuing to stand up against the EDL. I can now continue my work without this serious false allegation hanging over me. It is imperative we continue to protest to protect our multi-racial communities."[31]

On 30 August 2010, violence occurred in Brighton, East Sussex, during a UAF protest against a march organised by a group called the English Nationalist Alliance. A spokesman for the police, who were attempting to keep 250 protesters and marchers apart, said, "Unfortunately a small group from the counter-demonstration [UAF] resisted this and threw missiles at the police." There were fourteen arrests during the violence.[32]

On 2 June 2013, 58 anti-fascist demonstrators were arrested by police under Section 14 of the Public Order Act[33] for failing to move up the street[34] away from a BNP demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament against what the BNP describe as Islamic "hate preachers".[35] Of the 58, only five were charged and their cases were dismissed at Westminster Magistrates' Court in April 2014.[36] The police had earlier banned the BNP from marching from Woolwich Barracks to the Houses of Parliament, fearing violence.[37]

Criticism

In 2006 David Tate argued that the Socialist Workers Party was seeking to dominate the UAF.[38] David Toube claims that the organisations involved in the UAF avoid condemnation of antisemitism.[39]

LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell has accused UAF of a selective approach to bigotry: "UAF commendably opposes the BNP and EDL but it is silent about Islamist fascists who promote anti-Semitism, homophobia, sexism and sectarian attacks on non-extremist Muslims. It is time the UAF campaigned against the Islamist far right as well as against the EDL and BNP far right."[25]

The journalist Andrew Gilligan has claimed that the UAF's reluctance to tackle Islamism is that several of its own members are supporters of such extremism. The UAF's vice-chairman, Azad Ali, has links to al-Qaeda and is also community affairs coordinator of the Islamic Forum of Europe, which Gilligan describes as "a Muslim supremacist group dedicated to changing 'the very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order and its creed from ignorance to Islam'".[25] According to Gilligan, Michael Adebolajo, one of the murderers of Lee Rigby in 2013, spoke "on the margins" of a 2009 UAF demonstration in Harrow.[25] Secretary Weyman Bennett responded by saying that Adebolajo was not an official speaker.[25]

References

  1. ↑ "EDL Birmingham demo location moved by police". BBC News. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2011. Anti-fascist group Unite Against Fascism (UAF) is one of a number of groups taking part in a "Unity" community event at the weekend to demonstrate the diversity of the city.
  2. 1 2 "Egg attack on BNP leader Griffin". BBC News. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
  3. 1 2 "Politics". National Union of Mineworkers. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  4. ↑ "Our Officers". Unite Against Fascism.
  5. ↑ Gilligan, Andrew (1 March 2010). "Sir Ian Blair's deal with Islamic radical". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 November 2013.
  6. ↑ "Unite Against Fascism". Socialist Worker. 6 December 2003. Archived from the original on 28 December 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
  7. ↑ "Unite Against Fascism". Red Pepper. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  8. ↑ Editorial in Searchlight, July 2005
  9. ↑ Letter of resignation to UAF in Searchlight, July 2005
  10. ↑ UAF website, "Hundreds gathered to launch campaign against the fascist BNP's May election offensive" 23 February 2007
  11. ↑ "Details announced for UAF 2009 National Conference". 19 December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009.
  12. ↑ UAF website,"UAF supporters include:"
  13. ↑ Matthew Taylor, "Irving and Griffin spark fury at Oxford Union debate", The Guardian, 27 November 2007
  14. ↑ "Two People In Hospital After BNP Protest". BSkyB. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
  15. 1 2 "BNP leader Nick Griffin pelted with eggs by protesters". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
  16. 1 2 "Why we threw eggs at the BNP". BBC News. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
  17. 1 2 Jenkins, Russell (10 June 2009). "BNP's Nick Griffin finally gets to make a speech". London: timesonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 October 2009. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
  18. ↑ "Police probe as anti-fascism group removes BNP wreath from Nelson memorial". Pendle Today. 29 January 2010.
  19. ↑ "BNP thugs cower behind police lines". Socialist Worker. 22 August 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  20. ↑ Taylor, Matthew (16 August 2009). "Four charged as far-right festival brings chaos to Derbyshire village". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  21. ↑ Fineren, Daniel (17 August 2009). "Three charged over racial taunt at BNP rally | UK | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  22. ↑ "4 charged after demo against UK far-right festival". Taiwan News Online. Associated Press. 16 August 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  23. ↑ Hines, Nico; Foster, Patrick; Hamilton, Fiona; Kerbaj, Richard (22 October 2009). "Anti-fascist protesters charge BBC before Nick Griffin booed during Question Time". London: timesonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
  24. ↑ "Martin Smith - 'I will appeal and clear my name'". Socialist Worker. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 21 March 2014.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilligan, Andrew (15 June 2013). "Anti-fascists fuel the fire of hate". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
  26. 1 2 "Police battle to control EDL and UAF protest in Bolton". BBC News. BBC. 20 March 2010.
  27. 1 2 "Thousands face off in rally". The Bolton News. 20 March 2010.
  28. ↑ "55 arrests at protests". The Bolton News.
  29. ↑ "Anti-fascist charged after Bolton protests". BBC. 21 March 2010.
  30. ↑ Smith, Lewis (22 March 2010). "Police blame anti-fascists for violence". The Independent. London.
  31. ↑ "Anti-fascist protesters to avoid charges after EDL clash". Manchester Evening News. 19 November 2010.
  32. ↑ "Three injured at anti-fascist demo in Brighton". BBC. 30 August 2010.
  33. ↑ Public Order Act 1986: 1986 c. 64 Part II Section 14
  34. ↑ "58 arrested as anti-fascist demonstrators clash with BNP in Westminster", London Evening Standard, 1 June 2013
  35. ↑ "BNP to State Rally in London". ITV. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  36. ↑ Hugh Muir, "Diary: Another bad day for the CPS as anti-fascist prosecution collapses", The Guardian, 15 April 2014, p 31
  37. ↑ Josie Ensor, "Police arrest 58 as anti-fascist protesters clash with BNP", Telegraph, 1 June 2013
  38. ↑ Tate, David (15 May 2006). "How to fight the BNP". The Guardian. London.
  39. ↑ Toube, David (18 February 2009). "Why we must reclaim antiracism from the far left". The Guardian. London.

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