Unite Against Fascism briefing: BNP meltdown in 2011 elections INTRODUCTION

The 2011 elections were a humiliation for the fascist (BNP). The results are a victory for all the anti- fascist campaigners who have distributed hundreds of thousands of leaflets and tabloids urging voters to Stop the BNP. The election disaster will only add to the scale of the crisis inside the party. The BNP suffered its worse set of local election results since it first stood significant numbers of candidates in 2002. It was wiped out in its key target city of Stoke-on-Trent and is reduced to only one councillor in Burnley — once considered a BNP powerbase. This defeat for the BNP comes after years of a patient and principled UAF campaign that exposed them as Nazis. The UAF are proud to have worked with local and national organisations to mobilise as wide as possible participation in the campaign to stop them. The BNP was already reeling from crisis to crisis ahead of the polls. In March, long-standing Nazi and BNP MEP , warned the party faithful that bitter infighting could bring the BNP to “an ignominious end before the end of this year”. The party has also been wracked with financial and legal problems. The BNP stood more than 268 candidates across the country — far fewer than the 744 it put up when the same seats were contested in 2007. It struggled in many areas to get its campaign off the ground, with activists divided and demoralised and leader under fire from his troops. The results will further intensify the crisis and weaken the BNP — its future looks bleak, with more strife to come. But antifascists cannot be complacent. The BNP’s electoral Nick Griffin flees the Frontline Club in January (top) during an support is clearly declining. The only way it will be resurrected emergency protest called by UAF. Griffin was due to speak at a about his 2010 election campaign in east London. The BNP were wiped out in is if mainstream political parties make concessions to racism that Stoke-on-Trent following a long campaign by antifascists (above). serve to legitimise far-right and fascist parties and make them appear less extreme. grave concern. But David Cameron’s attack on multiculturalism shows that the The election campaign against the BNP has been important not scapegoating of Muslims and other communities remains a real just in driving home the party’s weakness, but also in beginning to problem. Lessons should be learnt from France where the Front undercut the EDL, which is strongest in areas where the BNP has National’s vote decreased in 2007, but concessions to racism by previously had more of a base. president Sarkozy — the ban against the full face veil and the Leaflets like those distributed in many thousands in Stoke have expulsion of Roma communities — has led to an increase in the labelled the BNP as the Nazis they are. But they have also argued FN’s vote. clearly against the anti-Muslim racism on which the EDL as well as the BNP seeks to build. EDL street thugs We should cheer our success against the BNP — but we must Alongside the visible crumbling of the BNP over the last couple of also step up campaigning against the racists and fascists of the years, we have seen the dangerous growth of the English Defence EDL. League (EDL) — the racist thugs with fascists in its midst — whose leader “Tommy Robinson” is a former BNP member. 2011 Electoral wipe-out The BNP’s election collapse is likely to add to the drain of The BNP won no new seats on 5 May, retaining only two of the former members into the EDL. Fascist elements in the EDL have 11 seats it was defending. It lost all of its seats in Stoke-on-Trent, already been increasing their influence inside the organisation, one in Boston, one in Burnley, and two in Leicester. The only two “hardening up” its members and directing them against other seats it successfully defended were in Queensberry in Bradford traditional fascist targets, such as trade unionists and socialists as and East Goscote in Charnwood, where they sneaked in with five well as ethnic minorities. votes. EDL members recently invaded the News From Nowhere In less than 12 months the BNP have lost 12 seats in Barking bookshop in Liverpool — the area’s main trade union and labour and Dagenham council, and in the last 18 months been taken movement bookshop — to intimidate staff and customers. They from nine members to none in Stoke-on-Trent. The BNP have have targeted a host of towns and cities in their campaign of hate. not won a seat in Stoke since 2008 and have lost the last two They attacked a peaceful lobby of the French embassy over the elections for council seats in the Hapton with Park ward in banning of the veil and attempted to intimidate Muslim women. Burnley — where the last remaining BNP councillor will be up Every antifascist will celebrate the BNP’s miserable election for election in 2012 — the BNP had 8 councillors in 2003. results. But the growth and direction of the EDL are cause for Around the country, BNP votes have slumped, with candidates often reaching only half or less of the percentages they took in UAF Wales 2007 — the last time the same seats were contested. distributed some The BNP still has 13 councillors — one on Charnwood council, tens of thousands of special election two on Amber Valley council, one on Epping Forest council, one tabloids in the on Burnley council, two on Pendle council, one on Nuneaton & months leading up Bedworth council, one on Calderdale council, one on Rotherham to the elections. council and two in the Queensbury ward on Bradford council. The BNP councillor in Three Rivers council was not up for election on 5 May. Barnsley, where the BNP has been strong in the past, saw the party stand 19 candidates this time, polling an average of 8.8 percent, almost half their 16 percent average across 18 seats in 2007. And in cities such as Liverpool and York, every single fascist candidate got less than 5 percent. Two English Democrat candidates — one of them a former BNP councillor — were elected on low votes of just 195 and 231 votes in the Fenside ward of Boston, Lincolnshire. There were no other gains for the , the white supremacist England First Party (EFP) or the old-time Nazis of the National Front (NF). National campaign Antifascist campaigners were out delivering the last rounds of leaflets up to the eve of election day. In Stoke-on-Trent antifascists delivered one thousand leaflets a day during the run-up to the election (see Stoke report below). In Leicestershire, UAF activists and local trade unionists reported a positive response, with residents and various people said they were sick and tired of the BNP. In Arun, West Sussex, local trade union reps from the CWU, PCS and NUT unions joined other antiracists to sign a joint statement headed: “The BNP are Not Welcome In Arun”. Thousands of copies of the statement were distributed along with UAF’s “Don’t Vote BNP” leaflet as UAF supporters, Labour Party and trade union activists went door-to-door and ran high- street stalls to counter the BNP’s election campaign. The local campaign to stop the BNP has been widely welcomed and a UAF public meeting is planned in the area for after the elections. The BNP stood candidates in 12 wards in Bristol last year, but this time around they have managed to stand only one, in Thousands of leafleats Filbrook ward. were distributed in Stoke-on-Trent leaflet Residents gave antifascist campaigners the welcome news that there had been no evidence of any campaigning by the local BNP candidate — no-one on the area had even seen a BNP leaflet. In the West Midlands, there has been an excellent campaign in Barpool, Nuneaton, to dislodge BNP councillor Martyn Findley. BNP vote in Local Elections: 2000-11 Antifascist activists including a local NUT official reported a heartening response from residents. Year Candidates Seats won Total Seats The BNP stood 24 candidates at the last council elections, and BNP election posters and boards were prominent. On 5 May, they 2000 17 0 0 fielded two candidates and not one BNP election poster has been sighted. UAF activists have worked to get the “Don’t Vote BNP” 2001 4 0 0 message into every household where the BNP is standing. 2002 67 3 3 PCS union members joined other antifascists to distribute anti-BNP leaflets in Dudley, and UAF has worked with 2003 217 13 16 Wolverhampton TUC, which produced campaign materials 2004 312 14 21 against the BNP. The BNP stood 15 candidates in Birmingham received an 2005 41 0 21 average of 5.3 percent of the poll. 2006 363 33 48 BNP defector 2007 744 10 50 In Leeds high-profile BNP defector Chris Beverley’s bid to take a seat for the English Democrats failed. Beverley, still apparently 2008 612 15 55 assistant to MEP Andrew Brons, came in third — well behind the 2010 745 2 25 first two candidates. Neither the BNP nor the English Democrats succeeded in the city. 2011 268 2 12 The English Democrats secured two seats in Boston’s Fenside ward on very low votes. Former BNP councillor David Owens 2001, 2005 and 2010 local polls were held on the same day as a general election, won on just 195 votes after defecting to the English Democrats, the high turnout led to the BNP winning less seats than in previous elections. while Elliott Fountain was elected with 231 votes. Leaflets sponsored by The BNP held on to its seat in East Gastcote ward, East the NUT and PCS Midlands by the narrowest of margins, with the party’s Catherine were distributed Duffy winning on 401 votes, just five ahead of the second-placed to tens of thousands of candidate. households The BNP lost the seat they were defending in Whitwick ward, North West Leicestershire, with candidate Ian Mellor comfortably beaten. The fascist party had already lost a second seat when their councillor Graham Partner became an “independent” — he was also beaten at the polls. The BNP has managed to hold onto a council seat in Bradford’s Queensbury ward, where Lynda Cromie remains a councillor Sheffield BNP’s two candidates both came low in the poll. The longtime Nazis of the National Front put the bulk of their electoral effort into Hull. Their results ranged from 3.2 percent BNP as its “jewel in the crown” — comes after years of hard to 5.2 percent in the five seats where they had candidates. A BNP campaigning on the streets and doorsteps by activists from candidate picked up 6.9 percent in another ward. North Staffs Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (Norscarf) The BNP’s 19 candidates have failed to take a single seat and UAF. in Barnsley. It is here that the BNP failed miserably in a Back in 2009, the BNP had nine council seats in the city and parliamentary by election in March. It is also where the racist expected to build. But a Love Music Hate Racism carnival that thugs of the EDL turned out to stand with their BNP pals and summer pulled 20,000 mainly young people, making it clear attack a trade union march earlier this year. there was huge opposition to racists and fascists in Stoke. Just one BNP councillor remains in Burnley, the town that used to be a stronghold, after poor results for all of the fascists’ EDL rampage seven candidates this time. In 2010 the BNP targeted Stoke in the parliamentary as well as local council elections. That year the racist English Defence No breakthrough in Essex League (EDL) went on the rampage in the city, with Stoke BNP BNP have also failed to get anywhere in Ockenden, West councillors present at the heart of the EDL’s racist “protest”. & South Stifford, Tilbury Riverside & Thurrock Park But the joint Norscarf/UAF campaign — supported by trades wards. BNP’s Derek Beackon, once a notorious Nazi councillor unionists and others — stopped BNP deputy leader Simon on the , east London, came a poor fourth place in Darby from winning the Stoke Central parliamentary seat and Thurrock’s Chadwell St Mary ward. The party received another knocked the number of BNP councillors in Stoke down to five. poor fourth in Belhus ward. And another bad BNP result in Local campaigners labelled the BNP as the Nazis they are, Grays Riverside ward, with just 167 votes — although that’s two mobilised the antiracist vote, and were the critical factor in votes more than Beackon got. stopping the BNP in what was their second main target seat.

Wales Stoke 2011 campaign In the Welsh Assembly elections, where 7 percent of the vote was This year’s campaign started early — with the Norscarf needed to gain any seats, none of the BNP candidates reached the and UAF leafleting teams out in key wards months before threshold. Their vote slumped from 4.3 percent in 2007 to just the election, despite some nasty weather. As the campaign 2.4 percent this time. progressed, the weather improved and more wards were covered Its strongest list vote was in South Wales East, where it got just in a series of days of action. 3.6 percent of the vote — not enough to take a seat. UAF Wales The joint Norscarf/UAF leaflet sent out a clear message of the produced a four-page tabloid newspaper for February, March big victory that a mobilisation of the majority anti-fascist vote and April — 120,000 copies were distributed through the Unite, could achieve. It stated that “since the BNP won council seats PCS, CWU, UCATT, USDAW and NASUWT unions and in Stoke-on-Trent, these Nazis have brought nothing but race- Wales TUC. hate and violence to our city” and that locals could kick the Regular stalls were held in major centres such as Cardiff, Swansea Nazi BNP “out at the ballot box on 5 May — and out of Stoke- and Newport, as well as in smaller towns such as Caerphilly, on-Trent once and for all.” Pontypool, and Abertillery. In April, Norscarf and UAF campaigners disrupted the BNP’s BNP leader Nick Griffin had been seen fleetingly campaigning national election manifesto launch in the city. The BNP’s event in Cardiff and Swansea, but was forced to make very swift exits to was a miserable flop and party leader Nick Griffin failed to avoid protests. Antiracists were cheered by Griffin’s disinclination show up. One antifascist confronted the BNP and exposed their to hang around for long to meet the public. deeply racist and fascist politics. On the same day, the activists from UAF and Norscarf Scotland delivered more than 10,000 Stop the BNP election leaflets to The results for the BNP and National Front (NF) in the elections voters. to the Scottish Parliament were pathetic. The NF stood five On 30 April a CWU sponsored march through the city had candidates in the constituency elections, and took an average of a strong anti-fascist theme. This march reclaimed the route the just 1 percent of the poll. The BNP’s attempt to pull votes on EDL took in their 2010 rampage. Members of both Norscarf for its regional lists was also tiny, with an average of 0.9 percent and UAF spoke at the rally, as did Billy Hayes of the CWU, a across eight regions. The NF took a derisory 0.2 percent for its local MP and Cheryl Pigeon of Midlands TUC. regional list in North East Scotland. As election day drew near, the leafleting teams delivered an average of one thousand leaflets a day, every day, targeting the Stoke-on-Trent BNP and their fascist friends in the white supremacist England First Party (EFP). Stoke-on-Trent’s city council is now free of Nazis for the first time in a decade after the last five BNP councillors were kicked out in Election night celebrations the elections. On election night, after the polls closed, around 50 Norscarf The victory for antifascists in Stoke — long regarded by the and UAF activists gathered outside the count to demonstrate against the BNP and EFP candidates. Gary McNally, chair of Norscarf said: “On the streets talking to voters, many ex-BNP, it was clear the Nazis had lost a lot of the support they once enjoyed in the city. Many who in the past were happy to vote for the BNP were shocked to read the truth about the Nazi party’s true identity.” Football campaign The racist and increasingly fascist (EDL) are organising against a backdrop of recession, racism and virulent Islamophobia. One of the ways in which they organise is through football. The EDL uses social media to gain footholds among fans within “firms” at various clubs. It is no coincidence that their forebears in this are the National Members of Cambridge UAF were joined by fans of Cambridge United to leaflet Front, BNP and the . Of course there is the club’s game with Newport resistance to these racists which, in a modest way, UAF football fans are part of. From Celtic to Exeter UAF football supporters have acted against the poison of the Edl. who encourage Villa Uaf fans in their work. It feels like we Given the number of overseas players and BME fans there was have taken some steps forward following feedback received from a measure of confidence that what we do would find an echo. the leafletings from fans from around the country. Working with Kick It Out (KIO) and Show Racism the Red Card Union backing (SRTRC) we have done a variety of imaginative activities to try to enhance many fellow fans gut anti racism. We estimate that UAF fans have given out around 35,000 Inside grounds Edl influence remains weak and on some leaflets at grounds this season, in some cases financed by local notable occasions they have been successfully stopped from unions. Some fans have adapted our leaflets to suit their clubs organising/chanting within stadia — such as Orient and Brentford. identity as in Luton, Tranmere and Leicester, to name a few. They mainly organise outside of stadiums due to outright racism A number of fanzines have been supportive of what we do not being tolerated for the most part within grounds. and have carried articles on our work, we aim to develop this as However, it is a feature of recent edl mobilisations that a such independent fanzines are trusted massively by fans. section of white youth are attracted to them, many being drawn Obviously though we recognise we are far from perfect! from firms such as QPR, Chelsea and Portsmouth. SRTRC and KIO reach places we don’t, such as through their Essential in recent times to campaigning against racism within excellent work in schools. With this in mind, and as any good football have been KIO and SRTRC. There is much excellent football fan will tell you the key is to plan for next season. work to be built upon. Working with SRTRC and KIO, we aim to develop activities However, the Edl pose a specific threat in aiming to lure fans within stadia this coming year. to their filth and it is in this context that Uaf will conduct its Aims for next season football related work in next year’s season. Recently, several games have witnessed appalling incidents of racist chanting we have 1 - Later this May we are meeting with SRTRC to talk through witnessed at and West Ham. how we can deliver on some of the above. Srtrc have the A young player at Port Vale left the club due to a sustained authority to talk to clubs about facilitating a few players and campaign of racial harassment aimed at him. It is no accident that former players to put their point across re combating racism, there is a Port Vale EDL “division”. Islamophobia and the EDL. The edl within and around football is something of an elephant in the room in certain Building on success circles, so this would be a good way of helping to raise the issue. Uaf football fans leafleted over 30 grounds last season in all 2 - Again with either/or KIO/SRTRC a video on core themes of the major leagues — from Exeter City to the high flying to be sent to every club that could be screened at half times/pre Manchester City. matches, used in schools, colleges, union meetings/conferences. Our supporters leaflet their own grounds, it is fans themselves Both groups already do incisive videos on related issues and who know their own clubs and feel some ownership of this, receive many hits on You Tube, Facebook etc. who are central to what is done. Where existing antiracist fans groups exist we work with them — such as at Burnley and Bolton 3 - Targeted mass leafleting of certain grounds with prominent Wanderers. union members, officials, lay reps — already two union general One joint KIO/Uaf leaflet was given out at 26 grounds. We secretaries have expressed an interest in being part of this. leafleted grounds where there is a known Edl presence. With Wherever possible we would aim to work with clubs at an one exception, we have had a very encouraging response from official level concerning this. fans. 4 - We are approaching When Saturday Comes magazine for a A model of what can be done is at Cambridge where a Uaf special issue in relation to issues raised above. supporter in conjunction with the club and KIO, organised a very successful family day against racism on two match days. This 5- Many union members are of course avid football fans — we has helped to undermine a small but nasty Edl presence at the would like unions to sponsor a “Union Anti Racist Day” — this ground. could involve unions sponsoring leafleting days with appropriate The event is due to be done next season as the club see the logos displayed on leaflets, publicising the days, articles in union useful role it plays. Twice at Leeds Utd, uaf members and magazines featuring the cause and so on. different sets of trade unionists have leafleted at the ground. 6 - At some of the smaller clubs, such as Orient, supporters Results aside the leaflets went down well! clubs are to host “Love Football Hate Racism” nights. Such Through several leafleting at Leicester City a “Foxes Against enjoyable occasions help get the message across in a relaxed, fun the Edl” group is now active with the inspiring Fosse Boys at the way, we aim to have more of them. club backing the group. The Brigada Ultras at Aston Villa are another set of diehard fans Document produced by Unite Against Fascism, May 2011 Join Unite Against Fascism Name: ...... Address: ...... Postcode: ...... Email: ...... Trade union/organisation: ...... College/school: ...... Phone: ...... Mobile: ......

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