Friday 28th April 2006 Free/Do nation Issue 541 ONE GOOSE-STEP BEYOND BNP LOCAL ELECTION BREAKTHROUGH? SCRAPPED ARREST OF THE WEEK Far-right racist the pseudo-problem of . After spending 5 days on remand in Lewes are fi elding an unprecedented number of The danger they represent is more in the prison and over a year on bail, anti arms candidates for the local council elections infl uence they have on mainstream media trade activist Jaya Sacca has had trumped- on 4th May. Their campaign feeds off the and than any prospect of jack boots up charges of assault, ABH and breach of natural disillusionment people in the UK in Whitehall. Parts of the media, notably the injunction dropped. He was arrested after have with New Labour’s cut-throat capi- Murdoch press, are pushing an openly racist being assaulted by security guards at the talist policies, which have fl ogged off pub- agenda, with the likes of Richard Littlebrain EDO MBM arms factory in Brighton in lic assets for the profi ts of a small elite of (yeah, he’s working for the Mail now) leav- July last year. Charges will be formally wealthy individuals, while clamping down dropped at Lewes Crown court next week. ing no fact undistorted to blame social ills Jaya is the twenty fourth victim of spurious on civil liberties with authoritarian laws. and inequality on immigrants. Nick Griffi n arrest in connection with protests against The BNP uses this dissatisfaction to pro- has described the tabloids as “one of the EDO MBM to have their charges. mote its racist agenda by blaming all these BNPs best recruiting agents” and expressed Weekly demos continue every Wednes- problems on immigration and building up his satisfaction with government immigra- day, 4-6pm at EDO MBM, Home Farm the fear-mongering myth of Islamic extrem- tion policies. The BNP’s success has been Road, Brighton (off Lewes Rd). ism. Its infl ammatory leafl ets use the tried- to get immigration considered a ‘problem’ * See www.smashedo.org.uk and-tested tactic of divide and rule to create right across the board, dragging the debate divisions within society along racial lines. inexorably down and to . ‘n’ order, with Neo-Labour playing sec- Initially the BNP’s mid-nineties reori- The racist political and media cam- ond fi ddle, is an indicator that all parties entation to electoral politics was the result paign has real consequences - last Friday, consider that playing the race card is a po- of defeat on the streets. Their strategy of 18 year old Christopher Alaneme was tential winner. While the Mirror may have ‘march and grow’ where ‘rights for ’ stabbed to death in Kent in a racist attack, recently attempted to stem the tide of anti- were to be secured with ‘well directed fi sts and the British Crime Survey estimates that immigration propaganda, the recent furore and boots’ collapsed under the onslaught there are more than 200,000 racially mo- of Charles Clarke’s failure to ensure the of Anti-Fascist Action and the Anti-Nazi tivated incidents every year. The fact that control of ‘foreign’ prisoners shows that League. However the bulk of the party now, the Tory party’s election campaign echoed many in the so-called political ‘centre’ are publicly at least, supports Nick Griffi n’s the BNP’s stance on immigration and law continued overleaf... strategy of ‘respectable’ action through the ballot box. Not that the BNP are about to form a government – they only currently KINGDOM COMEUPPANCE have 20 councillors up and down the coun- Following on from last week’s coverage, our man in Kathmandu sent us this update... try and nothing like a majority on any lo- He’s not an avatar of vishnu, he’s a very on the other hand, was well up for selling out cal authority. Even if extremely successful naughty boy... Nepal’s popular revolution ASAP. The king, they can only hope to double that number. “Kathmandu and the entire nation of Nepal Western leaders said, had made a generous But signifi cant numbers of people are will- is no longer under siege from its ‘own’ army. offer. Sections of the media portrayed the (See SchNEWS 540). Nepal’s massive and in- protesters as unreasonable for not accepting ing to put their cross down next to a party spiring democracy movement fi nally forced the a crappy deal that left the corrupt murdering that among other things promises repatria- king to hand power back to the people. Late on fi sh-faced king still running the show. Reuters tion of every non- individual to their Monday night he made a surprise TV appear- and others have simply reprinted lines straight country of ‘ethnic’ origin. ance, looking more like a tired fat haddock than from the palace propaganda department which ever. Making minimum concessions he offered claimed that the enormous nation-wide move- OPPORTUNISTS KNOCK condolences for the 17 dead and 5,000 injured ment was a Maoist plot. Demonstrations were If people are gravitating to extremist or- by the brutal repression he had ordered, and that described as “violent” after the army fi live ganisations, it is because the mass organised was that. Not with a bang then, but a whimper. ammunition into unarmed crowds. Left has collapsed and the centre has proved The next day hundreds of thousands At best this might be because they weren’t to be an illusion. After 1997, some people marched, sang and did the funky chicken along bothered about reporting and had pickled their held a naive hope that things would improve the ringroad where many of the protests and brains in the local moonshine bars instead. At after the nightmare of Thatcherism, but of the bloodshed had taken place. The mood was worst their political bias told them that an in- course Neo Labour only continued the capi- positive, but people knew that this was just herently violent status quo is better than the risk talist project, adding their own peculiar twist the beginning because they’ve been let down of ‘instability’. Chaos is bad for the market, of and sinister doublespeak by leaders so many times. This time they’re after all, and nobody wants that. Either way, (and while fascists threaten to bomb Mus- determined not to let it happen again. When an enormous massacre was narrowly averted, the political elite disappeared to negotiate the despite the king ordering troops to shoot ANY lims, Neo Labour are actually doing it all carving up of power with the king, crowds group of people in the streets last Tuesday. Two over the world). The BNP’s propaganda at- outside demanded the politicians came out to million were expected to march on the royal tempts to step in to this political vacuum by tell them what they were up to. Twice in one palace and only a last-minute climb-down by latching on to legitimate issues like unem- day they had to stop the talks to come out and the king stopped a huge bloodbath.” ployment, the state of the NHS, privatisa- promise not to cut any dodgy deals! Pressure’s still important. Help squeeze the tion, and in fact any bandwagon with more Back on the streets unimpressed demon- king out and get the political prisoners out of than three wheels. While seeming to prom- strators burned effi gies of the king. Setting jail. Picket the Royal Nepalese Embassy, 12a ise everything to everyone in an attempt to up puppet governments is a tried and trusted Kensington Palace Gardens, London W8 on gain support, their answers still consist of game in Nepal. The people, meanwhile want Saturday 29 April, 2006 at 1pm. and hot air, returning relentlessly to the real thing. The international ‘community’ * For more see www.kantipuronline.com @nti-copyright - information for action - published in Brighton since 1994 ONE GOOSE-STEP continued... AN EYE ON ZION SchNEWS in brief willing to play with fi re when it comes to using la- Brighton activists with the International Don’t attack Iran Protest, Sat 6th May, Churchill tent racism to score political points. Politicians and Solidarity Movement (www.palsolidarity.org) Square, Brighton, 2pm. Organised by Sussex Ac- journalists assume that the electorate - particularly are currently based in Tel Rumeda near Hebron tion for Peace ** It’s the last Friday of the month, the ‘white working class’ - is racist, so their tactic in the Occupied Territories. The Palestinian in- so get down to the Level in Brighton at 6pm for to restore confi dence in the ‘centre’ is to promise habitants of Tel Rumeda are subject to constant the latest Critical Mass. ** Support’s needed for to be ‘tougher’ with an endless series of crack- harassment by extremist Israeli settlers. Here’s demonstration at Broadholme Farm, Irthlingbor- downs and fear-mongering against the most an account of a typical day April 22nd … ough, nr Wellingborough, against neglect, starva- marginalised people in society. The centre par- “A gang of 30 militant Israeli settlers attacked tion, animal abuse and cruelty. Meet 29th April ty’s ceaselessly irrigate the cesspool in which the a Palestinian grocery shop, and assaulted the at Tesco Carpark off A45 in Turnells Mill Lane, BNP swim. owner’s son and several others. Wellingborough at 12pm ** Get to the Manches- The bungled attempt by the state to pros- International Human Rights Workers were also ter Anarchist Bookfair, 29th,12-5pm at The ecute Nasty Nick Griffi n twice for the same of- attacked when they stood between the shop-front Basement, 24 Lever Street (off Piccadilly Gar- fences of race hate were certain to fail while giv- and the gang. The settlers only stopped when dens) Manchester www.bookfair.org.uk ** Stop ing free publicity to the disgusting ideas he has confronted by soldiers from the Israeli Army. The the Seal Prison Demo, Sat 13th May, against the carefully cleaned up to remain within the law, gang, composed of teenagers and older boys, all Sealife centre’s application for seal and otter pools and served mainly to soften up public opinion in Orthodox Jewish dress of white shirts, black in Brighton. Meet at Sealife Centre 12pm. Help for more laws restricting freedom of expression pants and skull-caps and led by an adult man, needed at 11.30am to set up stalls and banners ** and the erosion of double-jeopardy protection. then moved off into a near-by Palestinian olive Sea Shepherd Talk+Films - Come and hear tall One of the central ironies of the BNP’s grove, where several Palestinian families live. tales of high seas whale-saving piracy from a nau- attempt to surf the zeitgeist of terrorism para- Tension had been building all afternoon. Set- tical ne’erdowell. Cowley Club Brighton Weds noia and Islamophobia (the party tastelessly tler children spat at, and verbally abused human May 3rd 6pm.** ‘Simon Jones Was Someone!’ reproduced images of the bus blown apart on rights workers in the mid afternoon…Some is a play about Simon Jones’s death at Shoreham July 7th with the slogan “Maybe now it’s time hours later, at approximately 3:45pm, the gang Dock in 1998 and the subsequent campaign for to start listening to the BNP”), is that the far- of youths marched through Shuhada Street, in justice. Performed by The Dingle Community right produced its very own homegrown terror- the old city near the illegal settlement of Beit Theatre on May 8th & 10th. Casa Club, Hope ist – David Copeland. His association with the Hadassa. They then turned left just before the Street, Liverpool at 8pm, free entry with donations BNP in the early nineties fuelled his psychosis, Army checkpoint and marched up the hill where to the Simon Jones Memorial Campaign www. leading to him placing three nail bombs around they attempted to attack human rights workers simonjones.org.uk ** 1In12 Club Bradford is London in 1999 in an effort to spark a “racial who had become concerned for local Palestin- celebrating its 25th Anniversary with a party on war...so that all the would go and ians’ safety. The HRWs were backed up against the 28th at 9pm. For listings of other ‘1 In 12’ vote BNP”. Curiously, in all his rants about the a wall and only saved by the intervention of a events see www.1in12.com ** Benefi t for Rus- danger of terrorism from immigrant communi- squad of Israeli soldiers who happened to be pa- sian mobilisation against the G8 summit 2006. ties Old Nick doesn’t dwell on his own organi- trolling at the time. The gang continued up the With stalls, fi lms, speakers and free vegan food. sation’s fl irtation with suspect devices. hill, where the attack on the shop took place. 28th April, Old Howardian Club, Clifton Street, Neo-Labour are using the BNP as an elec- The settlers have a long history of violence Cardiff 8pm. £3 entry. toral scare tactic. In an effort to avoid an electoral and intimidation against the Palestinian popu- referendum over their own cowboy job while in lation of Hebron, but the Passover holiday power, they’re attempting to use the fascist bo- Anarchism06 period has seen a dramatic rise in the number - 21st Century Ideas and Action. A two day geyman to scare voters back into the fold and and ferocity of their attacks. During the weeks make their own authoritarian racist policies seem conference on April 29-30th celebrating the ide- around Passover, the settlers receive thousands as of... er anarchism. With debates and discus- relatively moderate. Sadly the main anti-fascist of visitors, some of whom join in with attacks organisation, the Socialist Workers’ Party-in- sions about social centres, autonomous workers on Palestinians, Palestinian property, and the struggles, the IWW, recent protests in France, spired Unite against (UAF), while pro- HRWs who attempt to protect them. Attacks viding a network of activists prepared to combat and more. Plus a benefi t gig for the sacked have become common. HRWs report an aver- Gate Gourmet workers (See SchNEWS 510) the BNP electoral threat, has chosen to emphasise age of two to three attacks occur each week in the message of ‘using your vote’, i.e. voting for with music and fi lms on Sat night 8.30pm-1am Tel Rumeida. Today’s attack was the third such (£5/£3). The Square Social Centre, 21 Russell either of the other authoritarian anti-immigration organized attack to occur on Shabbat…” parties on offer. So what’s a good anarchist to do? Square, London WC1. Nearest tube: Russell For more of this excellent blog go to www. Square. www.londonsocialcentre.org.uk Leafl eting with the UAF at least destroys the idea brightonpalestine.org of mass consensus around a right-wing agenda, but it is no alternative to building real anti-fascist GLASTO MUD SLINGING ...and fi nally... coalitions willing to take on the authoritarians in Usually around this time of year we get to hear power as well as the fascists on the street. how quickly it took the Glastonbury Festival to Do you want a View To A Kill? A stint serv- On St George’s Day, for example, Sus- completely sell out. Just because there’s no Glas- ing Queen and country? It seems that the latest sex activists chased the BNP off the streets of to this year, doesn’t mean that there’s no story. Thunderballs from the Dr No-brainers On Her Crawley, Ifi eld and Southgate. Meanwhile in But this time the sell out is to Clear Channel, Majesty’s Secret Service is advertising for re- Bristol recently, local people got together and the pro-anything-right-wing broadcast business cruits. This week the Secret Intelligence Services acted to shut down a neo-Nazi website run by which has just bought out the Mean Fiddler Mu- – better known as MI6 – actually stuck ads in a an organisation called , sic Group who own a 39% stake in the festival. number of newspapers for budding 007s. Perhaps after noticing stickers appearing around the Clear Channel’s been edging its way over to the traditional recruitment techniques of a word city. Residents tracked down who the site was the UK for a while, co-sponsoring events with in the ear of promising looking chaps at Oxbridge registered to (one Kevin Quinn, for the record) Mean Fiddler as part of the courting process. The just isn’t delivering the same unswervingly loyal, and where it was hosted, and then complained Texas-based company’s responsible for almost morally bankrupt KGB agents it used to. The ads to them. US-based Excellence Host acknowl- 70% of all ticket sales for American concerts, asked for “people we can depend upon”...al- edged that the site stuffed full of race-hate and running 1,250 radio and 37 television stations in though to do what exactly was left unclear. other trash breached their terms of service and the US (and interests in 250 radio stations across The photographic montage of exotic loca- so suspended the site on their servers. the globe for good measure). The station pulled tions, aeroplanes and balaclavaed man hold- In a way, this represents the true political the Dixie Chicks off its stations the moment they ing a machine gun may have been providing situation in the UK. The mass organised Left are came out as anti-war and company bosses have a clue...“We operate around the world to make not out in the streets fi ghting fascism, and it has supported pro-war ‘Rallies for America’ and this country safer and more prosperous”, claim come down to networks of individuals organis- helped fund the campaign that put Bush in offi ce. the spooks, scaring the Living Daylights out of ing ourselves to fi ght the BNP without relying Back in a 2001 publicity stunt, Clear Channel’s us and leaving us shaken, but not stirred to fi g- on the dubious authority of state or party. Tampa station DJ, Tod Clem, was arrested for ure out just how ruthlessly these aims might be * For info about anti-fascist direct action see castrating and then butchering an un-anaesthe- pursued - we already know that the World is Not www.antifa.org.uk tized pig in the station’s car park. Perfect partners Enough for these puppets’ masters. So don’t be * To fi nd where the BNP are standing candi- then for drug-addled corporate mudbathing pseu- an Octopussy, pull yer Goldfi nger out and get a dates in your region, check www.stopthebnp. do-hippies at the nation’s favourite festie then. For Your Eyes Only application pack...or join org.uk/index.php?location=ec2006 the SchNEWS and become the Man (or wom- * www.uaf.org.uk contains useful information, PICKET UK’S NUMBER ONE ARMS- an) with the Golden Pun. although their leafl ets do urge people to vote. DEALERS BAE SYSTEMS’ AGM. Thurs 4th Disclaimer (and 5th) at QEII Conference centre, London’s * www.uaf.org.uk/news.asp?choice=60423 lists SchNEWS warns all readers... if you’ve lurched to South Bank. (Tube Waterloo or Charing Cross). the right, don’t expect it to be all white on the night. anti-BNP events around the country. For travel from Brighton call 07891 405923 Honest! 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