Leicester, Oldham, Bermondsey...

Get Tough On The Nazis

NEW LABOUR and the Tories are competing with each other to be 'tough on crime' and 'tough on asylum-seekers'. New Labour have continued the Tory policies on asylum and immigration, law and order and attacks on jobs and living standards.

Some Tories have crawled out of the racist woodwork in the run-up to the general election, giving fascist organisations like the National Front and the British National Party encouragement to venture out into the streets.

SIMON, from south London, explains how the fascists are being countered as they attempt to organise another march in Bermondsey:

EXCELLENT WORK is being carried out in Bermondsey and Surrey Quays by the Socialist Party and Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE).

The National Front (NF) are planning to march for a third time in this part of south London on 12 May, despite widespread and growing opposition from the local community.

A former racist housing policy has meant that Bermondsey is a predominantly white working-class area. The collapse of the thriving dock industry, high unemployment and decades of under-investment has led to poor housing and other facilities.

People are also worried about crime and the development of other social problems. Against this background, the NF hope to find a sympathetic ear amongst the disillusioned working-class.

But the Socialist Party and YRE have been campaigning, talking to local people and putting forward a socialist solution to the neglect of the area and an alternative to the fascists' ideas.

The vast majority of people are opposed to the NF and its planned march.

Many people understandably thought the march should be banned, so we explained that any ban by the police or the council could also be used against working-class people campaigning on other important issues like job losses, privatisation, school closures and cuts in services.

We argued that only organising and mobilising the local community onto the streets to confront the fascists would prevent them from marching.

We pointed to the success in Welling in 1993, when the mobilisation of 50,000 people led to the closure of the BNP headquarters.

The people of Bermondsey are clearly open to socialist ideas. This was shown when, on one afternoon recently, four Socialist Party members set up a stall, sold 39 papers and collected over £30 in fighting fund in just 1 1/2 hours.

We also collected many names of people interested in joining the Socialist Party.

• Don't rely on police bans - only mass action will stop the Nazis from marching.
• Scrap the Asylum and Immigration Act and all other racist laws.
• End discrimination on the grounds of race, sex, sexuality, disability and all forms of prejudice.
• For a socialist society and economy run to meet the needs of all.

Leicester Socialist Party: Building support for socialism among young people

Leicester Socialist Party: Trade Unions - what are they doing for us?

Leicester Socialist Party: Financing a revolutionary party

Leicester Socialist Party: Fight the Con-Dems' welfare reform

Leicester Socialist Party: Europe - a continent in crisis

Leicester Socialist Party: The battle to defend pensions and services

Nazis:

1936 - A play about the Olympics

Sweden: Socialist councillor viciously assaulted by Nazis

The Reader

Austria: Socialist players suspended from football club for anti-fascist activities

Bermondsey:

1911 - Bermondsey women's uprising

Asylum:

Stop prison guards housing asylum seekers - stop G4S!

Defend the right to asylum

Refugee and Migrant Justice: Save this vital service!

Fascists:

Battle of Cable Street 1936 - When workers stopped the fascists

Cable Street 1936 - Workers drove back the fascists

Greece: unite the struggles and bring down the government

Racist:

Police restrict anti-racist protesters in Luton

Thug attack won't stop anti-racist work

Brighton: Mass protest counters racist EDL

Immigration:

Immigration and the far right

Immigration Advice closure shows need for industrial struggle

Workplace news in brief

Crime:

US embassy protest remembers Trayvon Martin

Oppose the Con-Dems' snoopers charter

Review: Borgen - politics and crime in Denmark

Fascist:

Far-right EDL outnumbered in Bolton, police try to even the odds!

Scottish Defence League defeated: Working class political alternative urgently needed

BNP: Looking beneath the suits

Socialist:

Bristol Central Socialist Party: Art and Politics

Bristol Central Socialist Party: The role of the monarchy in capitalist society

Southampton Socialist Party: Greece - how would a workers' government stabilise the economy?

Socialist Party:

Liverpool Socialist Party: Marxist Economics

Liverpool Socialist Party: A Marxist view of history

Bristol East Socialist Party: No Pasaran! Fighting the far right