Lincoln launches anti-BNP campaign

Lincoln Socialist Party held a public meeting on 16 August to build a
coalition against the rise of the BNP and far right in our area. Over
30 people, including trade unionists, campaign organisations and local
activists supported the initiative to launch Lincoln against Racism and
Fascism.

Marc Glasscoe, Lincoln

Around six members of the BNP, armed with cameras and recording
equipment, attempted to infiltrate and disrupt the meeting. They claimed
that the BNP wasn’t a racist party and was non-violent, but we made it
clear that they weren’t welcome and they were removed from the meeting.
They then waited outside the meeting for two hours, clearly trying to
intimidate people as they left.

There was wide-ranging and sometimes heated debate on how to take the
campaign forward, from the need to look at the causes of the growth in
support for the far right to calls for the new coalition to remain
completely non-political!

Many speakers pointed out that this may not be possible given that we
are launching a campaign to combat a political party. However everyone
agreed that the Socialist Party had put a great deal of effort into
ensuring this campaign got off the ground and we were congratulated on
more than one occasion for taking the lead in getting the campaign
moving.

A steering committee was elected, including three members of the
Socialist Party. We made it clear that this must be seen as the
beginning of a campaign of action against the far right, engaging with
local communities in Lincoln and the surrounding area and taking the
campaign to the streets. The finance appeal raised £70.