Here is some news from Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB):
National Demonstration and Carnival to say NO to Racism, Fascism and Islamophobia
Date: Saturday 6th November
Timing: Assemble at 12noon
Venue: Assembly point at Malet Street, London WC1 then marching to WestminsterSummary: This demonstration is called by Unite Against Fascism and is backed by the Muslim Council of Britain, the Trade Union Congress and many other organisations and individuals.
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Now more than ever we must unite to turn back this tide of hatred. Make a stand against the rise of racism, fascism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Support the demo on Saturday 6 Nov.
So how does this fit in:
We will be marching through central London accompanied by floats with top artists from our sister organisation Love Music Hate Racism, including Jerry Dammers, founder of The Specials, Drew McConnell from Babyshambles, Kid British and radical rapper Lowkey
Lowkey? He is a darling of Israel haters. Here is one of his takes on antisemitism:
Nothing is more antisemitic than Zionism
OK, so even left wing Zionists who want nothing more than peace are “antisemitic”.
Furthermore, one should hate Marks and Spencers, Coca-Cola and Starbucks:
Every coin is a bullet, if you’re Mark’s and Spencer,
And when your sipping Coca-Cola,
That’s another pistol in the holster of a soulless soldier,
You say you know about the Zionist lobby,
But you put money in their pocket when you’re buying their coffee
What else has UAF done to combat antisemitism recently? Well, they staged a counter-demonstration when the EDL and the odious “surfing rabbi” assembled near the Israeli embassy in London. Guess who joined UAF for the fun.
Yes, it’s Neturei Karta, the tiny and reviled sect that wants to smash the Israeli state, supports Hamas and Hezbollah, and cuddles up with Ahmadinejad.
It seems they had kindred spirits outside the embassy, as this report suggests:
On a positive note I met some incredible people. They were brave and they were there, against racism, against Zionism, against imperialism and in support of Palestine, hoping for freedom.
Then there was the demonstration to stand up for the speakers at the Troxy event this summer. Those speakers included utterly foul antisemites, such as Bilal Philips and Hussein Yee. A local blogger noted Lutfur Rahman’s speech at the demonstration:
…he went into a long diatribe about the Troxy, and what was going to be a peaceful islamic conference, informing us that this was cancelled by our Council. That the council had no right to do this, and we must boot out these people and vote for strong leadership for our borough.
The blogger also had this experience:
Two ladies holding collection buckets for ‘Unite Against Fascism’ told me that he’d [Helal Abbas] already been on and had apparently been booed off stage.
I asked why, and they told me that this was because of him banning the conference at the Troxy. I told them that I didnt think he’d banned it, and that it was because of people pressure. Playing dumb I told them that I’d heard there had been some sort of conference or something that had been going on that had caused some controversy.
One replied no, going on to say that;
“The EDL were going to attack the Troxy, just because there was a muslim conference there”
I then told them I thought it was going to be a protest not an attack. Telling them also that I done some minor research, and found some quite disturbing statements about some of the speakers, none of which i knew the truth of. The first I reiterated that I’d read that one of the speakers, seemed to condone violence towards women, and another called for the death of homosexuals.
Then one of these women just looked at me and walked away, the other then started to argue her position that we;
“live in a country of free speech,”
and kept parroting on about the evils of the EDL. I could see all of her points about the EDL, but to be honest it felt like some party political broadcast.
Here’s a UAF group at last year’s Al Quds Day, standing up for the marchers at an event dedicated to hatred of Israel where “we are all Hezbollah” is the rallying cry.
The marchers were well pleased:
At the end of the march as we entered Pall Mall for the rally we were warmly greeted by a crowd of anti-fascist activists from “Unite Against Fascism” (UAF) and the Socialist Workers Party who had come to give us support against the fascists, we were truley moved! We recognised many of the faces as ardent supporters of Palestine from previous demonstrations.
Another observer was not impressed:
The pitiful UAF/SWP (around 25 people) were stationed at the end of the demo, apparently there to protect the demonstration from fascists. They had no clue what was happening, they must have known that the EDL were up by Piccadilly Circus – 200 metres up the road, because thats where they had been for over 2 hours, in a pen with around 100+ police in attendance. When the Al Quds demo reached the end point, the UAF/SWP took up their position to chant “solidarity” with the marchers!! It was a complete joke.
As for the MCB, its pretence that it opposes antisemitism is a joke. This is an organisation that boycotts Holocaust Memorial Day and supports hate preachers such as Yusuf al Qaradawi and Zakir Naik.
So who falls for this rubbish? Not Searchlight. They made this call five years ago:
We have found it impossible to work with UAF in any meaningful sense for some considerable period of time. However, the final straw has been public accusations that we are pandering to racism by addressing the issue of the grooming of young women in Keighley. We believe that if we did not address the issue then the BNP would be given a free hand to use it to garner votes.
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Also, there was only ever so long that we could participate in an organisation which had leading figures conduct a whispering campaign about Searchlight being “Zionists”.
Ed Balls, trade unions, the Runnymede Trust and so on are a diferent matter.
We stand against the rise of racism, fascism, Islamophobia and antisemitism and support the demonstration on Saturday 6 November.
Signed:Derek Simpson joint general secretary, Unite the union, Tony Woodley joint general secretary, Unite the union, Keith Sonnet deputy general secretary Unison, Ed Balls MP, Diane Abbott MP, Billy Hayes general secretary, CWU, Tony Kearns deputy general secretary, CWU, Chris Keates general secretary, NASUWT, Christine Blower general secretary NUT, Kevin Courtney deputy general secretary, NUT, Mark Serwotka general secretary PCS, Hugh Lanning deputy general secretary PCS, Matt Wrack general secretary FBU, Bob Crow general secretary, RMT, Jeremy Dear general secretary NUJ, Pete Murray president NUJ, Gerry Conlon Guildford Four, Paddy Hill Birmingham Six, Runnymede Trust, Napo, POA, Musicians Union
Antisemitism is not an issue for the UAF. Except when the right kind of antisemite is to be protected, of course.
Some of us are not fooled by this obscene joke from a SWP front organisation that riots in the streets and smears genuine anti-fascist campaigners.
Any politician who does stand with UAF is actually undermining the fight against fascism and giving support and credibility to a small and violent Trotskyite sect.
