By Andy Fenwick, Worcester Labour Party, personal capacity.
The English Defence League attempted and failed to sow racial division in Worcester on Saturday 21st July but was shown short shift by hundreds of counter protest. (See previous article, link below) In revenge, the EDL vowed to comeback to Worcester on Saturday 1st September with a national demonstration, mustering all their forces and for some, especially in the Muslim community, this was a very real threat.
In the period leading up to the EDL demonstration, a petition was initiated, calling on the police to ban the EDL from Worcester. The police offered a mealy-mouthed excuse, saying that as the demonstration was static they had no power to prevent it. However, the police did everything possible to make a counter-demonstration unworkable and with only two days to go, agreement was finally reached. But this was with restrictions, such as that nobody could join it once the march had started. Disabled attendees had to make their names available to the police and were only allowed to go to the rally at the end of the march.
The police excuse for not banning the EDL was that it was a static demonstration, but this excuse evaporated when the EDL were given permission to march in the city centre, while the counter demonstration was kept outside and got no closer than the city wall. The protection of the EDL was confirmed by the size of the police presence. For a so-called national mobilisation, the EDL could assemble ninety or so thugs. However, the police had saturated the streets of Worcester with at least 500 police, whose duty was to defend these racist yobs.
The EDL came under a tirade of taunts from Worcester citizens at the corner of Broad Street, High Street as they passed by, but this angered these louts. The police could have made numerous arrests for breach of the peace offences which showed the level of protection afforded by the police to the EDL. A large number of anti-fascists followed the EDL to their rallying point with mocking derisions, with two lines of police separating the EDL and the anti-fascists. This led to a hostile reaction from the EDL goons, with some missiles coming from the fascists. The police decided that the peaceful counter-demonstrators should be moved back.
Whereas the police had been totally sympathetic to the EDL, their attitude towards the anti-fascists was heavy-handed and threatening: if you did not move fast enough you would arrested. This led to a police officer pushing an elderly, disabled member of the public, when it was pointed out the man was disabled he was told to walk faster. The police were not satisfied until they had created a 100 metre cordon-sanitaire to which the EDL thugs had ease of access.
The official labour movement counter-demonstration received massive support, not only from Worcester trade unionists but also from across the West Midlands with trade union banners from the FBU, Unite, the Bakers Union and many more. With six Local Labour Parties represented, young and old, multiracial and multi-faith, this was the right side to be on. The march started from the local mosque and came down towards the City Walls Road. The demonstration was so big it stretched across four lanes with a bhangra drum beat leading the way. The numbers must have been up to five hundred. As the counter-demonstration moved onto City Walls Road, a barrier of police vans separated the anti-fascists from the fascists and only 30 metres of roadway between the two car parks and the respective rallies. The noise from the counter demonstration drowned out the fascists, leading once again to fascist frustration.
Muslim youth missing this time
What was missing from the anti-fascist demonstration was the Muslim young men who fought the EDL to a standstill in July and whose brave leadership gave hope to those that followed them. It could be that Muslim community leaders have pushed a non-confrontational agenda and weakened the resolve of this group Muslim youth
What lessons can be learnt from the day? First of all, we should not rely on the police as a arbitrators of justice, when the fascist take to the streets. There is no point in asking them for favours that will never come. The day showed that the labour movement can mobilise, but how do you confront fascism? Let us take our lesson from history, in Italy Mussolini came to power despite the large and powerful labour movement because the leadership of the workers did not want any confrontation. Compare that to Britain in the 1930s the blackshirts wanted to swagger into power with Moseley as Britain’s Duce. On Sunday September 10th 1933, just days after the Reichstag fire, a clash occurred between BUF thugs and anti-fascist groups in Stockton on Tees. This kind of physical battle went on until the Battle of Cable Street in 1936 when the BUF was defeated. “Which side are you on?” is the question raised by trade unionists all over the world and every trade unionist and socialist has to answer the question.
Those who are prepared to fight the fascists, to ‘acquaint they heads with the pavement’ as Trotsky said, should not be pilloried and denounced. Hundreds of British workers went to fight fascism in Spain. We celebrate, commemorate and remember them with respect and yet too often today, it seems that too many labour leaders denounce the courage of young people who face down the fascists.
September 3, 2018
