Mfj Anti-fas Nov 09

MOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE By Any Means Necessary

STOP THE FASCISTS MARCHING IN NOTTINGHAM (5th Dec) & HARROW (13th Dec) PASS THE EQUALITY BILL NOW DEFEND THE RIGHT of MUSLIM COMMUNITIES TO WORSHIP AND TO LIVE AS FREE AND EQUAL CITIZENS! BUILD THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT! WIN EQUALITY, DIGNITY AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL!

SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT RACISM November 2009 On September 11, the English Defence League (EDL) - a racist and far right-wing organisation with ties to the fascists - threatened to shut down Friday prayers at the Mosque in Harrow during Ramadan. Our community mobilised in defence of the right of the Muslim community to pray in peace and to protect the right of everyone in our society to enjoy religious freedom. Our integrated, mass mobilisation of thousands of people in Harrow scared the racists off, stopping their march and rally before they ever got started. Our mass mobilisation in Harrow, and the mass, militant, youth-led mobilisation in Birmingham at the end of the summer, decisively defeated the fascists’ efforts in those two communities. The key to our success was that in both Harrow and in Birmingham, the Asian communities turned out in force to defend our rights, with young Muslim women and men providing militant leadership to the very large and integrated anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstrations. While Harrow and Birmingham provided excellent examples of how the civil rights movement needs to mobilise to stop local marches and rallies by the far-right, our successful efforts were not enough to demoralise and prevent the EDL from holding other rallies. We also did not prevent them from continuing to get significant behind-the-scenes financial backing. On Sunday 13 December the EDL is planning to try to march and rally again in Harrow. They are also planning to march in Nottingham on Saturday 5 December. Our aim must be to use these two EDL events to politically orient and organise the antiracist, anti-fascist civil rights movement, so that we can deal the fascists the kind of defeat that will prevent them from trying to march and rally anywhere in Britain in the foreseeable future. PASS LABOUR’S EQUALITY BILL NOW TO STOP THE FASCIST MOBILISATIONS The quickest and simplest way to demoralise the fascists and stop their marches and rallies would be to win immediate passage of the Labour-sponsored Equality Bill before Parliament. An aim of the EDL mobilisations is to prevent the passage of the Equality Bill prior to the spring elections. The far-right understands that passing the Equality Bill would not only extend new and important anti-discrimination rights and protections to the Asian and black communities, it would demonstrate how dynamic, powerful and important these communities are to the future of the society. If the Equality Bill is put up for a vote before the spring elections the majority of Tory and Liberal MP’s will support it even though that would increase Labour’s popularity and chances for victory next spring. And while simply passing the bill will not in and of itself secure broad new rights for minorities and women, having every major political party feel that they had to enact some of the most far reaching new employment and civil rights protections for all British workers would embolden the Asian, black and immigrant communities, and give new life and confidence to the whole British left. If, however, Labour delays passage of the Equality Bill so that they can cynically use it as an election plank to garner more Asian and black votes, or because they fear offending white voters, there is a real danger that the Bill will not be passed at all in the near future and that the racists will gain an important victory. The EDL’s tactic of making anti-Muslim racism seem like a popular political trend with real support among white youth is an electoral tactic aimed at strengthening the far right-wing of the Tory Party within the party itself. The openly racist right-wing Tories, who do not support their Party’s current stance of having to give tacit support to the Equality Bill, cannot prevail prior to the elections because the Tory majority does not want to give up the chance of getting some electoral support from Asian and black voters. If there is no vote on the Equality Bill prior to the elections, and if the EDL simply persists in

holding local public rallies and marches, no matter how lame they are, the racist right-wing of the Tory Party will have a basis to argue that the Tories should adopt more openly racist politics to attract sections of society that are supporting the fascists but should and could be Tory voters. The EDL policy of creating the false impression that support for anti-Muslim sentiment is growing among youth who do not identify themselves with the fascists is a part of this manoeuvre. If no vote occurs now on the Equality Bill there is a much greater chance of the Tory Party moving to the right and the whole right-wing, including the British National Party, gaining some dynamism. This would make it much more difficult for the anti-racist civil rights movement to isolate, demoralise and defeat the fascists. On the other hand if the anti-racist, anti-fascist movement can make the Labour Party hold the vote on the Equality Bill now, we can hand the EDL a real defeat, strengthen the power of our movement and the communities we speak for, and move British politics in a progressive left-ward direction. While it is essential for us to mobilise integrated mass actions to stop the EDL mobilisations planned for Nottingham and Harrow, it is at least as important for anti-racist, anti-fascist activists and organisations to be building an independent civil rights movement capable of mobilising support to get the Equality Bill passed now. ORGANISE THE ASIAN, BLACK, MUSLIM, IMMIGRANT AND ANTI-RACIST WHITE YOUTH TO STOP THE EDL FROM MARCHING IN HARROW AND NOTTINGHAM In Harrow and Birmingham the mass mobilisation of Asian and Muslim youth was the key element in the decisive defeat of the EDL. In both communities Muslim religious leaders urged the youth to come out and participate in the anti-fascist, anti-racist demonstrations. The militancy, determination and pride of the large number of Asian, black, Muslim and immigrant youth inspired our communities and discouraged many would-be fascist supporters from attending future events. In Birmingham, Dr. Muhammad Naseem, a prominent Muslim leader in the West Midlands, refused to condemn the actions of the Muslim youth who stopped the fascists cold, and refused to ask the youth to stay home when the EDL threatened to return. This made Birmingham the only place that the EDL is saying is too dangerous for them to return to. Dr. Naseem’s urging Asian youth to “vent their feelings about the fascists” and his cautionary advice to the youth to go to anti-fascist demonstrations in large groups to assure their safety, are sound, common-sense directives that need to be repeated everywhere the fascists are attempting to march or rally, most immediately in Harrow and Nottingham. The EDL is hoping that the Mosque leaders in Harrow, who mobilised worshippers in September to protect our community, will not call on Muslim youth to mobilise to stop its march in December. They are also hoping that the massive pressure that has been applied by the media and liberal/progressive politicians and groups on Muslim leaders to tell the youth to stay home will influence what occurs in Nottingham. The civil rights movement must build mass mobilisations of the Asian, black and immigrant communities to deny the fascists a platform, even if religious leaders or other Asian or black community leaders are urging the youth to stay at home. The EDL mobilisations in Harrow and Nottingham will fail before they commence if we can get the young leaders of the Asian and black communities to organise and mobilise our communities. JOIN MOVEMENT FOR JUSTICE, BECOME A LEADER OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT The Movement for Justice exists to build a civil rights movement and to develop the new, young, integrated leaders of the movement. We are not scared to speak the plain truth about racism and we relish the opportunity to organise the enormous social and political power of the oppressed communities. Britain needs change and it needs it now. We know that too many self-anointed leaders of the Asian and black communities, the unions and progressive community organisations, and virtually every politician, fears the power of the Asian and black communities. They are more scared of organising and unleashing our power than they are of what we will face if the fascists prevail. We have no leaders who speak for us. And so we need a new generation of optimistic and proud young leaders, committed to building the civil rights movement, to step forward and fill the void of leadership. Cynicism and fear must give way to hope and determination. To win, we need a new youth leadership to emerge, and this struggle provides us with a great opportunity to advance this process. The next phase of history is going to be so exciting. It is our moment to lead and shine. We can inspire everyone to action, to be ourselves, whether as Muslims or members of other religions or of none, and whatever our national background or culture. We can make a new Britain and WE CAN WIN!

Join the Movement for Justice www.movementforjustice.org.uk / [email protected] / 07552 093 950 Facebook: search “Movement for Justice by any means necessary”