Stand Up To Racism - North West Regional Summit

Stand Up To Racism - North West Regional Summit

Supported by Unite Against Fascism

FROM TRUMP TO TOMMY ROBINSON

TAKING ON THE RACIST RIGHT TODAY

• Saturday 23 June
• 2pm to 5pm
• The British Muslim Heritage Centre, College Road, Manchester M16 8BP.

To book places, please contact northwest@uaf.org.uk

Stand Up To Racism - Manchester demo

Hitler: Nazi or Alt-Right?

Heather Heyer, murdered in Charlottesville

I recently looked up the term 'Alt-Right' as I wasn't certain what it meant. Obviously I realised it had something to do with Far Right politics, but what did it mean specifically? It turns out it is short for Alternative Right, which, according to Wikipedia, is 'a loosely defined group of people with far-right ideologies who reject mainstream conservatism in favor [sic] of white nationalism, principally in the United States, but also to a lesser degree in Canada and Europe'. The term is attributed to Richard Spencer, an American white supremacist who is president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank.

The recent events in Charlottesville in Virginia, where Heather Heyer was killed and nineteen others injured by a murderous 20-year old bigot deliberately driving a car into a crowd of people, show us that the street thugs are not so mealy-mouthed about describing themselves. Swastikas, Hitler T-shirts and placards, KKK outfits, Confederate flags, flaming torches, Nazi salutes and chanted Nazi slogans could leave no one in any doubt about their political role models.

In the face of such overt demonstrations of their allegiances, why does the media use the term Alt-Right? This is a euphemism coined by those who seek to intellectualise Far Right hatred with the aim of bestowing upon it some utterly fraudulent respectability. The pseudo-science of racial biology has long been abandoned, not for politically correct reasons, but because there was simply no scientific evidence to support it.

Similarly, Far Right injunctions against homosexuality have no rational basis and are justified with reference to the Old Testament. This is despite the instruction in the New Testament to "Love your enemy", but bigots who base their prejudice upon religion tend to ignore inconvenient Biblical directives. Whatever other qualities the Old Testament may have for believers, it cannot be viewed as a scientific treatise.

It is clear that attempts to justify Far Right politics will fail any genuine rational examination, but that is irrelevant to those who are determined to believe what they want to believe, especially when it reinforces their pre-existing prejudices.

By using the term Alt-Right, the media is inadvertently granting the Far Right precisely the element of respectability that the promoters of the phrase wanted to achieve. It is a euphemism that obscures the reality of a world view based on hatred. Except that their actions and attitudes are so vile, one could almost feel pity for anyone who has become enveloped by such a loathsome mindset, but we must never forget they have a choice: there was no predestination that made being a bigot inevitable. As Charlottesville has shown us, some people, faced with the same environment, have come to different conclusions.

Let's call them what they are: Nazis, fascists, racists, anti-Semites, Islamophobes, homophobes, white supremacists, misogynists and thugs. It's not as though we're short of accurate terms.

Neville Grundy
ARMS Mersey

Unite Against Fascism - oppose the EDL in Rochdale

This Saturday - 29 July

Meet at 12.30 pm on Saturday at Yorkshire Street near Poundworld, Rochdale OL16 1JW.

A week after the fascists of Britain First demonstrated in Rochdale, another group of Nazis - the EDL - will be making an incursion into the town this Saturday, 29th July.

Unite Against Fascism, trades unionists and others will be protesting for the second week running, to send a clear message to the EDL that they are not welcome in Rochdale.

The EDL is a fascist organisation. Their founder, who goes under the alias 'Tommy Robinson', was a member of the British National Party. Other leading EDL figures have also been members of the BNP.

Join us on Saturday 29 July at 12.30 pm in Rochdale town centre to show for the second time in a week that fascists are not welcome in Rochdale.

For more details, please contact northwest@uaf.org.uk.

The latest terrorist atrocity

A personal view.

There's politics, and there's fanaticism. I want the world to be a better place for the majority, which is why - one way or another - I've been politically active in my own very small way for most of my adult life.

I cannot understand driving vehicles into strangers, or stabbing people you do not know. I do not see how anyone can be brought to believe these are justifiable actions.

There are terrible injustices in the world that should be rectified, but killing random strangers will not do anything for them. We must not be selective in our condemnation: far more innocent civilians have died in attacks in the Middle East in recent weeks: for instance, at the same time as the latest attack in London, dozens of civilians were killed in Mosul while fleeing a district held by Da'esh. Their lives are not worth less than our own fellow citizens.

These fanatics want the majority in the UK to revile the Muslim people who have chosen to make this country their home - not forgetting that some Muslims in this country are second generation or more: this is the land of their birth just as much as it is mine. The killers are deliberately trying to stoke Islamophobia. They want us to stop living alongside the Muslims in our midst and instead turn against and revile them. They hope that our Muslim neighbours will then be provoked into joining Jihad. They are deluded, but that alone won't stop them. The sight of a bishop, a rabbi and a Muslim cleric standing side by side after the Manchester killings will not make them think twice.

The correct response is obvious: we do not rise to the bait. We stand by all members of our communities who share our abhorrence of such directionless violence - regardless of faith or ethnic origin. It won't be easy, and our own white fanatics will be making racist capital out of what has just happened. It is the duty of all decent people not to let them dictate our responses to these atrocities.

Neville Grundy

ARMS

PCS conference pays respects to victims of Manchester terror attack

There was a minute's silence at the start of PCS conference yesterday to remember those killed in the attack at the Manchester Arena on Monday night. At least 22 people, many of them children, were killed and dozens more injured as they left a concert at the venue. Our president Janice Godrich shared our union's thoughts on the attack in a statement she read to delegates:

"Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific attack and their families, those who have lost friends and loved ones, and with all those affected by such sickening violence. We utterly condemn this abhorrent attack against innocent people, many of whom were young children. Today, we grieve for those who have lost their lives so tragically.

"We pay tribute to the dedicated emergency services and public sector workers who responded so selflessly and professionally last night, and who continue to work tirelessly to keep us safe at all times. Our union stands in solidarity with the people of Manchester against such appalling violence, and for peace and unity. We reject absolutely the hate and division that drive terrorist attacks like this, and reject all forms of prejudice and intolerance peddled by a violent minority in the aftermath of such incidents.

"We are strongest when we come together and we urge our members to take part in memorial events and to express their sympathy with the victims and their families."

From the PCS national website.

Unite Against Fascism on Merseyside

Provocatively - given the long and proud history of anti-fascism on Merseyside, especially recently - the EDL have announced that they are coming to Liverpool on 3 June.

This counter-demonstration is being supported by Liverpool city councillors, and the following unions: CWU, FBU, GMT, NUT, PCS, Unison and Unite. Other individuals, groups and organisations have also expressed support, including Michelle Hayward, Chair, Merseyside Jewish Representative Council, Steve Rotheram new Mayor of Liverpool City Region; Theresa Griffin MEP; George Howarth MP; and Howard Gayle. This list is very incomplete, and will become more so as more people sign up.

PCS has a long proud record of anti-racism