Archive for September, 2024

Report back from Harrow local defence group 07/08/24

Wednesday, September 4th, 2024

Around 400 anti racists came out last night in North Harrow while the fascist rioters failed to show up at their announced location. If they had shown up they wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Around 100 people joined a protest with speeches and chants called by the local TUC, PSC & Counterfire. On the other side of the junction around 300 people lined every shop in the high street as part of a community defence group put together at 2 days notice. All of the local man dem came out and stood alongside the shopkeepers. There was a very strong turnout from the local Tamil community as well as brothers from Mahfil Ali Mosque and many Hindus and Sikhs coming out in unity and the community defence stayed out long after the protest finished. Many of us planned to travel to Brentford or Hounslow if fash didn’t turn up, but they failed to show up there as well! There was a huge sense of joy among everyone there that our community had come out in such numbers and represented, and that the racist riots we’ve seen across the country weren’t happening on our patch.

The protest was mostly white and the Community defence was mostly Black and Asian but the whole community was united. Only a handful of people linked to the activist scene travelled from other parts of london to support and their support was very much appreciated. This is because most people from the scene were in areas closer to them like Finchley, Walthamstow, Stokey and Croydon, and people up for travelling north west mostly decided to go to Brentford instead where numbers were more needed. Elsewhere in Harrow over 100 brothers stood guard around Harrow Central Mosque late into the night and the fascists came nowhere near.

Unable to have a mob riot the local fash have resorted to tactics they’re describing as “guerrilla warfare”. Reports have been coming in the past few days of a liquid being thown on a hijabi women by a white man which may have been acid, cars of white people driving round shouting racist abuse and death threats at POC, bottles thrown over the fence of a school holding a summer camp and a white van driving around Wembley with a man throwing acid at Muslim women, white men in balaclavas being arrested by police in Harrow on their way to riot and an Indian student fatally stabbed in a possible racist attack. The school has been contacted and confirmed there was an incident, other reports such as fighting in Wealdstone are unconfirmed and can fly around at these times but we know what is taking place. 

Aside from a handful of potential spotters and livestreamers too frightened to film, a Hindutva fascist and confused desi Tommy Robinson supporter called Tirbhuwan Chauhan showed up, and a lone polish fascist started shouting racist abuse in the middle of the crowed and stamped on the foot of a man with his leg in a cast before the fascist was rescued by police. But instead of arresting him the police guarded him in numbers before bundling him away into a getaway car. Another car drove past and a racist punched a protester out the car window before speeding off but the police did nothing about this. Instead the police decided to focus on trying to enforce the section 60 they’d put in place and harass anti racists into removing their face coverings. The police couldn’t get their heads around the fact that the section of society they’re so used to criminalising and stereotyping were the ones who were out to protect our community and prevent a riot. However people looked out for each other and refused to remove our face coverings and despite threats, the police failed to arrest any anti-racists or enforce the section 60. 

Violent riots nationwide, co ordinated racist attacks by lone individuals and small groups  and arson attacks on homes aimed at massacring or expelling ethnic and religious minority groups is the definition of a pogrom. The anger of the racists has been stirred up by the lies of the media, influencers and politicians from New Labour, the tories and the far right, looking to scapegoat and distract from the oppression of the entire working class by our ruling elite. If Keir Starmer now goes ahead with his planned sweep of mass immigration raids then he will be rewarding the racist rioters, showing them their actions lead to results, and ordering the mechanisms of the state to take part in the pogrom and expulsion of the most oppressed and targeted section of our society. For now our mass community resistance nationwide may have halted the riots but we may need to utilise our networks and come out with the same strength to stop the colonial racist state form launching deportations and carrying on the pogrom of the racist rioters.

Bristol Antifascists Statement 03/08/24

Wednesday, September 4th, 2024

Bristol Antifascists Statement:

Yesterday (Saturday 3rd August 2024), Bristol Antifascists joined with antiracist and antifascist groups from Bristol and the South West, along with hundreds of Bristolians, to oppose a far right “Stop the Boats” protest.

We want people to understand up front: hundreds of normal Bristolians held the line yesterday against a brutal, sustained assault by fascists trying to attack a hotel housing migrant and asylum seeker families with very young children. The police absolutely failed in their duty to protect these families.

Disorganised, incompetent and hopelessly outnumbered by fascists, Avon and Somerset Police and the other forces brought in from outside the area would have, if left to their own devices yesterday, allowed a pogrom to happen.

At this stage everyone is familiar with the murders of Bebe, Elsie and Alice in Southport on Monday (29th August 2024). Our hearts are broken for these little girls and their families and loved ones. We cannot imagine the pain they are suffering at this time. We wish a speedy recovery to the other children and adults injured and traumatised by this attack.

Far right and fascist groups are using this tragedy, and the categorically false story that the attacker was a migrant or asylum seeker and a Muslim as an excuse to carry out violent pogroms against those members of our communities around the country.

Bristol Antifascists and our comrades joined a static, peaceful, counter-protest of around 700 people at 6pm at Castle Park. Throughout this hour small groups of fascists and far right attempted to provoke or even attack people around the edges of the protest. By around 7pm a larger group of around 100-200 fascists had gathered nearby in Castle Park. The fascists had clearly been drinking all day, and full of Dutch courage were keen on violence, attempting to March directly into the static-counter protest next to St Nicholas’ Church.

What ensued was a series of attacks against the static protest by fascists as they repeatedly broke through the hopelessly thin police lines. We faced full cans of beer and cider, glass bottles,and large stones being thrown and a series of direct physical assaults by groups of pissed-up and coked-up wannabe hard men, who were repeatedly sent packing by far better organised counter-protestors and antifascists. Even with horses and attack dogs, the police were far too outnumbered and far to disorganised to efectively control the fascists, and collective self defence was the only thing keeping everybody safe.

Eventually the fascists had retreated to Bristol Bridge. Knowing that they were believed to be intending to head to Redcliffe Hill, where the Mercure Hotel housing migrant families is located, a quick decision was made by a total of around 200-250 counter-protestors to head around via Queen Square to the Hotel to protect it.

When we arrived the police were all but completely absent, with a handful of cops on bicycles who had followed us being the only visible presence. Conscious of our potentially scary appearance to residents at the hotel, we made certain to demonstrate our solidarity and love for them, with waves, thumbs up, and heart signs exchanged between antifascists and residents of the hotel. It was really notable just how many of the residents are very young, primary school aged children. The downstairs lobby windows are covered with kids’ drawnings and paintings.

A group of counter-protestors formed a line and linked arms across the hotel entrance while still more of us formed into a tight bloc on the grassy area in front of the hotel. After about 30 minutes a group of around 80-100 fascists, who had broken away from the police on Bristol Bridge, marched up Redcliffe Hill and immediately began to attack us outside the hotel. Again, the police were wildly outnumbered and unable to effectively defend themselves, let alone anyone else.

For a sustained period of around 15-20 minutes, antifascists stood firm, defending ourselves and each other from a constant, intense assault of fists, kicks, bottles and stones thrown at us by fascists intent on attacking the hotel and its residents. The handful of police present flailed, hitting people seemingly at random with batons, and occasionally PAVA-spraying groups of people.

When police enforcements finally arrived in the form of attack dogs, horses and extra officers, the fascists lost their bottle and retreated to the other side of Redcliffe Hill. They remained there in rapidly dwindling numbers, occasionally hurling the odd insult or glass bottle at the counter-protestors, but ultimately unable to muster another attempt at attacking the hotel.

The majority of the 200-250 counter protestors stayed outside the hotel to protect it until around 9pm when Green Party Bristol City Councillors who had began encouraging people to leave telling them that the police would now have the situation under contol. Bristol Antifascists want to make it clear: this was wrong of them. The police had demonstrated a total lack of ability to defend the people housed in the Mercure Hotel or to contain the fascist threat in our city. There was still the potential for fascists to regroup and try again to attack the hotel. Around 50-60 people chose to stay at the hotel as it got dark. We’d received a request from parents inside the hotel to keep things quiet as they were putting young children to bed, and we happily obliged.

At around 10pm, as larger numbers of police arrived at the hotel, those of us remaining decided the time was right to quietly leave as a group and then disperse in a safe area in town. However, this wasn’t before the police decided to reassert their authority after a frankly humiliating day for them. While people were largely sat quietly on the grass or stood around chatting in front of the hotel entrance, a group of cops in riot get suddenly pushed their way to the front of the hotel, hitting, shoving and shouting at counter-protestors for no apparent reason. Fine. Let them believe they’re in charge. Whatever keeps them quiet.

Despite clear confusion and a lack of communication between different groups of police trying to send us in opposite directions, we eventually left the Redcliffe Hill area, and quietly disbanded, blending back into the now quiet night of the city we live in and love so much.

We want to drive that point home: the media and politicians and police will talk about “protestors” and “the public” as though they’re two mutually exclusive groups of people. We *are* the public. This city is *our* home, and the people who live in it, of every race, ethnicity and religion are our neighbours and friends. So too are the residents of the Mercure Hotel. Bristol welcomes migrants and refugees, and we *will* fight for them if we have to.

Yesterday showed the power and importance of community self-defence. Normal Bristolians put themselves in harms way to protect their neighbours in the Mercure hotel, and we stopped a violent, racist mob from doing harm to the families inside. The police were beyond useless, and it was the bravery, moral conviction, and community solidarity of the antifascist counter-protestors that kept the fascists at bay.

Again, we *are* the public. Outside of this we’re normal boring people, with normal boring lives,and normal boring jobs. Antifascism is and must be a community effort, and as this flare-up of far right violence continues, we are going to need everyone to step up and do their part to keep our communities safe around the country.

 

Every day is the Battle of Cable Street. Keep fighting it.

 

Always Antifascist. No Pasaran.

 

Love and Solidarity Forever.

 

Bristol Antifascists.

 

Inquilab Zindabad

Tuesday, September 3rd, 2024

Inquilaab is a word of Persian origin, meaning revolution, change, turn, or uprising.

Born out of the dying embers of the racist pogroms of summer 2024 and the mass community resistence that put a stop to the riots, Inquilab is a new blog and media platform to amplify the voices and actions of those of us who took part in the resistance, and to strengthen and empower our communities for if and when these attacks happen again. We put out articles, opinion pieces, callouts and demo reports with a focus on anti-fascism, migrant solidarity, prisoner solidarity and music.

How events come to be remembered and perceived in the popular imagination ultimately determines their outcome. Inquilab has been established by the people on the ground, who are shaping the narrative and challenging fake news put out by the corporate media, far right influencers and liberal and reactionary sections of the left / former left who sympathise with the racist rioters and slate the anti-fascist movement.

We publish articles by those on the frontline of resistance to fascism, for those on the frontline, with the intention that sharing our perspectives and analysis will contribute to the effectiveness of actions and resistance taking place.

If you would like us to publish an article, communique or demo report, which can be done anonymously or under a pen name, send it over to phoenixfromtheembers@riseup.net

We will occasionally share content we find shared publicly in other places. Whether we publish content sent in is at the discretion of the editorial team. We write in the language of the people and will not share content written in leftist jargon, all perspectives shared are those of the authors and may not reflect the shared views of the collective. We will not share any content that we feel may put comrades at risk.

The nature and history of our peoples is not that of victimhood, begging for protection or hiding away from what’s happening around us and accepting second-class status. Instead the legacy handed down to us is one of sustained struggle until we win freedom. The anti-colonial struggle is still taking place today and is intrinsically bound up with resistance to fascism. We feel honoured to be part of this struggle and to carry on the tradition of those who have come before us. We encourage you all to keep up with Inquilab, write for Inquilab, be inspired by and take part in the changes happening around us and fight for a better world.

Inquilab Zindabad (Urdu: اِنقلاب زِنده باد; Hindi: इंक़िलाब ज़िंदाबाद; Bengali: ইনকিলাব জিন্দাবাদ) is a South Asian phrase, which translates to “Long live the revolution”. The slogan was originally taken up by leftist revolutionaries during the British Raj including the martyrs Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Sukhdev Thapar and Ram Mohammad Singh Azad. This slogan is in use today in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan by civil society activists during protests.