Is United Against Fascism A Registered Politcal Party

Unite Against Fascism

Formation	2003; xix years ago  (2003)
Type	Anti-fascist
Headquarters	London, England
Primal people	Chair – Steve Hart, political officer, Unite Vice chair – Christine Blower, general secretary, NUT Vice chair – Hugh Lanning, deputy general secretary, PCS Vice chair – Azad Ali Vice chair – Jennifer Moses, national official for equality and training, NASUWT Treasurer – Jane Loftus, president, CWU Articulation secretary – Weyman Bennett Articulation secretary – Sabby Dhalu Assistant secretary – Brian Richardson Parliamentary Officer – Peter Hain MP European officeholder – Claude Moraes (sometime MEP) European officer – Glyn Ford
Website	uaf.org.uk

Unite Confronting Fascism (UAF) is a British anti-fascist grouping.^{[one] [ii] [3]}

Its joint secretaries are Weyman Bennett and Sabby Dhalu, formerly of the National Assembly Against Racism (NAAR). Its chair is Steve Hart of Unite the Union and its banana secretarial assistant was the late Jude Woodward of Socialist Action.^[4]

Since 2013, UAF has mainly operated in partnership with its sister organisation Stand Upward To Racism,^[5] which has many of the same officers as UAF: Bennett and Dhalu as joint secretaries,^[6] Diane Abbott as president^[vii] and co-chairs Dave Ward of the Communication Workers' Union and Talha Ahmad of the Muslim Council of U.k..^{[8] [5]}

History [edit]

Unite Against Fascism (UAF) was formed in Great Great britain in late 2003 in response to electoral successes by the BNP.^[9] Its main elements were the Anti-Nazi League and the National Associates Against Racism, with the support of the Trades Wedlock Congress (TUC) and leading British unions such as the Transport and General Workers' Matrimony (T&G) (at present Unite) and UNISON.^[10] According to Ruby Pepper magazine, UAF was fix up by the Socialist Workers Party and the National Assembly Against Racism.^[11] Amongst the union leaders backing UAF were Billy Hayes of the Advice Workers Union, Andy Gilchrist and Mick Shaw of the Burn down Brigades Union, Mark Serwotka of the PCS public service workers' matrimony, and Christine Blower and Kevin Courtney of the NUT.

In 2005, the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight disaffiliated from UAF later on an argument over tactics to defeat the BNP.^{[thirteen] [14]} At UAF's 2007 national briefing, speakers ranged from cabinet minister Peter Hain to Edie Friedman of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality and Muhammad Abdul Bari of the Muslim Quango of United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland (MCB), also as figures from the major UK merchandise unions.^[xv] At UAF's 2009 national briefing, Bari was once more a guest speaker.^[sixteen]

UAF has worked closely with Love Music Detest Racism,^[17] described by UAF/SWP'southward Weyman Bennett every bit "the cultural fly of our movement".

Protests against the British National Party [edit]

Unite Against Fascism states on its website that its aim is to deny the British National Party any run a risk of "gaining an electoral foothold"^[3] stating that "there is a real danger that the BNP could get a significant platform in elected institutions". It claims the support of organisations representing labour, teachers, and rights activists.^[18]

In November 2007, UAF organised a rally of over 1,000 people when BNP leader Nick Griffin and Holocaust denier David Irving spoke at the Oxford Union.^[nineteen] On nine June 2009, UAF demonstrated against a BNP press briefing given by Griffin and Andrew Brons outside the Palace of Westminster following their election as MEPs. Demonstrators marched towards the group with placards, chanting anti-Nazi slogans, and threw eggs at Griffin, forcing the abandonment of the press conference. Members of the press were also hit. The protesters also kicked Griffin'south car and beat it with placards every bit he was led abroad from the scene.^[2] 2 members of the public were hospitalised as a result of the demonstration.^[20] Griffin claimed that the attack was carried out with the bankroll of the Labour Party.^{[21] [22]}

The following day, UAF demonstrated at the BNP's next attempt to concord a printing conference at a pub in Miles Platting, Due north Manchester.^[23] They chanted anti-fascist slogans and tried to drown out Griffin by playing Bob Marley songs at high volume. One protester was arrested after spitting in the direction of a automobile belonging to a BNP member.^[23]

In January 2010, when the Pendle branch of the UAF removed a wreath from the State of war Memorial in Nelson that was laid downward by Councillor Adam Grant, a former soldier and current British National Party member,^[24] Richard MacSween of the Pendle UAF said, "The BNP have left a wreath and we have removed it because nosotros don't approve of fascism." In response, Labour Councillor George Adam, from the Nelson and District co-operative of the Majestic British Legion, said, "I'm annoyed – they accept no correct to remove that wreath. The BNP is a legitimate political political party and they accept a correct to lay down a wreath just as any other members of the public do." BNP Councillor Brian Parker added, "It'due south disgusting, and information technology's theft."^{[21] [22] [25]}

Arrests and violence [edit]

On nineteen August 2009, police arrested 19 protesters during a demonstration by UAF against the BNP's Red, White and Blue Festival in Codnor, Derbyshire.^[26] Four people were charged, 3 with public order offences and one with unlawfully obstructing the highway.^{[27] [28] [29]}

On 22 October 2009, the UAF demonstration confronting Nick Griffin'southward advent on the BBC's Question Time programme resulted in injuries to three police officers.^[30] UAF national officer and (then) SWP National Secretary Martin Smith was establish guilty of assaulting one of the constabulary officers at South Western Magistrates' Court, London, on 7 September 2010. He was sentenced to a 12-month community society, with eighty hours' unpaid work, and was fined £450 pending an appeal.^{[31] [32]}

On twenty March 2010, demonstrations from UAF and the English Defence League (EDL) in Bolton led to violent confrontations and the arrest of at least 55 UAF supporters, including the UAF protest organiser Weyman Bennett, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit violent disorder.^{[33] [34] [35]} At to the lowest degree iii EDL supporters were also arrested, and two UAF members were taken to hospital with a minor head and a minor ear injury.^{[33] [34]} After Bennett was charged and released, he defendant the police of beingness hostile to anti-racists and called for an research into the police's deportment that 24-hour interval.^[36] The police, while criticising the EDL for "vitriolic proper name-calling" blamed people predominantly associated with UAF for provoking violence and said that they "acted with, at times, extreme violence".^[37] All charges against Bennett were eventually dropped. In response to this news he was quoted as saying, "This is a victory for anti-fascists and for the right to protest. I'1000 proud to say that the threat of these charges has not deterred any of united states of america from continuing to stand up confronting the EDL. I can now continue my work without this serious faux allegation hanging over me. It is imperative we keep to protest to protect our multi-racial communities."^[38]

On thirty Baronial 2010, violence occurred in Brighton, Eastward Sussex, during a UAF protest confronting a march organised past a group called the English language Nationalist Brotherhood. A spokesman for the constabulary, who were attempting to go along 250 protesters and marchers apart, said, "Unfortunately a modest group from the counter-demonstration [UAF] resisted this and threw missiles at the police." There were fourteen arrests during the violence.^[39]

On two June 2013, 58 anti-fascist demonstrators were arrested by police under Department 14 of the Public Order Human activity for failing to move up the street^[forty] abroad from a BNP demonstration outside the Houses of Parliament against what the BNP draw as Islamic "hate preachers".^[41] Of the 58, only five were charged and their cases were dismissed at Westminster Magistrates' Court in April 2014.^[42] The constabulary had earlier banned the BNP from marching from Woolwich Barracks to the Houses of Parliament, fearing violence.^[43]

Criticism [edit]

In 2006, David Tate argued that the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was seeking to dominate the UAF,^[44] and a 2014 written report in the New Statesman described information technology as a "forepart" for the SWP.^[45] The same criticism has been fabricated of UAF's sister organization Stand Up To Racism.^[46]

David Toube claims that the organisations involved in the UAF avoid condemnation of antisemitism.^[47] The LGBT rights activist Peter Tatchell has accused UAF of a selective approach to bigotry: "UAF commendably opposes the BNP and EDL but it is silent well-nigh Islamist fascists who promote anti-Semitism, homophobia, sexism and sectarian attacks on non-extremist Muslims (run across also Islam and violence). It is time the UAF campaigned against the Islamist far right as well as against the EDL and BNP far right."^[32]

The journalist Andrew Gilligan has claimed that the UAF's reluctance to tackle Islamism is considering several of its ain members are supporters of such extremism. The UAF's vice-chairman, Azad Ali, is also community affairs co-ordinator of the Islamic Forum of Europe, which Gilligan describes as "a Muslim supremacist group dedicated to changing 'the very infrastructure of gild, its institutions, its culture, its political society and its creed from ignorance to Islam'".^[32] Nigel Copsey, Professor of Modern History at Teesside Academy, wrote that Ali'due south clan with IFE made UAF "[run] the risk of turning a blind center to Islamist extremism".^[48] Ali was suspended equally a civil servant in the Treasury after he wrote agreeably on his blog of an Islamic militant who said that every bit a Muslim he is religiously obliged to impale British soldiers in Iraq, in 2009.^[49]

Co-ordinate to Gilligan, Michael Adebolajo, 1 of the murderers of Lee Rigby in 2013, spoke "on the margins" of a 2009 UAF sit-in in Harrow.^[32] Secretarial assistant Weyman Bennett responded past maxim that Adebolajo was not an official speaker.^[32]

References [edit]

1. ^ "EDL Birmingham demo location moved past constabulary". BBC News. BBC. 26 October 2010. Retrieved 1 Nov 2011. Anti-fascist grouping Unite Confronting Fascism (UAF) is one of a number of groups taking part in a 'Unity' community outcome at the weekend to demonstrate the diversity of the city.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Egg assault on BNP leader Griffin". BBC News. ix June 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2009.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Politics". National Marriage of Mineworkers. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
4. ^ "Our Officers". Unite Against Fascism.
5. ^ ^{a b} Martin Thomas Corbyn nether fire, Workers Liberty, 12 October 2016
6. ^ Stand up To Racism National Conference 10th October 2017
7. ^ "Stand Upwards To Trump Statement Launched", SUTR website, 16 January 2017
   - Damien Gayle, "Corbyn under fire for speaking at anti-racism rally with links to SWP", The Guardian, ten Oct 2016
8. ^ http://www.standuptoracism.org.great britain/
   - "As tens of thousands march — we can go along Trump out", Socialist Worker, 7 February 2017
9. ^ "Unite Confronting Fascism". Socialist Worker. 6 December 2003. Archived from the original on 28 Dec 2003. Retrieved 12 June 2009.
10. ^ Stefano Fella; Carlo Ruzza (24 December 2012). Anti-Racist Movements in the EU: Between Europeanisation and National Trajectories. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 67–68. ISBN978-0-230-29090-7 . Retrieved 21 August 2017.
11. ^ "Unite Against Fascism". Red Pepper . Retrieved 12 September 2009.
12. ^ Editorial in Searchlight, July 2005
13. ^ Letter of resignation to UAF in Searchlight, July 2005
14. ^ UAF website, "Hundreds gathered to launch entrada confronting the fascist BNP's May ballot offensive" 23 February 2007
15. ^ "Details announced for UAF 2009 National Conference". xix December 2008. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009.
16. ^ "Bishopsgate Institute - Unite Against Fascism / Stone Confronting Racism". Archived from the original on 12 April 2017.
17. ^ UAF website,"UAF supporters include:"
18. ^ Matthew Taylor, "Irving and Griffin spark fury at Oxford Matrimony debate", The Guardian, 27 November 2007
19. ^ "Two People in Hospital Afterwards BNP Protestation". BSkyB. 9 June 2009. Retrieved 11 June 2007.
20. ^ ^{a b} "BNP leader Nick Griffin pelted with eggs by protesters". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 June 2009. Archived from the original on one May 2010. Retrieved 12 June 2007.
21. ^ ^{a b} "Why nosotros threw eggs at the BNP". BBC News. nine June 2009. Retrieved xi June 2007.
22. ^ ^{a b} Jenkins, Russell (10 June 2009). "BNP's Nick Griffin finally gets to brand a speech". London: timesonline.co.united kingdom. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2009.
23. ^ "Police probe every bit anti-fascism group removes BNP wreath from Nelson memorial". Pendle Today. 29 January 2010.
24. ^ Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2009 - Lancashire". www.andrewteale.me.united kingdom . Retrieved 29 October 2020.
25. ^ "BNP thugs cower behind law lines". Socialist Worker. 22 Baronial 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
26. ^ Taylor, Matthew (xvi Baronial 2009). "Iv charged as far-correct festival brings chaos to Derbyshire village". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 October 2009.
27. ^ Fineren, Daniel (17 Baronial 2009). "Iii charged over racial taunt at BNP rally | United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland | Reuters". Uk.reuters.com. Retrieved 29 Oct 2009.
28. ^ "4 charged after demo confronting UK far-right festival". Taiwan News Online. Associated Press. 16 August 2009. Retrieved 29 Oct 2009.
29. ^ Hines, Nico; Foster, Patrick; Hamilton, Fiona; Kerbaj, Richard (22 October 2009). "Anti-fascist protesters charge BBC before Nick Griffin booed during Question Time". London: timesonline.co.u.k.. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 22 October 2009.
30. ^ "Martin Smith - 'I volition appeal and clear my name'". Socialist Worker. 9 September 2010. Archived from the original on 11 Jan 2014.
31. ^ ^{a b c d east} Gilligan, Andrew (fifteen June 2013). "Anti-fascists fuel the fire of hate". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on xvi June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2014.
32. ^ ^{a b} "Constabulary battle to control EDL and UAF protest in Bolton". BBC News. BBC. 20 March 2010.
33. ^ ^{a b} "Thousands confront off in rally". The Bolton News. 20 March 2010.
34. ^ "55 arrests at protests". The Bolton News.
35. ^ "Anti-fascist charged after Bolton protests". BBC. 21 March 2010.
36. ^ Smith, Lewis (22 March 2010). "Police blame anti-fascists for violence". The Contained. London.
37. ^ "Anti-fascist protesters to avert charges afterward EDL clash". Manchester Evening News. 19 November 2010.
38. ^ "Three injured at anti-fascist demo in Brighton". BBC. 30 August 2010.
39. ^ "58 arrested every bit anti-fascist demonstrators clash with BNP in Westminster", London Evening Standard, ane June 2013
40. ^ "BNP to State Rally in London". ITV. 1 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
41. ^ Hugh Muir, "Diary: Another bad day for the CPS as anti-fascist prosecution collapses", The Guardian, 15 April 2014, p 31
42. ^ Josie Ensor, "Law arrest 58 equally anti-fascist protesters clash with BNP", Telegraph, 1 June 2013
43. ^ Tate, David (xv May 2006). "How to fight the BNP". The Guardian. London.
44. ^ Edward Platt Comrades at state of war: the reject and autumn of the Socialist Workers Party, New Statesman 20 May 2014
45. ^ Damien Gayle Corbyn under fire for speaking at anti-racism rally with links to SWP Guardian 10 October 2016
    - Abi Wilkinson Why Jeremy Corbyn should support the boycott of the Socialist Workers Party, i, ten Oct 2016
    - Adam Bienkov Jeremy Corbyn supporters demand he apologise to rape victims for 'laundering' SWP's reputation politics.co.uk 17 October 2016
    - Joe Vesey-Byrne Owen Jones refuses to join Trump Protestation because SWP is 'a cult which covered up rape' indy100 5 February 2017
    - Saphora Smith Journalist Owen Jones blasts organisers of Saturday's anti-Trump march, Evening Standard, 4 Feb 2017
46. ^ Toube, David (xviii Feb 2009). "Why we must reclaim antiracism from the far left". The Guardian. London.
47. ^ Copsey, Nigel (2016). Anti-Fascism in Great britain. Taylor & Francis. p. 359. ISBN978-ane-317-39761-8.
48. ^ Gilligan, Andrew (1 March 2010). "Sir Ian Blair's deal with Islamic radical". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 2 Nov 2013.

External links [edit]

• Official website
• Stand up To Racism
• Unite Confronting Fascism / Stone Confronting Racism archive at the Bishopsgate Institute

Is United Against Fascism A Registered Politcal Party,

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_Against_Fascism

Posted by: aldrichheak1969.blogspot.com

Share this post