The centre of Dudley in the Midlands became
a ghost town on Saturday 3rd April with shops on the
High Street
boarded up, resembling the effects the recession had last year on many
towns .
But this deserted town centre was not the result of an economic
downturn, well
not exactly. It was the overreaction of the Midlands police in occupying
the
town with road blocks in an attempt to prevent trade unionists and
socialists demonstrating
against the venomous EDL who were trying to sow divisions amongst the
workers
of Dudley.
Up to 400 labour movement activists slipped
past police cordons to join an equal number of black and Asian youth determined
that the EDL would not march in Dudley.
Unfortunately, the organisation of the demonstration failed to use this mobilisation
to challenge the EDL. Instead the organisers, including the UAF, did the police’s
work for them and stewards effectively ‘kettled’ the demo into a car park where
the rally turned into a type of carnival to the frustration of a lot of the
Black and Asian youth there.
From 11.30 am the demonstrators were
subjected to a series of speakers such as
‘The Vicar of Dudley’ with platitudes on how nice multi-cultural Dudley
is, while other speakers called for people to vote for any party but the BNP.
So it is OK to vote for the racist UKIP! The lack of action and leadership was
reflected in the mood of a large group of Asian youth who preferred to huddle
around a radio more interested in hearing what the result of the Manchester Utd.
v Chelsea game. However, they listened when
a speaker described the causes of racism as being due to shortages in society,
of jobs for young people, of homes for young families and when elderly
relatives could not get into hospitals for treatment then the racists are able
to make progress blaming immigrants for all these shortages. A large cheer – even
amongst those huddled around the radio – went up for the speaker when he called
for an ending to these shortages as then you will cut away the basis for racist
groups,. The loudest cheer went up when the speaker blamed the bankers for the
crisis!
Whilst the anti-fascist forces were
immobile and hemmed in by the police and stewards, the same could not be said
of the 1000 EDL supporters who the police had escorted through Dudley chanting
their racists remarks without being challenged.
If this was not bad enough, the police late in the afternoon allowed
about 300 EDL to go on the rampage, damaging a mosque and shops while attacking
anyone who got in their way. For some lone anti fascists the return to their
dispersed transport posed the risk of attack and intimidation as small pockets
of EDL were dotted around the town centre with a minimum police presence.
The claim that the police are still
institutionally racist was proven by the tactics displayed in Dudley. The racist
thugs were protected whilst anti fascists were subjected to stopping and questioning.
The large number of officers present, and the willingness of these officers to
use whatever force the police deemed necessary, intimidated many anti fascists
and weakened the resolve of the demonstrators to take on the EDL. The police
seemed to expend more effort containing and videoing and photographing those on
the anti-EDL march than containing the EDL.
What lessons can be learnt from this
action? Firstly, the organisers of anti-fascist demonstrations should not by
their lack of resolve, determination and tactics demoralise the youth that have
come out to defend their communities. Secondly,
the EDL is growing in strength under the protection of the state in the
form of the police. The EDL has learnt from the anti fascist demonstration in
Glasgow when the SDL were pinned in. Each of these EDL marches is now a
national event with the bussing in supporters from all parts of the country and
whilst not challenged, the EDL will grow from strength to strength. The anti
fascist response is locally organised with at best some regional and national
individuals giving support. Without the national trade union and labour
movement responding to mobilised mass anti fascist demonstration, the EDL
continue to grow. The support of the west Midlands TUC and other trades
councils for the anti-EDL march in Dudley was a significant step forward. But
this support has to be made concrete and trade union members mobilised. The EDL
will continue to hold marches in northern towns and cities such as Stoke and
Dudley precisely because up to now no national counter demonstration has been
called. The EDL are threatening to hold a demo in Dudley every four weeks,
seeing Dudley as a weak point where the thugs hope to gain ground.
Whilst cuts in health, welfare, housing and
high levels of unemployment exist, the tensions in society will grow and lead some
disillusioned white youth to orientate towards racist groups like the BNP or
the fascist EDL. This will continue to increase as long as the labour movement
continues to fail to put forward a socialist program. The reaction of many
youth on the rally in response to the criticisms of the bankers and the failure
of capitalism to provide for social need shows that if a socialist alternative
is posed correctly, there will be an echo. Many of the UAF leaders believe that
pushing the message of socialism will alienate support from Liberals and
Tories. The events in Dudley show the opposite.
The BNP and the EDL will never be able to
grow big enough at this stage to challenge for power, but the threat is still
there under certain conditions for these thugs to be turned against the labour
movement. One historical lesson we must
learn. When the fascists in Europe grew in power and took over government in
Spain, Italy and Germany, the first targets to be smashed were the industrial
and political organisations of the working class, the trade unions and the
communist and socialist parties. But this only happened because the leaders of
the labour movement failed to stop the fascists. As long as the leaders of the
labour movement today ignore the EDL and the BNP the threat will continue to
exist. It is time to mobilise the whole of labour movement on the streets against
these thugs. It is also time to organise the movement to fight for a society
that will put an end to shortages as the only way to defeat potential fascist
movements.
