General Deception

Below is a text recently written by some Bristol anti-fascists in light of the upcoming general & local elections

The General Election show is here and the politicians are doing their best to “perform”, to convince us that their particular brand really is something new and improved. But as the wheels of democracy put their spin on, look closely and you’ll see that all the supposedly different colours merge into one. Because when it comes to it, they all stand for just one thing: Capitalism.

Elections only serve to strengthen the system by presenting a carefully constructed illusion of influence, choice and change. In reality, voting changes nothing. Politicians always disappoint us with election promises quickly broken, serving not the people that elected them, but themselves alongside the rich and powerful interests they truly represent. Whoever you vote for, the rule of private property and profit remains unchanged. Whoever is at the controls, the state carries on it’s job, as always, as the instrument of class domination. A change of government will not change the attacks on us all: “austerity”, low pay and poverty, evictions and homelessness, police brutality and repression, surveillance, prisons, borders and nationalism, wars and racism… the list goes on and on. It’s not the players at the head of the state that we need to change, but the game itself. Shuffling the cards is futile when the deck remains the same.

Voting is an expression not of power, but of powerlessness. The clue, perhaps, is on the ballot paper itself. In school, a cross means “wrong” or “not the right answer”. We should apply the same thinking to all of the prospective candidates, their parties and the system they stand for. A cross in the box every four years means giving up our power to government and rulers who wield and abuse it while we have to patiently wait for the next elections for that all elusive chance for change. You will hear many people complaining how politicians have failed the working class. In truth, they can’t really be said to have failed if they never intended to help us out in the first place. Surely we’ve seen enough of the mismatch between what the greedy, lying, corrupt politicians say and what they do over the years to realise that real change is down to us rejecting their “proper channels” and false hopes for a better world. It’s time to abandon the sinking ship of parliamentary politics and instead vote with our feet and organise for ourselves.

What has all this got to do with antifascism?

Well, everything! Election time is one big celebration of their democracy. It’s not important who you vote for, just that you go along with it all and vote. But it’s no accident that the march of democracy worldwide has coincided with huge increases in inequalities of resources and power. In the so called pillar of democracies right here in U.K. Inc., we are seeing the greatest transfer from “the public purse” to private profit ever seen under the reign of Tories. This daylight robbery is being carried out without much fuss. “Democracy” uses unions, the very organisations supposedly fighting for workers, to disempower and pacify us perhaps even more effectively than the more forceful methods usually associated with dictatorships. But “democratic” states exert control and attack the working class with equal ferocity and ruthlessness as dictatorial regimes. They are simply better at disguising their tendency to totalitarianism, dressing it up with things like “tightening our belts” and making “tough choices”. Meanwhile the resulting conditions are just right for an upsurge in right wing politics, nationalism, immigrant blaming, racism and a divided working class. This is what we face today with the emergence of far right street groups like the EDL and Britain First.

We understand that fascism is inseparable from capitalism and the state. Beating fascism must mean destroying that which creates it: capitalism. We cannot fight one without coming up against the other and we see this most clearly in the police riot shields and batons protecting fascist demonstrations. Fascism, like the police, is a weapon of the rich to wage class war. Our antifascism must be part of a revolutionary class struggle movement and we have no interest in protecting their democracy as a “lesser evil” against fascism. While the routine and futile placing of hopes in boxes is enough for some, our hopes remain with our class and fighting together for a world free from police and politicians as well as fascists and all they stand for.

previous article written after last year’s local elections here

Far-right candidates in the local and general elections

from antifascistnetwork.org

11102655_1048807591814206_6207407446209318567_n

Regardless of the results, next week’s general and local elections are already good news for anti-fascists. The far-right has collapsed electorally and is not mounting a serious challenge in any constituency in the UK. This is a very different from 2010, when the BNP stood 338 parliamentary candidates. This time round they are standing 8. Despite an influx of former BNP members to other far-right groups, notably the English Democrats, other fascist groups have not been able to pick up the slack. Electorally, the far-right is at its lowest ebb for a generation, although this is partly because the vote won by groups like the BNP has swung toward UKIP.

We hate to kick a man when he’s down, but this represents a golden opportunity for anti-fascists to push these racist groups out of the political arena completely.

 

Some points of interest:

The English Democrats are standing 32 general election candidates. Of particular interest are ex-BNP national organiser Eddy Butler standing in Harlow and ex-BNP Barnsley organiser Ian Sutton standing in Barnsley central.

The BNP are again standing a respectable number of candidates in the local elections in Worcester. This is the third year on the trot they have done this when the party elsewhere has collapsed. The British Democrats are standing a handful of candidates in Leicestershire.

English Democrat local election candidates are concentrated in Barnsley and Liverpool. Most of the Liverpool candidates are names familiar from the now defunct Liverpool BNP branch.

Far-right general election candidates

British Democratic Party

Bradford East – Jim Lewthwaite

British National Party

Braintree – Paul Hooks
Boston & Skegness – Robert West
Charnwood – Cathy Duffy
Dagenham & Rainham – Tess Culnane
Hornchurch & Upminster – Paul Borg
Kingswood – Julie Lake
Old Bexley & Sidcup – Nicola Finch
Rotherham – Adam Walker

English Democrats

Barnsley Central – Ian Sutton (ex-BNP Barnsley organiser)
Barnsley East – Kevin Riddiough
Bath – Jenny Knight
Berwick-upon-Tweed – Neil Humphrey
Bexleyheath & Crayford – Maggi Young
Bradford West – Therese Hirst
Brentwood & Ongar – Robin Tilbrook
Bury South – Valerie Morris
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich – Tony Holyoak
Dagenham & Rainham – Kim Gandy
Dartford – Steve Uncles
Don Valley – Louise Dutton
Doncaster Central – Dean Walker
Doncaster North – David Allen
Erith & Thamesmead – Graham Moore
Faversham & Mid Kent – Gary Butler
Harlow – Eddy Butler (ex-BNP national organiser)
Kettering – Derek Hilling
Monmouth – Stephen Morris
Nuneaton – Steve Paxton
Penistone & Stocksbridge – Colin Porter
Rother Valley – Sharon Pilling
Rotherham – Dean Walker
Sheffield Brightside & Hillsborough – Justin Saxton
Sheffield Central – Elizabeth Breed
Sheffield Hallam – Steve Clegg
Sheffield Heeley – David Haslett
Sheffield South East – Matthew Roberts
Southend West – Jeremy Moss
Stevenage – Charles Vickers
Wentworth & Dearne – Alan England
Weston-super-Mare – Clive Lavelle

Liberty GB

Birmingham Ladywood – Timothy Burton
Lewisham West & Penge – George Whale
Luton South – Paul Weston

National Front

Aberdeen North – Chris Willett
Bridgend – Adam Lloyd
Carshalton & Wallington – Richard Edmonds
Hull East – Mike Cooper
Linlithgow & East Falkirk – Neil McIvor
North Tyneside – Rob Batten
Rochdale – Kevin Bryan

Patria

Bournemouth West – Dick Franklin
Chichester – Dr Andrew Emerson

Independents

Stoke North – Craig Pond (former BNP Stoke branch secretary)

Far-right local election candidates

British Democratic Party

Bradford, Wyke – Liam Kernaghan
Charnwood, Loughborough Ashby – Kevan Stafford
Charnwood, Thurmaston – Chris Canham, Julia Green, Paul Newman
North West Leicestershire, Hugglescote St Johns , NW Leics – Graham Partner
Pendle, Waterside – Gary Topping

British National Party

Allerdale, Ellenborough – Clive Jefferson
Allerdale, Ewanrigg – Dawn Charlton, David Oloughlin
Burnley, Rosegrove with Lowerhouse – John Rowe
Charnwood, East Goscote – Cathy Duffy
Derby, Chaddesden – Paul Hilliard
East Northamptonshire, Irthlingborough Waterloo – Marc Whitestone
Manchester, Moston – Gareth Black
Pendle, Vivary Bridge – John Rowe
Salford, Barton – Wayne Tomlinson
Salford, Irwell Riverside – Carl Lawson
Worcester, Bedwardine – Jennifer Whitwam
Worcester, Cathedral – Andrew North
Worcester, Nunnery – Carl Mason
Worcester, St John – Alan Draper

English Democrats

Barnsley, Central – Colin Porter
Barnsley, Darfield – David Burnett
Barnsley, Darton East – Sharon Sutton (ex-BNP)
Barnsley, Darton West – Ian Sutton (ex-BNP)
Barnsley, Hoyland Milton – Justin Saxton
Barnsley, Rockingham – Kevin Riddiough
Barnsley, St Helen’s – Dean Walker
Bury, Besses – Stephen Morris
Doncaster, Bentley – Keith Hewitt
Doncaster, Bessacarr – Barbara Hewitt
Doncaster, Conisbrough – John Brennan
Kirklees, Dewsbury South – Shaun Maddox
Leicester, Braunstone Park & Rowley Fields – Oliver Healey
Leicester, Thurncourt – David Haslett
Liverpool, Knotty Ash – Derek Grue
Liverpool, Princes Park – Steven Greenhalgh (ex-BNP Liverpool organiser)
Liverpool, Riverside – Michael Lane
Liverpool, St Michaels – Paul Rimmer (ex-BNP)
Liverpool, Warbreck – Steven McEllenborough (ex-BNP)
Peterborough, Stanground Central – Nick Capp
Walsall, Blakenall – Chris Newey

National Front

Calderdale, Todmorden – Chris Jackson
North Tyneside, Howdon – Bob Batten