On Sunday May 6th, members of our group joined with other AntiFascist Network groups to oppose the “Democratic Football Lad’s Alliance” in Whitehall, central London. If people had any doubts before about the true nature of this group, the picture is much clearer now. By providing a forum and a broad based coaliton for far right scum of every persuasion, they have nailed their colours to the mast and made their racist and fascist position extremely clear. They can’t hide behind their tired old appeals for “free speech” any more because we see right through them and recognise the same faces as we’ve been seeing on fascist demonstrations for years. Welcoming in far right, neo nazi organisers like Eddie Stampton, Luke Pippen, Martin Jackson and a whole host of other longstanding fascist shitheads makes a fascist organisation. None of this is really about “free speech” and these people certainly have no interest in free speech for anyone but themselves, as was evidenced in their mob attack on a couple of muslim journalists trying to cover the event and get some interviews. It has a lot more to do with building a combative and powerful far right street movement in this country. We’ve seen all this before with the rise of the EDL. Before that the same demands for free speech have been used by fascist groups throughout history, including the nazis in their rise to power. The politics, the methods and the rhetoric are more well rehearsed and a bit more slick this time, but essentially the same as the last round of fascist movement building.
We saw first hand what this looks like in reality on Sunday as the racists and fascists repeatedly attempted to attack the antiracist demonstration. Militant antifascists stood together with antiracists determined to defend the demonstration and repelled each and every attack. We will do the same next time and for however long it takes to force the DFLA off the streets just as we did with the EDL, through mass, community based, militant antifascism.
But it’s going to take all of us doing it together. We cannot allow the racists and fascists to gain confidence with successful big demonstrations. We need to take the threat of what the DFLA represents very seriously and we have to mobilise all our efforts together to see them off. They are uniting previously disparate far right groups and attracting nationalists and racists in their hundreds. The DFLA, if it’s not stopped, will enable and provoke more murderous attacks against muslims such as the Finsbury Park Mosque attack of June 2017. Remember Darren Osborne, the far right killer responsible, was inspired by Tommy Robinson, the de facto leader of the DFLA. There cannot be a clearer case of how far right figures, rhetoric and organisations lead to far right attacks and murders.
Antifascism is the responsibility of all of us. Now is the time to get involved. Join the AntiFascist Network. Destroy the DFLA and smash fascism!