Racists, fascists, Islamophobes and anti-Semites are on the move across Europe. Weyman Bennett outlines the strategies we need to mobilise effectively against the different strands of the right.
The UN anti-racism demonstrations on 21 March can become a turning point in the fight against Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, fascism and racism. The march comes six weeks before a general election dominated by debates around austerity and racism.
Golden Dawn, the Nazi party in Greece, came third in last month’s general election with 6.3 percent of the vote. It gained this position because of the collapse in support for the other parties. Overall, however, the general picture is of a marked shift to the left.
The vicious attack that left Stephen Lawrence bleeding to death at a south east London bus stop in 1993 was a racist murder that left a family heartbroken and many people angry.
There had already been other racist murders — Orville Blair, Rolan Adams and Rohit Duggal. Since the fascist British National Party (BNP) had opened its headquarters in Welling, south east London, racially motivated attacks had increased by a staggering 200 percent, leading the area to be named “Britain’s racist murder capital”.
A report on the shock caused by the electoral breakthrough of the fascist Sweden Democrats.
The results of last month’s election in Sweden have shocked many on the left. The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) more than doubled its vote to 13 percent. The party now has 49 MPs in the 349-seat parliament.
The mainstream Social Democratic Party, Sweden’s Labour Party, secured 31 percent and 113 MPs, while the Tory Moderaterna party saw its votes haemorrhage, losing nearly a quarter of its MPs.
The Greens garnered 6.9 percent of the vote, little change from the 2010 elections.
Socialist Review spoke to Weyman Bennett, joint secreatary of Unite Against Fascism, about the Stand Up to Racism demonstration on 22 March and challenging the scapegoating of migrants.
The 22 March European-wide anti-racist demonstrations are very important for socialists and anti-racists. Over the past 40 years there has been a migration of people from the Caribbean, south east Asia and Europe into Britain. They brought the flavours and sounds of their communities and have integrated into the working class.
Trotsky wrote this series of articles in extraordinary times. Germany in the 1930s was hit by a massive crisis that crippled the economy and drove unemployment up to 6 million.
In the conditions of global recession a new movement, fascism, was rising in parts of Europe. In Germany this took the form of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party.
Socialist Review spoke to Petros Constantinou, an Athens councillor for the left wing Antarsya coalition and the national coordinator of the Movement Against Racism and the Fascist Threat (Keerfa) in Greece.
Where is Greece at the moment in terms of the rise of Golden Dawn and the anti-fascist movement?
After the murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas on 18 September there was an explosion of anger against the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, and against the government that was giving it cover.
The murder of an anti-fascist activist has galvanised the campaign to stop the Front National, but the strategy of the movement falls short of what is needed.
The death of Clement Meric at the hands of a Nazi thug on 5 June was a rude awakening to many in France. While attacks on Muslims, LGBT people and left wing activists have been numerous in recent years, they have remained a concern only for a limited number among the politically active.
Paul Sillet, UAF national campaigner
When the EDL first emerged in 2009 we thought, "What is this new beast?" We noticed that there were former BNP, Combat 18 and National Front types around the demos, if not necessarily on them. Those on the demos were mainly from the "firms" - football supporters involved in inter-club violence - and others.
The EDL were attracting supporters to the prospect of launching mini pogroms in places like Luton and Dudley. At the time we were facing a possible BNP electoral breakthrough alongside a growing fascist street movement.
Paul Jenkins, UAF north west organiser
In May 2014 we will have an opportunity to put the final nail in the BNP's coffin. Its leader Nick Griffin will try and hang on to his seat in the European Parliament that he won with great fanfare in 2009.
We have a good chance to strip him of his seat as MEP representing the North West, but we have to work hard because he can use the Euro elections' proportional representation system to his advantage. It is worth noting that when Nick Griffin failed to win the North West MEP seat in 2004, his vote then was actually higher than when he won the same seat in 2009.
