When RMT heard that fascist BNP leader Nick Griffin was going to launch his election campaign as MP for Barking and Dagenham from Upney Station at 7pm on Thursday, they knew this must be resisted. Organised fascists are a threat to trade unionists, as well as ethnic minorities and lesbian and gay people, who would all suffer if the BNP came to power.
Around 50 RMT and anti-fascist campaigners protested outside Upney Station. The handful of fascists who arrived on the platform turned back when they heard it! Local station staff, convinced by RMT reps, would have closed the station on safety grounds if the BNP had arrived. The risk would have been genuine. The BNP were aggressive on the phone to LU in the run-up to the protest and they are no friend of workers who organise in unions.
The protest prevented the BNP’s media stunt this time, but with Nick Griffin’s election campaign only just beginning, this will not be the last time we need to organise. We should build on workers’ confidence to recognise the BNP as the enemy they are and to use direct action like refusal to work, alongside campaigning in the local community, to resist them.
