Stalemate between the EDL and anti-racists: real winner is the state

Submitted by AWL on 3 September, 2011 - 8:21

By an East London anti-fascist

At the very best estimate, the scoreline for the events of 3 September in East London could be written up as 0-0 between anti-racists and the English Defence League. The biggest unambiguous winner was the state.

Everyone who came out onto the streets of Tower Hamlets today was, undoubtedly, a sincere anti-racist. They deserve congratulation and commendation for not staying at home and hoping the day would pass off without incident. But the “victory” we won by keeping the EDL out of Tower Hamlets feels very hollow when the leadership of our movement – whether consciously or otherwise – remains reliant on the state to fight our battles for us.

Although a clear and complete picture is yet to emerge, the day's broad storyline is as follow: in the morning, EDL activists “mustered” near King's Cross, gathering in pubs on the Caledonian Road as soon as they opened. After assembling there, they were escorted by the police through the tube system to Moorgate. Small groups of activists managed to harass and hold them up on their journey but their eventual passage through the transport system appears to have been facilitated in full collusion with London Underground management, despite the best efforts of some activists in the tube workers' union RMT (see separate comment below). After piling out at Moorgate, the EDL were marched by police to a rally point by Aldgate station, meaning that they were effectively able to have a march (a noisy, lively march with flags, placards and chanting) as well as a lively rally at which their leading figures, including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), spoke. Anti-fascist scouts attending the rally estimate that EDL numbers reached 1,000. They were then marched out of Aldgate, over Tower Bridge (giving them an excellent photo opportunity on a historic English landmark) and back onto their coaches.

Anti-racists held an assembly on Whitechapel, near the East London Mosque. It featured mostly bland speeches from the great-and-the-good of Tower Hamlets' political and religious establishment, although did include some welcome points from trade union figures about the need to link the fight against racism to a working-class fight against cuts. One wonders how Tower Hamlets' cuts-happy councillors and Mayor, with whom the SWP/UAF entered into an uneasy and unprincipled alliance to organise the “counter-demo”, took to such remarks.

Although initially made up largely of the existing left, the anti-fascist protest's numbers were later swelled by several hundred local (mainly Asian) youth. A section of the protest moved down to Aldgate East station (effectively defying the Home Secretary's ban on political marches) so that all that lay between 500-or-so (perhaps later somewhat more) anti-fascists and the EDL's rally were a few hundred yards of road. The problem was that the road was occupied by an immense number of riot police.

They were the real winners in the day's events. They put thousands of personnel on the streets of Tower Hamlets and were their usual community-friendly selves, hassling and stopping-and-searching people (who never seemed to be white, for some reason) seemingly on a whim. The EDL were prevented from crossing the borough boundary into Tower Hamlets by the tight policing of their rally, but were still able to hold their action (the size of which was worrying) in the multicultural East End thanks to police assistance and facilitation.

The police were enormously successful in preventing anti-fascists from getting anywhere near the EDLers themselves, meaning that the racists have been able to march in and out of the East End, holding a lively rally in between, without encountering any serious visible or organised opposition. Any triumphalist claims that the EDL has been “humiliated” because they did not manage to actually cross the borough boundary are unhelpful; certainly it is positive that they did not achieve their stated aim of marching into Tower Hamlets or past the East London Mosque, but the police can claim far more “credit” for that than the anti-fascist movement can.

The entire day had a kind of grim inevitability. The presence of thousands upon thousands of riot police on our streets, particularly when they are hassling Asian kids, and especially when they are actively facilitating large racist demonstrations, is absolutely nothing to celebrate.

A small blow was landed later in the day when local people were able to hold up and damage an EDL coach as it made its way out of Tower Hamlets, leading to a large police clampdown on the Mile End Road. Certainly, those local residents who mobilised have distinguished themselves and proved that their political instincts and courage far outstrips that of their official political and religious "representatives", as well as the leaders of the mainstream anti-fascist campaigns.

The EDL will easily be able to spin the day's events into a victory for them; equivalent spin from our side is not helpful. What is needed is a serious examination of why our movement was unable to prevent 1,000 organised racists marching, with police assistance, into East London and holding a spirited rally. Part of the answer to that question lies in the insistence of both wings of “official” anti-fascism (the Hope Not Hate campaign and the SWP-run Unite Against Fascism) of building unprincipled alliances with, and sowing illusions in, the political and religious establishment and, ultimately, the state.

A mass anti-fascist movement organised on the basis of direct-action tactics and working-class politics could have the strategic creativity to avoid police kettles and actually confront the racists on the streets of East London. It could also provide political answers to the social conditions that allow organisations like the EDL to grow.

Those who wish to see the development of an independent working-class anti-fascist movement must meet urgently to discuss today's experience, and others, and organise to ensure that the next time 1,000 racists march into a multicultural area, with the full facilitation of the police, they do not do so without directly encountering the highest possible level of opposition.


Janine Booth (RMT) reports:

"I was at Moorgate station saying they should close it, but management chose to keep it open and the police chose to help the EDL travel in preference to other passengers. I even saw an EDLer make threatening gestures to an Asian man on the platform from inside a train before the doors opened, and despite being aware of it, the police still allowed the train to open its doors and let them out onto the very same platform where the man was standing.

"We cannot rely on the authorities to protect us from racists. It would have been great if there had been hundreds of anti-racists there to "greet" the EDL, but they were a mile or two away listening to speeches and music. Our movement has to get its act together."

Comments

Submitted by Cautiously Pes… on Sun, 04/09/2011 - 14:31

Do you have any more info about what went on among tube workers? Was there much support for the idea of closing stations to stop the EDL, or was it just something a few activists were pushing for? Fair enough if internal dynamics mean it's not sensible to say too much in public, but I thought the threatened action by tube workers was one of the most inspiring aspects of what happened, so I'd like more info about it if at all possible.

Submitted by Tubeworker on Sun, 04/09/2011 - 16:33

It seems that originally, LU and the police had a plan to put on special train(s) from Hainault to Liverpool Street to bring the EDL to their demo. RMT reps objected, and told LU that it expected that members would refuse to work on safety grounds if hundreds of racist thugs came through their stations and onto their trains. LU management swiftly knocked the idea on the head, and the EDL itself admitted that the police told them that the initial plan had not taken account of the likelihood of RMT scuppering it. (Shortage of drivers on the Central Line may also have been a factor!) The union also got texts around advising members of their right to refuse to work on safety grounds.

However, although Kings Cross was closed for a short while for a 'fire alert' (that's what management called it, anyway), the EDL did eventually travel from Kings Cross to Moorgate with their police escort. And the EDL did manage to hold a small rally (less than 100 of them) at Liverpool Street. Perhaps they were able to do so because opponents thought they wouldn't be there due to widespread reports of workers preventing them assembling there?

Submitted by Cautiously Pes… on Sun, 04/09/2011 - 17:39

Cheers for that. I wouldn't want to claim victories where there aren't any, but I reckon that stopping the special train running to Liverpool Street is at least a partial success. Even if it didn't win the day, it is the kind of approach that could deliver real victories in future, which I can't see the Hope Not Hate or UAF strategies doing any time soon.

Submitted by AWL on Thu, 08/09/2011 - 09:41

During the run-up to Saturday's demonstration there was much confusion as to where the English Defence League would be meeting before their rally in Tower Hamlets. After police confirmed they would no longer be gathering in Hainault, Essex (before taking a chartered train down to Liverpool Street) the EDL announced they would be congregating on the Caledonian Road in Kings Cross.

At around 11am on Saturday morning scores of EDLers slowly began to arrive into Kings Cross. By 12pm well over 100 had made their way into the area. St George's flags were waved as bemused tourists and shoppers gathered to seek a better understanding what was occurring in the usually non-eventful district of north London.

Only a tiny handful of anti-fascists and anti-racists were present as the EDL took over the commercial area of the neighbourhood. By 1pm the entire space outside Kings Cross railway station 'belonged' to the EDL. Several hundred members of a violent and racist organisation had literally taken over one of Londons busiest mainline railway stations, and without so much as a whisper of opposition. ‘Muslim bombers off our streets’ was chanted along with the usual and messy rendition of 'God Save the Queen'. The scene was intimidating, aggressive and at times out-right-threatening. As UAF sent out tweets and texts claiming a ‘victory’ against fascism was prevailing in the East End, up to a thousand racists had all but shut down central Kings Cross.

To suggest that the EDL were defeated and smashed on Saturday signifies an acute sense of self-denial within the ranks of the ‘mainstream’ anti-racist movement. The EDL didn’t march into the East End or past the East London Mosque. Neither were they able to intimidate or harass many locals within the borough of Tower Hamlets. For this we should be pleased. But it wasn’t the anti-fascist movement that blocked their path, it was the police and the state that did.

The scenes at Kings Cross certainly showed the anti-fascist movement to be one step behind the EDL on the day. It is of course vital that the East London Mosque was protected and that Whitechapel Road became a space for anti-fascist organisation, but there was virtually zero activity to stop the EDL taking over parts of north London. If the EDL are to again gather in an area before heading somewhere else to demonstrate, anti-fascists must organise within proximity to their “muster” area. There would have been a solid chance of stopping hundreds of racists and fascists from leaving Kings Cross had anti-fascists (namely those who organise within UAF) been up to temporarily changing tactics and confronting the EDL at their original meeting point.

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