Saturday 16 June 2012

Important meeting on Greek elections - 25th June

Greece: the elections of 17 June, Reform, Resistance and Revolution?

PUBLIC MEETING
Mon 25 June 2012
7.30-9.30
Friends Meeting House (Main Hall)
Ship Street Brighton

Main speaker: Dimitri Tzanakopoulos (Syriza)



Dimitri is an experienced young comrade, who for some years was on the leadership of Synaspismos, the main constituent of Syriza. He was Secretary of the Central Council of the Youth of Synsaspismos from 2005 to 2009 and a member of the Central Committee during the same years.

Greeks go to the polls on 17th June, and there is every prospect that the left-wing Syriza coalition will win a majority.  This meeting will be an opportunity to discuss and analyse the outcome.

Not all on the left support Syriza; some support the Communist Party (KKE) and the far-left Antarsya coalition.  All points of view will be represented at the meeting.
                                          
Meeting organised by the Brighton Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

Saturday 9 June 2012

EDL rescued from Brighton

News from Brighton Unite Against Fascism

On Saturday June 2nd a drunken rabble of EDL supporters tried bringing trouble to Brighton.
The EDL have already been humiliated in the city once this year, and thought that by sneaking in, without their distinctive hoodies that would escape the attention of anti-fascists. however as soon as they tried causing trouble in the St James’ area of the city they faced such opposition from anti-fascists and the local community that the police had to escort them out of town.
A handful of the losers, mostly connected to the violent and thuggish ‘Casuals United’ -a sub group of the EDL- attempted to look brave as hundreds of police officers held them by the hand and led them out of town.
Orgainsiation against the EDL had been minimal in the town, as we were aware thay would be in numbers too insignificant to worry about, and so it proved. Even with out that advance planning many people responded to the mobilisation as soon as the EDL had shown their faces, and once again they were chased, humiliated, out of town.
Image
It took hundreds of police for the EDL to feel brave enough to show their faces in public.

Monday 4 June 2012

Uncut Street Party

Some photos from Saturday's alternative street party - outside tax-dodging BHS.























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Fascists humiliated - again! Police mess up - again!

Press statement by Brighton Unite Against Fascism

Police Failures and Public Unity in Brighton


Saturday saw a small group of far right EDL supporters descend on Brighton for what they describe as a ‘social’.

Brighton and Hove UAF together with other anti-fascist and anti-racist campaigners and activists in our city decided prior to this event not to publicise it, as the stated intent of the EDL members taking part was not to publicly march , fly flags or engage in activity that would cause concern to the wider public.

We felt to give publicity to it could change its nature, and help attract attention to an event which the organisers themselves had only promoted through a handful of tweets and blog entries.

Instead we supported the Uncut street party which took place in the town centre, ensuring we had numbers available to react if there was any trouble.

Unfortunately the police did not take the same approach, sending out PR about the EDL event and alarming the public.

Whereas we had estimated the attendance at the event would be between 20 and, at very most, 100, the police told local businesses to expect hundreds. In the event we believe the number was fewer than 60.

The strong opposition the far-right has faced from the people of Brighton in the past has left them unable to organise properly in the City.

With 800 officers available on Saturday it might be expected that the EDL group would be properly controlled by the police, however they failed to do this. The ‘social’ was organised by a sub-group of the EDL calling themselves Casuals United. This group has a history of violence, connected with football hooliganism, in the case of some of its leading figures going back to the 70’s and involvement with the National Front.

Many anti-fascists decided to gather on the Steine having heard that the EDL had left the pub they had been drinking in and were re-grouping in St James’ Street.
Whilst EDL members positioned themselves in pubs - that felt unable to refuse them entry - in a part of the city where a group that is connected with hate-crimes could be of particular concern, the police focused on kettling and pushing around anti-racists.

The day ended with the police organising for this group to march through our city chanting and flying EDL flags, the kind of public display we had wanted to avoid, and was not needed. They were led to the station to ‘disperse’ but there seems to have been no attempt to ensure this meant actually leaving the city.

However due to the presence of anti-racists and anti-fascists, and members of the public who came when they heard what was happening, the EDL were followed and surrounded as they were led through town. Yet again they were left in no doubt that Brighton and Hove is not a city were their hate-filled organisation is welcome.

A Spokesperson for Brighton and Hove Unite Against Fascism said:

“We are extremely disappointed that the police let down the people of Brighton so badly on Saturday. The force’s obsession with targeting anti-fascists and anti-rascists resulted in number of genuinely dangerous hooligans running amok.

“Clearly there is a question of police priorities when a record number of 800 police officers are on our streets, and yet they failed to control a small group of violent far-right thugs.”



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