UAF blocks BNP in Croydon

by New Worker correspondent

BNP: a tirade of abuse

MORE than 100 anti-fascists and trade unionists assembled last Saturday morning outside Lunar House in the centre of Croydon to prevent a demonstration planned by the British National Party against immigration.

Lunar House is the headquarters of the UK Border Agency that deals with immigration into Britain. All immigrants and asylum seekers have to register there to engage with the Byzantine bureaucracy that is designed to keep out all immigrants and asylum seekers unless they can afford the services of specialist lawyers.

The south London BNP had planned a demonstration against immigration, which was aimed not only to give vent to their doctrine of hate but also to intimidate the immigrants who have to sign in there and the civil servants who work there.

So local anti-racists took up a position outside Lunar House before the fascists were due to arrive and soon a large and lively crowd had gathered.

The counter protest was organised by Unite Against Fascism supported by local trade unions and trades councils.

The PCS civil service union was there in force, along with members of Unite, the National Union of Teachers and the RMT transport union.

After about an hour the BNP turned up, all 26 of them, heavily escorted by police to an area well to the side of the main entrance to Lunar House, where they conducted a rally that was in effect an unending tirade of abuse at the anti-racists.

The majority of supporters resembled an outing for the elderly and confused.

Ironically the British National Party was led by a Uruguayan, Carlos Cortiglia, who claimed there were too many immigrants in Britain. Around a third of the BNP supporters seemed to be from eastern Europe and one of them brandished a red flag with an inscription in Polish and bearing the fasces symbol – the bundle of sticks with an axe head at the top – which was the first symbol of fascism. At the same time Cortiglia tried to claim his followers were not fascists.

FREE RO SU HUI NOW!

By New Worker correspondent

Last year a veteran south Korean peace activist was jailed by the south Korean puppet regime after he returned from a visit to the north. Ro Su Hui was sentenced to four years in prison under south Korea’s draconian anti-communist “National Security Law” and last week pickets were again outside the south Korean embassy in London to demand his release.

NCP leader Andy Brooks joined other friends of the Korean people at the protest organised by the International Campaign for the Release of Ro Su Hui and the UK Korean Friendship Association.

 Dermot Hudson, the secretary of the international campaign, read out demands for Ro Su Hui’s release throughout the picket as well as messages of support from the Swiss Korea Committee and other groups. Dermot said: " we are here today to protest against the jailing of Mr Ro Su Hui and also the recent arrest of Mr Lee Seok Ki an assemblyman from the Unified Progressive Party.

We strongly denounce the south Korean so-called authorities (in reality a gang of fascist puppets who grovel to the American imperialists) for the 4 year jail sentence imposed on vice -chairman Mr Ro Su Hui .

This is an outrageous and despotic act against Mr Ro who had simply campaigned for peace and reunification. All he did was to visit the northern half of his own country, this should not be considered a crime.

Mr Ro was subjected to brutal treatment when he crossed back into south Korea and was held without trial for more than 6 months in south Korea. Mr Ro is is over the age of 65 and he is suffering from cancer. This is a most inhuman act of the south Korean regime”.

            Protesters leafleted passers-by while others read out statements and maintained a barrage of slogans throughout the afternoon demonstration, including a lively rendering of  "south Korea is a fascist regime " to the tune of the Beatles’ "Yellow Submarine"!

Communists in Africa

By Theo Russell

Hakim with Mayor Nana Asante

AN IMPORTANT new book, Pan-Africanism and Communism, was launched last week in North London at an event in Harrow Civic Centre attended by 120 people including several academics. The Mayor of Harrow, Councillor Nana Asante, who helped to proof-read the text, presided over the event.

The author, Hakim Adi, said it was the result of 10 years' research in London, Paris and Moscow, and was “an attempt to portray a period forgotten by many and also the subject of distortion and controversy”.

The title recalls an earlier work, Pan-Africanism or Communism? by George Padmore, a Trinidadian who began his political career as a communist but ended it as a Pan-Africanist and anti-communist.

Hakim’s book provides a wealth of new material on the role of the Comintern in the revolutionary struggles in the African colonies and the African Diaspora during the inter-war period, often under extremely difficult conditions, and the International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers after 1928 in Africa, the US, Europe and the Caribbean.

It highlights Lenin’s important role as the first leading communist to talk about socialism and revolution outside Europe in the colonies, and the “Negro question” (as it was then known), which became a leading priority when the Comintern was launched in 1919.

In later years the Comintern would be highly critical of some communist parties for their lack of work on the “Negro question,” including the French and British parties. On its part the old Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) focused on the struggle in India at the expense of Africa and British colonies elsewhere.

Many will be surprised to know that the leading American civil rights activist and Pan-Africanist W E B Du Bois joined the CPUSA in 1959 at the age of 91, and after visiting the Soviet Union in 1936 – the height of the Stalin period – said: “If this is Bolshevism, then I’m a Bolshevik.”

Another leading Black American communist, Claudia Jones, who rose to prominence as a founder of the Notting Hill Carnival, became an active member of the CPGB only after being deported from the USA.

In a lengthy and lively debate, Hakim defended the work of communists, saying that despite the mistakes and the loss of commitment of some, overall they had worked to create a more just and fairer socialist world.

Pan-Africanism and Communism, by Hakim Adi, is published by Africa World Press, Trenton, NJ, and is available in the UK for £28.99.

Deal with the Golden Dawn say anti-fascists

By New Worker

correspondent

NEARLY 300 anti-fascist protesters assembled last Saturday outside the Greek Embassy in Holland Park, London to demand that the Greek government take measures to deal with the increasingly violent neo-Nazi party known as the Golden Dawn.

This follows the murder last week of Pavlos Fyssas, a young anti-fascist Greek musician and a few days before that a violent attack on members of the KKE Greek Communist Party.

The young communists were putting up anti-Golden dawn posters when one of the neo-Nazi movement’s “punishment squads” descended on them, leaving them with severe head injuries some which are life threatening.

Greek police were reported to be nearby when the murder of Pavlos Fyssas happened but failed to prevent the stabbing.

There have been international calls for the banning of the Golden Dawn but the Greek police and government have been dragging their heels.

Some suspect the government feels it may soon need the support of the 18 votes of Golden Dawn MPs to support them in office.

The protest was called by the Greek broad left popular movement Syriza and was supported by Unite Against Fascism, Searchlight and other anti-fascists.

London-based members of the KKE also attended with a banner and a loud speaker, emphasising that fascism is a product of capitalism, which is the root of the problem.

Certainly the Golden Dawn has thrived as the extreme austerity imposed on Greece by the European Union has opened ethnic divisions in Greece.

Police tried to keep the protesters to the pavement opposite the embassy in Holland Park but they soon spilled over and filled the pavement on both sides of the road.

The diplomatic protection police were quite happy as long as no one attempted to attack the embassy – and it was quite clear that, while noisy, this was a peaceful protest.

Later efforts by police to shepherd the protesters back across the road simply resulted in the road itself filling up with protesters as more and more arrived.

There were two arrests as some protesters resisted the police efforts to move them across the road.

London news round-up

RMT cleaners refuse to be ignored by ITV

RMT MEMBERS working for the cleaning company ISS noisily occupied ITV offices in Kings Cross, London, to demand coverage for their strike action.

The striking cleaners held a protest last week at Kings Cross station as part of their strike action in support of the Living Wage. According to the union:

“RMT has been campaigning for the ISS cleaners on the East Coast to receive the Living Wage and for improvements to their working conditions and pensions that match the important job they do maintaining the environment on the busy, high profile East Coast Mainline.

“However, despite efforts by RMT to force the issue, including rounds of previous rock-solid action, the company remain entrenched and have chosen to adopt an aggressively hostile attitude that has led to this weekend’s action.”

Also present on the picket line in support were RMT general secretary Bob Crow, Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley, President Peter Pinkney and London Regional Secretary John Reid. NSSN chair Rob Williams addressed the protest with a message of solidarity.

The protest then marched to the nearby offices of ITV. A request was made for ITV to send down a reporter to interview the strikers.

When no reporter emerged from the building to speak to RMT members the strikers then occupied the building and held a noisy protest.

Faced with the determination of the strikers to be heard, ITV eventually relented and sent a camera and reporter to interview the pickets.

Met ‘heavy handed’

LAWYERS representing many of the 300 arrested at demonstrations in East London a week ago have criticised “heavy-handed” tactics used by police after they.

Solicitors at Hodge Jones and Allen which is resenting many of those arrested during protests against Islamophobic group the English Defence League, said bail conditions imposed by police raise “fundamental questions about the right to free speech.”

“The conditions appear to be a standard set, which have been imposed irrespective of personal circumstances or evidence in an individual case,” the firm added in a statement.

Many of those arrested in the Whitechapel area on Saturday are prevented from demonstrating anywhere in London while on bail until October.

Partner Raj Chada, who specialises in public order cases, said he had never seen so many arrests at a protest – and pledged to “scrutinise” the conditions imposed.

Scotland Yard confirmed the “vast majority” of the 286 people arrested for public order offences were anti-fascists who, they said, had breached conditions imposed on Saturday’s marches.

A spokesperson said the Met took a “balanced approach” to reducing violence and disorder and would consider legal representations on bail conditions upon receipt.