The Entirely Predictable Rise -and Fall? - of The British Far Right

Never have so many column inches and so much bandwidth been expended on a soundbite level chat show. I'm talking about, of course, this week's media coverage of the appearance of the leader of Britain's largest Far Right Party on BBC's Question Time. But the key questions seem to have escaped most of the commentators (with the possible exception of the Guardian's Gary Younge who seems to have a glimmer of the dynamic that is behind all this). These are the usual questions - what forces are intentionally or otherwise chiefly responsible for the recent rise of the odious right, and (hopefully assuming the prevention of a New British Reich)"Cui Bono?".

I think there is a case to be made that BNP in their current incarnation are actually the creation of the establishment - in particular the right-wing propaganda arm of the mass media. Griffin and pals were happily marginalised for much of the 80s and 90s. Their spectacular growth has come in the wake of two things - the so called war on terror and the cranking up of a concerted mass media hate campaign targetted at two or three main targets - Islam and Muslims in general, migrants from the New European entrants and the "undeserving poor". These campaigns all serve and are motivated by the interests of the ruling class in Britain. Griffin has been able to gear his "New Right" master plan (cribbed from Le Pen) to the narrative written and mass-propagandised by the British ruling class for their own ends. It is no surprise that he has moved from a friend of Gadaffi and anti-semitic elements of the Islamic world to a "hammerer of Islam", from European new right rhetoric to Little Englanderism and from Chestertonian ruralist elitism to embracing "the honest white working class" of places like Barnsley. These moves parasitize the zeitgeist created by ruling class mass propaganda.

1. The demonisation of Muslims is necessary to create support for the resource wars on behalf of Western Capital, led by the US Military industrial complex. This also works to aid recruitment of cannon fodder for the imperial wars and eases through the raft of security state measures that would have been desired by the ruling class (even if 9-11 had never occurred) in the face of the coming desperate, brutal, even semi-apocalyptic resource conflicts and environmental destruction that is the culmination and possible finale of capitalist accumulation. Even most radical Greens have not grasped the sheer scale and nature of what is likely to be coming.

2. The constant attacks on New European migrants are classic divide and rule designed to make union organisation more difficult, to attack those elements of the EU which the British ruling class find useful to scapegoat to distract attention from the aims they hold in common with other parts of the European ruling class and to obliquely label the British working class as lazy and greedy - see 3 below.

3. As ever, in an economic crisis the ruling class have very basic objectives, reduce the cost of labour, divide opposition to reducing the cost of labour and take back as much as possible of state property into private hands to recoup lost profits and expand the zone of operation of private capital which recession has shrunk (something which requires the attacks on TU organisation that the attacks on scapegoats one and two are being utilised for). To reduce the cost of labour the "reserve army of the unemployed" must be both increased and battered into a servile state through attacks on welfare. If these are to come about the unemployed and sick must be isolated and alienated from the rest of their class - hence constant "scrounger" stories in the tabloids to break up the diet of "millions of migrants" and "all muslims are potential terrorists" type front pages. Claimants are presented as largely criminal and fraudulent (see hype of recent transparently self interested figures released by the firms contracted to "test" those previously on Incapacity). This association with criminality is indispensible for any really serious scapegoating (and an element of it as old as the hills) and so is deployed against all three groups we are talking about.

It is no surprise that the concentrations of BNP membership shown by the recently leaked lists are not predominantly in ethnically mixed areas - they are largely in white dominated, even what some might uncharitably term "white ghetto" areas. It is not coincidental that these are the areas most isolated from the reality of life in much of modern Britain and Europe, and where the main source of information for the alienated elements recruited by the fascists is not the TV news, broadsheets or contact with a varied group of people, but tabloid hate stories constantly reinforced by social circulation in a limited parochial group. This is the depressing case for example in Ashfield, or Amber Valley.

What we see at the moment is the capitalist class (in the shape of Tories, the right wing media and other elements of the establishment like military figures and New Labour Ministers) attempting to do a bit of "house cleaning" by belatedly attacking - constantly this week - the BNP, by-product of their own strategies. This could tell us various things - 1. that the limits of growth of the far right are set by the ruling class - to a certain level they are useful, beyond that they become threatening as loose cannons that could provoke resistance to the whole shooting match. 2. That the establishment right would now like to claim back the territory ceded to the far right - in coded language they talk about the mainstream needing to address "the issues" that motivate BNP support - whilst claiming to be centrist they move the whole political spectrum further rightwards as "defence" against the "threat" of fascism that they created. Job done.
If this is the picture, then those of us on the green left, those of us who seek workers' unity and those of us who defend the social gains of the last Century have a hard fight ahead. If the ruling class has miscalculated, as it did in pandering to far right demagogues in several countries in the 1920s and 30s, the situation may be even more serious.....

Oxford Working Class Bookfair

Someone posted this in comments, (thanks) but it sounds an interesting enough event to publicise on the front page - so here you go -

1ST OXFORD WORKING CLASS BOOKFAIR
Saturday 20 June, 11 am - 6 pm
Ruskin College, Walton Street, Oxford
www.oxfordworkingclassbookfair.blogspot.com
oxfordworkingclassbookfair@googlemail.com

We cordially invite YOU to visit the 1st ever OXFORD WORKING CLASS BOOKFAIR! There will be books, talks, workshops, short films and more books and magazines . . .

We plan to recover/reclaim some of the hidden history of Oxford, with its gallery of rogues, rebels and revolutionaries, to touch upon some topics of contemporary relevance to the man & woman on the street today, provide quality entertainment, discuss the big issues past and present & hopefully have a real good time to boot! - All in a relaxed and warm atmosphere!

The range of local groups invited includes; political groups, Trade Unions, community groups, campaign groups, booksellers and history societies. If you would like to have a stall email us at the address above!

The event will include a commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the 1909 RUSKIN COLLEGE STUDENT STRIKE, a pioneering student uprising for independent working class education, that saw students breakaway to form a radical education and self-help networks based on an alternative progressive view of what education could be. They argued that it wasn't enough for the working class to have limited extended access to higer education, but rather that they needed a fundamentally different kind of education, curriculum & pedagogy to meet their needs and the needs of the class. They were involved in the PLEBS LEAGUE (a grassroots education iniative) and set up an anti-capitalist education network of CENTRAL LABOUR COLLEGES, many of the leaders of the student uprising were miners and trade unionists who went on to be authors of THE MINERS NEXT STEP, a classic text of rank & file trade unionism and syndicalism.

Along the way, we will learn the story of the RED SHIRTS, a group set up at Ruskin College to sabotage the attempts of Oswald Mosely's fascist BLACK SHIRTS to get a base in 1930s Oxford & consider how we fight against fascism & racism today. There will also be sessions on culture, trade union & labour history, feminism/women's liberation, ecology & climate, war & empire etc. More information about speakers, events and other happenings planned will appear on our page shortly - watch this space! Sponsors include the local I.W.W and trade unionists.

Peter Cranie Article

Peter Cranie had an article on reasons for voting Green in the North West region on Guardian Comment Is Free that gathered a lot of comments:

Vote Greens in to keep the BNP out

It's votes for the Green party, not Labour, that will stop Nick Griffin gaining a seat in the European elections

* Peter Cranie

As 4 June approaches, a serious threat hangs over British politics. BNP leader Nick Griffin is a candidate in the North West England Euro election. If he is elected, this will be the biggest step forward for the far right in British history.

Anti-racist votes in the North West region for Labour, the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives will certainly count. No one can dispute this, as those parties will claim seven out of the eight regional seats. But it's the eighth seat that Griffin is aiming for. Calling on everyone to once again get out and vote for red/yellow/blue simply won't work on voters already disillusioned with the Westminster parties. But those few extra thousand votes could keep the Greens ahead of the BNP – and that is the scenario with the best chance of keeping Griffin out.

The Green party is taking this responsibility seriously. In fact the Greens have one clear tactical aim in the North West Euro election: to finish fourth ahead of the BNP and keep Griffin out of the European parliament. We put the Green anti-BNP case in detail at www.stopnickgriffin.org.uk. In contrast, Labour is claiming on its leaflets that "only Labour can stop the BNP". This isn't just factually wrong, it is actually counterproductive, given that many former Labour supporters simply can't stomach another forced vote for the government.

The North West Greens have already built a broad coalition of anti-racist support to enable us to play this key role in keeping the BNP out. Former Lib Dem and Labour councillors around the region are backing us. The Respect party in the North West has stood down from the election and is urging its members and supporters to vote tactically for the Greens to keep out the BNP. In 2004 our combined electoral support here was 6.8%, ahead of the 6.4% gained by the BNP.

Jon Cruddas has warned that the BNP may need just a 7.5% share of the vote for Griffin to win the last of the eight Euro seats in the North West region. Cruddas is right – but his nightmare scenario can only happen if the BNP finish as the fourth largest party.

Green party membership is up by more than a third since the last European elections. Our councillor numbers have doubled. There is heightened media and public interest in issues such as climate change and the Green New Deal – issues where the big three parties are way behind the Greens – and the party has benefited from the decline of Labour and the Lib Dems in the polls since 2004.

Voting to ensure the Greens finish fourth will be the best way to prevent Griffin sneaking in through the back door. It will also mean one more Green party MEP to fight in the European parliament for social and economic justice, for greater openness and accountability, for stronger action on climate change and for a massive push for jobs in the new Green industries.

Weekly Links 16/03/2009

Just to vary things a bit I think we will have an ABC of links this week!

A is for
Airport Expansion, which will actually destroy jobs, says a new report.
B is for
Blackpool, location of the Green Party of England and Wales conference this coming weekend.
C is for
The CNT Spanish anarcho-syndicalist union now in dispute with Ryanair.
D is for
The New Depression, a word now being heard more frequently.
E is for
Evolution - elaborated by Charles Darwin, whose bi-centenary we are celebrating this year
F is for
The Israeli Far Right, who have just joined the Government coalition there.
G is for
Greece, where "Scotland Yard" have been called in to support the tottering regime.
H is for
Maura Harrington, an environmentalist protester languishing in Ireland's notorious Mountjoy Jail.
I is for
Ireland, and its' diaspora, preparing for St Patrick's Day.
J is for
Jury Team - the latest "independent" effort to shake up British Politics.
K is for
Korea, where violations of Labour Rights are increasing.
L is for
Low Carbon Lifestyle, a blog which reported on the "Age Of Stupid" film premiere.
M is for
Montreal which saw small scale rioting at the weekend, following a march against Police brutality.
N is for
Next Left Notes, always an interesting read.
O is for
Oceans, which are apparently becoming more acidic.
P is for
Paris, which will be the place where the action is on Thursday 19th March, with a General Strike in France.
Q is for
The Queen, whose website efforts have spurred Republicans to revamp their own site.
R is for
The Russians, who as ever "are coming" and in the case of the Evening Standard have arrived! Strange Days indeed!
S is for
"Squadism" which is how Andy Newman of Socialist Unity Blog describes recent events in Leigh
T is for
Terror, which brought peace protesters onto the streets of Belfast and elsewhere.
U is for
UKWIN - the UK without Incineration Network, who are holding their annual gathering in Nottingham this weekend.
V is for
The Very Public Sociologist who this week listed some "blogs you may have missed"
W is for
Wales where a story about bullying in the Army is unfolding.
X is for
X? X marks the spot, dark matter wise.... (That was a difficult one!)
Y is for
Youth unemployment - continued rises likely to be reported this Wednesday.
Z is for
Z Net, which I have not visited for a while, but looks very comprehensive these days.

Workers and Students On The March In Rome, Paris, Madrid And Berlin This Week

Students and workers have been on the march in many parts of Europe this week as governments, bosses and bureaucrats try to impose further cuts and neo-liberal "reforms".



Rail workers, including a delegation from the British Transport union the RMT protested in Paris this week against the neo-liberal attacks at EU level on public transport. Meanwhile, Air France pilots began a four day strike against proposed changes to their retirement arrangements, and Wildcat strikes continued at the Italian airline Alitalia over job losses likely to follow a proposed takeover by the Cai investor group.

Protests have continued in Italy against the Berlusconi regime's attack on students and education workers.



There have been solidarity protests organised across the continent. Workers and students in Italy are now moving into direct conflict with the far right regime and its fascist outriders.

In Spain this week there were demonstrations to commemorate the anniversary of the murder of a young antifascist, including an impressive manifestation in Madrid -




Protests by school students have also erupted in Germany.

High School students struck and marched across Germany yesterday in protest against classroom overcrowding, lack of teachers, and the pressure of examinations.

Some 100,000 participated in demonstration across the country, walking out of classes and marching in over 40 cities. They protested for more permanent staff, smaller classes, and against a sped-up version of the school leaving exam, called the “turbo-abitur”. School students face intense exam pressure in Germany, where they are "streamed" at the age of 10 and selected to go to either a vocational or grammar school, often determining their prospects and chances in adult life. Demands that the pressure be relieved were made, and many teachers are also reported to be supporting the students' efforts.

A 10,000 strong protest march in Berlin ended with the invasion of the prestigious Humboldt University, where the conference room and terrace were occupied and draped with banners. There are reports of university staff battling with the students to defend statues of Hegel and Fichte, and of the university president Christoph Markschies barricading himself inside his office. 8,500 marched in Hanover, 8,000 in Stuttgart, and 6,000 in Hamburg.

Let us hope that these are the harbingers of much needed, sustained mass resistance across the continent !

"1930s Territory" ?

Apparently the BBC Economics Correspondent said last night that if shares and the economic situation did not start to improve today then we are truly in "1930s Territory". This was presumably before the US Financial Bail out plan was torpedoed!

Things are moving very fast. Those of us who believe in democracy, sustainability, social justice and workers' organisation must be very ready for what is now coming over the horizon. Let us not be over dramatic, but the election result in Austria over the weekend, where the far right got nearly 30% of the vote to become "kingmakers" is a very ominous sign of the direction things might go.

Left Greens, ecosocialists, syndicalists and industrial unionists have the ideas and vitality (relatively untainted by the excesses of bureaucratic "state socialism/state capitalism") to offer viable alternatives and defensive structures in the coming period - let us not be shy in coming forward. We need to be at the centre of resistance to both the coming attempts of the ruling class and financial elite to make ordinary working people pay the harshest price for their crisis and to the perhaps now inevitable rise of right populist/fascist reaction.

The coming period will demand unity, cool heads and patient building up of networks, groups and capacity (not to mention bravery in some likely circumstances) - but there are now real prizes to be won as some of the barriers represented by the cocksure ideological grip of the neo-liberal version of capitalism have been blasted away by events, leaving the brutal and dishonest reality of the neo-liberal model in full view of many.

Weekly Links - 16/09/2008

Plenty of worthwhile links this week.

Blogs
Derek Wall is looking forward to the Convention of The Left, which could be a good step forward for the left in Britain....or not. Time will tell. Hope is ever the triumph of optimism over experience. He has also been blogging like mad on Socialist Unity blog (all that free time now he is not Principal Speaker of the GP being made good use of perhaps?) including this news about passenger resistance to a violent deportation to Nigeria.
Aled's submission to the NUS Reform Consultation from the end of last month is blogged by him here.
Jim blogs about the rightward drifting Lib Dems during their conference week.
The current financial and economic crisis brings to mind some words of TS Eliot for Molly.
Meanwhile James Caspell directs our attention to further evidence of the creeping rise of fascism in Italy.
Jack Ray reports on US government hypocrisy over the latest developments in Bolivia.



New Books
The eagerly awaited latest novel from acclaimed left-wing Scottish science fiction writer (and blogger) Ken MacLeod is now out. The Night Sessions is again set in a near future devastated by war and altered by climate change and technological advance. In this book the futurescape is explored through the lens of a police procedure and investigation into the murder of a Catholic Priest. Sounds a gripping read - more here and here.

Green Politics
News from the Scottish Green Party that long time co-leader of the party Robin Harper is to stand down from the position and is favouring a move to single leader model as adopted by the Green Party in England and Wales.

International
Keep up with developments in Bolivia beyond the capitalist media interpretation at BoRev.net. Another source is the Democracy Center. Ecosocialist Ian Angus reports on the plight of Cuba after the devastating storms and hurricanes. Hands off Venezuela and the Venezuela Info Centre have info on the coup plots there.

Obituaries
As well as the sad loss of Peter Camejo the last week has seen the death of legendary Pink Floyd keyboardist Rick Wright and excellent author and essayist David Foster Wallace.

Weekly Links - 18/08/2008

Environmental Campaigns
Friends of The Earth in Britain have updated their anti-incineration web pages which now include a link to an interactive map showing 150 locations nominated as possible sites for the proposed 80 new incinerators around the UK, and a draft protest letter - all here
As FOE say, the incinerators will waste valuable resources and contribute to emissions. What is more, many will be energy inefficient by not making use of the heat energy in CHP arrangements.

Unions and work
The TUC's handbook for union green workplace representatives is now available online here - http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/gogreenatwork.pdf

The TUC is also supporting a World Day for Decent Work that is taking place on Tuesday 7th October.

The Institute of Employment Rights is running a conference to update activists and union lawyers on changes in employment law on 15th October in London - more here.

Blogs
The Inveresk Street Ingrate blog has some William Morris resources including a downloadable talk given in 1982 by Steve Coleman. All this here.

James at La Lutte Continue blog reported on one of the examples of over zealous policing at the climate camp last week.

Socialist Unity Blog has pics and details of the anti-fascist mobilisation in Derbyshire at the weekend, and an article by Louise on the latest from the DWP.

A Very Public Sociologist blog also has a report from the Derbyshire demo.

On his blog Nation of Duncan, Duncan Money discusses a recent IWCA document on Economics and Immigration.

The GPTU blog has a post on the actions being taken against the Mugabe regime by South African union COSATU and others.

Blue Green Earth/ESEI blog has an interesting post on Sci Fi utopias.

Dave Osler commented that the "Left doesn't have to take sides" on the Georgia/Russia conflict on his blog Daves Part and sparked a debate in his comments section.

Lenin's Tomb blog has some interesting stats on social and economic conditions in the USA.

Jim has launched another "Best Green Blogs" thing on his Daily (Maybe) blog.


The Left
The programme is now availble for The Convention of The Left, running alongside the stage managed Labour Party private-lobbying-festival, sorry, "conference", in Manchester in September. Manchester Green Party are running a session on Transport at the Convention of the Left. All the sessions are discussions so the named contributors won't be giving a talk but will be expected to lead the discussion.

Anti-Fascism At Home And Abroad

Today there were various actions against the far right festival in Derbyshire I blogged about on Thursday.
Reports on Indymedia - here and here
BBC report here.

Meanwhile there is concern regarding far right attacks on the Hindu community in Berlin. According to a recent e-mail I received -

The Neo-Nazis have announced that they will march on 23rd August to protest at the proposed building of a Hindu Temple in Berlin. They have decided to march through the largest immigrant district of Berlin (Neukoelln) ending at the proposed site as they believe that "symbols" of this nature attack 'German' culture.

More here for German readers from German Indymedia - http://de.indymedia.org/2008/08/224534.shtml

Let us hope there is a strong counter action to this latest divisive fascist offensive.

Bearing in mind current and ongoing developments in Italy and former Soviet bloc countries the situation in Europe as regards the influence of far right movements and currents continues to remind us of the necessity for eternal vigilance and for concrete attempts to address the effects of the dysfunctional capitalist system on vulnerable groups from a democratic, left and progressive angle.

Anti-Fascist Mobilization In The Midlands This Weekend.

This weekend sees the UK's largest far right Party returning to fields near Denby and Codnor in Derbyshire in the East Midlands for their annual "Red White And Blue" Festival. Whilst locals have opposed previous occurrences of this event there has not yet been a major mobilization to protest against the attempts of extreme right thugs, criminals and loudmouthed bigots to present themselves as some kind of legitimate, family-friendly, peaceful democratic party. Previous "festivals" have seen some of the far rightists discredit themselves with drunken brawling and the Notts/Derbyshire border area has seen some nasty faction fighting involving different groups within the BNP. This year the decision has been taken to publicly oppose the far right jamboree by a mobilization of anti fascists. Unfortunately some sectarian outbreaks on the left have marred the run up to this, but there seems to be a truce with different elements of the anti-fascist coalition agreeing to disagree and run complementary activities on the day. We shall see how successful this will be and whether the strategy of UAF (National SWP dominated "popular-frontist" Unite Against Fascism), Notts Against the BNP (More locally based and independent group that launched the first plans for the day with strong representation of the AWL and Socialist Party) or Antifa (Radical direct action/physical force anti-fascists and anarchists) are more successful on the weekend.

Related Indymedia stories here, here, here and here.

Weekly Links - 22/06/2008

UK Politics News Stories
Lots of interesting, if sometimes a little depressing, stuff being reported this week. It seems all the millions spent by the climate change denial industry and the busy beaver efforts of their conspiracist right-wing errand boys on blogs and comments sections have not been in vain as a majority of Brits still "doubt the evidence" on climate change. Semi-reasonable comment (albeit from his establishment viewpoint) from Andrew Rawnsley here, but as usual the cynics, pessimists, liars and fascists are out in force on the comments section.

Meanwhile there is to be a much trumpeted "Green Energy Push" in Britain, but George Monbiot has picked out some of the flaws in the plan and its likely implementation. One thing I picked out was the lack of mention of the potential use of biogas from anaerobic digestion of food waste etc - let us hope that this is not a further signal of government "capture" by the big waste companies eager to incinerate 50% of Britain's waste and call this "sustainable" and "green" energy from waste. These firms have just managed to get the tame elements of the EU to pass legislation favourable to their plans in the face of Green opposition.

UK Royal financial reports are due out in the next few days, with the monarchist spin machine presenting it as "value for money" - the campaign group Republic is ready with the facts and arguments for an end to expensive and undemocratic hereditary offices of state. Republic are also running a campaign to challenge the oath of allegiance to the monarch.

Industrial
It is the British Isles Regional Organising Committee (BIROC) of the Industrial Workers Of the World (IWW) meeting this weekend, with preparations well under way for the international General Assembly of the IWW in London at the end of August. Before then, Wobblies internationally will be involved in a mobilisation to highlight the union-busting tactics of Starbucks. IWW members at Starbucks branches in the US have been under attack and now the IWW is linking up for action with the Spanish CNT union and the international organisation they are affiliated to the IWA/AIT (International Workers' Association) as a CNT member in Sevilla has been fired for union activity. The day of action is scheduled for July 5th.

It was the British public services union, Unison, conference this week and as well as warning the governing Labour Party over local government workers' pay they passed a motion on the situation in Palestine.

The RMT (transport) union has its' conference in Nottingham this week and there is a fringe meeting put together by the Campaign Against Climate Change Trade Union Group at 1.10pm at the Rope Walk Pub on Derby Road.

Green Issues


Despite all the campaigning by green groups over battery recycling the British authorities have failed to act and now face penalties under new EU legislation.

There is impressive mobilising and campaigning going on against incineration in various parts of the world, including the Basque country where 2000 demonstrated on the streets of San Sebastian last week. There was also a protest in Barcelona, Catalonia, where three weeks ago 1,000 people marched against a project from the Lafarge cement plant to burn different types of waste, including sewage sludge, tyres and solvents. The local "platform" against incineration also collected 6,200 signatures against this project.

Human Rights
The campaign for the freeing of Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine continues, with a new petition. The speech given by actor Danny Glover at a vigil for the campaigner, and for freedom for Haiti is on You Tube here.

There is a demo supporting the long suffering opposition to the Mugabe regime in Zimbabwe in London on Monday 23rd June. More from Action For Southern Africa here.

Blogs

Aled has a blog piece on Paul Mobbs' Energy Beyond Oil.

Derek reports that the Greens are likely to run a candidate in the Howden and Haltemprice by-election to give a voice to all those who support the former MP's stance on 42 days detention but vigourously oppose him on just about everything else and so could not bring themselves to vote for him. By voting Green people will be able to register opposition to the detention without trial moves without allowing a socially reactionary and economically neo-liberal Tory to present his party as the sole guardian of our rights and liberties. Elsewhere, Labour Left Dave Osler has taken Tony Benn to task for backing the Tory campaign.

Jack Ray is following the European football, Liam MacUaid and Dave Osler reflect on the anti-fascist event in London on Saturday, and the Socialist Unity blog reports on a call for the abolition of prescription charges.

Fascist Attack in Huddersfield

An anti-fascist has been attacked by fascist thugs on her way to work in Huddersfield. Here is the statement from Kirklees Unity:

Kirklees Unity Statement:

On Friday morning a young female student was attacked on her way to work by three armed members of the far right. They pulled her to the ground, kicked her repeatedly in the ribs and slashed at her head with a knife. Whilst attacking her they called her “A Dirty red” and “Filthy lesbo”, the latter being a reference to the victims sexuality.

She suffered a fractured rib and severe bruising, but given the severity of the assault the injuries could have been far worse.

The attackers singled out this student because she campaigns on her campus to drive out the BNP. The victim is also a member of Unison and the NUS.

They knew her name and route to work, and deliberately targeted her to intimidate her and others campaigning against the far right.

The incident has been reported to West Yorkshire Police and they are currently investigating the attack.

More from Workers' Liberty here.

New Links and Green Books

I have added a few new links to my links column, the first being Skeptical Science, an interesting and useful site set up by John Cook, an ex-Physicist who majored in Solar Physics at the University of Queensland. I have added it to my resources section. From the site intro -

Scientific skepticism is a healthy thing. Scientists should always challenge themselves to expand their knowledge, improve their understanding and refine their theories. Yet this isn't what happens in global warming skepticism. Skeptics vigorously criticise any evidence that supports anthropogenic global warming and yet eagerly, even blindly embrace any argument, op-ed piece, blog or study that refutes global warming.

So this website gets skeptical about global warming skepticism. Do their arguments have any scientific basis? What does the peer reviewed scientific literature say?

My other new link is in my left parties and blogs section, where I have added the very brave young anti-fascist Duncan Money's blog - Nation of Duncan.



Sian Berry's book, 50 Ways To Save Water And Energy is getting a boost from her high profile during the London election, which is a very good thing as the book promotes things that individuals can do to help save the planet, whilst also usually saving money - and Sian's profile shows that it is not all just about individual action, collective and political action are essential.

The Green Party Political Broadcast for the local elections aired on TV last night, and very good it was too. The Greens also have this excellent website up and running for the local elections - http://www.votegreenparty.org.uk/



Back on books and Lancaster Green Party City Councillor Anne Chapman has a book out entitled Democratizing Technology, published by Earthscan, which looks at risk, responsibility and the regulation of chemicals.

Italian Election : Anti-Politics and Reaction Hand in Hand

The Italian election results show a depressing picture of decline for the left and resurgence for the right, compounded by a weary anti-political mood. The Italian Green vote, whilst not large originally, appears to have declined very slightly, whilst the votes of the left parties they allied with in the "Rainbow Left" coalition declined precipitously.
More from Jim at Daily (Maybe) here.

The left in Italy have probably pleased no-one. First they cooperated in the centre left government coalition and lost lots of support due to the perceived compromise of principles, then they united outside the centre left coalition and lost support from those who favoured a more "popular frontist" strategy.

As ever, anti-politics and weariness and cynicism has fed not as anarchistic elements would wish into mass revolt, but mass abstention and disengagement, leading to a victory for a corrupt and reactionary right. This all brought to mind a discussion on Indymedia recently where "Stargrave" answered the arguments of abstentionists and immiserationists regarding their non-voting in the forthcoming London election which could see the victory of reactionary Tory Boris Johnson and the election of the first fascist assembly members:

It seems to me that the original post is arguing for a tactic and this position is being opposed from either a strategic or dogmatic position - i.e."Don't vote ever" or even the immiserationist "Let the right gain power as it will radicalise people". (a ridiculous strategy which current conditions in much of the world and the judgement of history have shown to be suicidal)
People need to get out of their bubbles and look at the effect of actions and tactics in the real world.
We DO NOT live in a society where there is a mass movement against capital, we ARE NOT on the verge of revolution. If that was the case then abstentionism might be arguable (though if it was the case there would probably arise an electoral expression of the movement that people might consider voting for) This is not to say we should not be building a mass movement, merely to state the FACTS as they stand.
We live in a situation where the global economy is taking a nose dive, ecological and social problems are escalating, and the main people benefitting from the growing alienation and disillusionment are the far right. To ignore this, and think that lifestylism or hiding in a purist ghetto are adequate responses is, quite frankly , juvenile and foolish.
To posit false choices "either vote or organise" is dishonest - why cant people vote (as a tactic, not a strategy - without buying into the "vote for this party and everything will be OK" arguments) to dinminish the chances of the fascists gaining a strategic advantage. As someone said above, the fascists gaining seats gives them further legitimacy, which means more sympathisers come out of the woodwork, more feel free to openly support them and their influence on the direction and tone of politics increases.
The mainstream parties and fascism are NOT the same, as anyone who has engaged in physical anti-fascism or studied history should know. From the point of view of the struggle, the more the fascists gain power and legitimacy, the more difficult it becomes to unite working people, the more organising is obstructed, the more repression comes down on our head and the more dangerous it becomes for people to express views in favour of our side.
The mistake made here by many has been made in France and Italy - where the far right now has a hold in many areas that were formerly dominated by the left. The rise of the right cannot be fought purely in physical terms, when they seek the "legitimate" route. If you do this you then become seen in the eyes of many of the working class as the "illegitimate" ones, attacking "freedom of speech" and promoting violence - as ridiculous as this may seem in the face of the rise of fascism. This is not to say that there is no place for physical anti-fascism - again it is a question of *tactics*, not strategy or principle.
So vote as a tactic, organise as a strategy. Look at the consequences of your actions and arguments.

Stargrave

The Italian election victory of Berlusconi et al adds further weight to the argument put forward by Stargrave, I hope those who plan to abstain or even worse, vote for the right in the misconceived hope of "punishing the imperfect left and provoking a popular left reaction" are paying attention!

Weekly Links - 06/04/08

Blogs
Jim, at Daily (Maybe) this week launched a survey of readers of his blog on the British political situation and also linked to the "Vote Match" site for the London Election.
On that subject, Liam Mac Uaid this week reported on his left group's statement on the London Mayoral election - calling for a first preference for Sian Berry, the Green candidate.
Duncan Money, one of the bravest current anti-fascist bloggers, reported this week on the latest foot shooting incident of one of the far rightists in London.
In a week that has seen day after day of barely concealed tabloid joy at stories which gave them the opportunity to play on the meanest and basest prejudices, Anton Vowl at Enemies Of Reason took a look at the pit of stench that is the current worst offending tabloid, The Express. At Obsolete, Septicisle also looked at the influence of the tabloid scum on topics such as privacy/data theft and cannabis classification.
Meanwhile, from Ireland, there is comment on Cedar Lounge Revolution blog in the wake of the Bertie Ahern resignation announcement.
From the US, Renegade Eye started a debate on Obama and US foreign policy on Monday.
Finally this week, news that the lefty blogger responsible for high traffic UK blog Lenin's Tomb is going into print.

Activism
Rising Tide called a day of action on polluting energy companies failing to address the challenge of climate change on April 1st, entitled "Fossil Fools Day".
There were a series of actions around the country, including in Nottingham, where E.On were targeted and blockaded, and in London where the Football Association were targetted due to their acceptance of prominent sponsorship by E.On.

Green Politics



Just love those Sian Berry posters!
The Green Party of The United States this week posted election news from Illinois and Wisconsin.
English Green MEP Caroline Lucas this week led a delegation to talk to EU Commissioner (Environment) Dimas about illegal logging and deforestation.

Labour News
Various interesting stories highlighted on Labourstart this week - amongst those catching my eye were a large protest against low pay and corporate greed in Slovenia, continuing industrial unrest amongst Nike workers in Vietnam, and repression of workers struggles in Egypt.

Something Nasty Stirs In English Politics....

There is a whiff of something unpleasant coming from a clutch of articles and op-ed pieces from people at some stage seen as influential in the two main parties in Britain this week. I say English politics as any fool knows that "British Nationalism" is almost always "English Nationalism" and frequently "White Anglo Saxon Protestant English Nationalism". I doubt whether the disturbing drift in the views of some of the political writers I am about to name will have much echo in Scotland, for example.

Tory Adviser and "thinker" David Selbourne has an odd article, given front page prominence in the main Conservative leaning magazine, The Spectator, entitled We Are Living In A State Of Emergency: And We Are Getting Angrier. At first glance the piece appears a typical, perennial Mail/Express Why-Oh-Why essay on the Country going to the dogs, but on closer inspection appears to go further down a dangerous path than writers like Phillips, Littlejohn, Glover et al have done of late. The editors of the Tory organ are obviously aware of the controversial nature of Selbourne's opinions and cover their backs by prominently calling for comment in the print edition.

Selbourne's analysis of the current malaise of Western societies, and in particular liberal democracies pursuing neo-liberal economic policies and social engineering, is certainly forthright and persuasive :

The ills of Western democracies are afflicting the most liberal societies known to history. Among other things, Britain suffers from growing inequality, housing shortage, a falling quality of health provision, rising rates of many types of crime, a failing pedagogy, agricultural impoverishment and a huge scale of ‘consumer debt’. Yet, for many, we are not free enough, being allegedly threatened by encroachments upon our personal liberties, coddled by a ‘nanny state’ and menaced by Orwellian surveillance.

However, his final call, after lambasting the main British political parties, and by implication, much of the population is for some kind of strong man, the "smack of firm government", ID cards, nationalistic corporatism etc - something that sounds like a caricature of the path that New Labour are already leading us down -

‘Up and be doing!’, said the great Protector in 1643, speaking directly to us now; ‘we must act lively, do it without distraction, neglect no means’; and, going to the heart of today’s confusions also, ‘weak counsels and weak actings undo all’.

Moreover, as the ‘free society’ disintegrates, it is a progressive not a reactionary stance to favour the restoration of the idea of nation, the values and duties of citizenship, the safeguarding of the public domain from the privateer, the elevation of the ethic of public service over private interest and, yes, ID cards too. To hold otherwise is to invite, or incite, the justly angered to find their own ways to a new political settlement in Britain — or to leave it in ever greater droves.

It is no wonder that the orthodox Thatcherites of the Spectator blanched at the thought of his article being seen as an editorial view and saw fit to invite comment on the controversial piece. Selbourne's attachment to democracy and civil liberties seems to have evaporated (if it was ever there) at the same time as his Islamophobia grew to obsessive proportions.

A slightly more liberal and watered down version of Selbourne's appeal for a powerful state appears in Matthew Parris' Times article, although he does opine that

People need governing. People need governments, strong governments. People need certainty. People need consistency. People need constraining, inspiring, harnessing and directing, and they need it done with the clarity and command that central government alone can offer.

Nevertheless, he hedges round his new found faith in authoritarian solutions with the usual Parris one nation Tory liberalism. Not so Selbourne, who seems to take pleasure in repeatedly quoting Britain's one time Military Dictator, Oliver Cromwell, implying that someone of Cromwell's "calibre" is what is required. Selbourne, unlike Parris, approaches from a new-found radical rejection of what he calls the "corner shop" mentality of the Tory party and a barely concealed urge for political and religious conflict (Selbourne has form - Muslims play the scapegoat role that Catholics played for his revolutionary hero.) It is all too much for some rightists still in thrall to those who Parris names as his fallen and now historically irrelevant "household gods" - Hayek, Sherman and Joseph - they lambast the heretic Selbourne in the comments, as do the Royalists enraged by his elevation of the regicide and the Protestant bigots upset that he does not locate the source of all the ills he describes in the decline of subscription to their superstitions and bigotry. (Of course, Selbourne has his own superstitions and bigotries) At least one commenter makes the observation that Selbourne's advocacy of ID cards, culture wars and strong state are at least a little reminiscent of a former little bald dictator of the country in which Selbourne now apparently lives.

Nevertheless, all this rightist sectariana and backbiting aside, the intersecting opinions of Parris and Selbourne are still of importance as we have just witnessed the ruling party and the establishment fawning to the rightist French President - a President who combines envy of vicious "anglo-saxon" neo-liberal economic and social policies with residual statism and that figleaf of republicanism and laicite that is used in France and the Low Countries to justify anti-muslim bigotry and the division, where possible, of the working class along racial and religious lines. It seems that neo-liberal economics, fake-enlightenment cultural supremacism and authoritarian statist politics are coming together more explicitly than previously. It is ironic that Selbourne sees himself as the ignored prophet and rebel, when the spokespeople of the establishment "left" echo his outlook.

Look no further than right-labourite witchhunter in chief Martin Bright at the New Statesman - equivalent of the Spectator for the ruling Labour Party. The magazine itself backs off from Bright's stance of recent weeks which seemed to suggest that a defeat for Ken Livingstone in London would be a good thing - this week it headlines a demolition job on the Tory Candidate Boris Johnson. However, Bright is still in there, digging his claws into his former leftist comrades like a latter-day Paul Johnson. He opines about the futile horribleness of 1968 and the anti-war movement in 2003, (much in line with the French President's views)and without a blush quotes Tariq Ali as "negative and gloomy" where Ali is in actual fact attacking people very much like Bright and his new-labourite pals. Bright meanwhile can only negatively and gloomily reflect on the fact that both 1968 and "Third Way/Liberal Interventionist" idealism both came to grief.

Now, before any misconceptions take hold, I, and this blog, resolutely defend secularism, republicanism and progress. Whilst seeing a role for localisation and mutualism - ideally seeking workers' control - I can see that in the short term public ownership of utilities and transport would be a step forward, and national and international planning would play a major part in any sustainable ecosocialist strategy. This makes opposition to the Selbournes, the Brights, the Parrises (and those who would fellow travel with them on the right of the European Green movement) even more important. The superficial attraction of some of Selbourne's analysis (e.g. his condemnation of the sell off of council housing) and the mild social democratic sound of some of what Parris has to say, the appeal to enlightenment secularism of Bright should not blind us to the fact that they are at best apologists for the authoritarian trajectory of the ruling class, and in Selbourne's case advocates of a kind of anti-democratic, xenophobic and militaristic nationalism that comes close to the "F" word that we should not overuse to avoid accusations of exaggeration and hyperbole.

The ruling class of Europe in "left" and "right" manifestations - Brown and Sarkozy - move ever closer to the nuclear-powered-corporatist-national-security state, meanwhile some of those sanctioned by the establishment media as "controversial" critics offer as alternatives a return to the 1930s or the 1650s!

The time for a real oppositional movement with a developed understanding of the crises facing modern "capitalist civilization" and the perspective of bonding together the social forces that can move us forward to the next stage is clearly upon us. The despairing views of Selbourne and Bright are evidence of the political and social decay that is fast setting in. They must be countered by a positive, internationalist and inclusive movement committed to democracy, ecosocialism and progress.

Dodgy Lib Dem Deeds In Nottinghamshire

Liberal "Democrat" councillors in Ashfield have agreed a plan to build a "refuse derived power station" (i.e. waste that has been formed into "briquettes") in Kirkby-in-Ashfield using their delegated powers and avoiding public scrutiny and the planning committee. Is this the true face of Clegg's new Orange-Book-rightist dominated Lib Dems revealed?

The waste incinerator cum power station is planned to incinerate 72,000 tonnes of "briquetted" waste per year and put the population and environment both locally and downwind at risk. This is of course in addition to the 180,000 to 210,000 tonne per year County incinerator planned for the old Rufford Colliery and the existing Eastcroft incinerator in Nottingham. Notts could become an incineration hotspot!

Alarmingly, the first person to comment on the local Chad newspaper website was a representative of the local BNP, so it seems as well as bringing local democracy into disrepute councillors Smith and Madden are also giving succour and ammunition to democracy's enemies.

Read the first report of the horrible story here

PAIN (fighting the Rufford proposals and having a meeting this Wednesday 12th at 7pm at Rainworth Village Hall with speaker Dr van Steenis), NAIL (fighting Eastcroft) and principled members of the anti-landfill campaign in Ashfield (those who also oppose the false solution of incineration) must come together to fight for a sensible waste policy and oppose those politicians who are suspiciously close to the profiteering waste companies.

Weekly Links - 09/03/08

Firstly, away from politics for a while, and as a Yorkshire born lad myself, may I say Glory, Glory Barnsley FC! who yesterday repeated their FA Cup "giant killing" of Liverpool by defeating the "mighty" (ho-ho)Chelsea. Barnsley's success and the promotion chasing efforts of Doncaster Rovers in League One give some much needed excitement to football in South Yorkshire, away from the trials of the two Sheffield Teams. Come on Barnsley and Donny!

Onto the blogs, and a football link there to start too - Anton at Enemies of Reason Blog has a piece on the latest despicable behaviour of the Express newspaper - this time in relation to Paul Gascoigne and his troubles.

Elsewhere, Phil from A Very Public Sociologist blog reports the death of holocaust survivor and veteran anti-fascist Leon Greenman.

Over at the Cedar Lounge Revolution there are some interesting thoughts on the return to print of the anti-postmodernist hoaxer Sokal.

Louise reports on the International Women's Day events in London this weekend over at the Socialist Unity Blog.

Septic Isle reviews the latest George Romero film, Diary of the Dead at Obsolete.

Liam MacUaid this week publishes an account of the situation with the Green Party in the USA as regards the upcoming elections, written by New York State Green Party Member Steffie Brooks.

Jack Ray has interesting reflections this week on the meaning of democracy and self determination in a world of globalised capitalism.

The GPTU blog has Derek Wall's Green Party statement on the Shelter dispute.

Green From Below this week has Guy Debord's Situationist Theses on Traffic.

Jim at Daily (Maybe) reports on the call from Green MEP Caroline Lucas for progressive opposition to the Lisbon Treaty. He also has a piece on the Bush regime and torture, and some thoughts on death. A cheery note to end on this week!

Weekly Links - 20/01/2008

An eclectic mix this week.

A debate has raged on Comment Is Free after right wing loon David Cox posted an article suggesting that the Russians' active SETI (Search for extra terrestrial intelligence) is a threat to humanity.

Elsewhere on CIF reactionary philosopher John Gray lays into the Greens and suggests we are all (note how we are somehow a homogenous movement and uniform in our beliefs) no different to George Bush. Gray exposes himself as a Lovelock fan, but ignorant and simplistic on the topic he is discussing.

Earlier in the week Gordon Walker of Lancaster University covered the question I raised on my blog this week with regard to the siting of these putative new reactors.

A report on Indymedia of the anti-fascist meeting I blogged about on Friday.

Around the blogs, Jim is talking about Ethics, Derek is discussing biofuels, Louise reviews the new Coen brothers film on the Socialist Unity Blog, and Anton at Enemies of Reason has been looking at New Labour increasing inequality.

Cedar Lounge Revolution has a report on the Irish Greens vote on whether to take sides on the Lisbon Treaty vote (another rightward shift as far as I am concerned, with voters lobbied by unwanted intervention from the sold out, corrupted and decaying ghost of 1968, Cohn Bendit..... grrrr!)

Rock Against Racism 30th Anniversary

This year sees the 30th Anniversary of the Rock Against Racism Carnival that was a high point in the political and cultural fightback against fascism and racism in Britain in the 1970s. This period of struggle (1977-1981) was the topic of a recent book by Dave Renton.

The 30th anniversary of the carnival is being celebrated by a gig at Brixton Academy on Wednesday 30th April with Alabama 3, Misty in Roots and special guests.
On Friday 8th February there is the launch of the RAR Club Night at Brixton Jamm with The Others, The Thirst and The Mentalists.

This weekend there is an organising conference in Nottingham to oppose the growth of the BNP in the Midlands and their use of the area for their "Red White And Blue" Festival.