Here is a report from Alf Filer of the demonstration against the Stop Islamification of Europe (SIOE) today in Harrow.

The return to Harrow

The long awaited return of the openly Islamophobic SIOE to Harrow on December 13^th must have turned out to be a true disappointment for Stephen Gash and his fascist fellow travellers, the EDL. Although they had been planning their static and supposedly peaceful demo for some time, they failed to attract any support. There is nothing peaceful about racism and their attempt to legitimise Islamophobia was a total flop.

For months they had been claiming on their website that they were going to oppose any further building of mosques in this country. Their slogan of “No sharia here. Hammer their helmets! Blunt their bayonets”, fell on deaf ears. Further, their call for Jews to support their demo and to bring Israeli flags did not succeed. In fact, several leading local Harrow rabbis had issued a public statement condemning the SIOE and in defence of the Muslim community against racism. In a published letter they offered support for the borough’s Muslims. In an attack on “those whose only purpose is to spread hatred and fear”, they wrote: “We share the desire of the Muslim community of Harrow to respect our mutual traditions”. There were further condemnations of the SIOE by the Jewish Board of Deputies and the Community Security Trust.

In advertising the planned event, the SIOE made it clear on their website that they were giving approval to “anti-sharia and anti-islamisation chants”. Stephen Gash himself has said that in his view,” there is no such thing as moderate Muslims”, stating that Islamophobia is the “height of common sense”. By promoting what is tantamount to incitement to religious hatred, stirring up racism and supporting the decision in Switzerland to ban minarets, the intention was to spread a message of hate based on ignorance and bigotry. The new Mosque remains standing and when completed will be a positive contribution to both the Harrow community and its sky line.

Gash was expected to be accompanied by Krisztina Morvai , leader of Jobbik, Hungary’s nazi party, which continually campaigns against the Romani people by referring to “gypsy criminality”. Nor are they short on anti-semitic attacks either. The BNP is in an alliance with Jobbik in the European Parliament. As the saying goes, by their friends you know them. Jobbik have a group that illegally marches around the streets in military uniform, no doubt dreaming of a return to the days of the Third Reich. Obviously she did not feel it was safe enough for her in Harrow.

Griffin referred to London as a place where “ ALL IS LOST IN OUR CAPITAL CITY!” . Perhaps he too supports ethnic cleansing. It is not surprising that the SIOE website makes reference to supporting Serbian Kosova and claiming in a call to all Serbs that, “Sarajevo is now officially Muslim and Kosova is dominated by Muslims”, (August 7, 2008).

Although officially the EDL and BNP were not originally supporting the SIOE initiative, a variety of fascists were assembled around the SIOE. In fact they could only muster 12 supporters in total. What ever their specific relationships are it does not really matter as they all speak the same language of racism, Islamophobia and homophobia. They may at times publically disown each other for tactical reasons, yet they are all inter related. Roy Parsons, one of the anti-Islam protesters, told the Harrow Times: “Muslims want dominance, they don’t want to live alongside us. Another lie that is being spread by these racists. One minute they want to deport them and the next they want them to integrate more. The truth is that Harrow remains a peaceful and united multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-racial community, which is not to Nick Griffin’s liking.

In the finest tradition of the anti-fascist movement, over a thousand came out onto the streets to show their solidarity with the Muslim community and to oppose all forms of racism and fascism. The banners provided evidence of the wide support that the Brent and Harrow Unite Against Fascism were able to mobilize. The message of unity and solidarity rang out loud. Muslims stood alongside Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, trade unionists, trades councils, student organizations, women’s groups, the Green Party, Labour Party members, the Left, Socialist, and many other organizations and independents, who were highly visible by their large presence.

Inspite of calls by the Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, for people not to attend the counter demo and to leave it to the police, Labour councilors and Labour Party members were not deterred by his cowardly advice. GLA Councilor, Navin Shah, along with Leader of the Labour Group, Bill Stevenson, attended and supported the UAF rally . Tony McNulty, MP for Harrow East, who supported the UAF demo on 11^th Sept and had spoken at the Festival of Unity, also endorsed the need to publically oppose the fascists with his presence. Unlike Johnson, the rest of us have learnt the lessons of Cable Street and Lewisham. We believe fascists must never go unchallenged.

To this end, over the past few months, the local UAF branch has been building for the counter rally through street stalls, leafleting and holding a successful and well attended Festival of Unity last month. The local college N.U.S. has been mobilizing students, taking a coach to Nottingham for the previous anti-EDL demo and visiting local shops and pubs to ensure that they do not serve the fascists when they arrive. Nikki Joshi, the NUS Vice President of Harrow College made it clear that “she should not stay at home on the day and that her place was on the streets with others opposing the fascists”. It must be recognized that the students played a key role in mobilizing the youth of Harrow.

Although the leaders of the Harrow Mosque were under immense pressure, for obvious reasons, not to endorse a counter demo and to urge others not to participate, it was recognized that the counter demo was essential if Harrow was to remain a nazi-free zone. Whilst the elders of the Mosque were expected to rely on the police to protect them, they also organized their own security. One of their concerns was to prevent unnecessary negative publicity from isolated actions by a section of youth from East London.

As expected, the Conservative Deputy Leader of Harrow Council, Susan Hall, joined in the condemning of the counter demo "We need to support our police and the best way to do that is steer clear and go about our normal business." She accused Labour of“grandstanding”. Unlike Susan Hall, we do not think that there is anything normal about having fascists and racists on our streets shouting out racist abuse. Last time, one nazi was filmed giving the Hitler salute!

The police originally intended to kettle the anti-fascists into the Council car park, in order to restrict our ability to confront the fascists. The anti-fascists were not to be dictated to and insisted on remaining potentially mobile on the pavement. The Left, with a large contingent from the SWP, also acknowledged the need to remain mobile in order to challenge the fascists.

When the EDL/SIOE did appear, they were themselves kettled and surrounded by the police, looking rather pathetic and isolated in their penned off area. Whilst they waved two Israe
li flags and a banner against Islamophobia, the anti-fascists had to remind them that the only Jews on the rally were with the UAF and not them. Representatives from the Jewish Socialist Group and Harrow Jewish community spoke in solidarity with THEIR Muslim brothers and sisters. A rabbi ordered the EDL to put away the Israeli flag as they had no right to carry it.

Over the past few months, since Nick Griffin’s notorious appearance on Question Time, a debate has emerged regarding the relevance of the No Platform position. Cable Street, Lewisham and other similar events have been constantly reviewed and comparisons made. In Harrow on Sept 11^th, by having masses of people on the streets, the balance of power to prevent fascists marching was in our favour. Many in the UAF have always argued that this is what we must work towards, ensuring that the Left, trade unionists, the youth and community groups can act together to prevent the fascists from marching. We can not in any way substitute a few for the mass movement of the organised working class and its allies. We must maintain the No Platform position as central to our anti-fascist strategy.

We must also ensure that the anti-fascist/ anti-racist movement does not ignore the class nature of racism and fascism. Hence the urgent need to build an anti-capitalist programme within a united Left framework, alongside the need to build and widen out further the UAF.

Those who think that the fight against the fascists should involve a sectarian debate, I say that you are wasting your time. There is no room for complacency or sectarianism as the issues are far too important for that. There may be differences on how best to build such a movement but we must all be on the streets at the same time and marching in the same direction. Our movement has been too divided for too long and time is of the essence. The fascists are busy stirring up support around the issues of the mosques, using Muslims as today’s scapegoats for the present Capitalist economic crises. This is their agenda based on fear, as a platform to promote their election campaign for the forthcoming General Election. We must counter actively with a programme of liberation, offering hope and unity.

The increasing reports concerning neo-nazi activity, reflecting their growing confidence to openly operate across Europe, is a worrying development over recent years. It has been reported recently that there are at least 8 training camps in Hungary providing advanced weapons training to neo-nazis. Neo-Nazi activities in Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Latvia, Czech Republic, Ireland and elsewhere have been further reported.

Perhaps the EDL are concerned that they are slipping in the fascist league table so need to up their game? Perhaps the British Patriot Party or New NF are getting bored with Griffinism and openly rebelling against his attempt to assert his leadership over British fascism? Especially given some electoral defeats in council elections by some BNP councilors. What ever it is, attempts at open international fascist alliances both inside and outside the European Parliament , as well as on the streets, is emerging.

A pan European far right alliance has recently been established within the E.U. Parliament , (Alliance of European Nationalist Movements), involving Jobbik, the BNP, France’s Front National, Italy’s Fiamma Tricolore, Sweden’s National Democrats and Belgium’s Walloon extremists, the Front Nationalists. This may soon widen out to include the Austrian Freedom Party plus groups from Spain and Portugal. In founding a European Party the fascists will be entitled to further European taxpayers money to fund their activities, assuming they do not soon fall out with each other.

The anti-fascist movement must respond by establishing greater international co-ordination against the growing fascist menace that is clearly emerging across Europe. International Left unity must also be further strengthened and built if we are to both prevent and defeat it. The Capitalist crisis is international and so must our movement be. We have a duty to ensure that we are able to give international solutions to these challenges and uproot this growing evil before it is too late. The choice is Socialism or barbarism!

Alf Filer

13/12/09