Forthcoming events

Day of action against BNP in Barking and Dagenham, Sunday 24 January
The racist British National Party (BNP) are planning to stand candidates in this year’s local council elections. BNP leader Nick Griffin will be standing in the general election in Barking.
Barking and Daghenham Unite Against Fascism have a called a day of action on:
Sunday 24 Jan 2010, 12pm, meet Dagenham Heathway Station
Contact: bardagunite@gmail.com or call 07946 850967 for more info & venue details

Ken Livingstone, Jon McClure, Tariq Ramadan and Speech Debelle to address Progressive London conference, Saturday 30 January
Saturday 30 January
10am–5.30pm Registration from 9am
TUC Conference Centre, Congress House, Great Russell St
London WC1 (nearest tube Tottenham Court Road Dominion Theatre exit)

To register for the event visit
http://www.progressivelondon.org.uk/conference/progressive-london-conference-2010.html

Members and supporters of Unite Against Fascism (UAF) may be interested in attending the Progressive London conference on Saturday 30 January (details above).

Speakers include: Ken Livingstone, Jon McClure Reverend and Makers, Speech Debelle Mercury Music Prize winner, Tessa Jowell MP, Sadiq Khan MP, Lembit Opik MP, Professor Tariq Ramadan, Karen Buck MP, Diane Abbott MP, Jon Cruddas MP, John Trickett MP, Darren Johnson AM, Jenny Jones AM, Edie Friedman Jewish Council for Racial Equality, Bruce Kent Vice-President CND, Anas Altikiriti British Muslim Initiative, Wilf Sullivan TUC, Steve Hart Unite Regional Secretary, Martin Smith Love Music Hate Racism and many others will join Unite Against Fascism.

Themes of the conference will include: Stopping the BNP – no concessions to racism, One Society Many Cultures - defending diversity, freedom of religious and cultural expression and rejecting Islamophobia

For full details of the conference, and latest updates visit www.progressivelondon.org.uk

UAF national conference
Saturday 13 February
9.30am – 5pm
TUC Conference Centre, Congress House, Great Russell St, London WC1 (nearest tube Tottenham Court Road)

Speakers include: Ken Livingstone, Margaret Hodge MP, Dawn Butler MP, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Michael Rosen, Billy Hayes Communication Workers Union, Dr. Muhammud Abdul Bari Muslim Council of Britain, Edie Friedman Jewish Council for Racial Equality, Wes Streeting NUS President, Martin Smith Love Music Hate Racism

Love Music Hate Racism gig, 22/01/10, 8pm at World's End, Finsbury Park!

Stop the racists in Harrow this Sunday

Anti-fascists from across London are set to come to Harrow this Sunday to defend the local mosque from racists for the second time this year.

A group called "Stop the Islamisation of Europe" - which brands all Muslims in Britain as "extremists" - is planning to march on Harrow Central Mosque on Sunday 13 December.

This group, together with the racist thugs of the English Defence League, tried to march on Harrow mosque on 11 September this year. But they were blocked by a magnificent turnout of 2,000 anti-fascists who defended the mosque and prevented the racists from getting near it.

Nevertheless there is no room for complacency. Despite being consistently outnumbered by anti-fascists, the EDL have been getting more aggressive at their anti-Muslim demonstrations.

Last Saturday in Nottingham they attempted to break through police lines and attack the UAF demo. UAF activists in Leicester and Hull received threatening phone calls from the EDL in the run-up to the Nottingham demo.

We need a similar show of solidarity this Sunday to show the racists that they are not wanted in multicultural Harrow. Assemble 12 noon, Sunday 13 December, on the pavement outside Harrow Civic Centre, opposite the mosque on Station Road (nearest tube: Harrow & Wealdstone).

What to do next....

YouGov pols taken after Griffins appearance on Question Time show one in five voters considering voting BNP in future! The fascist all-white party claimed that a record 3,000 people had registered to join its ranks in the biggest recruitment night in... its history.

AS A MATTER OF URGENCY - JOIN Unite Against Fascism (UAF): please send us your £10 joining fee using our secure online payment facility http://www.uaf.org.uk/ and recruit 5 friends to join UAF too.

As Albert Einstein (who fled Nazi Germany in 1933, after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and very quickly legalized discrimination and persecution of Jews). said - the world can become an evil place not because of those that are evil but because of those who do nothing

It is vital that the anti-fascist movement steps up in response to meet the challenges of the Nazi BNP and its racist fellow travellers in the English Defence League. Unite Against Fascism has shown that we can be a rallying point for anyone who wants to take a stand against the Nazis and racists.

That's why we're appealing for people to do two things:

• Join UAF today for £10 and help build the resistance needed to stop the BNP and EDL in their tracks.
• Forward this email and help recruit 5 others to join UAF too.

To join UAF today, or to make a one-off donation, use our secure online payment facility at www.tinyurl.com/UAFdonate. Put "membership" or "donation" in the message box as appropriate.

Alternatively you can make your contribution through a regular monthly standing order by downloading our form, completing it and returning it to us at UAF, PO Box 36871, London WC1X 9XT.

Nazi Nick on QT

Yesterday saw a fantastic response from anti-fascists around the country. Over a thousand protesters from many different backgrounds layed seige to the BBC in anger at the disgusting decision to legitimise racism by allowing Nick Griffin on to the flagship show. Around 25 UAF protesters even managed to push past police lines and make it into the BBC buildings.


Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, described it yesterday saying "The protest was superb. It showed the scale of opposition to the fascists and it was everything Griffin and the Nazi BNP hate".

"We have exposed the Nazis and the liberal arguments of the BBC. The BBC were going for ratings and the BNP were going for racism. But we have laid down the basis tonight for a mass anti-fascist movement that can take the fight forward."

While we should be under no illusions, with Griffin's appearance giving the fascist BNP a boost and confidence to racist thugs to come out on the streets, much as the EDL have done since the Euro elections, yesterday's superb protest shows the willingness of ordinary people to resist fascism and racism.

Yesterday shows that now more than ever we can build an anti-nazi movement that can smash the BNP and show Nazi Nick that the politics of hate and division are not welcome in our society.

www.uaf.org.uk

Shame on the BBC for inviting Nazi BNP leader Nick Griffin onto Question Time

The BBC has confirmed that it is inviting Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist British National Party and a man with a criminal conviction for denying Hitler's Holocaust, onto its flagship Question Time programme on Thursday 22 October in London.

Unite Against Fascism condemns the BBC for extending an invitation to a Nazi. We are calling a demonstration outside Question Time at the BBC's Wood Lane centre to show our opposition to Griffin and the shameful decision to grant him a platform.

We encourage all anti-fascists in the London area to come to the demonstration and to apply for tickets to the Question Time audience. We are also encouraging people around the country to organise protests on the day outside their local BBC offices.

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of UAF, said: "The BNP is not a normal, democratic party. It is a Nazi party whose political agenda is to destroy democracy and wipe out ethnic minorities in Britain. By granting Griffin a primetime platform the BBC is in practice helping to legitimise the BNP and its politics of race hatred."

Sabby Dhalu, joint secretary of UAF, said: "We unequivocally oppose the BBC's decision to invite the fascist BNP onto Question Time. Giving fascists a prominent platform simply encourages their thugs on the streets to engage in racist, Islamophobic and homophobic violence."