~Fuck the Socialist Workers Party~

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Challenging the SWP

A report back from a group that confronted an SWP stall in Brixton last week.

We confronted the SWP stall outside Brixton tube station on Friday. What was once an irregular SWP presence now appears to be more persistent as they scramble to recruit more people under the conceptually limited slogan of ‘Get Tories Out!’.  Last Friday they were publicising the People’s Assembly March (South London PA is controlled by the SWP) the following day and encouraging people to sign their fake petition - which, as usual, will never get handed in anywhere and be used solely to build the SWP’s database.

Always full of the anxious dread of anticipation, four of us gathered behind the stall to discuss where it was best to stand and to keep each other safe from the usual diatribe of abuse.  We collectively agreed to avoid directly confronting or even engaging with them wherever possible.

We then held up posters, handed out leaflets and vocally shared our support for survivors and the end of rape culture in our movements.  Passers-by largely seemed interested in what we were doing with many sharing their support.

Clearly annoyed by our presence sabotaging their stall, two of the four members of the stall and someone from People’s Assembly repeatedly harassed us -  though the shouts of ‘sectarianism’, ‘join us if you want change’, ‘you are part of the problem for unity’ etc, rang pretty hollow.

At one point, they made the laughable claim that our posters were infringing copyright because they used the “Stand Up To Racism” and “Socialist Worker” logos.

One SWP member disappeared and came back with a megaphone with UAF scribbled on the side of it (surprising, given that they claim UAF are not an SWP front).  He then spent the next half hour making barbed references to us being “vile scum” that “defend the Tories” and undermine left-wing unity.  In spite, or maybe because of this vitriol being aimed at us, the Brixton public, for the most part, weren’t buying what they were selling.  

When a blind SWP member showed up for the stall, he was told to stand right next to us rather than by the stall.  This was not only a breathtakingly cynical attempt to weaponise someone’s disability against us - but also a stunning lack of solidarity as the person with the least ability to physically defend themselves was placed in the most confrontational position.

By contrast, we were constantly checking in with one another throughout the action to ensure we were all comfortable continuing with what we were doing.

After an hour we had completely run out of leaflets so we retired to a cafe for a debrief.  By the time we returned to the station, the SWP had packed up.  There was nothing else for it but to make “improvements” to all the Marxism Festival posters that they’d put up.

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The only way to carry an SWP placard.

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The Trouble with Unite Against Fascism: police collaboration

On April 23 1977, 1200 fascists from the National Front attempted to march through Wood Green in North London. 3000 residents of the area turned out to confront them in the streets, and beat the fascists at Ducketts Common. 78 antifascists were arrested during this resistance.

Forty years have now passed and luminaries of the authoritarian left, and the great and the good of Haringey politicians, have decided to commemorate this act of spontaneous community resistance with a choreographed “Diversity Festival.” The day-long celebration has been organised, inevitably, by Unite Against Fascism (UAF), one of the SWPs more well-known front groups.

If you attend, you’ll get to see high-profile speakers like Jeremy Corbyn, whose persistent association and appearances working with the SWP remains largely unchallenged by his supporters. Other local politicians will also be taking the stage – given the local council’s push to socially cleanse local hotspots and deport homeless migrants, it’s a surprise they can find the free time to tell us all how good diversity is.

Interestingly, the official Twitter account has thanked the police for their collaboration in gushing terms, even going so far as to personally thank one Metropolitan Police Sergeant.

This expression of gratitude may seem benign. But an event aiming to celebrate a resistance to fascism explicitly working with the Metropolitan Police – an organisation whose racist logics has seen them brutalising our communities for decades, arresting and harassing our comrades, whilst offering institutional cover for fascists to march – is disgusting. Grassroots antifascists have rightly viewed the presence of police as a threat for decades. They put the safety of antifascists at risk, but once again, UAF are seen to be openly collaborating with them.

There have been substantiated allegations that UAF work with the police against the interests of antifascists for almost as long as they have existed. They have regularly threatened to report antifascists to the cops and in some cases colluded in their arrest - including Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! members in Newcastle in 2013 who were singled out for having heckled a Labour MP.

This stance isn’t just reactive. In advance of protests, they negotiate with police, even having senior UAF members repeatedly meeting with them in order to coordinate the policing of antifascism. This often results in UAF agreeing preconditions with the cops  for antifascist mobilisations. This process takes the following form:

UAF speak to the police and arrange conditions under the Public Order Act by which their protest must abide - this normally means “takes place nowhere near the actual fascist march”;  

Once that is done, anyone who joins other antifascist blocs outside the UAF protest may be accused of being in breach of the Public Order Act and risks facing arrest, police intimidation and police brutality.

More than a dozen antifascists were arrested under this power during the EDL march through Westminster on 1st April 2017.  In 2013, 300 antifascists were arrested under similar powers during the EDL march through Tower Hamlets.  On this occasion, Weyman Bennett enthusiastically accepted the Section 14 notice, telling the police that it was not a good idea “to have [a UAF] march … with the EDL in the vicinity” as they would not be able to “control” more militant antifascists.  The cops, for their part, said Bennett “appeared to genuinely want to work with the police to prevent disorder/criminality.”

We have already detailed how UAF and their controlling group, the SWP, make antifascism unsafe for survivors of sexual violence. That alone should be a more than ample reason to refuse to organise with them – but it’s worth also remembering how their collusion with the police puts all antifascists at direct risk of arrest and further state violence.  We need to resist their work to gamble and sabotage our liberty and effective action in their efforts to hijack and channel antifascist energy into recruitment into the dangerous and threatening environment of the SWP and their front organisations.

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The Trouble with Unite Against Fascism: defending rape

In an attempt to capitalise on the recent attack outside Parliament, the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First have called demonstrations on April 1 2017 - in Trafalgar Square and at Charing Cross, respectively. London Antifascists and the Anti-Fascist Network have called a counter demo to confront these fascists groups and to prevent them from marching - we will be there to stand with them. But the violence of fascism will not be the only threat to our safety in the streets on Saturday, we also face the danger posed by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) - and we will be there to oppose them, too.

To anyone with even a passing knowledge of anti-fascist organising, UAF will be a familiar presence. They have a well-documented history of working with the police against the interests of antifascists. Their negotiations and information sharing practices with cops have regularly placed antifascists at greater risk of facing arrest and police violence and they have already announced their attendance in a separate callout on their website. What may not be well known, however, is that UAF is one of a number of front organisations for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) - if that fact alone isn’t enough to make you realise the necessity of opposing their presence, please read on.

The SWP is notorious for the well-documented failing of two women members who accused the then central committee member of the SWP, known as “Comrade Delta”, of rape and sexual assault. The complainants were confronted with classic victim-blaming questions about their behaviour and drinking habits. Some members of the SWP leadership denounced the complaints as motivated by a “dangerous feminism”. SWP members who in 2012-2013 challenged the central committee’s kangaroo courts were expelled from the party – many more left in disgust. The party has utterly failed to be accountable for this violence, and has abused, harassed and harmed anyone attempting to challenge them on their record, whilst continuing to recruit and bring more people into this unsafe space.

Due to this failure of accountability, the SWP has increasingly found itself removed from social movements by committed people determined to challenge their violence. Their front groups, including Stand Up to Racism, Love Music Hate Racism and UAF, have been instrumental in attempting to rebuild themselves away from their tarnished “brand”. These groups seek to co-opt protest, to control social movements, and to recruit people to the SWP.

We do not believe it is possible to oppose fascism without standing in solidarity with survivors of sexual violence, and against any organisation which perpetuates a culture of intimidation, abuse, and institutional misogyny,

There are networks of grassroots groups already committed to organising against racism and against fascism whilst maintaining a firm opposition to the SWP. We need to continue to build effective organising spaces and networks, free from the violences committed against those at the receiving end of racism, patriarchy and other forms of violence. We ask you to join us in this.

Do not carry SWP, UAF or SUTR banners.

Do not sign their petitions.

Do not accept them as the face of anti-fascism or anti-racism

Do not help this violent group reassert its ability to cause additional harm by tolerating them amongst us.

Images courtesy of Justseeds art collective.

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A summary from organisers in Glasgow of their experiences with the SWP

Whatever city they’re in, the same scumbag tactics keep arising: hijacking protest movements, physical assaults, general intimidation.

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Centring Survivors: The Trouble with Stand Up To Racism

Some non-SWP organisers may argue that calls for a boycott are divisive, we must be clear that perpetuating political spaces that put survivors at risk is divisive.

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