South London Anti-Fascists

Organising South London against racists and fascists.

[southlondonaf]

Principles of association

Below we set out the principles for which we, as South London Anti-Fascists operate under. It is important that before working with SLAF (e.g. attending meetings, taking responsibility for tasks such as social media control) that you read the statement below, ensuring that you agree and are willing to comply. Anyone who is found to be acting in a way which is in violation of these principles will be formally disassociated with and will no longer be welcome at SLAF meetings, with immediate effect. You will also no longer be welcome at SLAF organised events.

What we stand for

We are an anti-fascist and anti-racist group from South London acting in solidarity with other similar organisations. Our structure is non-hierarchical. Our approach is grassroots community self-organisation. (For more see http://www.slaf.org.uk/about).

SLAF strives to always act in accordance with the principles of collective liberation. The idea of collective liberation recognises that all struggles against oppression are linked. This includes (but is not exhaustive to) the struggles against capitalism, racism, imperialism, ableism, and patriarchy (including transphobia and whorephobia)

As a group we recognise that struggling for justice in the wider world must be accompanied by self-criticism and challenges to structures of oppression within the group itself. As individuals do not live in conditions devoid of the structures outlined above, it is important to remain open to dialogue and sharing of ideas to combat ignorance and unintentional prejudice. However, there will be no tolerance for views or behaviour amongst members that is bigoted and is deemed to be:

Racist

Xenophobic

Sexist

Classist

Transphobic

Homophobic or biphobic

Ableist/disablist

Queerphobic  

Anti sex-worker/whorephobic

Engage in victim blaming or promotes the idea that culpability for rape, sexual assault and interpersonal violence can be diminished by certain circumstances.

These principles are also applicable when considering other groups we may work with.

Engaging with the police

We believe that the police are part of the machinery of state violence, particularly against certain groups in society (e.g. People of colour, sex workers) and our policy is to have as little involvement with them as possible during anti-fascist activities. Anyone who is found to be engaging with the police in a way which puts other anti-fascists and/or community members in danger will no longer be welcome in the group or at SLAF organised activities. For example, anyone who is found to be sharing personal information about other anti-fascists/community members or sharing information relating to planned anti-fascist activities.

In the interest of transparency and trust it is also the responsibility of members to inform the group as a whole if they have in the past been employed by state security services (including the police and UKBA/Immigration Enforcement).

Please also read our Demonstration Safety Guidelines document which explains how we approach anti-fascist demos in a way which in our view offers the safest conditions possible for those who are attending. Members are expected to act in accordance with this document.

If any of this is unclear or you wish to raise a concern relating to the above, please email [email protected]

[southlondonaf]

30th October, 7pm in the Cinema (room RHB 185) at Goldsmiths, University of London, SE14 6NW. Free, donations welcome. The film is around one hour long. South London Anti-Fascists are proud to host a screening of David Koff's 1978 documentary 'Blacks Britannica'. Blacks Britannica shows the realities of race and class in 1970s Britain with rare honesty and is a powerful base for thinking about racism and the state today. The film charts the history of black people and black struggle in Britain from colonialism and migration to the Notting Hill Carnival and the Spaghetti House siege. The film has been described as "a harsh, relentless and passionate indictment of the British ruling class for manipulating and exploiting British blacks in the interest of profit". Originally produced for US public television, the film was re-edited and censored by TV station management who then tried to sue the director to prevent him distributing his version of the film (we are showing the original cut). There will be a chance to discuss the film after the screening with Colin Prescod, one of the writers and activists who features in the film. Colin himself made the acclaimed series 'Struggles for Black Community'. The evening is free and all are welcome. If you have any specific requirements please message us on facebook or email [email protected].

[pauldilfnello]

Michael Che continues his quest to find a safe space for unarmed Black men. Pt 2.

(Pt 1 set)

(http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/qtvov3/race-off—-live-from-somewhere)

[piercepenniless]

I had been hoping that UK Uncut would use today’s apology by the Met police commissioner to talk about the wider implications of police violence and access to justice. Obviously I’m glad that people have managed to take the Met to court and wrung both money and an apology out of them, but I dread...

[southlondonaf]

We concur

[southlondonaf]

South London Anti-Fascists at Lewisham People's Day

For the first time South London Anti-Fascists decided to take a stall at Lewisham People’s Day, the community festival of the London borough of Lewisham. An estimated 20,000 visited over the course of the day, helped in no small part by the weather.

We were delighted with the response to the stall and spoke to a number of people from varied backgrounds, including young people directly affected by stop and search as well as teachers and youth workers concerned about those they work with and care for. One particularly encouraging exchange was with a teacher from a local secondary school who was keen to take a large quantity of stop and search know your rights cards produced by Newham Monitoring Project back to her school for the new term. We hope to have contact with the school in the future and to do all we can to help with these sorts of enquiries. In another case, a coach from a youth Basketball team approached the stall - again with great interest in the stop and search materials. He told us how his players regularly encounter police stop and account and stop and search at 5 am as they make their way to training. It is unfortunately something that has become a daily nuisance in their lives.

It wasn't just the information on stop and search that peaked people’s interest however; a large number of people read the posters from the Anti-Raids Network that were at the front of our stall. Many expressed their surprise at the rights people actually have when approached by UKBA/Immigration Enforcement Officers.The stall seemed to attract more people towards the end of the afternoon as the demographic of the crowd became younger and was a good lesson for us for future years, of which we hope there will be many. The increased interest in our stall towards the end of the day also seemed to be influenced by word of mouth as enthusiastic members of the public approached us to find out more or tell us of other community events that we should attend.

Saturday was a decent success and something that all those present agreed to do far more of in the future. Spreading information into the local community is certainly a priority and this felt like a really good way of doing this. It is also important to acknowledge organisations that provided materials used on the day including the Anti-Raids Network, Newham Monitoring Project, London Campaign Against Police and State Violence and Freedom Bookshop. The high quality of the resources we were able to distribute was a massive reason for the success we enjoyed.

[southlondonaf]

Stop South East Alliance in Cricklewood on Saturday

From our friends in the North: London Antifascists

FB Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/575271729256169/

London Anti Fascists are organising to oppose the fascist South East Alliance march in Cricklewood on the 14th June. The south east alliance are a rag tag bunch of racists and fascists who contain ex-BNP and EDL members, and have a history of violent and racist behaviour.

They are coming to protest against the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt who have their offices in Cricklewood. While we have no time for the reactionary and right wing ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood, they are not the ones intending to march down our streets shouting racist abuse at any one they see as different, be they Black, Asian, Muslim or Irish. We oppose both the racism of these neo-fascist groups trying to divide our community and the institutional racism of the state and police in NW London. Join us on the streets to show Cricklewood unites against racist bigots.

See the Rogue's gallery of SEA dickheads here: http://londonantifascists.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/revealed-the-gang-of-racists-and-fascist-thugs-that-are-attending-the-south-east-alliance-march-in-cricklewood/

[southlondonaf]

Lambeth College & Hackney College Strikes are struggles about Race, Migration & Class

Lambeth College UCU are on an indefinite strike over the management trying to impose new contracts which would drastically increase working hours and duties, cut holiday and sick pay, and worsen other working conditions. Hackney Community College are balloting for strike over yet another round of redundancies. Several other further education colleges in London are preparing for industrial disputes. Cuts to funding for those colleges are seriously affecting their ability to serve communities in which they are based. Especially in the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision one can see who is the most affected by those changes. The recipients of basic English classes are mostly migrants, often refuges from countries ravaged by war or poverty; Eritrea, Congo, Somalia or Kosovo to name a few. Those classes are increasingly replaced with short courses which students are forced by Job Centre Plus (JCP) to attend. Their benefits can be cut if they turn up late even once.

Opposition to those changes has been strong from the beginning; from the teachers through the Action for ESOL campaign and from the campaigners against cuts to welfare. The attack on working conditions of teachers and the imposition of benefit sanctions through JCP courses are strongly connected.

On one hand, teachers refuse to participate in the sanctions regime both collectively and individually. On the other hand, this refusal can be detrimental to their ability to take action; striking workers are allowing and not trying to stop JCP classes from continuing to take place in Lambeth College, as they understand the severe consequences they would face. The attack on working conditions is as much about the cuts as it is about disciplining the workforce, creating conditions where they can't refuse to teach courses they morally object to.

The most dangerous form of racism is the structural racism of the state. It takes many forms: growth the detention regime, increase of racial harassment from the border agency and the police but also attack on the living conditions of multi-ethnic working class communities. Cuts to further education and especially ESOL teaching are a part of that. The struggle of workers in those colleges should be actively supported by anti-fascists. Hackney College teachers are holding a demo against cuts this Saturday 7th June at 12PM. Lambeth College are on strike every weekday and need support on pickets on all their sites in Brixton, Clapham and Vauxhall.

Support Lambeth College Strike also by:

Going to the Fundraiser at the Bread & Roses in Clapham tonight at 7:30pm. FB event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1420328904920210/

Sign their petition: https://www.ucu.org.uk/defendlambethucu

Donate to the campaign: http://lambethcollegestrike.wordpress.com/support-us/donations/

[coyotedialectic]

"On 25 June 1940 Udham Singh was hanged. At a meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society and the East India Association at Caxton Hall, London, He had shot dead Sir Michael O’Dwyer, who (as the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab) had presided over the massacre of unarmed peasants and workers at…

[southlondonaf]

Anti-Fascism One Year On From The Lee Rigby Murder

Today is the local and European elections. It is also the first year anniversary of Lee Rigby's murder, a personal tragedy and a sickening public spectacle which triggered a wave of reactionary Islamophobic violence across the country.

On the day of the killing, Theresa May, the Home Secretary described it as "an attack on everyone in the United Kingdom," and this nationalist positioning set the tone for the events that followed. Hours later, that evening Yaxley-Lennon aka "Tommy Robinson" led a boozy mob of white men in balaclavas bringing anger and violence in Woolwich indiscriminately directed at Muslim and Black communities.

From Woolwich to Walsall, there was a sharp increase in vandalism, graffiti, arson and bomb attacks against Mosques and Islamic centres. Also there were many reported direct attacks on Muslims in public and at their homes, could be plainly observed.

Despite a racially-motivated murder and over a dozen attempted maiming of Muslims and people of colour targeted by white far-right groups and individuals, there were no COBRA meetings, no comparable announcements or calls for monitoring white communities in which these "extremists" reside. The message was clear; we could all consider ourselves victims of Lee Rigby's murder but Muslims were to suffer on their own. We contrast the detailed coverage of the trial of the attackers, with the limited discussion on claims that one of the attackers was radicalised by MI5-approved rape and torture in Kenya.

South London Anti-Fascists reached out to the local Muslim community through mosques and schools and invited members to our meetings, we stood with marginalised communities, and we did not predicate our support on the bogus idea of national unity. We mobilised against the EDL and the BNP to some considerable cost - the Metropolitan Police adopted a tactic of mass arrests of hundreds of anti-fascist activists and bystanders imposed restrictive bail conditions on hundreds of people at a time.

We stopped splinter groups like South East Alliance and confronted Union of British Fascists along the way. By the year's end Yaxley-Lennon saw that the EDL and its tactics were a dead end and made the pragmatic choice to move to a more "respectable" politics, styling himself as an "anti extremist". We believe he had merely recognised that the State was better at promoting his hateful ideology than his amateurish street movement had been.

The recent predominance of anti-immigrant propaganda by UKIP indicates that while anti-fascism is necessary it is also insufficient. There is some technical dispute as to the degree to which UKIP can be considered fascist but, interesting though the exercise may be for some, we will not let such concerns limit our response. UKIP represent an increasingly populist demand to blame immigration and immigrants for a decline in living standards and welfare provision. UKIP are anti-gay, anti-women and anti-migrant, and the environment that has made their message appealing is at the fault of the established parties. Fascism breeds due to the economic and social policies of the Liberals that preceded them.

We believe that the Immigration Bill of 2014 is more of a threat to immigrants than symbolic power of UKIP topping the EU poll. While idiots like Britain First are emboldened to try to harass Muslim worshippers in East London, only to be stopped by parking ticket inspectors, the Coalition Government with Labour Party support are on track to legalise racist discrimination in housing, and in the NHS. Landlords will be able to decline migrants and people of colour on the basis that they do not want to risk renting to illegal immigrants, pregnant women of colour have already reported being asked for their passport when going into NHS hospitals. This will only increase after the law is passed. It allows for citizens to have their citizenship revoked, this will be used on British Muslims no doubt for future drone strikes.

Meanwhile hunger strikes have been staged across the country in immigration detention centres; Isa Muaza starved himself into blindness in a desperate bid to avoid deportation. Earlier this year, an elderly detained Canadian man was found dead in handcuffs, these are but some of the few horrendous events and conditions that exist in these prisons.

The UK Border Force have been harassing multicultural communities both unlawfully and aggressively in an attempt to produce the "hostile environment" Theresa May promised. In our analysis, the State is a much bigger threat and generator of popular racism, so we need to organise locally and with a long-term mindset. If our groups are white English then we should organise there to resist racist ideas from gaining ground. In black communities, we should follow the lead of black members and community contacts to find out how we can aid their resistance to racist oppression.

While the militant anti-fascist movement has had some successes, we need to evaluate why our anti-fascism isn't always anti-racist and anti-sexist. We as a group do not pretend to have the answers but we are prepared to ask difficult questions about why and how we as a movement exclude and ignore white superiority and male chauvinism in our own structures.

We can and should work towards building a consistent anti-racist and anti-fascist presence in the local areas we operate. Without working relationships with significant local institutions and community groups, we remain parachuting adventurists who may irritate and be condemned by the very working class communities we claim to be working in solidarity with.

Against oppression from the street to the state, and remembering those who have suffered violence brought about by a system that encourages it.

No Pasaran!

[southlondonaf]

Peckham doesn't put its own stamp on #UKIP billboards, it has to remove them from the wall altogether.

[southlondonaf]

CALL-OUT: Did the police demand your name and address at Brighton #StopMFE?

From NetPol Were you stopped and searched at the Stop the Racist March for England (Stop MFE) protest in Brighton on Sunday 27 April? Were you arrested or threatened with arrest for refusing to give your name and address?

No one has to give their name and address if they are stopped and searched by the police. This includes the use of blanket search powers under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, which allows a police officer to search anyone in a specific area for offensive weapons.

However, Netpol has received a growing number of reports of officers threatening arrest – or even making potentially unlawful arrests – because individuals are exercising the rights to withhold their personal information during a search. There is some evidence to suggest that certain police forces are prepared to overlook the questionable legality of these searches and arrests because of their value in gathering intelligence.

We are particularly concerned about reports of the misuse of section 60 from anti-fascist protesters who took part in the Stop the Racist March for England counter-demonstration on 27 April.

If you were stopped & searched in Brighton and were also pressured by police to give you name and address, we want to hear from you. Please get in touch – you can find out how to contact us here

[southlondonaf]

Immigration Detention Centres on Hunger Strike. Started in Harmondsworth on Friday and spread to 3 others including Campsfield, Oxfordshire. More info at: http://unitycentreglasgow.org/?p=1068

[southlondonaf]

Barricades of Brighton: March for England run out of town

from the Anti-Fascist Network

It rained on their parade, in more ways than one… A successful day for anti-fascists on Sunday saw the far-right March for England harassed, heckled and hounded out of Brighton during their annual humiliation by the sea.

The mystery is why they keep coming back…

Since 2008 the nationalist March for England have been coming annually to Brighton to parade their narrow-minded vision of Englishness through the streets of the town in ‘celebration’ of St George’s day. For the last four years they have been opposed by an ever-growing coalition of local anti-fascists and anti-racists who have recognised their ‘innocent patriotism’ as a not very good disguise covering their real agenda of extreme right nationalist politics, racism and xenophobia.

The March for England come to Brighton because for them it represents everything they despise – a tolerant, cosmopolitan, liberal town in which they have no foothold. Thus in their mind it has become transformed into a centre of “anti-English activities”.

They hate Brighton – Brighton hates them

In previous years they have attempted to maintain the fiction of the happy family St George’s Day parade, despite their own members undermining it with racist and homophobic abuse of locals. This year, they abandoned the pretence before they even began. All the publicity that went out in advance of the march emphasised that it was an opportunity to ‘bash the reds’ and ‘smash the antifa fuckers’. Unsurprisingly their march was even less diverse than previously, consisting almost entirely of middle-aged bald white men.

The other thing that was different this year was that the March for England has become part of the United British Patriots, an attempt to create a new rival to the dwindling English Defence League as a far-right street army. In the UBP the March for England are allied with a rag-bag collection of the dregs of the British far-right including Ulster Loyalism fetishists, fascist sympathisers and white supremacists. It was these charmless specimens who were hurriedly rushed out of Brighton yesterday, marking an ignominious end to their second outing as the UBP.

The walk of shame

On the day the MfE mustered about 100 marchers with some lurkers who never even went on the march. They were opposed by about 1500 anti-fascists. Their march route was shorter than ever this year – down to a mere 300 rain-sodden metres, following police decisions to shorten their march in order to keep some traffic flowing through key junctions and then an unexpected eleventh hour collapse of the seafront road right under their rallying point. This unfortunately happened two days too early thus preventing anti-fascists witnessing the cheering sight of the earth opening to swallow the assembled fascists.

Last year the police attempted to bus in the fascist marchers, but this year plod went for allowing them to dribble down from the train station in small groups, coralling them in the Wetherspoons at the bottom of West St, and then moving them to the march start point.

Their march was heckled and shouted out and their ‘speeches’ drowned out by a solitary trombonist on a rooftop. A diverse crowd held signs and banners such as ‘Brighton embraces but we draw the line at racists’. Banners were unfurled from buildings along the route saying ‘Racists Go Home’ and showing a swastika being thrown in a dustbin. The parody EDL – the English Disco Lovers – had a soundsystem playing as they danced with umbrellas in the rain.

After the ‘March’ for England had shuffled their way along the seafront they were again allowed to drift back up towards the train station. Anti-fascists lined the road to the station to give them a vocal send-off and then as the main crowd of the MfE were approaching the train station, several hundred anti-fascists built a barricade across Queens Road with a ‘No Pasaran’ banner hung along it to block their path.

There were running skirmishes and blows exchanged between fascists and anti-fascists across town throughout the day, in which the fascists came off the worse. Some of the fascists even foolishly heeded a call by far-right comedy ‘hooligans’ Casuals United to ‘dress like antifa’ in black hoodies and mingle with the antifascist crowd. They were remarkably unconvincing and swiftly found themselves discovered and ejected from the anti-fascist crowd.

Everywhere the fash went to try and drown their sorrows, anti-fascists were on top of them until the very last fascists had left the town and the whole town was clear of fash by 5pm. Anti-fascists regrouped in a couple of prominent city centre pubs for celebratory drinks in the now gloriously sunny early evening.

Legal matters…

Dedicated legal support activists waited for all those arrested at the police station, with food and drink for those released and transport home. As fascists were released they found they had no mates waiting for them and they were politely told to fuck off home and not come back again.

There were 14 anti-fascists arrested yesterday. If you witnessed any arrests or assaults then call the Stop MfE Legal support number on 07923 099339 or contact GBC Legal

Please do not post footage on the internet without thinking carefully about what it shows.

Meanwhile in Cardiff…

Yesterday in Cardiff, local anti-fascists also mobilised against a threatened ‘White Pride’ demonstration. There was a neo-Nazi White Pride demo in Swansea three weeks agowhich boasted 40 boneheads. This time the fascists didn’t show up at all.

The next AFN mobilisations are Rotherham on the 10th May and Newcastle on the 17th.

See you on the streets!

[southlondonaf]

South London Anti-Fascists & SolFed Punk Fundraiser Benefit Gig

- Saturday 5th April, 8pm

17 Sidney Road, Stockwell, SW9 0TP

£5 Entry

Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1476589935901998

[novaramedia-deactivated20170720]

Nigerian LGBT activist Aderonke Apata recently spoke to Novara Media. The conversation ranged from her time at Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre to the interview process for LGBT individuals seeking asylum. Full interview coming soon. #NovaraTV

[southlondonaf]

Speaker from SLAF LGBT Month Event

[southlondonaf]

THURSDAY 6TH MARCH: STAND UP AGAINST STATE REPRESSION IN BRIXTON

Heavy police & UKBA activity is expected in Brixton on Thursday 6th March according to information published here. We support the callout for people to go down & monitor events, meeting in Windrush Square from 1pm. The following leaflet is reportedly being circulated by Lambeth Council and Trident Command:

“Lambeth Council, Lambeth Police and Trident Central Gangs Unit, will undertake a significant number of activities in Brixton to tackle gang related violence, street crime and Anti Social Behaviour. This planned partnership day of action will include weapon sweeps in parks and open spaces, trading standards and licensing visits, abandoned car removals, Anti Social Behaviour operations, tenancy enforcement and operations to tackle robbery. Windrush Square Engagement Event 2pm-6pm – COME ALONG! There will be various stalls offering information designed to encourage young people into education, employment and diversionary activities including Job Centre Plus, Street Doctors and Dance United London Academy. In addition, the London Fire Brigade will be present along with mobile Police station, Battersea Dogs and Cats home and Community Safety. This day will be supported by the mobile CCTV van and increased police patrols during the evening as well as arrest enquiries on those persons involved in gang related violence. Local police and council officers will be present throughout the day to provide reassurance patrols and assistance. Officers from Police and Council as well as local Safer Neighbourhood staff will be available to answer any questions you may have.”

We are revolted by attempts to give this blatant day of concerted oppression and social cleansing a friendly face by combining it with a fluffy outreach event. Will Dance United London Academy be providing us all with afternoon entertainment while police and other state agents drag people off the streets?!

Reblogged from https://network23.org/antiraids/2014/03/05/thursday-6th-march-stand-up-against-state-repression-in-brixton/

According to Lee Jasper - BBC Cameras have been invited to film Police operation dubbed "Brixton Unites"

[southlondonaf]

ACTION ALERT: STOP ATTACKS, ARRESTS & EVICTIONS AGAINST SEX WORKERS

From English Collective of Prostitutes: 

Violence against sex workers is increasing.  

Tragically, two sex workers have been murdered in London in the past three months.  At the same time, the police have stepped up raids, arrests and closures of premises where women are working in relative safety. This is despite senior police officers admitting that: “[police] operations to tackle the trade are "counterproductive" and likely to put the lives of women at risk.”

Eighteen flats in Soho, Central London, have been closed. Most of the women who were evicted are mothers and have now lost their livelihood.

  Women are appealing against eviction on Monday 24 February at Isleworth Crown Court.  Please join us in demanding that these closures be stopped.

Please write urgently addressing your letters to:

Borough Commander Alison Newcomb [email protected]

Westminster Cllr. Nickie Aitkin in charge of community safety [email protected]

And cc: English Collective of Prostitutes [email protected] 020 7482 2496

MODEL LETTER at: http://prostitutescollective.net/2014/02/07/action-alert-stop-attacks-arrests-evictions-against-sex-workers/

Background

Police raids against sex workers in Soho, Central London

Mariana Popa was killed working as a prostitute. Are the police to blame?

Man charged with murder of Maria Duque-Tunjano