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EAFA open letter to UAF
Here's a photo of the moments described in the letter
Most readers will have been following how two weeks ago thousands of anti-fascists mobilised on the streets of Edinburgh to defeat the racist Scottish Defence League through militant direct action.
If you haven’t, you can read what SSY had to say about the day here and here.
Although the day was a great success, one of the things that clearly needs to be tackled if we’re going to build mass opposition to the far right in Scotland is unity within the anti-fascist movement.
SSY and the SSP have argued that there was room for both a mass demo and rally against racism (even if we had some reservations about some of the characters on the platform, like Edinburgh City Council Leader Jenny Dawe) and for those willing and able to take mass direct action by peacefully occupying the streets.
But on the day there were tensions and disagreement between the Edinburgh Anti Fascist Alliance, who argued for direct action, and Unite Against Fascism and Scotland United, the organisers of the march and rally.
Now EAFA have written an open letter to UAF, arguing for these tensions to be resolved to allow us to make sure that the SDL won’t be able to march in Lockerbie later this month. We should stress that this letter is by the Edinburgh Anti Fascist Alliance, which involves loads of different groups and individuals, and it’s not just by SSY or the Scottish Socialist Party. Nevertheless I think it’s fair to say that SSY endorses pretty much everything it says.
Here it is:
“Subject: Open Letter to the UAF
Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance Open letter to the UAF, 28 February 2010
Fellow Anti-Fascists,
We recognise the hard work of the UAF in building for the anti-Scottish Defence League demonstration, and were pleased with the cooperative relationship we had with Unite Against Fascism in the lead up to it. We were working together in the spirit of a united response to the SDL.
We were heartened to hear in the UAF meetings we attended, that the UAF considered that there was room for the two complimentary demonstrations on the day. We hoped that the problems that occurred in Glasgow were behind us, and that the UAF and Anti-Fascist Alliance could cooperate this time.
However on the day of the demonstration some members of the UAF intended to disrupt our protest, and take it back to the Scotland United march,despite these previous assurances, and the spirit of cooperation that existed before. Some UAF and Scotland United organisers spread disinformation, and said things that were known to be untrue, to the crowd as it marched to confront the SDL at the bottom of the Royal Mile.These untrue statements included: “there are no SDL in that pub, only Hibs casuals”, and “150 fascists are about to attack the Scotland United demonstration”. This led to confusion and people leaving.
Unity and superior numbers are our strengths against violent racists like the SDL. However these strengths were jeopardised by this behaviour, and put the safety of anti-fascists at serious risk. We would not like to imagine what the situation could have been like, had the depleted number of anti-fascists met a large group of SDL thugs at the bottom of the hill.
We hope that this letter will start a fraternal discussion about how we can avoid similar situations in the future, and how we can ensure greater level of unity and cooperation between the UAF and Anti-FascistAlliance so that we have the best chance of defeating fascism. We lookforward to cooperating with you against the SDL/EDL in Lockerbie and Bolton.
In Solidarity,Edinburgh Anti-Fascist Alliance.”
why is it so hard for everyone to unite against this common threat?
sadly, it reminds me of the two groups in “life of brian”
thanks, laura
hi laura,
yeah it’s a real shame. sadly, there’s a real divergence of tactics and how we want to deal with fascism on the streets – those that want to have a ‘respectable coalition’ with Tory MSPs and Lib Dem Council leaders and so on (in reality, the very people that are to blame for the rise of the BNP and the far-right) and give some nice speeches in a park miles away from where the fascists are, and those that want to actually confront the fascists and stop them spreading their hatred and division.
sadly, UAF, the main anti-fascist group in the UK, have tended to go for the former strategy, which is why groups like EAFA have come together to oppose and stop the fascists – and very successfully in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Also, I think it’s a bit harsh to say the letter is like the life of brian. I think people worked quite hard to put things in a constructive way precisely because we’re trying to bring about the most possible unity between anti-fascists. At no point in the letter does it say “Fuck you, splitters!”
The UAF has so far failed to respond to the resolution passed by various socialist, labour movement and anti-fascist groups calling for a democratic steering cttee of the UAF to be elected, for an international anti-fascist conference to be called and for a united front approach incorporating other autonomous anti-fascist groups.
It is imperative that we continue to do so and in the mean time build such initiatives. In the meantime, whilst Livingstone and co call on the State to ban fascists, we must ensure that we build mass workers action on the streets, as in Scotland.
A hard task in England as the left is almost devoid of anything other than middle class uni lecturers and students also the EDL are sharper politically and in terms of street tactics than the beard stroking befuddled old lefties on the campuses. See youse in Bolton but nowhere near the shouty UAF scruffs.
I think the open letter is a joke. It was predicted that the UAF would do something similar to this in Glasgow. And they did. As a result Glasgow was a complete and utter wash-out with, as I remember, the SSP marching off with the rest to listen to a bunch of politicians when we knew exactly where the fascists were. To your credit at least, you didn’t do that the second time round. Edinburgh led to a far better conclusion precisely because of the defeat in Glasgow, and because of the number of militants who were pissed off by the actions of the UAF. Even then it was hilarious how much attention was given to them.
The UAF are not on the side of radicals. Why would they be? Their a front group for the smothering, undemocratic, anti-revolutionary politics of the SWP.
Which draws in the unsuspecting and unknowing who, for good reason, want to fight against racism, fascism…and now cuts to education, and consistently fucks up any worthwhile movement for change.
James, I’m in the SSP and stayed up at the Cambridge along with a good few other SSP members. Folk who left actually thought that more SDL were going to apepar elsewhere – they’ve said on here and elsewhere that they overestimated the SDL’s strength, in no small part due to the deliberate misinformation spread by the UAF. Folk were more prepared for that happening in Edinburgh.
Aye we heard that the SDL were going to appear in “St Georges Square”, as soon as we heard the SDL were moving at the Cambridge bar we left the Scotland United rally. We didn’t make that mistake in Edinburgh.
Alf, do you think that fighting within UAF for a democratic structure, when resolutions get ignored etc. is a worthwhile use of your time, rather than just setting up new organisations as we’ve helped with in GAFA and EAFA? Not having a go, it’s a genuine question about the sitution.
James-Some of us made a mistake in Glasgow in that we believed people who were giving us false information. We’ve been quite open about saying that and learning from the experience. In Edinburgh SSP/SSY comrades were among the leading voices that helped win people on the streets away from following UAF back down the mound, and into taking direct action. Quite why this makes the open letter, making these same points, a joke is beyond me.