In recent months, the English Defence League have appeared on the streets of Britain. The group claim to be opposed to Islamic fundamentalism and, on the surface at least, try to sound like a reasonable and respectable response to the religious fanatics of Islam4UK and their kind.

Scratch beneath the surface though, and it soon becomes clear that the EDL is nothing more than a right-wing nationalist organisation intent on stirring up racial tensions and divisions in the UK. They state that they're only against "Muslim extremism" and deny being racist, hoping to deflect criticism and gain wider appeal. But their tactics clearly echo those of right-wing and fascist groups; using provocative rallies and marches, scapegoats (Muslims this time) and rhetoric based on fear and hatred.

"Like the BNP, the EDL will not solve working class problems"

While the EDL leadership tries hard to publicly distance itself from the fascist British National Party, it can't hide the fact that the group was co-founded by BNP members and activists. Nazi-saluting BNP thugs and right-wing football hooligans shouting racist abuse on EDL demos have shown their true colours. With chants of "dirty Muslim bastards" and "We hate Pakis more than you", EDL members are singing from the same hymn sheet as fascist bigots everywhere. Their right-wing mobs serve to further the aims of the "respectable" BNP and to provide it with new recruits and more votes. By stirring up trouble between Asians and whites in local communities the EDL have taken nationalist politics back to the street.

Like the BNP, the EDL have grown in the face of a political culture dominated by middle class values meeting middle class needs. The mainstream parties have never looked after working class interests, we've been abandoned by most of the "radical" left and traditional trade unions have largely lost the will to fight. It comes as no real surprise that a disempowered and pissed off chunk of the white working class, looking for a target for their anger and a voice that speaks for them, turn to the likes of the EDL.

And, like the BNP, the EDL will not solve working class problems. Its demands back up right-wing media hysteria and strengthen calls for ever more repressive government powers to 'deal' with militant Islam. We've seen how so-called anti-terrorist laws are used against us all, to keep us under control. For the authoritarian state, the EDL is a gift. They divert our attention away from targeting the real enemies of the working class – the bosses, bankers and politicians – and distract us from organising for ourselves, as a class, to fight for control of our lives and communities.

The EDL and the religious lunatics they claim to oppose have far more in common with each other than they do with the rest of us. They are all small-minded bigots with a hatred for the traditional working class values of freedom, fairness and equality. Their racial, religious and cultural 'identity' politics are in complete opposition to our idea of a world where we can all reach our full and unique potential, and we reject them totally.

This article is also available as a downloadable A5 leaflet for printing and distribution in your neighbourhood.

Recommended further reading:

Multiculturalism & identity politics – the reactionary consequences and how they can be challenged (IWCA)

We have produced a new leaflet for the upcoming local and European elections.

You can download the leaflet here.

Please print or copy as many as you can and distribute them as widely as possible – in your workplace, the pub, the library, the community centre, the local health centre or surgery, and anywhere else you can think of. Even if you can only do your own street, it all counts. Or get together with friends, family and neighbours and spread them across your local area.

Our message is simple:

We've received the following information from our friends in Bristol Anarchist Black Cross. Please read and show your support.

Greek solidarity gig and info

The rebellion by Greek youth, students, workers and migrant workers & immigrants that began on 6 December 2008, following the murder in Athens of a 15 year old youth by police officers, has generated a lot of interest across Bristol and the UK. There has also been some solidarity action in Bristol, graffiti and posters have been seen around town, and persons unknown have claimed on Bristol Indymedia four solidarity attacks on police stations/vehicles.

Bristol Solidarity gig 3 January from 8pm

A number of punk bands have organised a Greek solidarity/benefit gig for Greek prisoners & defendants at The Chelsea pub, on Chelsea Road, Easton BS5. Bands include Disorder and Belladonna. A visitor from Greece should be at the gig. Support the gig and donate generously! See also http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/689452

Greek defendants & prisoners

Unsurprisingly, in Greece the state has reacted with mass arrests, increased harassment of migrant workers and refugees, and police brutality. There has also been evidence of collusion between Greek cops and the neo-fascist groups, and of course the use of agent provocateurs.

Info on Greek arrests for 6 to 21 December:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=en&article_id=958127

Info on Greek New Years Eve prisoner solidarity actions:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=en&article_id=959537

Use of counter-terrorism laws against school students in Larisa, Greece:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=en&article_id=952918

Info on migrant & refugee resistance & support:
http://clandestinenglish.wordpress.com/

Bristol ABC supports calls for the dropping of ALL charges against those arrested, and the immediate release of ALL people detained by the Greek state.

The Greek Embassy in London:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/content/en/contact/europe/dl-greece

General background info on Greek rebellion:
http://anarchiststrategy.blogspot.com/
http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/
http://libcom.org/tags/greece-unrest
http://athens.indymedia.org/?lang=en
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/414640.html

Please pass this info on to your friends, networks & contacts. Thanks.

Solidarity! – Bristol ABC
http://bristolabc.wordpress.com/
Meeting the 2nd Wednesday of every month at
Kebele Social Centre: http://www.kebelecoop.org

In recent weeks, local members of the British National Party have crawled from their sewers and onto the streets of Bristol, in an attempt to stir up division and hate between working class people. Decent members of the community have been on the receiving end of their odious propaganda in Keynsham, Kingswood, Fishponds, Knowle and, most recently, Bedminster. This racist rent-a-mob consists of around half-a-dozen numbskulls as its core [1], with a few other misfits tagging along. But it seems they don't like it up 'em when the tables are turned.

We know that local people in Fishponds and Knowle have confronted these morons when they've realised just who they are, leading to the 'stout-hearted' BNP half-wits turning tail and scuttling off back to their hovels as fast as their legs will carry them.

And, following a tip-off, a local anti-fascist was on hand to monitor the nazis when they had the nerve to take to the streets of Bedminster last Saturday. Bedminster is a solid working class area and our activist was proud of how quickly locals of all races challenged them when they clocked that they were BNP. A lone shopper gave one pair (no's. 7 & 8 in the pics below) a thorough verbal lashing when he saw the BNP logo on the leaflet he'd been handed, while another group made it clear to the rest of 'em that they weren't going to tolerate the BNP on Bemmie streets. Needless to say, the fascists immediately beat a hasty retreat to the Asda car-park before scarpering in their vehicles.

Even better, we've been able to get some great mug-shots of the so-called 'master race', to help you spot them more easily if they try and infest your area. We'd also like to put names to faces, so we've helpfully numbered them – if you know who's who, just use our contact form to pass the info on.

Some of their rent-a-mob (no's. 1 – 4), as hopefully not seen on a street near you.

Not wanted (no's. 3 & 4). By anyone.

No. 4 seems to have forgotten the instructions not to show the BNP's true colours in public. They just can't seem to help snapping out that Hitler salute. Meanwhile, Clutterbuck (no. 5) flicks the V's (charming), while the toothless muppet in the middle (no. 6) seems to be wanting a fight. That would probably explain his lack of teeth.

7 & 8 have that 80's old-school bonehead-and-football-casual thing going on. Trying to tone it down with a dodgy leather blouson jacket and flares is ill-advised, especially when your neck and arse (not shown on grounds of public decency) are that fat.

This unsavoury character (no. 1) is Clive 'Pie Face' Courtney, who's stood (and lost) for the BNP in various local elections.

We know that this particular lardy (no. 5) is Mark Clutterbuck, Bristol area organiser and possibly BNP Central (Staff) Management team.

"Come in Number Six, your time is up!". He can't be too much longer for this earth, surely? No. 9, the Clueless Wonder, really doesn't seem to have much going on upstairs. He must fit in very well.

[1] No's. 1 & 3-7 made up the bulk (in more ways than one) of the group who lingered a bit before disappearing, just like a bad fart, in Keynsham a few weeks ago. They also match descriptions given after they were spotted in other locations.

…has revealed some very interesting information. We would imagine that, right now, 193 people across the greater BS postcode area are not very happy with the British National Party's security measures. While we accept that there may be a handful of inaccuracies in a list containing just under 13,000 names and addresses (and we would encourage anyone who's seen it to double-check and confirm the info themselves), the party hierarchy have conceded that it's essentially correct. According to the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks, their own staff have independently verified the list too.

For the record, Bristol Antifa has no interest in the legality or otherwise of the BNP. Nor do we care whether the State permits or prohibits such fascist groups. But we do think that we, the working class, have every right to stand up to and act against fascist politics and sympathisers in our communities and workplaces. We don't want nazis for neighbours, we don't want to work alongside racists and we don't want our kids to be taught by bigots.

We know that the BNP has managed to hide its true colours from many of the working class people who may have voted for or got involved with the party in recent times. Part of our role as working class activists is to expose the real nature of fascism and ensure that our class is not fooled by such deception. We are working hard on challenging and demolishing the fascists' lies.

But equally, as a part of the working class (rather than, like the leadership of the BNP, apart from it) we will not shirk from taking whatever action is neccessary to confront, disrupt and destroy fascist organisations wherever they are found.

We know that fascism doesn't start with the gas chambers, that's where it ends, and we will not allow history to repeat itself.

Capitalism in crisis? Fascism is no solution!

Despite claims to the contrary by the bosses, bankers and bureaucrats, capitalism is a chaotic ideology built on smoke and mirrors. And the economic turmoil that we're facing today is not a blip in an otherwise stable system, it is the nature of the beast. The ongoing crisis in capitalism is familiar to many of us, and the present madness should act as a wake-up call to working class people everywhere. For the vast majority of us across the globe, the 'good times' are nothing but temporary periods of relative calm in the raging capitalist storm.

The failure of the political puppets of this insane system (like the LibLabConspiracy in the UK) to look after our interests, even as they unite to defend and protect their own, is plain for all to see. While we have suffered for centuries at the hands of the capitalist class, as soon as their interests are threatened they hurriedly band together to bail themselves out of their own mess. And it's us that pay the price as they bleed us ever harder to make up for what they may lose. It's like some kind of perverse socialism for the few at the expense of the many.

Meanwhile, the BNP claim that they are an alternative for the white working class to this crappy capitalist society. They offer the crudest of lies as 'solutions' to the problems our class face, regardless of our colour; lies that, if we believe them, would ultimately see us mistrusting, fighting and killing each other for the crumbs thrown from their table.

Not enough houses? Blame the immigrants, conveniently ignoring the facts that there are hundreds of thousands of empty properties in the hands of private landlords, that property speculators profit from controlling the supply, that estate agents are thieving scum who make money from something that should be a basic right, and that working class people know how to create and build – all we need are the land and resources that the ruling class have stolen from us over the centuries!

Not enough jobs? Blame the immigrants, conveniently ignoring the facts that unemployment suits the interests of the capitalists as we fight and undercut each other for the right to be their wage slaves, that working for a paltry pay packet while the fat cats rake in the profits from our labour is not in our best interests, and that a world where the workload was based solely on meeting our needs and desires and shared out fairly would mean that most of our time would be free to spend however we choose.

Not enough whatevers? Blame the immigrants, conveniently ignoring the facts that show time and again that it is capitalism that is at the root of our problems.

And if fascists like the BNP ever gain power they'll carry on spewing out these lies, while they get on with robbing us blind from right under our noses, stealing our wealth, our planet and our lives to satisfy their bare-faced greed and addiction to power. In that respect they're very much like every other bunch of slimy two-faced politicians, they'd just do it to a much greater degree!

BNP: Bigots. Nazis. Politicians?

The ruling class already use fear as a tactic to keep us isolated from each other. While we slave for them and fight among ourselves, they continue to profit from our blood and sweat. The fascists of the BNP, just like the fascists of the Taliban and Hitler's Third Reich, would only make things a thousand times worse for us. They will try anything to con us into voting for them, to get us to believe that our interests lie with them and their kind. Yet we, as working class people, have so much more in common with each other than we will ever have with these corrupt power whores. Now, more than ever, we must remember that.

The failure of capitalism to look after all of our needs is obvious for all to see. The solution is definitely not to vote for the most extreme version of it! The problems that we face, as ordinary people, will only be solved when we come together to take back what is rightfully ours, when we run this world for the benefit of all, not the few. We must learn from each other, organise together and stand as one as we march towards a future that can and will be ours.

The one thing the fascists fear more than anything else is a strong and united working class, smashing down the false ideologies of nation, religion and race that they prey upon. Let's give them every reason to fear.