Anti Fascism in Burnley & Pendle

[Mitch]

Can't find that thread on the latest news of BNP union, so I've begun a new thread here for anti fascist news and activities in the area.

There's an interesting thread here on Libcom on Fascist trade union - interesting comments particularly from Paul Marsh & Panther:
www.libcom.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=95944&sid=83f2cf8003993c04a6fb2b4e463befb7#95944

May thoughts on the latest news of a BNP union are this belwo, which I think I brought up at NAN conference. Also, think we need to talk to others in Burnley on anti-fascist action - poss this Sat after a bit of TAM leafleting?

I think you have to see this within the context of their wider strategy - infiltrating community politics, and pushing forward councillors - this introduction of their own union is I think a tactical extension from that. They've had some success in community politics, especially in a location like Burnley, because they've gone door to door, listening to residents (and noone else is listening so they've had an open door) and they have focused on local issues, completely hiding the racist undercurrent. There are people I have spoken to in Burnley who actually believe that the BNP are not racist, but see the BNP as a party that cares about local issues, even after what happened to Maureen Stowe! So I’ve no reason to believe that some would view a BNP union in the same way.

So now they are moving towards their own union, and there will, I think, be an appetite for it in a location like Burnley where there is the same disgruntlement towards Unions that there has been with local councilors – unions have done nothing to tackle increasing casualisation in the area. All the Burnley GMB branches have now closed (this union used to have 1000s of members in Burnley), factories are closing, casualisation and temp agencies are everywhere, hospitals are closing, bus prices have mushroomed and planning and local services are now controlled by private companies like Liberata in Pendle and Capita in Burnley & Blackburn and so people are pissed, and currently the BNP in Burnley are everywhere in local campaigns against Masts and the Towneley Park campaign (they were handing out leaflets at a public meeting recently for this campaign).

I guess we’d have to wait and see, but in areas where the BNP have already made some inroads into community politics and local campaigns, they may have some success with this latest venture because they already have a foothold. Burnley is such a place.

All the more reason for anarchists to put much energy into alternatives in both community campaigns and against casualisation I’d say – with the realization that the two are intimately connected. Anti fascism should be ingrained in everything we do.

(also will try and type out Fred's recent article from Northern Voices which sums up the dire situation with Labour councillors and a Labour council in Burnley whose years of neglect have facilitated the growth of the BNP in Burnley.)

[michele cryer]

BNP TRADE UNION UNMASKED

The creation of a trade union signals a dramatic
departure for the fascist party. After years of encouraging
members to infiltrate existing unions in the hope of
seeking confrontation with officials, the BNP is now
setting up an alternative structure.
According to documents lodged with the Certification
Office, which regulates matters concerning trade unions,
Solidarity aims to “improve the relations between
employers and employees throughout all industries
served by the union”.
It will also strive: “to protect, assist and promote the
working and living conditions of the citizens of the British
Isles”.
It all seems above board at first appearance but a closer
look at the registration form makes its true agenda more
apparent. Solidarity will also, its documents claim, “resist
and oppose all forms of institutional union corruption”
and “promote freedom within and without the Trades
Union movement, protecting and promoting freedom of
belief, thought and speech, irrespective of political and
religious affiliation or creed”.
It also intends to set up a Political Fund and “print,
publish, issue and circulate” literature that “may seem
conducive to the … objects of Solidarity”. It will also seek
to “aid and join with any organisation, federation,
political representative or body … having for their object,
or one of their objects, the promotion of the interests of
workers or the furtherance of the political objectives
enshrined within the Political Fund”.
There is no reference in the documents to BNP
involvement but let there be no mistake about it, this is a
BNP front.
The “President” of the union is Clive Potter, a long-time
BNP activist from Leicester, who was expelled from
Unison for improper conduct. Other BNP activists
involved in the project include Jay Lee, who was recently
booted out of Aslef, and John Walker, the BNP’s national
treasurer, who has had his own troubles with the T&G.
The establishment of Solidarity appears to be a natural
continuation of the party’s turn to working-class politics
which began in 2000 and quickened over the past two
years. Although the BNP has achieved its best election
results in areas beset by racial friction, mostly in East
Lancashire and West Yorkshire, it has won growing
support in more traditional Labour areas where race is
much less of an issue, such as South Yorkshire, the North
East and the Potteries.
The majority of space in the BNP’s newspaper, The Voice
of Freedom, is now devoted to issues around migrant
workers, the decline of British manufacturing,
outsourcing and the impact of cheap imports. The BNP, it
claims, is now the only party standing up for the British
worker.
“Instead of defending native British workers against
the wage slave migrants who arrive on our shores
only to be exploited by greedy gangmasters and
employers, the Union movement is embarrassing and
betraying the rank and file membership by
welcoming migrants with open arms. Thus the
migrants are in direct competition with fully paid up
members of the unions.”
BNP: February 2005
An early intervention into working-class communities
was the campaign for a Miners’ Memorial Day, launched
by the BNP last year.
A time to complain
Solidarity operates in name but so far not in reality. For it
to be a proper trade union it will have to obtain a
certificate of independence. This is a long and
complicated process and one that will cost the BNP
several thousand pounds.
The certificate of independence attests that the union is
completely separate from employers and employers’
organisations and that it will operate solely in the
interests of its members. Without a certificate it is highly
unlikely that Solidarity could represent any of its
members in an industrial tribunal, court proceedings or
even in negotiations with employers.
In deciding whether a union is independent, the
Certification Office will look at whether the union was
formed with employer encouragement, the membership
base of the union, its organisation and structure, and in
particular how the rule book works in practice. The office
would also look at its negotiating record and funding
sources.
The certification process would involve a lengthy
investigation and include a visit to the union’s
headquarters, and scrutiny of the executive committee’s
minutes and details of recognition by, and negotiations
with, employers. Any member of the public has a right to
express an objection.
As a trade union must have a record of activity before it
can show that it is independent, Solidarity is unlikely to
be able to proceed to this stage quickly, if at all.
Searchlight Election Bulletin 23 January 2006
CONFIDENTIAL ISSUE 17
1
BNP trade union unmasked
Searchlight can exclusively reveal that the British National Party has launched a trade union.
“Solidarity – The Union for British Workers” was registered with the trade unions Certification
Office shortly before Christmas. Solidarity claims that it will be a normal trade union
defending the interests of any British worker, but in reality it will be simply a front for the BNP.
The certification office can also deregister any union if it
believes that the organisation is no longer functioning as
a union.
Although obtaining a certificate of independence is
clearly some way off, the BNP already has plans to use
Solidarity as a political tool. Potter is currently looking
into ways to establish a political fund, as a means to
divert money to the BNP, and a public launch of the union
would seek to cause maximum embarrassment to the
TUC and its affiliates.
Searchlight’s exposure of Solidarity and its clear role as a
front for the BNP will hopefully encourage a more
thorough investigation by the Certification Office and
complaints from trade unions. More importantly,
however, the birth of Solidarity should remind the union
move-ment of the need to oppose the BNP and highlight
the incompat-ibility of racist politics with the ethos of
trade unionism, which is based on solidarity and unity.
■ The February 2006 edition of Searchlight will carry the
full story of the BNP trade union plus a comprehensive
article on the relationship between British fascism and
trade unions in the 20th century.
Searchlight Election Bulletin 23 January 2006
CONFIDENTIAL ISSUE 17
2
NEW FROM SEARCHLIGHT
STOPPING
THE BNP
An anti-fascist guide
for trade unionists
1-9 copies £2 each
(plus 50p postage)
10+ copies £1.50 each
(plus postage)
A 24-page practical guide to
fighting the BNP in your workplace
and in the community.
This pamphlet is packed full of
useful information, arguments to
use, examples of good practice
and hardhitting facts about the
fascist BNP.
OUT 1stFEBRUARY 2006
Copies of the Trade Union pamphlet can be obtained
from Searchlight PO Box 1576, Ilford, IG5 0NG.
Cheques made payable to Searchlight

[Mitch]

Here's news of a BNP councillor pulling out of the BNP in Keighley - she sites intimidation from another BNP member.

The intimidation that Maureen Stowe experienced after she stood down in Burnley was horrendous. I'd like to see more BNP councillors going independent, as they realise the true colours of the party they are representing! Some BNP councillors in Burnley may be of the opionion that they are serving the community as a BNP councillor - and many of them are active on local campaigns/issues. But as this case shows below and as this councillor has realised - the BNP is intimidatory, spreads fear & hate and divides communities.

"By-election called as BNP councillor quits
British National Party Councillor Angela Clarke has quit her seat on Bradford Council
Now a by-election for the seat in the Keighley West ward will be held on March 23.

News of the election came as Cllr Clarke, pictured, pledged to remain a Keighley town councillor despite quitting Bradford Council.

She this week told Keighley Mayor Cllr Tony Wright she would be taking a rest from council duties. Cllr Wright said the law allowed a councillor to stay away from meetings for six months without any action being taken. He said: "She is taking time out for a while, to sort herself out, she said. It was for personal reasons." Ralph Mitchell, secretary of Keighley Worth Valley BNP, this week confirmed Cllr Clarke would remain on the town council. Of the by-election he said: "The BNP candidate will be taken from West ward -- it would be a West ward person doing the best for his or her own community."

Cllr Clarke resigned from Bradford Council last Friday, just two days after insisting she would be staying on. She had threatened to resign the previous week after being verbally abused by a fellow BNP member. After the Keighley News revealed the incident last Friday, Cllr Clarke sent an e-mail to Bradford Council resigning "with immediate effect". Cllr Clarke, of Bankfield Drive, Braithwaite, is believed to have followed up with an official written resignation.

Cllr James Lewthwaite, the BNP's council leader, this week insisted the row was personal rather than party political. Cllr Clarke, a grandmother in her mid-30s, was not due to face an election until spring 2008. A by-election in Keighley West Ward has to be held within 35 days because at least two people have requested it. The major political parties are understood to have preferred a vote to be held as part of the normal council elections in May."
libcom.org/news/article.php/bnp-councillor-quits-200206

[michele cryer]

Thanks for this Mitch...let's hope that the more 'genuine' councillors who have joined the BNP under false pretences will also resign and announce to the world the true colours of that obnoxious party!

[Mitch]

You can see here clearly what I'm saying when I say that it is worrying that the BNP are on every local campaign in Burnley, see below letter from Sharon Wilkinson.

No doubt like Angela Clarke - she thinks she is serving the community by representing the BNP in Burnley - think again!! In the Lancashire Evening Telegraph today the BNP have been exposed in Colne for delivering fascist leaflets to residents in Colne with pictures of the recent cartoons printed in Danish Newspapers recently. If this isn't incitement to racial hatred I don't know what is.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques have branded the BNP disgusting - I concur this is disgusting! Police have revealed their hate crime unit is inviestigating the distribution of these leaflets.

Can we then be clear then that the BNP is a fascist/racist party and that Sharon Wilkinson may attend public meetings of the Towneley Park campaign professing support on local issues, BUT WE SHOULD BE IN NO DOUBT WHAT THIS PARTY STANDS FOR!

And we should be angry at an incompetent local labour council in Burnley, plus a greedy 'big business worshipping' central Labour government that provides the foundation/and opens the door to fascists and racists.

"BNP probed over prophet cartoon
AN INVESTIGATION has been launched after police said a BNP leaflet containing the controversial cartoon of the prophet Muhammad had been delivered to homes in Colne.

The cartoon depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban has outraged Muslims across the world and sparked intense protests since it was published in a Danish newspaper.

No British newspapers have printed it, but police today revealed their hate crime unit was investigating after BNP leaflets containing the cartoon were delivered to homes in Colne over the past week.

The Lancashire Council of Mosques has branded the BNP disgusting and appealed for people in Colne to stay calm. "
www.thisislancashire.co.uk/lancashire/colne/news/NEWSCOL0.html



Here's the worrying letter:

Opposed to 'political experiment'
- THAT Couns Stuart Caddy and Peter Kenyon presume to admonish me for speaking out with regard to the planning application for the replacement school for Towneley only demonstrates New Labour tyranny (letters, December 23rd).
Their suggestion that I did so out of ignorance or inexperience is both insulting and patronising, but typically we can expect them to resort to slur or ridicule in their desperate attempt to silence opposition to their plans.
This Government and its puppets in Burnley Town Hall have no regard for the wishes of the people. They rule by decree, they are attempting to restrict free thought and opinion so completely that even the elected representatives of the people are reduced to impotency.
Councillors who cannot be persuaded to accept their fallacious policies will be excluded from what remains of the democratic process by censorship and intimidation.
When I was elected to represent the Hapton with Park ward of Burnley Borough Council I was elected as the British National Party candidate to represent the people of that ward and do not recant my political beliefs in the face of this despotic Labour Government.
It is a matter of record that my party opposes the Building Schools For The Future programme on the basis that the whole concept is motivated by racial integration and not improved education.
It is acculturation, the forced association of different races and cultures in line with the recommendations of the Lord Clarke Task Force findings.
That Couns Caddy and Kenyon claim I have debarred myself from the decision-making by speaking out against the Towneley development is disingenuous. We all know the decisions will be made by the New Labour-controlled Lancashire County Council who appear oblivious to the controversy surrounding almost every aspect of this destructive and irreversible act.
For the benefit of Couns Caddy and Kenyon I shall reiterate both my own and my party's position with regard to this Building Schools For The Future fiasco.
We, as a party, would never object to investment in education, but we do object to the misappropriation of tax payers' money to further an unworkable political experiment and if this debars me from sitting on an enfeebled panel of the superfluous then so be it.
COUN. SHARON WILKINSON
British National Party

[Mitch]

Mayoress stripped of title after she joins BNP
libcom.org/news/article.php/bnp-keighley-140306

THE Mayoress of Keighley has been stripped of her position after
shocking colleagues by joining the British National Party.


Mayor Tony Wright said after former independent councillor Rose
Thompson, 49, told him of her decision that he, "along with many
parts of the Keighley community would find her affiliation
offensive".

He also called on her to stand down from the position she has held
since the formation of Keighley Town Council four years ago, but she
has refused.

The timing of her decision has come at a politically sensitive time
in Bradford. Voters will turn out on March 23 in Bradford Council's
Keighley West ward to elect a district councillor to replace BNP
councillor Angela Clarke who resigned recently.

Ms Thompson, a grandmother who says she has campaigned against
poverty for 10 years, said: "It has been a very difficult decision
but how can we keep allowing people in when our welfare system is
collapsing. There should be a stop. We are only an island."

Coun Wright, who has known her since schooldays, said: "Many times
during my Mayoral year she has been my 'Mayoress of the Occasion' and
my first reaction was one of shock and disbelief but this has turned
to a sense of sadness and betrayal.

"I believe she must stand down and offer herself to the electorate as
a BNP candidate otherwise she has no electoral mandate and is
effectively in contempt of the voters in her ward.

"I do not believe the BNP inclusively represent, or attempt to
represent, all sections of our local community. The politics of
division have no place in a civilised society."

Her sister Mary Lister, 50, of Keighley said: "We don't need the BNP
here and I don't agree with what she has done. I asked her if she had
gone off her head.

"I don't like anything like that and we don't want them in this town
and I won't be voting for her."

Angela Clarke, who despite resigning as a district councillor is
staying as a town councillor, is the only other BNP member of
Keighley Town Council.

[michele cryer]

Oh Wow!!! Bad stuff eh?

[Mitch]

Aye, but at the Mr Mayor in Keighley had the balls to stick his neck out, which is more than you could say about Burnley local councillors who are a bunch of 'do nothings'!

[michele cryer]

Well, very true Mitch...

[Mitch]

LETTER FROM MITCH IN RESPONSE TO BOTH BELOW (12th August 2006)

Firstly, I would like to say to Patricia Thomson, who I knew some years ago before she was brainwashed by the fascist BNP and consumed with hate and blame for the Asian community, that she is a little confused (well, lets be honest - totally MAD!) if she believes that being part of a 'party' with racist and fascist policies at it's core is 'fighting for the rights of local people on local issues'. Bluster and hot air indeed, and typical of BNP councillors who spout rubbish like this - but they are nowhere to be found on local campaigns - sharing in the hardwork to fight to stop Telecommunication Masts, the destruction of local services in hospitals and so on - oh yes, they appear at the meetings to 'talk the talk' and whip up hatred and blame amoungst ourselves - divide us so they can take control and implement their racist policies - NO THANKS PATRICIA!

To Jason Hunter, UNISON, with due respect do you seriously think that defending the Labour party and their policies since 1997 within the NHS and elsewhere will seriously be effective in fighting fascists

This is a dire mistake, and one no doubt being repeated all over the UK by desperate Labour councillors and Labour aligned Union members. Jason, I agree with all your condemnations of the foul BNP, but you too appear to be a little confused - because if you think that defending New Labour policy which has had terrible consequences for people in this area - rises in poverty, job losses, destruction of public spaces, increasing drug and alcohol abuse, loss of hope, deterioration of mental health and so on - this has affected us all in this area - is an effective way to be rid of the fascist BNP for good - then I'm afraid you're onto a loser mate.
WAKE UP, Patricia Thomson I'd pretty much give up the ghost on (she's away with the fairies indeed), but you Jason should know better - look around you for one - look at the conditions under which people are living in Burnley and Nelson!

I condemn and despise both the fascist BNP, and the foul policies of New Labour since 1997.

Goodnight All
Mitch


LETTER TO THE BURNLEY EXPRESS

We are individuals
IN response to Mr Hunter's usual rant may I take this opportunity to put him straight on a few points?
I am a democratically-elected Burnley Borough Councillor, not a BNP Councillor. My name is Patricia Thomson. I wonder if Mr Hunter abbreviates every councillor's name? Does he, for instance, address Coun. Ali as Mus Ali?
I will speak to anyone; I will stand up to anyone; I will support anyone and I will work with and for anyone in this borough. Unlike Mr Hunter I have no prejudice; I do not discriminate against anyone because of their beliefs. Members of the British National Party are individuals. We do not blindly tow any party line. We fight for the rights of local people on local issues. We are not dictated to by faceless bureaucrats in London. We will not bow down and allow people such as Mr Hunter to manipulate and destroy everything this country once represented.
I stand by my remarks concerning the hypocrisy of local politicians and union leaders marching to supposedly "Save Our Hospital A&E Unit". Mr Hunter and his comrades support financially and vocally the New Labour party which is totally and absolutely responsible for the destruction of our NHS. When the unions refuse to fund New Labour, when the Burnley New Labour MP resigns from the party and put the people of this borough and not her career in first place, then and only then, will I take anything they say or do seriously.
PATRICIA THOMSON, Burnley Borough Councillor for Briercliffe
07 July 2006


Time to stand up for the NHS
COUN. Patricia Thomson, Express letters, July 7th, shows "far righteous" indignation at stern criticisms of her party, the BNP.
She asks that I call her Patricia rather than Pat, as she prefers, which is fine as I agree everyone has the right to be addressed as they wish. However, her suggestion that challenging the BNP's extremism and ineffectiveness amounts to discrimination is outrageous.
Discrimination is indeed a terrible thing and has created untold misery for many. Yet arguing politics is not discrimination, but the essence of democracy. Particularly given the venom of BNP attacks on other parties, and modern Britain at large, it is strange that they are surprised at the responses.
Perhaps the BNP are not suited to democracy. Yet who is surprised by that?
The BNP's completely unconstructive and excessive criticisms over the NHS illustrate this. She claims that Labour are, "totally and absolutely responsible for the destruction of our NHS". No matter that the Labour party founded the NHS amid fierce opposition from the political establishment. No matter that for 58 years since then Labour and the unions have been among its strongest defenders.
No matter that this government, through shrewd economic management, has increased spending massively more than any government ever has. This has improved health and life expectancy, reduced waiting times and increased numbers of health care workers to record levels.
There are serious challenges facing the NHS at present. Yet ludicrous exaggerations of the problems are even more unhelpful to our NHS than claims that all is perfect. Both attitudes misread the situation and both spread apathy rather than action.
Indeed, those that oppose the NHS are the only beneficiaries of the BNP's implied view that a doubling of funding has totally destroyed the NHS.
The real issue is that more and more Health Trusts have budget problems, some severe. While total deficits in England of about £1b. are huge to most people, in terms of the NHS budget it is like an average earner having an overdraft of £20 per month.
The problem is the way some Health Trusts are reacting; cutting services, proposing job cuts, non-filling of vacancies and the failure to provide jobs for trainee nurses at the end of their courses. Also, a prejudice against public service providers which sees new accounting systems discriminate against NHS hospitals in favour of new Independent Treatment Centres, excessive private debt and more instability as to who provides services. The BNP suggest Labour members who oppose such trends should resign. Yet nothing could be more calculated than to make it easier for such adverse changes to go through.
Now is the time to stand up for the NHS and this is just what unions like Unison are doing, having been at the centre of the continuing campaign against moving emergency services from Burnley to Blackburn. So too, Unison's "Keep The NHS Working" campaign is leading the way against cuts, privatisation and other unhelpful reforms wherever they arise.
Health workers are sick of negative headlines blighting the services they work so hard to provide.
Far from the NHS being "totally destroyed", now is the time to stand up and defend and consolidate the progress made since 1997.
JASON HUNTER, Burnley