EDL march in Bristol: anti-fascist protesters' view
Martin Upchurch of We Are Bristol - the counter-EDL protest group - tells ThisisBristol what he made of yesterday's events.
When the English Defence League (EDL) announced their plans to come to Bristol we should not have been surprised.
Far right and fascist groups always try and recruit when economic times are tough.
We've been in a recession for 5 years, the longest one since the 1930s.
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In the 30s the Mosleyite fascists sought to scapegoat Jewish people for the crisis in order to shift the blame away from the financiers and speculators.
This time round the EDL use so-called Islamification as an excuse.
In its wake they leave a stream of hatred and racial bigotry, and attempt to spread their message by strutting arrogantly through our towns and cities.
Of course, in an increasingly diverse, creative and innovative city such as ours this was always going to be a hard message for the EDL to deliver.
But we should not underestimate the damage that can be done.
In the 1930s the fascist leader Oswald Mosley spoke to a rally of 2000 in the city, and sent solidarity delegations to one of Mussolini's ships flying the fascist flag while docked in Bristol.
Ordinary Bristolians at the time gathered forces and pushed back the fascists by a united campaign.
That's why We Are Bristol was formed as a loose umbrella organisation to galvanise as many Bristolians as possible to publicly oppose the EDL.
Trade unions, community groups, LGBT organisations and ordinary citizens all came together to voice our opposition in public statements, leafleting, public meetings and finally our 1,200 strong counter demonstration yesterday.
We were well aware of different arguments about how the EDL should be opposed.
Some said we should ignore them, but we know that if you do that they will be back again, bigger and more threatening.
Others called for the council and police to ban them.
Possibly an understandable reaction, although one that could never work.
A ban would only be on the EDL marching, and not on them holding a static demonstration.
They could still meet in a backstreet car park and claim 'victory'.
Any ban would also be applied across the whole city, meaning that the Pride procession would have been banned as well.
Far better to remain in the strong tradition of fighting fascism in this country, by mobilising as many people as possible to oppose them on the streets, to have bigger numbers and to isolate the EDL.
This is what happened in Cable Street in 1936 and in the 1970s when the Anti Nazi League took on the National Front.
On the day, our numbers at the counter demonstration and along the side of the EDL’s route around the cobbled streets of Welsh Back, numbered two to three thousand.
We Are Bristol marched in solidarity to the Pride festival at College Green, reinforcing our message of diversity.
The EDL, bussed into the city from afar, could only muster 250.
The people of Bristol gave a clear message to the EDL that they are not welcome here, and our streets and communities are safer as a result.
Martin Upchurch
We Are Bristol
Comments
by MikeS_62
Friday, July 20 2012, 4:52PM
“donot understand what you mean .are you saying its ok for some groups to use violence because there from a ethnic”
by godspeed
Thursday, July 19 2012, 10:40PM
“The thing that makes me laugh about this whole EDL situation is that the EDL have stated that they are against Islamic extremists you know these people that want to blow up and kill anyone who is a non believer. But because these people are not white It's has to come down to the colour of skin. So when a group of Muslims where recently arrested for attacking members of the EDL what where they in possession of Explosives.”
by MikeS_62
Thursday, July 19 2012, 7:39PM
“i was repling to livelovegive post read it . hes from the left wing he stated saying that the western rich country are riping off poor countrys . he said this not me . first of all we talk about the leftwing protest against the edl . my view is most lefys are middle upper class and there parents are loaded . and leftys dont like white working class people . thats how it got to this argument. if you dont like rich exploitation why dont they go to sneyd park or westbury park and protest o no daddy might see them . by the way people did reply including you”
by Lone_Ranger
Thursday, July 19 2012, 6:17PM
“MikeS_62, if your post made any sense at all, I'm sure you'd get a response. As it is, it appears to be nothing more than random words thrown together.”
by MikeS_62
Thursday, July 19 2012, 5:55PM
“the left wing tells me its about the rich west riping off poor country like the middle east. well most lefty s parents are rich and loaded and uni educated . surely there part of it then . or guilty.how many black or other non british groups lives in white middle class areas not many . not on my door step. the point iam making is whats all this got to do with the english working class . who your very quick to blame all the time. somebody from the left please tell me”
by bedmobaloo
Wednesday, July 18 2012, 5:10PM
“Surely we're done with this now? How many of you saw the "march" in person?
200 non-local bigots + 80 odd ******* from bedmo = a **** poor showing for any organisation - The EDL should be embarrassed at thier "stand".
That a bunch of idiot anarchists took it as opportunity to cause trouble is hardly a surprise. Provocation on all sides. Just give it a rest armchair bombasts.
Having spoken to numerous non-white bristolians on the subject I have come to the conclusion this is just idiocy not worth discussing or regarding. Stiff upper lip is no longer an Englishman's reserve. Hush.”
by SumYeungGuy
Wednesday, July 18 2012, 5:02PM
“WAB - a total overreaction and totally counter productive”
by livelovegive
Wednesday, July 18 2012, 4:28PM
“looks like a lot of antis to me. and fyi there were plenty of working folk that day. We're feeling the pinch but the cause is outsourcing to other countries so all the factories and call centres close down, the banking collapse, these are the difficulties we're facing in this country. wake up people! Folk are looking for scapegoats!
http://tinyurl.com/7jql7sl
And the rich get richer and the working classes start fighting each other.”
by livelovegive
Wednesday, July 18 2012, 4:23PM
“http://tinyurl.com/7jql7sl”
by livelovegive
Wednesday, July 18 2012, 4:18PM
“well it looked like a heck of a lot of people to me. And I could find some more links about the trouble certain members of the edl caused just like there was a small number of counter demonstrators who caused trouble. If I say stuff about this it's because I may actually be in a position to comment. Here's the heck of a lot of people: http://tinyurl.com/7jql7sl .”