Lessons from Bradford
A personal insight into Bradford and tackling the EDL from a members of Liverpool Antifascist who went down in support of Bradford United Against Racism on Saturday.
I went to Bradford with a few others from Liverpool Antifascists. It is important to consider what happened there.
Lesson one is that organisation is crucial to defeating the EDL and strange and mixed though it was, organisation did happen in Bradford , formally and informally. Further the mood amongst the antifascist youth was excellent. Hope not Hate played a complex role, revealing again their lack of a class approach but organising quite a campaign. UAF s role was also quite complicated.
The UAF comment that “a mixed group of people including white, black and Asian people, young and old, families, shoppers and passers-by, spontaneously turned up on pavements overlooking the EDL event, to show their opposition” is not quite accurate. This was unaligned anti-fascists and local youth with a very few passers-by or shoppers. It was this group that responded when the EDL escaped into the crowd.
The BNP suffered serious defeat in the last election. The organisation of effective opposition to the BNP was both necessary and successful. The rise then of the English Defence League, ostensibly committed to “opposing” fundamentalist Islam, presented a different set of problems as they were not an electoral organisation, and touched on issues that could possibly get an echo in the non-Muslim population. The activists of the EDL are a most unattractive grouping, including football hooligans, jumped up “patriots” and bigoted racists.
There have been EDL demonstrations in other areas and an abandoned one in the East End of London. In Dudley and Bolton the police and local authorities and community groups did their best to keep the Muslim youth away from the EDL, including apparently funding trips to Alton towers…
Bradford was different. In 2001 the National Front visited the city. Some stayed drinking, holed up in a pub. As they left, they went into the Asian areas, breaking windows, hurling abuse and threatening the population. Asian youth came out to drive them out, and a riot developed. Asian youth suffered badly in the police intervention and in the courts. Many are serving sentences still. There was also elements of inter communal violence in these riots with a labour Club being firebombed. The threat of an EDL demonstration in Bradford was taken seriously by all who opposed the EDL.
The first suggestion was that there would be a counter demonstration. Then Hope not Hate put forward the idea of a petition to ban the EDL from marching through Bradford and organised to get thousands of signatures for this.
The government agreed. The Government motives were difficult to fathom. However Bradford does have liberal MP who might have had some sway. The likelihood of a huge anti-EDL demonstration in the city might not have been to the governments liking either.
Hope not Hate/Searchlight have organised and claim to have campaigned door to door in Bradford . They have used a “decent people don’t like the EDL” approach rather than take up the BNP or the EDL on class lines. UAF (Unite Against fascism, largely a Socialist Workers Party front, affected in its politics by its work with Respect and its apparent links to Muslim groups with other than a class basis) called a demonstration which was also to be a “static assembly” like the one allowed to the EDL.
There was a demonstration on the Friday before the EDL and community groups decorated the city with green ribbons and banners to symbolise the opposition to the EDL.
The state organised one of the biggest mobilisations in years. The media had warned most people to stay out of the city and it was indeed like a ghost town, with many shops and cafes closing early or not opening.
EDL supporters on the trains were not allowed to stop at Bradford but taken to other stations and coached in. Once in the city, the EDL were “corralled” in a large fenced area, (actually much bigger than was needed). The area was massively policed, the UAF in their area and the EDL in theirs. Reports are that the UAF area was quiet and the police did not actually kettle them, people could come and go. To add to the complexity, the Trades Council organised yet another festival out of the main centre.
Non-aligned antifascists were not happy to go along with the twin “static assemblies” or the “keep out of town” advice. The EDL had to be confronted. The police were breaking up groups of more than five or six Anti-fascists as they moved around the city centre. The role of the UAF and HNH meant that coordination was poor – hampered by the inexperience among many of the younger unaligned Anti-fascists who did their best (and in the circumstances did well – their mood was more aligned with that of the Asian Youth and others who joined the demonstration) in trying to organise the willing who were in the streets facing the EDL.
The Northern Indymedia report was to me an accurate report of what I saw. The EDL threw smoke bombs and thoroughly upset the mounted police. It was strange to see the police do what they did. Normally the police would have been much harder on the anti-Nazis than on the Nazis. They did use horses against the local youth and demonstrators a couple of times, though in a low key way, using the horses to “encourage” people to move back rather than physically pushing them. The police confronted the EDL with massive force. The EDL had their speakers, waved flags (including the Israeli, Scots and, bizarrely, the Netherlands) and chanted hate.
The mood was focused, but friendly. A wedding party arrived at the Midland hotel, piped in by a Scottish piper. The music drew the crowds’ attention and the bride was cheered into the hotel.
A number of EDL who had missed the bus or otherwise arrived late filtered through the crowd, were seen and allowed through the fence into the EDL area by the police.
There were a hundreds of local youth, mainly but not exclusively Asian. There were early teenage girls and boys among the younger groups, less women among the older groups. Significantly, there were very few paper sellers, few chants but lots of quiet chats going on between friends and strangers. Some of the youth were organised into groups acting together and some were Asian and White together.
A few EDL escaped the compound ran into a local shopping area and were caught in the car park by antifascists where, to quote Trotsky, their heads were acquainted with the pavement, by Asian youth and a number of organised antifascists. The EDL were escorted into their coaches by the police and bussed out.
Politically, and for some physically, the EDL had a bad day. Bradford was spared a repeat of 2001. The police had a dry run for future demonstrations. The Youth of Bradford, mainly self organised, did well in defending their homes and defending anti-racism.
UAF and Hope not Hate placed themselves in a strange political place, and non-aligned antifascists demonstrated they were clearly an alternative.
this is the first article ive seen that mentioned the ‘heads hitting the pavements’ despite the somewhat boastful videos going up! good article. I’m glad someone mentioned the police being harder on the EDL. Whilst I was part of the unaligned Anti-fascists opposite the EDL, I think it is still worth mentioning that people applying for a demo could in fact be given a pig-pen surrounded by more pigs! UAF’s demos will end up looking like that soon enough at this rate, and maybe even others. =/ STILL! It was probably intelligent in this situation.
That was a good and interesting report, cheers
The EDL had their speakers, waved flags (including the Israeli, Scots and, bizarrely, the Netherlands
The last of these is presumably in support of the anti-Muslim Dutch politician Geert Wilders.
Oddly enough, despite a massive and well thought out police presence, none of the authorities seems to have had the foresight to realise that if the EDL were capable of climbing the compound fencing and breaking out, they would do so.
Good report. I have two similar ones regrading the edl at newcastle if you want a look.
Quote “Bradford was different. In 2001 the National Front visited the city. Some stayed drinking, holed up in a pub. As they left, they went into the Asian areas, breaking windows, hurling abuse and threatening the population. Asian youth came out to drive them out, and a riot developed. Asian youth suffered badly in the police intervention and in the courts. Many are serving sentences still. There was also elements of inter communal violence in these riots with a labour Club being firebombed. The threat of an EDL demonstration in Bradford was taken seriously by all who opposed the EDL”.
Reading your blog the above is an absolute lie and fabrication, on the day of the Bradford riots a ANL rally took place, a BNP/NF rally had previously been banned.
There was a small number of BNP/NF supporters in the city approx 20ish and the usual local football lads were in the city centre approx 10-20, drinking in a pub.
At the ANL rally there must have been over a 1000 people, and unfortunatly the disproportionate response by the ANL to the few BNP/NF losers whipped up the local Muslim population to a frenzy of violence.
The Labour club you talk of, the Manningham Ward Labour Club, loved by a minority of mainly elderly working class white people, knew a few, who still lived in the Manningham area in Bradford, which is about 95% Muslim.
They had settled down for night and were happy enjoying their bingo, pints and doms the simple things you enjoy when you’ve worked a crappy job all week for a few quid living around people who do not share your culture and really do enjoy your little haven where english working class culture can still be enjoyed ie the things you probably take for granted in Liverpool.
Rioting Muslims on the attack broke into the club and the elderly white people had to run into a back room and lock the door to hide from attack whilst phoning the police.
Whilst they were in this backroom the Muslims set the place alight, knowing they were inside, but for the bravery of the police who fought their way to this pub there would have been many killed or beaten – hence the sentances you talk of for the Muslims who did this and were caught.
The place was burnt to the ground and the last few pubs in this area suffered the same fate, consigning any real form of multi culturalism in this area to history.
This is the truth from a local – there was no window breaking or marching in Muslim areas by NF, it amazing your naivity of an area like Bradford and what a large majority inner city population of Muslims would do to any group who tried this – lets hope you don’t learn one day the hard way.
Lets be clear.
We have no truck with racist violence or intercommunual violence wherever and when ever it might appear. What happened to the Labour Club in Bradford was utterly wrong. Once any group feel under threat the precious normal routine life of ordinary working people is at risk. That normal routine for most people is that they don’t have to decide their friends, families and jobs based on race or religion.
Liverpool has had an ongoing struggle against racism and sectarianism for many many generations. Liverpool has known waves of immigration for hundreds of years. The peace between communities has not come without a struggle and efforts through trade union and community organisations and by fighting for good housing and good schools for all. Such struggles will continue. Liverpool and Bradford are not so different.
Good reply Salander, I don’t pretend to know about the struggles you have had previously with the N.Irish situation overspill, but have always admired the way you stood up to the Tories in the 80’s.
Your a friendly lot to start with….I like Liverpool;-).
I’m a trade Unionist at heart and consider myself a socialist, it’s where I long to be but feel in places like Bradford the white working class have been binned, so I terminated my membership and activity a few years ago.
It naff’s me off to hear this Anti-Fascist, Racism thing droning on and I feel that people are wasting energy on the EDL, are they really a massive threat?
Obviously goes without saying Racism is wrong, but I do believe you find traits or cultures in certain people from certain area’s of the world though and sometimes you make a judgment call off the back of that ie If your playing a football team of Zimbabwe ex asylum seekers prepare for disorganization but loads of happy people all the same (is that racist?), it’s a trait they seem to have.
I don’t understand how someone who has no problem with Hindu/Sikh culture or people but is wary of Islam can be classed as racist, possibly uneducated depending on your viewpoint but Racist?
Loads of clearly middle class sandal wearing people turn up in Bradford (I’ve not seen so many wealthy people in our city for years) to slag off misguided working class people in the EDL, many who like the Anti Fascist’s are failing to grasp who really needs challenging on the division of Muslims in the UK, that has been breeding for the last 40 years in places like Bradford.
So I ask myself, where has everybody been, do they appear out of the woodwork when they need to massage their ego’s with fairly pointless ideology based opposition to the EDL.
At least a lot of the EDL can say they live close to Muslims, they just fail to articulate their grounded fears that the Middle Class sandal wearers are not experiencing as they don’t live in these areas.
If the middle class sandal wearers were to spend some quality time and money regularly in the city of Bradford, some hard time, not flouncing round posh spa towns, maybe it wouldn’t have the problems it clearly does.
If they are so much more intelligent than the people in the EDL why not put their brains to use in a productive but radical way.
It’s a tough problem to deal with, but the answers to it are obvious, we should all be part of the solution to the growing culture divide in Britain and not let a few inner cities deal with the problem in a sweep it under the carpet way nimby way, it is not going to go away.
Multi-Cultural Bradford or Britain is a myth when it comes to Islam, you could almost draw a line between culture regions in Bradford and the UK, there is very little mixing only in the parts where there has been an expansion of Muslims into white area’s before white flight takes place.
I cringed when I heard today that an initiative was being started today in Oldham to amalgamate a 95% attended Muslim with a school attended by 95% Non-Muslims.
Clearly the problems Bradford have are replicated in Oldham but why should the local inner city white kids and inner city Muslims in this area sacrifice their education to be the Vanguard on some social engineering project, are they second class citizens, David Cameron and the like would not have his kids put through this, it’s an outrage the kind of thing I will campaign against.
They had a bigger turnout in leeds last year and this is supposed to be their big one! A few hundred chimps in a playpen heard by pretty much noone.