05/08/2024
With far right wing rioting spreading across the northern towns of England during early August, in which the interminably angry mostly testosterone and beer fuelled heterosexuals caused mayhem, violence to property and person, and targetted people from minority groups, many LGBTQIA people have mobilised as part of anti-fascist campaign groups locally and on the ground. In addition, people have been vigilant in the defence of predominantly LGBTQIA+ areas of towns. In Bristol, B247 independent newspaper warned that an intercepted and decoded message from far right splinter cells on the sinister "Telegram" channel revealed that the far right wish to target a solicitors on Bristol's bohemian, multi-racial and charity sector dominated Old Market Gay Village. The newspaper's Martin Booth takes up the story, reporting "Gya Williams Immigration on West Street in Old Market is one of many places across England where protests are being planned from 8pm on Wednesday (7th August). “Wednesday needs to be a fire burning so bright they will see the flames from space,” says a post on Telegram. Gya Williams Immigration, run by lawyers Natasha Gya Williams and Marie-Christine Allaire-Rousse, says that their “comprehensive and tailored services cover a wide spectrum of UK immigration routes, from work authorisations of all types including sponsorship and business routes, to family based applications and visitor visas”. All the signage for the company has been removed from outside their premises, the exact location of which Bristol24/7 is choosing not to name for safety reasons.". The left wing daily newspaper Morning Star, which has wide readership within the Labour and Trade Union movements, said that the current wave of far right rioting was a "step change" that demanded immediate action. "The scale of the response to the online call-outs by far-right agitators forces the left to reassess the reach of fascism in Britain and how we defeat it.... The horrors in Rotherham show we cannot sit out the riots or trust to the police to protect refugees, Muslims or black communities. We must protect our communities and take back our streets. For much of the left, and for the trade union movement, given the very real threat of violence from the fascists, this will mean relearning the methods used by previous generations to isolate, refute and, where necessary, directly confront the neonazi menace". In a lengthy analysis page, the leftist weekly Socialist Worker wrote of Bristol's previous anti-fascist mobilisations " about 800 anti-fascists initially confronted around 150 of the far right. Other fascists arrived at some went to attack a hotel used for refugees’ accommodation. But anti-racists blocked them... The Bristol Post’s chief reporter tweeted, “In Redcliffe, Bristol, the hotel is being protected by hundreds of Bristolians shouting ‘We are many, you are few. We are Bristol, who are you?’ to a group of around 100 who marched on the hotel’. We can face down the fascists, the far right and the racists of Reform UK. The future does not have to belong to the Nazi Tommy Robinson and his allies. That was the message from the protests called by Stand Up To Racism and others on Saturday. In most places, anti-racists outnumbered the far right. But there can be no complacency. There were some large fascist turnouts and the forces unleashed in the last few days won’t be overcome in a weekend or a few months." , the paper editorialised. Meanwhile, the venerable and one hundred and forty year old anarchist journal Freedom editorialised that it had been a mistake to reroute Trans Pride at the end of July away from the fascist rabble in central London. They said "The fash are the elites’ street hounds, a useful reserve to be deployed every time a social movement like the Trans community raises its head and threatens to gain visibility and connect the dots with capitalism and the State... Against this, we need to see more trans people together and in front in the struggle against fascism, and all kinds of oppression. Turnouts at Trans Pride give us hope and strength. The far right mobilisation should be an opportunity for us to join and lead in struggles against genocide, destitution, and eco-devastation (to name a few). There is no hope for us in state-approved solutions, marxist vanguards, NGOs or single issue campaigns. History has proved time and time again the futility of top down organising, and the crippling effect of forcing unity and urgency, of choosing structure over meaning, memory and variety. The system that is killing us is made of the exact same ingredients: centralisation, cohesive power, specialised hierarchies, alienation, normalisation, quantification and multiplication. We need to fight for all the opposites: means-goals consistency, decentralisation and de-normalisation, diversity of tactics and solidarity". In a later development, on Monday evening, the community radio station BCFM, located in Easton, Bristol, and serving diverse communities in the city, reported that many MINORITY businesses in Old Market, including ALL LGBTQIA BUSINESSES in the district, will be closed for Wednesday 7th August.
