“They did not pass”
They shall not pass!
80
Cable Street
RALLY & MARCH 9 OCTOBER
12 noon Altab Ali Park London E1 Aldgate East station
CELEBRATE THE 80th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF CABLE STREET! Assemble Altab Ali Park, London E1 Sunday 9 October 2016 at 12 noon. March to the Cable Street mural in St George’s Gardens for a rally with speakers and stalls. On 4th October, 1936, the people of the East End inflicted a massive defeat on Sir Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists. Attempts by the Blackshirts to march through Whitechapel were routed by more than 100,000 anti-fascist, anti-racist protestors from the local area, supported by those who came from across London and beyond to stand shoulder to shoulder against Mosley’s troops. As the fascists assembled in Royal Mint Street, near the Tower, they were attacked by large groups of workers. When the Metropolitan Police tried to clear a path through Gardiner’s Corner, a blockade of tens of thousands of people stood firm. Finally, the police tried to escort Mosley and his Blackshirt thugs down Cable Street. They were stopped by local residents – Jewish, Irish, English – who built barricades and hurled back the invaders by force. Local communists, socialists, trade unionists and Jewish organisations united to mobilise and coordinate the anti-fascist resistance. They built local campaigns among workers, tenants and the unemployed to fight for real solutions to people’s real problems. Together, they won a famous victory and put the skids under Britain’s first fascist mass movement.
DIVIDE AND RULE – THE SAME OLD STORY ... There’s nothing new about blaming immigrants and minority groups for problems caused by exploitation, governments and the system. • In the 1930s, Mosley’s fascists attacked the Jews. • In the 1950s and ‘60s, racists attacked Caribbean immigrants. • In the 1970s, the National Front attacked Asian communities. • Since the 1990s, the BNP and EDL have attacked Muslims. • Today, UKIP attacks East Europeans and refugees. This divides people, instead of uniting them to fight for a positive multicultural society where all have decent jobs, homes, public services, benefits, pensions, democracy, peace and a healthy environment. We should heed the warning of Pastor Niemoller, who defied the Nazis in 1930s Germany:
“
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew; Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak out for me.
UNITE AGAINST RACISM and FASCISM!
RALLY and MARCH SUNDAY 9 OCTOBER Assemble: 12 noon Altab Ali Park, London E1 Speakers include: Max Levitas (Cable Street veteran), Jeremy Corbyn MP, Rushanara Ali MP, Unmesh Desai (GLA Member), Frances O’Grady (Gen. Secretary, TUC), Michael Rosen
Plus: Exhibition – The Battle of Cable Street At the Idea Store, Watney Market, London E1 2FB. Open Mon-Sat 9am-9pm from 28 September-18th October. Special opening Sunday 9th October after the march.
Events to celebrate the Battle of Cable Street: 1 October, 1.45-4pm: Guided walk – Cable Street ’36, the East End and Anti-Fascism – with David Rosenberg 1 October, 7-11pm: The Signal was Spain – night of protest music old and new plus performance poetry, organised by Philosophy Football 8 October, 2.30-4.30pm: Women veterans of Cable Street in conversation with author Kate Thompson 10 October, 6.30-8.30pm: Play – Dare Devil Rides to Jarama 15 October, 5-6.30pm: Film + Q&A – From Cable Street to Brick Lane For full details of these and other celebratory events, and how to book a place, visit: www.cablestreet80.org.uk or www.battleofcablest80.squarespace.com
SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS Tower Hamlets Unite Community East London Teachers Association (NUT) UNISON Camden UNISON Tower Hamlets UNITE Housing Workers ASLEF BECTU FBU NUT RMT UNITE Bangladesh Workers Council Bangladesh Youth Union Communist Party of Bangladesh – UK Nari Diganta Altab Ali Foundation Nirmul Committee Swadhinata Trust Udichi Indian Workers Association – GB East London Central Synagogue New Stoke Newington Synagogue
Jewish Socialists’ Group jewdas Jewish Labour Movement Jewish Council for Racial Equality London Jewish Forum Cable Street Group Searchlight Unite Against Fascism Hope Not Hate London Antifascists United East End Redbridge and Epping Forest Together Tower Hamlets Labour Party Communist Party of Britain Young Communist League Morning Star International Brigades Memorial Trust Marx Memorial Library
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