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Holocaust Memorial page 2 Day: Never Again
UKIP & Tories: The Race to the Gutter
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'United We Stand' Unite Against Fascism Wales Newsletter email: secretary@uafwales.com
web: uaf.org.uk
Winter 2013 tel: 07704 356894
March 22nd, Cardiff
Stand up to racism and fascism
No to scapegoating of immigrants No to Islamophobia Yes to diversity of action against racism has been called for across Europe A day to coincide with the marking of UN Day Against Racial
Netherlands to the Front National in France, these forces are encouraging hatred, fear and prejudice in a frightening wave across Discrimination in 2014, with eyes on the European elections in May. the continent. Already in most European countries parties of the right, centre and even the traditional left are allowing the terrain of these elections to be dominated by racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and the scapegoating of minorities—Muslims, immigrants, Roma, Black and Asian communities.
In Britain the far right is hoping for gains in the Euro elections. The British National Party (BNP) is seeking the re-election of Nick Griffin in the North West and Andrew Brons is seeking re-election in Yorkshire and the Humber. The Tories and UKIP look set to try to outdo each other in their calls for draconian 'anti-immigration' policies, whilst promoting a Little Englander anti-foreign, antiAcross Europe the fascist and populist racist right are on the rise. Europe mentality. From the violent Golden Dawn in Greece, the anti-Roma Jobbik in Hungary, the Islamophobic Freedom Party of Geert Wilders in the The 'go home' vans sent out by the Home Office over the summer
supported by:
Islamic Society for Wales
2 unite against fascism wales continued from front page are a sign of things to come. Hostility is already being stirred up against Bulgarian and Romanian migrant workers who will be able to work here from January. Such campaigns whip up racism in general, and induce a blame game for falling living standards and squeezed incomes, and encourages discrimination, institutional racism, abuse and violence against visible minorities. This all encourages currents like the English Defence League which turn their Islamophobic prejudices into real attempts to terrorise the Muslim population— attacking Mosques, assaulting veiled women, insulting religious sensibilities with vile slogans and throwing pigs' heads, as well as organising intimidating marches into Muslim communities. Following the rising violence of Golden Dawn and the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas (also know as Killah P), the Greek anti-fascist and anti-racist movement has proposed that next year's UN Day Against Racial Discrimination on March 21/22 should be the focus for actions against racism and fascism across Europe. Unite Against Fascism Wales has therefore initiated a call for a demonstration to Stand Up To Racism in Cardiff on Saturday 22nd. March. We endorse this proposal and call on all those of good will to join us in a riposte to the rise of racism, to show that migrants are welcome and demonstrate our confidence in a future free of scapegoating and hatred. Supported by: Wales TUC Muslim Council of Wales - Unison Black Members Group Cymru – Islamic Society of Wales Wales regions of: UNITE, UCATT, GMB, CWU, PCS, UNISON, UCU, USDAW, NASUWT, NUT, NAHT, BFAUW
Signed in personal capacity by Saulat Abassi, Bridgend – Peter Adamson Abertillery – Cllr Ali Ahmed Bute Town, Cardiff –: Cllr Mazoor Ahmed Adamsdown, Cardiff - Mubarak Ali Chair Islamic Society of Wales – Pippa Bartolotti Leader Green Party Wales - Charlotte Briton, National Chair Plaid Cymru – Jayne Bryant Labour MEP candidate – Ramon Corria Secretary Cardiff Trades Council – Cllr Siobhan Corria Llandaff North, Cardiff – Tony Crawford Merthyr – Cllr David Daniels Llantarnam Torfaen - Phil Deacon NUT Rep Lliswerry High School Newport – Jill Evans MEP – Rebecca Evans A.M.– Cllr Peter Foley Morfa, Bridgend – Vaughan Gething A.M. – Cllr Iona Gordon Riverside, Cardiff – Julian Goss Liaison Officer UAF Wales – Alice Greenlees Unison steward City & County of Swansea – Janice Gregory A.M. – Peter Hain M.P. – Neil Harrison Branch Chair Amgueddfe & Wales PCS Exec Monitor – Kris Hedges Chair Unison WJEC branch – Jane Henderson, Senior Lecturer Cardiff University – Christopher Howard –National Association of Head Teachers Wales – Aled Morgan Hughes Plaid Cymru Youth President Aberystwyth Uni - Cllr Anthony Hunt Cabinet Member Torfaen CC – Jeffrey Hurford Secretary UAF Wales – Huw Irranca-Davies MP – Carol Ann Ivory Cardiff South - Cerith Rhys Jones Press Director Plaid Cymru Youth – Gareth Jones UNITE RCO – Glyn Jones Unison Regional Organiser, Chair Swansea UAF– Saleem Kidwai Secretary Muslim Council of Wales - Rt. Hon Elfyn Llwyd MP Plaid Cymru Parliamentary Leader – Cllr Cecilia Love Riverside, Cardiff – Cllr Gretta Marshall Cardiff Splott – Cllr Sarah Merry Cathays, Cardiff -– Cllr Michael Michael Trowbridge & St.Melons, Cardiff – Ivan Monckton UNITE NEC – Julie Morgan A.M - Paul Murphy M.P. - – Andrew O’Leary Sec Unison Health, Port Talbot –- Marianne Owens PCS, NEC – - Glenn Page Plaid Cymru Youth Director of Policy and Campaigns – Cllr Rhiannon Passmore Cabinet Member Caerphilly CC – Mike Payne GMB Regional Political Officer Wales & South West - Rex Phillips NASUWT Wales Organiser – Huw Pudner Neath – Jenny Rathbone A.M.- Christine Rees Labour MEP candidate – Les Rees UNITE Sec Swansea Services – Andy Richards Regional Secretary Unite Wales - - Belinda Robertson Regional Equalities Officer Unite Wales – Chris Ruane M.P. - Matthew Shephard Swansea Council Unison - Maggie Simpson Vice Chair UAF Wales – Amarjite Singh Secretary CWU Southeast Wales Amal branch– Cllr Ed Stubbs Splott,Cardiff – Ritchie Taylor – UNITE, Bridgend - Ian Thomas Senior Steward, Unison Cardiff & Vale Health – ‘Pasty’ Turner Sec. SIMA – Unison Cardiff & Vale Health branch - Derek Vaughan MEP – Sanjiv Vedi Chair Show Racism the Red Card Wales– - Cllr Darren Williams Riverside Cardiff & acting PCS Wales Secretary – Leane Wood A.M. Leader Plaid Cymru - Andrew Woodman Unison Regional Officer
Auschwitz
Holocaust Memorial Day we remembere Onmillion victims of Nazism with the words ‘‘N
Again’’. It’s now 69 years since the liberation o concentration in 1945; survivors are dying of o soon there will be no one left to give direct tes
That’s what makes it so crucial for us to remem Holocaust today, which is why I went on an ed visit last November to Auschwitz concentration camp, organised by Unite Against Fascism (U
Auschwitz 1 was originally constructed in 1940 camp for Polish political prisoners. But the firs ‘experimental’ gas chamber and crematoria w up and the extermination of prisoners began a Walking through that gas chamber, to then se mountains of shoes and human hair housed in museum brings home the reality of the Nazis’ killing like nothing else can.
It was only after the Wannsee Conference, in where it was resolved to implement the ‘Final that Auschwitz Birkenau death camp was esta was primarily here that 1.1 million people were in Auschwitz – 90 percent of them Jews, but a Nazis’ victims were also 150,000 Poles, 23,00 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war and tens of tho people from other nationalities and groups tha deemed to be ‘‘asocial’’, such as LGBT people We also we visited the Krakow Ghetto, where
Scum o
the NF A fter local Bloo
was a safe dis Clifft [aka Chri he put on You charged with in Phillips on the 'White Pride' nazi demonstration in Swansea
The Abercyno were in no way come back”.
unite against fascism wales
3
z: Never Forget. Never Again.
ed the 6 Never of Auschwitz old age and stimony.
mber the ducational n and death UAF).
0 as a work st was soon set a year later. ee the n the industrial
1942, Solution’ ablished. It e murdered amongst the 00 Roma, ousands of at the Nazis e. the town’s
Jewish population was forced to move when the Nazis’ occupied Poland – fenced in by a wall in the shape of Jewish grave stones. The fact that buildings in the ghetto had anti-semitic graffiti scrawled on them was a stark reminder that fascism remains with us and in Poland is indeed on the rise. The alarming thing today is that segregation walls are once again being erected. In my hometown Košice, in Slovakia, a wall’s been erected around a Roma housing estate, whilst inside there is near 100% unemployment, as institutional racism locks many out of employment, and the water is cut off causing epidemics such as cholera. In many European states, fascist organisations are rapidly growing in strength and number: in France, the fascist Front National won 18% of the votes in the presidential election, while in Greece Golden Dawn mobs are actively murdering immigrants. If the threat of fascism appears remote in Britain, it is only because of the rigorous opposition of UAF in the last 10 years – all the social conditions conducive to the rise of fascism remain. We cannot afford to be complacent – the fascists might be down, but not out, as their attempted mobilisations after the Woolwich murder show. What’s more, we are seeing the growth of UKIP and a rising tide of racism, as politicians from the main parties and the right- wing press scapegoat migrant workers for low pay, unemployment and bad housing.
So what does it mean to remember the Holocaust? In the 1930s, the anti-fascists did not know what the Nazis were capable of doing should they come to power. But today we do: it begins with segregation walls going up around Roma housing estates in eastern Europe and the scapegoating of Bulgarian and Romanian migrant workers, and ends in the concentration camps and the gas chambers of Auschwitz Birkenau and Treblinka with 6 million dead. Bratislava without Nazis, a new antifascist organisation in Slovakia, recently produced a poster with the line ‘‘To remember, means to fight ... against fascism’’ – so when we say ‘‘Never Again’’ it’s not just an act of passive remembrance. It means continuing the fight against fascist organisation, such as the National Front (NF) in South Wales, and combating the growing tide of racism being pumped out by UKIP and the right-wing press. In the coming months, it means building the March 22nd demonstration in Cardiff ahead of the European elections in May, which are set to be a carnival of reaction as all major parties compete on who can be toughest on immigrants. That way we will remember the Holocaust, by making sure it is never allowed to happen again. Tomáš Tengely-Evans
of the earth sent to prison
F’s failed 'White Pride' demo in Swansea in March last year there was supposed to be a od & Honour gig for them. In fact this took place in Abercynon which we suppose they felt stance away. At the gig a NF supporter who had travelled over from the Midlands, Darren stopher Philips], put on KKK robes and ‘hung’ a life-sized golliwog which was videod and Tube where West Midlands police spotted it. Philips was arrested by anti-terrorism police, nciting racial hatred, and in January jailed for 12 months.
n venue is owned by the Valley Commandos Motorcycle Club. A spokesman said they y racist and were shocked by the event. “They would be run out of town if they tried to
One of the images on one of Phillips' social-media sites
Pandering to Nasty Nigel
UKIP leader Nigel Farage in less happy times after crashing his plane May has said that the Coalition’s T eresa Immigration Bill “aims to create a really
hostile environment for illegal migrants”. In practice its harsh measures will create a hostile environment for ALL migrants – and that is surely the Coalition's intention. The main provisions of the Bill are as follows: It takes away the right of appeal against Home Office decision on immigration status until after a migrant has been deported. This is intended to drastically cut the current 40% success rate for appeals. It turns landlords into border guards by fining them £3000 if they let their property to an 'illegal' immigrant. In practice determining someones immigration status
is complex, it is not just a matter of having a British Passport. To avoid trouble landlords are likely to turn away anyone who looks or sounds foreign. There will no doubt be a pool of unscrupulous landlords who will let – at a price.
charged. There is a fear that seemingly small changes in status can then be used in other areas to take away migrants rights.
This Bill is unlikely to have much affect on overall immigration figures but it will help Having helped create the myth of NHS and foster an increasingly hysterical and racist Benefit tourism, the Government Bill attitude to migrants. It is part of the ‘race to presents a fake solution. the bottom’ as parties seek to compete with UKIP and 'Nasty Nigel’s' right-wing Currently those eligible for free NHS populism. treatment are those of us defined as By the time this is published it is likely that ‘ordinary residents’. That is we are settled the Bill will have been passed by the and live here lawfully. This is to change to Commons. It is supported by Tories and those who have ‘indefinite leave to LibDems – Labour aims to amend some of remain’ [ILR]. This is a very different status the harshest sections such as those which can only be achieved by those who deferring appeals but has so far abstained have lived here lawfully for ten years. on the Bill itself. Those without ILR status can now be Jeff Hurford
http://standuptoukip.org
Join UAF Wales! ‘The threat from the BNP and fascist groups in Wales is real and immediate.They bring division to our communities and all thinking, compassionate people should oppose them. Now is the time to mobilise on an all-Wales basis, to meet the threat from these racist, fascist thugs as it arises.’ Peter Hain MP Name/organisation ................................................................................Email.................................................................. Address ............................................................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................................................................ Phone ................................................................................................Union ...................................................................... UAF Wales annual membership fees are: Individuals: £5 and £2 for concessions Organisations: Local £20, Wales unfunded £40, Wales funded £100 Return to: UAF Wales, 271 Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff CF51JB
Honorary President: Peter Hain M.P Chair: Ali Ahmed Vice-Chair: Maggie Simpson Treasurer: Amarjite Singh Secretary: Jeffrey Hurford Liaison: Julian Goss