I WAS SURPRISED to find such confusion in Paul Clarke's artide in Socialist Outlook 15 'ANL yes but back anti-racism.
In my view it is one thing to correctly condemn the strong-arm tactics of he SWP on the Asylum Bil march. but something olse to place the SWP's sectarianism within a confused theoretical framerwork purpose y continto around that condomAs Paul takes sides around the incident it would appear that he swal. lows most of the man arguments championed by the most vocal ele ments of the ARA leadership. In realty it is clear that there was real sectarianism on both sades Paul shows his lack of understanding of the real issues at stake when he of the 1970s. That the contained within it the danger that the struggle against racism woukl be reduced to fighting the fascists.
it was a danger bocause the bigest threat to black communities in Britain was and remains state racism"
Thankfully, Paul does not reproduce the misunderstanding common to many of the national ARA spokes peppie. That is that the and-racist and anti-fascist struggles are one and the same thing, as if the terms racist and fascist were interchangeable.
I think that there are two elements that have to be understood. First, although they overlap, ant-racism and ant-fascism are far from being the same thing. Racism pervades every from education, employment and Anti-racism is thus not a singleissue campaign and has no overall focus, whereas anti-fascism provides an immediate and very tangible one Second, state racism has always beon with us and it may be the main dowed if there were the rise of a fascist mass movement or indood a fasAs marxists, we shouk remind crete socio-poltical phenomenon that has to be fought at every juncture.
Black self-organisation and oppos ing racism in general, on the other hand, is perhaps of more immediate rolovance. The construction of an or. pantaton for wis nas been a one ime in coming There is potential for both an and racist and an anti-fascist movement. However & presently appears that neither the SWP nor the ARA leaderships see it that way, and instead soo themselves as rivals.
Although it is an incorrect method to construct a hierarchy of important issues, we should always remember that te mare agains tascism ts the fight against an explosive potential Can it rise overnight? Look at the rest of Europe and the growth of the BNP.
Trevor Wongsam Manchester