blinkers are ultimately self-defeating: state racism and fascism in Britain and the whole of Europe have a symbiotic relationship, feeding one another.
The fertile ground for fascism is created by the ideology of institutionalised state racism. In particular, throughout the new "Fortress Europe" harsh laws against asylum seekers and refugees proclaim the sarne message - that "we" are under threat from a flood of economic migrants from the third world and eastern Europe. The poor and dispossessed want to come to use "our" health service and take our jobs, they claim.
Anti-immigrant In Italy the symbiosis between the ideology of Fortress Europe and the fascists can be easily seen; there is a continuum between the anti-immigrant and anti-foreigner approach of the Northern League and the outright fascism of the National Alliance.
In Britain the BNP nazis and other fascist groups organise and inspire racist attacks which are a constant danger to sections of the black community. immigration laws are also a constant danger, in many ways a more persistent and threatening danger, to the black community. Black people arrested for any offence are now likely to have their immigration status checked. Suspicion of "overstayBut ing" is being used by the police as the new "sus" law to stop and harass black people. As the mass arrest of Jamaicans last Christmas showed, black people just Demonstrators outside Campsfield pin-point state racism goes on. laws? There is no need to counterpose the struggle against fascism to the struggle against state racism. visiting this country are likely to be summarily arrested and detained in the Fortress Europe clampdown.
Immigration officers now have enormous discretion to detain -indefinitely- anyone seeking asy- confused. lum in this country. Last year six thousand people were processed in immigration prisons like Haslar, Harmondsworth and Campsfield. And every year the toll of deportations, including of immigrants whose presence is deemed "not to ment. be conducive to the public good"
Of course the struggle against the fascists is very important, and anti-fascist activity needs to be supported. But the same applies to the struggle against the ideology and practices which give the fascists a new lease of life.
How can the SWP/ANL say "never again" about the persecution of racial minorities when they don't lift a finger to aid the fight them. against Campsfield and the immigration Bob Smith Maybe there are many people who will oppose the fascists but don't understand the struggle against state racism. There is no need for left wing and revolutionary organisations to be similarly In the end the fight against racism and fascism also needs to become a fight against the social conditions which give rise to it - and in particular unemployThe way in which the labour movement and much of the left have simply accepted mass unemployment as a fact of life is stunning.
The French campaign which mobi lised 40,000 people on the streets five weeks ago in favour of a 35-hour week with no loss of pay made a material contribution to the fight against the social conditions which give rise to racism and fascism. They want to spread their campaign to the whole of Europe. We should do everything possible to support