Bradford
Anti-fascists under attack after police screw-up
Soon after the general election, the National Front announced their intention to march in Bradford on 7th July. Following calls from the Anti-Nazi League and Bradford Trades Council, hundreds of demonstrators turned out to make plain that the fascists were not welcome.
The NF had picked Bradford probably because their rivals the British National Party had scored one of their better election results in the Bradford North constituency.
Following calls from Bradford Council and the police, the NF March and any counter marches were banned. After warnings from the police that they "couldn’t guarantee the safety of members of the public" the finale of the Bradford Festival, due to take place in Centenary Square in the centre of the city, was also cancelled.
However, given the danger that the Nazis might still turn up, the counter-mobilisations went ahead. Up to 1000 anti-fascists gathered in Centenary Square.
Speakers at the rally included Terry Rooney, MP for Bradford North. He voiced the need to send a clear message to the "useless parasites" of the far-right. Other speakers included Marsha Singh MP, Ian Greenwood (former Bradford council leader and leader of the Labour group) and anti-racist campaigners, including ANL activist and former Socialist Alliance candidate Ateeq Siddique.
Demonstrators remained peacefully in the Square for several hours. Several individual right wingers came out to bait the crowd before being bundled away by the police.
Police plan
Ahead of the event, the police boasted of having a ‘well-developed plan with contingencies for everything’. On the ground their activities appeared to be sometimes heavy-handed, inconsistent and indecisive.
In particular they turned some fascists away at the train station but a group was allowed to congregate in a pub near to the rally. Although reportedly there were police near at hand, this group were able to attack young Asian men passing in the street.
When word reached the square that a couple of people had been seriously beaten, hundreds of the demonstrators rushed to deal with the situation. The police commanders, caught on the hop, deployed mounted police and riot squads and drove some people into the road despite passing traffic.
There followed a couple of hours during which police and crowds of youths manoeuvred around each other with occasional outbreaks of more sustained violence. Meanwhile some bemused shoppers and workers found themselves trapped in the city centre because the police wouldn’t let them out.
Later on the police decided to drive people out of the city centre towards Manningham. The more bitter and sustained conflict seen on the front pages of newspapers and the television news followed.
It was plain that the Asian and white youths on the demonstration in the city centre knew why they were there. It was to block and if necessary confront the fascists.
Conflict with the police followed because the police had allowed fascist attacks to take place while keeping the anti-fascists in their place.
What the demonstration lacked was figures and organisations who held the authority to exercise control over how the youth expressed their anti-fascist impulses. Clearly MPs, labour movement dignitaries and community leaders did not exercise much sway, and neither did the ANL or the TUC.
The Asian youth did not bring their own banners, newspapers and leaflets. They did not appear to be politically debating amongst themselves or with the white left.
Self-organised
In the 1970s and 80s in Bradford and other northern cities, self-organisation of Asian youth was built out of the necessity of organising to deal with the fascist threat. The consequences of this riot may mean that this lesson is has to be learned again.
This lack of organisation may well have allowed some of the most alarming events of the day, as large numbers of other youth joined the riot as it was driven into Manningham. In particular Manningham Ward Labour Club (in reality an apolitical working-men’s club) was firebombed, and the exits blocked with burning cars to trap those inside.
These excesses have also fed a backlash against anti-fascism. Marsha Singh, for example called for a ban on ANL rallies – presumably to prevent him from turning up himself.
They also provide an excuse for those who never really accepted that white racism is a serious problem to say that the problem is the conduct of Muslims or Asians.
The situation may also provide opportunities for the fascists. However attacks on Asian owned businesses in other parts of the city show that frustration and anger is ready to boil over in the white working class, undermining the attempt to blame oppressed ethnic minorities.
For the left the challenge is to inject new politics into the intense period of discussion and argument in Bradford. A beginning has been made at a meeting called by the Bradford TUC.
The effects of privatisation, growing inequality and neo-liberalism on the working class in Bradford were denounced by speakers, including Labour MP Terry Rooney.
There remain suspicions and antagonisms to overcome after the riot. However there was also a keen awareness that the BNP are on hand to try out their new strategy, and that unity in action is essential in order to take the counter arguments on to the white estates.
There were no illusions expressed at the meeting that Blairism has anything to offer to the white and Asian working class in Bradford. Accordingly there is an opening in which to discuss and organise around a socialist alternative.