Manchester Anti-Fascist Alliance Launches
Article published: Tuesday, July 20th 2010
Manchester Anti-Fascist Alliance (MAFA) held a successful launch night last Wednesday with about 40 people from a diverse range of campaign groups in Manchester making an appearance including representatives from UAF and Hope Not Hate.
The group hopes to build a strong grassroots movement across the city to combat the rise of to fascism seen in the form of working class direct action politics, recently exploited by groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) and the British National Party (BNP).
A series of group discussions throughout the evening achieved a consensus on the ambitions of the movement, agreeing on a mandate to build an alternative working class movement that can provide progressive answers and solutions to the current economic crisis.
MAFA maintains the position that the global economic crisis is not the fault of immigration, but of financial institutions and governments. The organisation recognises that public anger towards immigration is often the result of tabloid media exploitation of vulnerable groups such as asylum seekers for political ends. Their aim is to expose such media attempts at manipulating public feeling and explain the real structural causes of the crisis.
Spokesperson Al Mack stressed the need for people to get involved in the group and become active. “Fascism doesn’t disappear between elections. The social conditions that allow it to flourish are deteriorating even further with the recession and we need to get active within our communities consistently. Its no good parachuting in students once a year to just hand out some leaflets, or to tell people to vote Labour. We need to fill the political vacuum and not leave it open to the manipulation of the reactionary right. We need a presence on the streets.”
Further actions will be arranged over the coming weeks, in the meantime though the group is holding a MAFA fundraising social on the 24th July at Saki Bar in Rusholme.
More: QuickKick
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