Open letter from Unite Against Fascism to Bolton Council and Greater Manchester Police Authority
Article published: Saturday, March 20th 2010
Since their emergence in the spring of 2009, there have been fourteen counter demonstrations against the EDL who have very close links with the BNP.
In the recent period leading up to the peaceful and dignified celebration of multicultural and multifaith unity and strength that we have called in Bolton tomorrow, a number of developments have demonstrated unwitting racism on the part of public bodies that recalls the findings of the Macpherson report published in February 1999.
Regarded as a defining moment in British race relations, the Macpherson report followed an inquiry into the Metropolitan police’s investigation of the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence.
The Macpherson report delivered a damning assessment of the institutional racism which it uncovered and which it defined as follows….” the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin.”
The Police and the Council accepted that the EDL protest in Bolton would bring division, hatred and the threat of violence and race hate crime to the town. That formed the basis of their high level delegation to Alan Johnson asking for him to ban the EDL protest.
However, these same bodies have adopted a one sided strategy which has favoured the EDL mobilisation for Bolton, but sought to prevent people from Bolton from showing their opposition to the EDL – which is acknowledged as a racist, anti Muslim organisation.
Specifically, the Council and Police have deployed considerable resources to dissuade people from attending the UAF protest – speaking at mosques, youth clubs, writing to parents, employing youth facilitators and more.
No resources have been deployed to counter racist EDL supporters from attending the EDL protest. There has been no strategy to go to pubs, football clubs, use letter writing and press releases etc – urging people not to join the EDL protest.
There is no equivalence between anti fascists and fascists
Today, 11 years later, we are experiencing an attempt on the part of public bodies to equate us – anti-fascists – with the fascist EDL. This is evident from the approach taken by both the police and the local authority. Even as we gather here, we are standing in front of the town hall steps that, between them, Bolton Council and the Police have boarded up to stop people standing on to address the crowds tomorrow in a celebration of our multicultural and multifaith identities. Their approach is very deeply flawed.
Let us be clear. People who openly abuse others on the basis of race and religion are perpetrating hate crimes. There is no equivalence between those who want to promote and enact hate crimes and those who want to stop that from happening: there is no equivalence between the English Defence League protest and those who wish to defend multicultural, multifaith Bolton.
The approach of equivalence being taken by the police is a failure in their legal responsibility to protect the community from Hate Crime.
The elected – not the appointed – members of Bolton Council have a duty to protect the community, not blindly follow the advice of the Police.
The have been a number of serious incidents of continued racism within Greater Manchester Police in the years following the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry and the McPherson Report and its recommendations. It is simply unacceptable for Bolton Council to rely on Police advice, whose track record is poor in this regard, and without properly communicating with anti fascists who are the majority of the community. Bolton Council should be taking the views of its public not imposing the views of the Police. The overwhelming view of the people of Bolton is that the EDL should not be allowed to enter Bolton Town Centre. We will be standing side by side with the people of Bolton.
The right to free assembly is a protected right under the European Convention on Human Rights. The Unite Against Fascism demonstration in Bolton tomorrow is a lawful protest and attending it does not constitute a criminal offence.
Unite Against Facism
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