Socialist Resistance

An archive of socialistresistance.org, 2002–2022

Merseyside: action stops fascist meeting

Socialist Resistance no6  |  page 10

This is scanned newsprint, not web text. The original PDFs carried no text layer at all, so every word here was read off the page by OCR. Expect dropped opening letters, run-together words and wrong characters. There was no contents page to cut the paper up by, so the articles were found from the size of their headlines: a headline may carry its kicker, and where an article ran beside a boxed panel a few lines of the neighbour can appear. The scanned issue is the authority; this text is here so the words can be found at all.

A DISAPPOINTING turn-out of under 2,000 marred the national anti-racist march through Manchester on April 26. Although the demonstration was officially backed both by UNISON and by the TUC, neither organisation put in the serious effort required to mount a large-scale event in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq war, and few activists appear to have been aware that the march was taking place. didate in Anfield. committee. from.

the day. Lesley Mahmood, Socialist Alliance canON MERSEYSIDE, the Alliance stood five candidates in Liverpool, one in Birkenhead and one in St Helens. Candidates included the Secretary of the local Stop the War Coalition and member of the local FBU brigade Our campaign centred on the need to improve people's quality of life and to eradicate poverty. We argued that the money spent on the war could have transformed our areas and elsepoverty and racism, arguing that the where. We linked the questions of the venue. resources are there to improve the lives of everyone, wherever they come

The BNP stood 6 candidates on Merseyside. They picked up a certain support because of the disaffection in the mainstream parties, who had nothing to say on the main issues of

The BNP tried to organise a public cil had given them permission to meet in the local comprehensive school. As soon as we heard of the meeting, a united campaign involving the Socialist Alliance, local trade unionists and anti-racism activists mobilised. The local Labour Party was noticeably absent.) Teachers and parents issued statements against the BP.

A leaflet was distributed in the area and legal pressure was put on the council to cancel the BNP booking. At the same, we mobilised to build the biggest possible mass picket outside

After initially insisting they could do nothing, the afternoon of the meeting, the council suddenly found a legal loophole and cancelled it.

Even though the word had got around that the meeting was not happening, over 200 people still turned up to the picket. The BP did not show their faces.

This was quite a victory for our cam-