EDL fails to spread its poison in Wales

Louise Nousratpour
Sunday October 25, 2009
The Morning Star

Newport anti-fascists scored a major victory this weekend when an impressive show of local unity stopped the English Defence League's (EDL) attempt to spread its racist poison in Wales.

The EDL had planned a rally in the city's John Frost Square on Saturday to launch the Welsh Defence League, but a 500-strong counterprotest and a complete lack of local support forced it to cancel.

This followed the fascists' disastrous visit to Swansea last weekend, where they were driven off by a larger counterdemonstration.

"Newport is a multicultural city with an industrial background," explained Ian Titherington of Searchlight Cymru, "and today's fantastic turnout shows that racists are not welcome here."

Campaigners, joined by local politicians and faith groups, occupied the square to celebrate multicultural Newport with live music, including a drum band and an impressive performance from the Cor Cochion Caerdydd (Cardiff Red Choir).

Unite Against Fascism marched through the city centre before joining the rally, which also heard speeches from Welsh Assembly Minister John Griffiths and local Labour MP Paul Flynn.

Mr Titherington, while welcoming support from local politicians, blamed the rise in fascism on the main political parties' failure to address working-class concerns about unemployment, housing and the impact of public-service cuts.

He urged support for the newly formed Newport Communities Against Racism - a broad community-based coalition - arguing: "Such grass-roots organisations are the most potent ways of facing up to and defeating organised fascism. We must get involved at local level."

Communist Party of Britain general secretary Robert Griffiths told the crowd: "Fighting fascism is a great Welsh tradition and our united display of opposition today is a testimony to that."

He attacked government failure to invest fully in working-class communities, where fascists are active, adding: "We must go back to the slogan of 'drowning the fascists in a sea of mass activity'."

Mr Flynn said that such a show of force proved how "weak and ineffectual" the EDL was in Wales.

Writing on his blog later, he said: "The side of the square allocated to the EDL remained almost deserted.

"There were frequent rumours that the fascists were on their way. At one o'clock there were reports of a dozen football hooligans getting tanked up in city centre pubs."