Youth Against Racism in Europe

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Youth Against Racism in Europe


4 November 2020

photo by Paul Mattsson

photo by Paul Mattsson   (Click to enlarge)

Spycops inquiry finally opens

  • 1,000 left-wing groups spied on
  • Youth against Racism in Europe and Militant Labour targeted

The 'spycops' inquiry has finally opened, six years after Theresa May, then Tory home secretary, set it up.

May was forced into establishing the inquiry when one ex-police spy, Peter Francis, went public about his years-long infiltration of Youth against Racism in Europe (YRE) - a mass democratic, anti-racist youth organisation - and Militant Labour (now the Socialist Party).

The inquiry therefore had little choice but to accept Socialist Party members Lois Austin and Hannah Sell, then leaders of YRE, as 'core participants'.

Read more here...

29 October 2020

Ex MP Dave Nellist on undercover political policing and the public inquiry

Dave Nellist was Labour MP for Coventry South East (1983-1992) & a Socialist Party member of Coventry City Council (1998-2012). He is one of 11 MPs confirmed as being spied on by Britain's political secret police, and is a core participant in the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

In this video, made on 29 October 2020, he details the spycops' targeting of MPs and trade unions. It happened over such a long period and on such a large scale that there can be no dismissal of it as an aberration by rogue officers, it can only have been done with the knowledge and approval of many senior police and politicians.

COPS is providing coverage of the public inquiry hearings, including live tweeting and daily reports.

6 June 2018

Socialists defend Lush ad campaign against spy cops

A banner outside the meeting, photo COPs campaign

A banner outside the meeting, photo COPs campaign   (Click to enlarge)

James Ivens

Soap shop Lush dropped a bath bomb on 31 May with storefront displays highlighting abuses by undercover police.

Tories and senior police officers have attacked Lush's #SpyCops 'paid to lie' ads. In response, socialists and other activists involved in the Mitting Inquiry into undercover policing have defended the firm's campaign.

Police spies infiltrated a number of campaign groups over decades. Some even entered into intimate relationships with women activists under false pretences.

Read more here...

24 June 2013

Scandal of police attempt to denigrate Lawrence family

Leaders of Youth Against Racism in Europe call for genuinely independent enquiry

Press release

The news that an undercover police officer was tasked with trying to find out any information that could discredit Stephen Lawrence's family is terrible and shocking, but unfortunately not surprising.

Last year's revelations of police attempts to discredit the victims of the Hillsborough disaster show that this was not an isolated incident.

The officer concerned, Peter Francis, infiltrated Youth Against Racism in Europe (YRE) over several years and was known to us as Pete Daley.

Lois Austin, Socialist Party member and national chair of YRE at the time, stated:

"It took 18 years for the police to convict any of Stephen Lawrence's murderers. Meanwhile, time and money was being spent searching for 'dirt' on a bereaved family, and secretly infiltrating Youth Against Racism in Europe, a peaceful organisation of young people, which was organising mass protests against racism and the BNP.

More ...


9 July 2010

The BNP & the effects of their election result in Barking and Dagenham

As has been widely covered in the media, the BNP lost 27 councillors in the 2010 local elections, only retaining two that were up for re-election. Although they still have 19 councillors nationally.

Their biggest drubbing came in Barking and Dagenham where they lost all 12 seats after it had been widely reported that they could take control of the council.

On the surface it would appear the BNP have been beaten, or even at least severely wounded but this is the easy way to look at it.

More ...


YRE leaflet election 2010

PDF of anti-BNP election 2010It is New Labour who opened the door to the far-right, racist British National Party’s success. The people who have benefited most under Labour are big business and the super-rich. The rest of us have seen skilled jobs replaced with part-time, low paid exploitation; privatisation destroying the NHS, Royal Mail and other public services; council housing sold off so virtually no one has access to it and private rents going through the roof...

Download leaflet


 

Stopping the BNP in Tower Hamlets


Reprint 15/3/10

The Observer newspaper ran a front page "expose" of the Metropolitan Police's "infiltration" of Youth Against Racism in Europe during the battle to close the BNP's headquarters in Welling in the 1990s. (14 March 2010, 'Undercover policeman reveals how he infiltrated UK's violent activists' - see next article below)

The Observer's video shows footage of the YRE's campaign to remove the BNP from Brick Lane, in Tower Hamlets, East London. It was this victory by the local community against the BNP which motivated the Met Police to infiltrate the YRE, according to the video footage claim.

The only place the BNP had won a council seat at that time was in Tower Hamlets, in 1993.

Youth against Racism in Europe played an important part in defeating the BNP and driving them out of Tower Hamlets at the time. While the situation we face is different now, many of the ideas and methods that were used then are just as appropriate and can be adapted to today's struggle.

This article explains the YRE's role in fighting the BNP in Tower Hamlets during the 90s.

More ...


Youth Against Racism in Europe answers disgraceful Observer 'expose'

The disgraceful article in today's Observer (Undercover policeman reveals how he infiltrated UK's violent activists, 14 March 2010) claims to 'expose' how "an officer from a secretive unit of the Metropolitan police" was "working undercover among anti-racist groups in Britain, during which he routinely engaged in violence against members of the public and uniformed police officers to maintain his cover."

By Lois Austin, YRE chair 1992-1996; Hannah Sell, YRE secretary 1992-1996

More ...


Say no to the BNP –

Fight for decent jobs and services

Support the fortnight of action 27 June - 10 July 2009

Joint statement by YRE and Youth Fight for Jobs:

The BNP have won two seats in the European Parliament with 943,000 votes across the country. Many people will be outraged and disgusted that this far right, racist group has another platform to air their views.

Despite attempts to appear respectable in front of the media the real nature of the BNP leadership keeps being exposed. Eddy O'Sullivan, a candidate in the North West, was discovered with vile racist comments on his facebook profile.

In London a black nurse was subject to a torrent of racist abuse from a BNP activist when she complained about getting a BNP leaflet through her door. The BNP and their views are opposed by the vast majority of people. The election of two BNP MEPs needs to be met with a wave of protest to make our opposition clear.

Read more ...


Euro-elections June 2009

Keep the BNP out!

far-right BNP shows weakness in North West

In a series of recent reverses, the BNP have shown their weakness in cities like Manchester and Salford, while in opinion polls the BNP remain below the percentage needed to win a seat. With one day until the Euro-elections and some local elections, it is still possible to prevent the racist right winning seats.

Read more ...


Refinery and power strike spreads:

FIGHT FOR JOBS – STOP THE RACE TO THE BOTTOM!

The strike of construction workers which began last week is continuing and looks as if it is spreading throughout the country with Sellafield and Heysham nuclear plants out. Workers at other plants, according to the BBC, have also decided to stay out, these include Grangemouth and Longannon in Scotland. Warrington and Staythope in Newark are also out as well.  The strikes are spreading from fiddlers ferry in Warrington to the Drax power station in Yorkshire.

The media are saying that the strikes are against foreign labour, while the government attacks striking workers for wanting protectionism. 

But as Keith Gibson, one of the unofficial strike committee at the Lindsey Oil Refinery (speaking in a personal capacity) said: “The workers of LOR, Conoco and Easington did not take strike action against immigrant workers. Our action is rightly aimed against company bosses who attempt to play off one nationality of worker against the other and undermine the NAECI [National Agreement for the Engineering and Construction Industry] agreement…

Read more ...


26 November 2008

BNP membership list

A weak divided party exposed

Despite the huge amounts of media coverage the British National Party has received over the years, the publication of their list of members, ex-members and others makes it clear that the BNP is a relatively small party. In fact the very publication of the list by a disgruntled member reflects the divisions and splits the BNP regularly faces.

Read more ...


 


17 November 2008

Peaceful demonstrators hospitalised by far right thug, Blackpool

Two peaceful demonstrators leaving Saturday’s Unite Against Fascism demonstration in Blackpool required hospital treatment for injuries received in an unprovoked attack from a politically-motivated thug.

Read more ...


Mass protest against BNP camp

Sat 16 Aug in Derbyshire

Mass protest @ 9am

followed by

12.30pm rally in Codnor, Derbyshire

see the campaign website for up-to-the-minute details of where to go:

http://nobnpfestival.wordpress.com/

The campaign against the far-right, racist British National Party's 'Red, White and Blue festival' in Derbyshire is gaining support. Many local residents are unhappy about the BNP trying to use their area as a recruiting ground and have objected to the ‘Festival’...

Read more ...


BNP gain some seats in elections

build the campaign to stop the far-right!

March against the BNP

Saturday 21st June 2008

Assemble: 12 noon, Tooley Street, London SE1 (behind Greater London Assembly building, nr Tower Bridge)

Stop the BNP summer camp!

The BNP’s annual 'Red, White and Blue' festival is planned for mid-August. We call on anti-BNP campaigners to join the protests against this on Sat 16 August in Derbyshire.

More info...


Oliver Campbell is innocent!

Clear his name now!

5-6 pm Monday 11 December 2006

Hackney Police Station

2 Lower Clapton Rd E5 0PA

To mark the 15th anniversary of a major miscarriage of justice we are protesting outside the police station where Oliver Campbell was first arrested.

More info ...


September 2006

Film Showing: The GAMA Strike

Friday 1st September

7pm

London Irish Centre

50-52 Camden Square, LONDON NW1 9XB

Nearest Stations; Camden Road & Camden Town

à Turkish GAMA Workers fight back against mass exploitation

à Workers fight for millions of euros in unpaid wages

à See Socialist Party MP Joe Higgins expose the scandal in the Irish Parliament

Click here for more info and details of how to buy copies of the Gama Strike DVD and pamphlet: "We are Workers not Slaves" (300k Word doc opens in new window)


September 2006

Attack on British "scroungers" does nothing to help migrants -- we need a living wage and rights at work for all!

letter to The Independent, 24 August 2006

It's sad that in championing the rights of migrants Yasmin Alibhai Brown feels that it is acceptable to attack the existing population of Britain with the prejudices and assumptions often directed against migrants: "too lazy or expensive", "indolent...scroungers" (God bless the 'foreigners' willing to do our dirty work, 23/8/06).

More ...


July 2006

How to fight the far-right BNP

THE FAR-right British National Party (BNP) achieved significant advances in the May 2006 local elections, where they won 33 more councillors bringing their total to 55 nationally. Their gain of eleven councillors in Barking and Dagenham hit the headlines most but this was not an isolated development.

More ...


June 2006

Play Review: Fair

"Dodgems – who needs them when we can go round & round in circles by ourselves and get skint and whiplash in the process?"

Read review ...


April 2006

Answering the arguments of the BNP

Click here to download the updated fact sheet rtf file


"Oliver Campbell should not have to wait a moment longer for justice"

Kirsty Wark, Rough Justice, January 2002

"I’ve been a victim of a miscarriage of justice. If it takes me the rest of my life to clear my name, I would do that." Oliver Campbell

Support the campaign to clear Oliver's name!

More ...


16 September 2005

Greece: Campaign to stop European nazi camp

In May 2005, four neofascist European groups (NPD from Germany, Forza Nueva from Italy, Falanx from Spain and Chrisi Avgi from Greece) announced that they would organize their first European Youth Camp on the 16 - 18 September in Greece, without specifying the exact location.

More ...


1 July 2005

Protest against the G8!

End world poverty & racism - make capitalism history

As hundreds of thousands gather to protest against world poverty and environmental destruction outside the G8 (group of eight richest nations in the world) summit in Gleneagles, YRE looks at the hypocrisy of Western leaders like Gordon Brown & Tony Blair posing as the "saviours" of Africa and how refugees from around the world are treated in Britain.

We also look at how workers in South Africa are showing a better way to fight against unemployment and poverty, with a report on the powerful general strike there on 27 June:


31 March 2005

Charles Pouaha must stay!

"I escaped and came to England on the 26th of November 2002, but instead of finding refuge here I have been drowning in problems; since I came to this country and presented myself to immigration as an asylum-seeker, I have suffered the evils that I was trying to forget yet again. I have been held in detention since the 29th August 2003.

More ...


15th March 2005:

"You take your frustration out on them": Detention Undercover: exposing racism & violence in the asylum system

Also: The view from inside: detainees speak


10th February 2005 Holocaust Week 2005: who was responsible and what should we remember?


Friday 11 June 2004: local election results 


May 2004  Anti-BNP factsheet rtf file (264Kb file)


April 2004 Don't support the BNP: Unite to fight for jobs, homes & services (Leaflet - text version) 

Leaflet in PDF version 388 Kb - click here


September 2003: John Tyndall, ex-leader of the BNP, expelled (briefly) from BNP


August 2003: BNP cash in on disillusionment with Labour


No Pasaran Youth against Racism in Europe magazine: Summer 2003

> On Line version >> Download PDF print quality version (1.7Mb file)


May 2003: Neo-Nazi BNP win 13 council seats - YRE and ISR statement

> "STOP THE NAZI BNP" >> Petition  >> Leaflet 


Stop the Nazi BNP!

Bin the swastikaThe threat of fascism

- questions and answers about the Nazis in the 1930s and today

Tower Hamlets

- how the BNP were stopped in the 90s

Youth against Racism in Europe


Introduction

How Hitler came to power

questions and answers about the Nazis in the 1930s and today

A brief history of the BNP

Tower Hamlets

how the BNP was stopped in the 1990s