Unite Against Fascism National Conference

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

UNITE AGAINST FASCISM NATIONAL CONFERENCE

— Launching the campaign against the British National Party in the May local elections

SATURDAY 18 FEBRUARY 2006

9.30am–5pm, TUC Conference Centre, Congress House,

Great Russell Street, London WC1

Speakers include:

Ken Livingstone, Dominique Walker Anthony Walker family, Barry Camfield TGWU Assistant General Secretary, Gurinder Chadha Director, Bend it Like Beckham/Bride and Prejudice, Leon Greenman OBE and Henry Guterman MBE Holocaust survivors, Billy Hayes CWU General Secretary, Michael Meacher MP, Linda Riordan MP, Glyn Ford MEP, MCB speaker, Dabinberjit Singh OBE, Sikh Secretariat and Sikh Federation (UK), Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary, Keith Sonnet UNISON Deputy General Secretary, Ben Summerskill Stonewall chief executive, Ramesh Kallidai Hindu Forum of Britain, Surinder Singh Young Sikhs (UK)

Stopping the BNP in 2006

The British National Party (BNP) is planning a major assault on this year’s local elections in May. The BNP’s key target areas include Bradford, Keighley, Halifax, Dewsbury, Stoke-on-Trent, Dudley, Sandwell, Burnley, Barking and other parts of London. This conference will launch Unite Against Fascism’s campaign against the BNP in the local elections, bringing together activists and others to discuss the growth of the BNP and how to stop them.

The BNP has 21 councillors and will be hoping to use the high votes they

have received in the last two years as a launch pad for gaining more council seats around the country. Incidents of racism and homophobia increase in areas the BNP target and when they gain seats. In Havering, London, racist attacks increased by 84%. In Burnley, where they have 6 councillors, they ousted a gay pub landlord putting him out of business.

Reversing the BNP’s growth

In the 2005 general election the BNP received the highest vote for a fascist party. They saved deposits in 34 constituencies, compared to just 5 in 2001.

In the European Parliamentary elections in 2004, the BNP received the biggest vote for a fascist party in British history — narrowly missing winning four seats. In the London Assembly elections, they missed gaining a seat by just 0.1 per cent.

If the BNP’s vote trend continues they will be on course to make a national breakthrough. It is still possible to stop this by mobilising the anti-fascist majority to use their vote. The next step towards stopping the BNP will be preventing them gaining more council seats in May.

Racism

The main political cutting edge of the BNP’s campaigning today is racism

— particularly directed today against Muslims, refugees and asylum seekers. The BNP gain a foothold in areas where racism has been legitimised.

The campaign in Oldham — lessons for the rest of the country

In Oldham, the BNP gained their highest vote in the 2001 general election on the back of the false claim that majority of racist attacks were by Asians on whites. A broad-based TUC-led campaign confronted this in an alliance with the local Asian community, successfully bringing together all antifascists. As a result in 2005, while the BNP vote increased nationally, their vote was halved in Oldham.

This conference will discuss why the BNP’s vote has grown and effective

strategies to stop them. It will bring together trade unions, Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other faith, black, Asian, lesbian and gay communities and disabled peoples’ organisations.

Themes of the conference include:

• Examining the BNP’s vote trend in recent years

• Campaigning against the BNP in forthcoming elections

• The impact of BNP councillors and how to challenge them

• Alliances to defeat the BNP

• How the BNP were defeated in Oldham

• How the BNP target trade unions

• Fighting racism after the bombings

• Challenging homophobia

• Role of music in defeating the fascists

• The lessons of the Holocaust Speakers include:

Mohammed Azam Labour Party NEC member, Weyman Bennett UAF, Barry Camfield TGWU Assistant General Secretary, Gurinder Chadha director of Bend it Like Beckham/Bride and Prejudice, Mick Connolly SERTUC Regional Secretary, Kat Fletcher NUS President, Glyn Ford MEP, Leon Greenman OBE and Henry Guterman MBE Holocaust survivors, Dave Haslam DJ and music writer, Billy Hayes CWU General Secretary, Paul Hutton Metropolis Music Director, Lee Jasper NAAR, Sadiq Khan MP, Lethal Bizzle MOBO award winner, Ken Livingstone, Michael Meacher MP, Mark Meredith Mayor of Stoke, Linda Riordan MP, Sir Iqbal Sacranie MCB Secretary General, Dabinberjit Singh OBE Sikh Secretariat and Sikh Federation (UK), Surinder Singh Young Sikhs (UK), Ramesh Kallidai Hindu Forum of Britain, Victoria Phillips Thompsons Solicitors, Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary, Martin Smith ANL, Keith Sonnet UNISON Deputy General Secretary, Ben Summerskill Stonewall Chief Executive, Mohammed Taj TUC General Council, Dominique Walker Anthony Walker family, Salma Yaqoob Birmingham Central Mosque

Registration form:

Name..................................................................................................

Organisation....................................................................................

Address............................................................................................

............................................................................................................

Phone................................................................................................

Email.................................................................................................

Registration fee

(£10 organisation delegates, £5 individuals, £3 unwaged, free for first 100 students)

I enclose a cheque for £ .................. in respect of .................. registrations.

Cheques payable to Unite Against Fascism.

Signed ........................................ Date ...........................................

Return to:

Stop the BNP in 2006 conference, UAF, PO Box 36871, London, WC1X 9XT.

Website: www.uaf.org.uk Email: unite@natfhe.org.uk

Tel: 020 7833 4916 / 020 7837 4522

Contact the office with access requirements, deadline 10 Feb.

BSL interpretation will be available.

awazeqaum.pdf

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

It would be good to see a few Sikh faces in attendance at this conference.

There are around 500 confirmed attendees.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

Nice to see the Federation once again speaking in these national events and to see Sikh faces and names in the speakers at the conference. :TH:

It's tommorow in London, so basically just get there for about 9.30am yes?

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Phateh!!!

[amorphous_singh]

Nice to see the Federation once again speaking in these national events and to see Sikh faces and names in the speakers at the conference.  :TH:

It's tommorow in London, so basically just get there for about 9.30am yes?

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Phateh!!!

152270[/snapback]

You can register online at

http://www.uaf.org.uk/tempCONFREG.asp

No idea if they will be allowing ppl to turn up at the door, but it might be worth a go. Or give them a ring - 020 7833 4916 or 020 7837 4522

[JagtarSinghKhalsa]

Nice to see the Federation once again speaking in these national events and to see Sikh faces and names in the speakers at the conference.  :TH:

It's tommorow in London, so basically just get there for about 9.30am yes?

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Phateh!!!

152270[/snapback]

You can register online at

http://www.uaf.org.uk/tempCONFREG.asp

No idea if they will be allowing ppl to turn up at the door, but it might be worth a go. Or give them a ring - 020 7833 4916 or 020 7837 4522

152303[/snapback]

I'm sure if people turn up early they will allow them to register.

[amorphous_singh]

[amorphous_singh]

Ohh those ppl look so small from up here :-)

[amorphous_singh]

Some of the many hundreds of attendees present today.

Three visible Sikhs were present.

DS Paarji gave a great speech and got a rousing round of applause.

[Nirvair S Khalsa]

OMG! - BEAUTIFUL!!! :TH:

Vaheguroo Jee Kaa Khalsa, Vaheguroo Jee Kee Phateh!!!

[amorphous_singh]

I got other pictures but they get quite repetative - I'll see if I can dig up a few different ones.

Or maybe I'll just do another one of DS's big screen projection - I knew he was tall but not this tall :-)