Workers Solidarity Movement

Fascist mini-party Britain First and a couple other Promethean torch-bearers of the master race have been invited to speak at a loyalist rally in Belfast (Loyal People’s Protest) by unionist councillor Jolene Bunting, formerly of Traditional Unionist Voice. The rally ironically ‘in memory of victims of terrorism’ will take place this Sunday 6th August, at City Hall (Donegal Square East), at 11am. An anti-fascist counter demonstration has been organised and all who oppose the scourge of fascism and xenophobia are welcome to attend. Hilariously the invitation of Britain First has already caused ructions between loyalists.

Those unfamiliar with Britain First and their ilk may ask why people would organise a counter protest to them. Much material is available online to answer this question, but here is a very brief introduction, assuming that any reasonable person can immediately see why any fascist group needs to be opposed at every turn, especially at a time when we are seeing a resurgence of the far right.

Their name ‘Britain First’ alone lets the cat out of the bag really, and the mottos ‘Taking Our Country Back’ and ‘Rule Britannia’ emblazoned on the badge shown are a further aid, the latter of course being a reference to the British Empire. In fact, when writing this I had to delete the very forgivable typo of ‘Britain Fascist’. Britain First are a very small fascist party which styles itself as a kind of slipshod paramilitary group. It was created by former members of the neo-nazi BNP (British National Party) in 2011. For instance, current BF leader Paul Golding was head of communications of the BNP. It was founded by loyalist Jim Dowson who had to resign from the BNP after sexually assaulting a woman.

This coincided with the decline of the BNP, bitter internal conflicts, and a desire of some to return to the traditional fascist tactic of street combat, since the BNP had turned away from holding the streets - having been denied them by a decades-long anti-fascist struggle - and towards electoral politics and a more ‘reasonable’ (cunning) image since the turn of the century.

They are indeed a very small group despite their majorly disproportionate social media presence, which employs a mixture of outright fabrication as well as spin and pulling on people’s heart strings (for instance posting pictures of neglected dogs and calling for the owner to be punished).

Some may have heard of their ‘mosque invasions’, which the picture accompanying this photo depicts, in which a group of BF members in their uniforms enter a mosque and harass Muslims going about their business, for instance handing them Bibles and exhorting them to convert to Christianity. Notably they have claimed the name of Lee Rigby, an English soldier beheaded on an English street by a Salafist terrorist as a political act, causing massive upset to his grieving family who made a public objection to Britain First using Lee Rigby’s name on their ballot papers.

Their website laughably has a tab labelled ‘Racism’ wherein they try to cover their asses and explain that they’re Not Racist But … Not only do they have 3 pictures of brown people but they proclaim that ‘Britain First condemns racism wholeheartedly’. It’s a classic example of the game played by fascists in the modern era, an era post-WWII where fascism became synonymous with evil in many parts of the world, and an era where explicit racism is mostly frowned upon in public. But once you learn their lingo and their tricks you can very easily spot the predator hiding in the bushes. 'Fascism' and 'racism' becoming dirty concepts is one of the main drivers behind the switch from the very explicit agitation for white racial purity to a much sneakier focus on Islam, which we are reminded has nothing to do with race or nationality at all. Our problem is just with Islam, mate - wink, wink.

Britain First leader and co-leader Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen will address the rally, along with Paul Rimmer and John ‘Banksy’ Banks (not that one). As usual they’ve all had their various run-ins with the law for harassing people.

A few noteworthy snippets are that Paul Rimmer took a legal challenge to stop an English police station from hoisting an LGBTQIA flag, Fuhrer Golding said that black Africans ‘hate our freedom’ for voting against Brexit, as well as posting a video on his twitter of him shouting ‘Fuck off you foreign cunt!’, Deputy Fuhrer Fransen has implied that Muslim women cover themselves (hijab, niqab, etc) because otherwise Muslim men will rape them, and our friend Banksy has yet another nickname which is ‘the Doncaster Nazi’. A BF conference decided that the word 'racist' should be banned in the media.

It’s easy to write these people off as embarrassing buffoons but their ideology poses a real threat to our freedoms. In the worst case, if it takes hold at the highest level as we saw in early 20th Century Europe. But even today, as a micro-group, they are intimidating people minding their own business, whipping up a disgusting atmosphere of mutual suspicion and selfishness.

It's equally important to note that they aren't 'just' racists, they are fascists. They are extreme nationalists whose ultimate goal is to subjugate us all under an all powerful state. Nationalism and racism are a curse, we should put Humanity First. Fascism needs to be nipped in the bud, it's a lot less effort this way if you think about it.

If you want take a further look under the rock, check out Exposing Britain First.

For a much greater understanding of fascism and its history in Ireland and Britain you can read the books Militant Antifascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance, and Beating the Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action.