Nazis make election gains - get active to stop them!
Last week saw the election of a further 11 Nazi BNP councillors, taking the total nationally to 16, including a total of 8 on the borough council of Burnley in Lancashire, where the BNP are now the second largest party.
Having successfully lied and conned their way to more seats, the Nazis will be even more confident of stirring up race hatred, undoubtedly leading to more violent racist attacks and divided communities. But we can stop them.
Just four days before the Nazis’ new electoral success there was a fantastic Love Music Hate Racism gig held in Burnley, plus another five successful LMHR events around the country. Across the country ANL members and others were out campaigning hard against the BNP, which meant the Nazis couldn’t achieve the breakthroughs they expected in places like Oldham and Sunderland.
We need to get more people involved in exposing the BNP as Nazis and uniting to fight racism, whether by leafletting, petitioning, arguing with your work or college mates or neighbours or organising LMHR gigs. LMHR will be stepping up our campaign in the coming months - click below for details for a full report on the best, most united, black & white music event Burnley has seen in years, and check other news stories and the Gigs and Events section for what else we have coming up.
LMHR @ Burnley Mechanics
A 500-strong crowd of overwhelmingly young and local people - Asian, black and white - enjoyed headline acts Basement Jaxx and Tim Westwood alongside other DJs like Punjabi Hit Squad, Nicky Blackmarket, Marcus Intalex, DJ Woody plus many local DJs and crews in the bar. This was the most mixed audience Burnley had seen for many years and the whole crowd whooped and cheered anti-racist speeches, with many joining the ANL and pledging to get active in the fight to stop the Nazis. The atmosphere was one of celebration - with every artist on the night playing a blinding set.
[pictures courtesy of Mark Rochester. Many thanks!]
top left & top right: Westwood against the Nazis!
2nd row left, 3rd row 3rd left & bottom row 2nd left: Basement Jaxx
2nd row 2nd left & 2nd row far-right: Punjabi Hit Squad
3rd row left: MC Tom Piper with Nicky Blackmarket
plus …. Burnley massive having it large!
The vast majority of people in Burnley are not BNP supporters. Among many young people there is a desire for unity, and to fight division and racism.
We’ll be holding further, more regular, Love Music Hate Racism events at the Burnley Mechanics. Regular popular anti-racist music events will not only bring people together for a positive celebration of multiracial culture in Burnley but will inspire more people to get involved in exposing and opposing the BNP in their community.
What we all do can make a big difference to future Nazi election success but also to whether the BNP can build on their gains and translate them into racist violence and racist council policies.
The next date for LMHR @ Burnley Mechanics is:-
Sunday 22 June, 4pm-11pm
Confirmed so far are:-
RDB (the north’s top bhangra act)
DJ Sappo & MC Tom Piper (Manchester drumnbass stars)
