Links: Anti-capitalism, fascism, anti-fascism
Left antisemitism
Rob has an interesting follow-up to his New Statesman article on the PSC and left antisemitism, reflecting on the comments thread.
OWS (and left antisemitism)
Adam Holland has a post on the hateful Patricia McAllister, the recently fired Los Angeles public school teacher who gained attention by carrying signs at the L.A. Occupy Wall Street demonstrations blaming "Zionist Jews" for the world financial crisis. She has now appeared on a show hosted by the KKK's David Duke. Adam's post explores what this means for the OWS "big tent". Highly recommended.
There is an interesting debate in the comment thread at Contested Terrain on "structural antisemitism" and OWS.
And, nothing to do with antisemitism, here are A Jay Adler's pessimistic thoughts about the OWS movement and American liberalism in general; here is Ross on some definitions of "corporations", "greed", "capitalism", "finance" and so on; here are Facing the War's thoughts, as well as some observations (and reflections on the position of an observer) of Occupy Chicago; and here is an interview in Shift with Occupy London from the beginning of October.
English Defence League
Demos has a new report out on the EDL. See coverage at the Staggers. EDL supporters are young, male and more concerned about immigration than Islamism. A third of them vote BNP, despite claims to have nothing to do with it. The report rejects the description of the EDL as fascist, and rejects a ban:
And just to link this item with the one before, EDL activists apparently want to burn out the Occupy LSX camp and attacked the Occupy Newcastle one. The other connection is the KKK, with left antisemite Patricia McAllister's newfound alliance with David Duke, and increasing evidence of EDL links to the Klan.
Anti-fascism
This might seem a bit petty, but why is HnH headline their article on EDL and Infidel thugs "Redneck Roundup"? This plays into the liberal condescension towards the EDL that abandons anti-fascism for class conceit.
At the other end of the anti-fascist scale, a few militant anti-fascist groups have launched a new Anti-Fascist Network, apparently so far as an information-sharing thing rather than a new national organisation: "to support local actions, ensuring that anti-fascists are never outnumbered, join together to counter regional and national EDL events, share resources and provide legal support." Groups involved so far are Brighton Anti-Fascists, Portsmouth Anarchists, Plymouth Antifa,Welsh Antifa and Worthing Anarchists. For those interested in militant anti-fascism, some other local groups with web presence include Three Counties Antifa in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire (read their founding statement here), Scottish Anti-Fascist Alliance, Liverpool Antifascists, Manchester Anti-Fascist Alliance. Meanwhile, the Stop Racism and Fascism Network seems to have gone completely quiet.
Other topics
Flesh is Grass on hospital closures.
Rob has an interesting follow-up to his New Statesman article on the PSC and left antisemitism, reflecting on the comments thread.
OWS (and left antisemitism)
Adam Holland has a post on the hateful Patricia McAllister, the recently fired Los Angeles public school teacher who gained attention by carrying signs at the L.A. Occupy Wall Street demonstrations blaming "Zionist Jews" for the world financial crisis. She has now appeared on a show hosted by the KKK's David Duke. Adam's post explores what this means for the OWS "big tent". Highly recommended.
There is an interesting debate in the comment thread at Contested Terrain on "structural antisemitism" and OWS.
And, nothing to do with antisemitism, here are A Jay Adler's pessimistic thoughts about the OWS movement and American liberalism in general; here is Ross on some definitions of "corporations", "greed", "capitalism", "finance" and so on; here are Facing the War's thoughts, as well as some observations (and reflections on the position of an observer) of Occupy Chicago; and here is an interview in Shift with Occupy London from the beginning of October.
English Defence League
Demos has a new report out on the EDL. See coverage at the Staggers. EDL supporters are young, male and more concerned about immigration than Islamism. A third of them vote BNP, despite claims to have nothing to do with it. The report rejects the description of the EDL as fascist, and rejects a ban:
Meanwhile, Malesta is increasingly optimistic about the forthcoming demise of the EDL, after its series of increasingly damp squib demonstrations. The Infidels, the more explicitly fascist breakaway from the EDL, may gain ground if the EDL continue to underperform. Close to the EDL, but making more of an effort at respectability, are the English Democrats. Hope not Hate investigate their BNP links, and argue for the superficiality of their conversion from fascism.The EDL is not one-dimensional, and members' views are varied. The group is probably best described as a populist movement that contains some extreme right-wing and sometimes Islamophobic elements. Although there are some illiberal and intolerant sentiments voiced by some supporters in this survey (and at demonstrations), many members are in an important sense democrats. Allowing them to protest and demonstrate is an important way to ensure the group does not become more extreme... There is little doubt that the EDL contains some racist and openly anti-Islamic elements - but this is by no means true of all supporters. The task ahead is to engage with those who are sincere democrats, and isolate those who are not.
And just to link this item with the one before, EDL activists apparently want to burn out the Occupy LSX camp and attacked the Occupy Newcastle one. The other connection is the KKK, with left antisemite Patricia McAllister's newfound alliance with David Duke, and increasing evidence of EDL links to the Klan.
Anti-fascism
This might seem a bit petty, but why is HnH headline their article on EDL and Infidel thugs "Redneck Roundup"? This plays into the liberal condescension towards the EDL that abandons anti-fascism for class conceit.
At the other end of the anti-fascist scale, a few militant anti-fascist groups have launched a new Anti-Fascist Network, apparently so far as an information-sharing thing rather than a new national organisation: "to support local actions, ensuring that anti-fascists are never outnumbered, join together to counter regional and national EDL events, share resources and provide legal support." Groups involved so far are Brighton Anti-Fascists, Portsmouth Anarchists, Plymouth Antifa,Welsh Antifa and Worthing Anarchists. For those interested in militant anti-fascism, some other local groups with web presence include Three Counties Antifa in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire (read their founding statement here), Scottish Anti-Fascist Alliance, Liverpool Antifascists, Manchester Anti-Fascist Alliance. Meanwhile, the Stop Racism and Fascism Network seems to have gone completely quiet.
Other topics
Flesh is Grass on hospital closures.
Comments