 Marching in Telford today on the Stand Up To Racism and Shropshire Trades Council demonstration, 7 May 2022, against fascist Tommy Robinson and his supporters (pic: Stand Up To Racism) |
| For Immediate Release Saturday 7 May 2022 Anti racists celebrate and march through Telford in their hundreds today as fascist Robinson turns out less than half of his previous mobilisation See the live reporting throughout the day from Stand Up To Racism including videos, pictures: https://twitter.com/AntiRacismDay Anti racists opposing fascist Tommy Robinson and his supporters in Telford today celebrated, as Robinson failed to turn out even half of his last mobilisation in the town back in January this year. Over 300 joined the anti racist counter demonstration and rally in the town organised by Stand Up To Racism and Shropshire Trades Council, as a regional mobilisation. They marched through the town centre chanting “Justice for the victims, no to the Nazis”, and “Black and white, unite and fight”. Robinson’s turnout had dropped from around 800 in January on his previous march, to less than 400. Amongst his supporters were the fascist groups ‘Voice of Wales’ , ‘Patriotic Alternative’ and ‘Chelsea Headhunters’. Two were caught seig heiling (the Nazi salute) on video by Stand Up To Racism approaching the side of the anti racist rally. Anti racists mobilised to oppose Robinson’s cynical attempt to use the appalling cases of child grooming in Telford for his own ends. Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was also previously, in July 2018, imprisoned after “aggressively confronting and filming” defendants accused of the sexual exploitation of young girls and livestreaming the footage outside Leeds crown court on Facebook while the jury was considering its verdict, in breach of a reporting ban. It put the case against the defendants at risk of collapse. At the rally in Telford organised by Stand Up To Racism and Shropshire Trades Council, and supported by Unite Against Fascism (UAF) and Love Music Hate Racism (LMHR), Nahella Ashraf, Stand Up To Racism North West, told the crowd: “Every time they come out, we come out and we oppose them, because that’s the only way we can beat them. You don’t ignore them, we have learned that lesson from France. If you ignore them, they grow. “Last time I was here in February, they had 800. Today they haven’t got 400. That’s our victory, that’s what we did. Every time we come out we smash the Nazis, and that’s what it is about, because there is no place for Nazis in Telford or anywhere across the country. “We need to continue to build this movement, we need to go back and build local Stand Up To Racism groups and be ready, because we know they can grow. We have a Tory government that uses racism to divide us… that gives confidence to the racists here today. “It’s not a surprise that Tommy Robinson is able to point the finger at Muslims, because that’s what our government did when it makes an issue that someone like me chooses to wear a piece of cloth on my head, its not a surprise that racists are confident to attacks Muslims up and down this country.” Speaking from the stage to the anti racist demonstrators, with fascist Robinson’s supporters assembled across the road behind them, Weyman Bennett, co convenor Stand Up To Racism, said: “Fascist Tommy Robinson was in the BNP. The BNP was famous for supporting clause 28, and organised attacks on LGBT+ people. The BNP supported attacks on women’s rights as Trump is doing today, and we are now seeing the attack on women’s right to choose. “There are people who abuse people. Look at prince Andrew. He’s given £12 million to a person he supposedly doesn’t know? You will not hear fascist Robinson and his Nazi mates mention any problem about Prince Andrew because it doesn’t fit the demographic for how they want to divide and rule. “They would never say that because they actually don’t care about working class people, they never did. Robinson is not working class. Unless you call petty crime a working class activity. That’s not true, it’s a denigration. The guy has never worked a day in his life unless you count for robbing people and behaving like a criminal. He has not gone to prison because he stood up for justice, he’s gone to prison because he went up and down this country trying to organise pogroms against different communities. “And we have to remember this as well – we defeated him. He didn’t get into Tower Hamlets, [addressing the fascist mobilisation across the road:] we kicked you out, we kicked your arse! When you turned up at Walthamstow, you couldn’t get in there. You don’t seem to be learning the lessons of history.” Louise Raw, author and ant fascist activist, said from the rally: “What Tommy doesn’t realise is that he is very close to an Inland Revenue building – that is the closest that boy has ever been to paying his taxes in his life, that little con artist… we are bigger than them in every way, look at their turnout over there, look at all that money, look at that enormous screen, what a waste of time. There’s more of us than them. Whose streets? Certainly not yours love! If you noticed people trying to film us, they are a group called Voice of Wales – there’s about 10 of them. They are very upset with me because they had a meeting the other day in Llandudno and it got cancelled. They had a national call out… but the pub that they booked didn’t want them there.” Weyman Bennett, added, “He cares nothing for the victims and only wishes to promote his racist and Islamophobic agenda.He is a fascist and is attempting to exploit these cases to grow his organisation on the back of division.” ‘Caitlin’ shared her story: “I was groomed, trafficked and exploited from my early teens. Yes some perpetrators were Pakistani men… but they were also British… Australian… Italian. “It’s not the culture or skin colour of the person that causes the abuse. “In a highly vulnerable state I almost fell into the grips of the far right. “They tried to use my story and when I corrected them on bits they got wrong, they attacked me relentlessly. I have been called a race traitor and a liar. They have said my children should be thrown into the English Channel because they have “bad genes” (due to being a result of the trafficking). They have told me I should kill myself. “It absolutely sickens me to see them raise money supposedly for victims when they do nothing to help them, and in fact re-traumatise them.” Ash Silverstone, Shropshire and Telford Trades Union Council President, said, “This cynical attempt by far right figures such as Robinson to fan the flames of racism and division by exploiting victims of horrific child sexual exploitation needs to be seen for exactly what it is, exploitation. “However, we must also recognise that this is against the backdrop of the Johnson government’s pursuit of racist policies such as the Nationality and Borders Act. “Telford is a place of great diversity, which enriches its communities and the region more generally, and where the far right seeks to sow the seeds of division and mistrust, we must tackle this by celebrating all that unites us.” Weyman Bennett continued, “While the picture in Britain and in France may be different – in large part due to the consistent anti racist mass organised opposition here – at the same time we must learn the lesson from the French presidential election and the scale of fascist Le Pen’s vote. We can never be complacent when it comes to organising widespread opposition every time the fascists or the far right seek to grow”. “The racist and fascist right are attempting to rebuild. They have gained given confidence from the open racism of Boris Johnson’s government”. “The government continues to scapegoat refugees, migrants and the Muslim community with its Nationality and Borders Act and has attacked the legacy of the Black Lives Matter movement by targeting BLM with its new Policing Bill. Robinson and other far right figures have jumped on these and other issues raised by Johnson to legitimise their actions”. Tasmine Akunjee, the solicitor for Jamal Hijazi who Robinson targetted and was then convicted of libel as a result, also spoke out. Shortly after the video of an incident in the playground went viral, Robinson falsely claimed in Facebook videos viewed by nearly 1 million people that Hijazi, a child and Syrian refugee, was “not innocent and he violently attacks young English girls in his school”. The judge said Robinson had made Hijazi out to be “a violent aggressor” in the playground incident when he was in fact the victim. Hijazi’s solicitor says everyone should resist Robinson’s attempts to monetise and weaponise the suffering of children, especially when Robinson himself been convicted of a libel which caused immense suffering to a child: “The abuse my client, refugee and schoolboy Jamal, suffered ultimately led to him and his family having to leave their home. He had to abandon his education. Yaxley-Lennon was responsible for this harm, some of the scars of which are likely to last for many years, if not a lifetime”. For more information, interviews and further quotes: info@standuptoracism.org.uk |