Monday 25 September, 5.30pm
Cross St. Chapel, Cross St, Manchester M2 1NL
The local elections confirmed the trend of rising British National
Party (BNP) support, which has accelerated dramatically over the last six
years. The BNP vote has increased from over 3,000 votes (8%) in 2000 to over
238,000 votes (19%) in 2006, an increase of more than 75 fold. There are
now 49 BNP councilors across the country. The local elections also show that
once the BNP win a council seat(s) in an area it helps in their process of
political legitimisation. It takes longer to defeat them and makes it easier
for them to gain more councillors. Preventing the BNP from gaining councillors
in the first place is crucial, that is why Oldham remains the model anti-fascist
campaign. The BNP never won a single council seat in Oldham, their vote halved
between 2001 and 2005 and reduced again this year. This fringe meeting will
discuss why we need to build a broad anti-fascist movement and effective
strategies for campaigning against the BNP.
Speakers: Ken Livingstone, Billy Hayes Communication Workers
Union General Secretary, Bob Abberley UNISON Assistant General Secretary,
Kitty Usher MP, Sadiq Khan MP, Henry Guterman MBE, Glyn Ford MEP, Mohammed
Azam North West Unite Against Fascism, Lee Jasper National Assembly
Against Racism, Sabby Dhalu Unite Against Fascism