What was all that about? EDL in Newcastle.

In this second part, Buzzkill describes what he thought about the EDL demo and the anti-EDL protests.

AWAY FROM THE NUMBERS

Right, let’s get this out the way. Whenever there is a ‘fight’ between two groups the numbers thrown about are always over the top. Some EDL supporters claimed to have had over two thousand people in Newcastle while UAF had 500. UAF, on the other hand, claimed they had a thousand and EDL only had 700. The local media tended to have the figures even, if a little inflated.






I followed EDL all day and I also visited the TUC and UAF demonstrations and ran into the NEAR group on several occasions. On the ground it looked like EDL had a lot more than UAF but later when I looked through various YouTube footage, my own photographs and the media’s footage I came to the conclusion it was close with the difference between the two being maybe a few hundred.




There you go, my honest opinion based on watching footage, media numbers, numbers claimed by both sides and my own research I would say EDL slightly outnumbered the anti-EDL combination of UAF, NEAR and TUC. Both sides had about 1,000 each. The majority of EDL supporters were from outside the area and the anti-EDL were mostly from Newcastle itself.

By the way, the cops outnumbered them all!



TALKING LOUD BUT SAYING NOTHING

So we know whose was the biggest but was anyone saying anything?

Some of the EDL chants were surreal. “Muslim Bombers off Our Streets” had a few people scratching their heads. Where can all these Muslim bombers be? The chant would suggest they’re a bit of a problem. Maybe in some towns you can’t walk down the road without having your way blocked by these pesky ‘Muslim Bombers’ with their big Al-Qaeda rucksacks bashing into everyone?




Anyone who was noticed by the EDL marchers as being “UAF” (the term used by EDL to describe ANYONE who doesn’t support them) was told “You’re not English anymore!” without even checking to see if they were English in the first place!




There was also an “Israel” chant which wasn’t taken up by some of the marchers for some reason…wouldn’t go down to well at the next Stormfront social eh lads? But it was still quite a surprise seeing dyed in the wool Nazis marching under the Star of David! (On a similar note, some of Sunderland’s casuals decided to hold the hand of their rival football firm for their walk around the Toon!)




The rest of their repertoire consisted of the usual England football songs - which I don’t see the point of if you’re not at an England game – and the bizarre “Allah is a paedo”. I always though it was Mohammed they accused of being a paedophile?




The only other way for an observer to get an idea what the EDL were about was some of the strange placards and banners. The homemade ones were my favourites including the well-travelled beach towel below:




I’d seen this bloke on a few EDL demos with his faded England towel and when I started looking through my photographs and comparing them to footage of other demos I kept seeing the same old faces time and time again. I realised most of the people on this march were regulars out on a day trip with EDL Coach Tours Ltd - I bet the coach drivers aren’t unionised!


There was also this dickhead who I had a conversation with at the end of the march. His claims to me that he wasn’t against Muslims weren’t reflected in his appearance on a Guardian reporter’s EDL video where he slags off Muslims and Asians!




By the way, when ever they are accused of racism, the EDL quickly say “what about our black and Asian members?” when really, what they mean is ‘member’. The three stooges were all there – the black guy, the Sikh guy and the Glasgow Rangers Asian guy. The rest were all white, almost all male almost all 30 – 50 years old. That’s just a fact.

But the EDL isn’t racist or fascist. No no no. It’s just their supporters who are. Honestly, do not fall for this shite and it is about time the opposition stopped repeating the lie that the common EDL supporters might not be racist. Most of them appear to be so and until the EDL starts throwing these people off its marches then they should be treated as supporting racists and fascists. Just look online and see what EDL supporters are saying and singing. The racist/fascist supporters label stays until the EDL leaders prove otherwise. Which they won’t, because they’re a bunch of racist fuckers! Jesus, at least the proper Fash admit they’re racist scum!




THE UAF ‘rally’ at the police lines was frankly boring. The speakers treated us to some unintelligible wailing through a megaphone (seriously, a microphone and a portable speaker would be much better) and what sounded like chants against the police for ‘protecting’ the EDL. Listen guys, if that’s what you really mean then the EDL were stood outside Central Station all day and then marched through town and you had ample opportunities to confront them. It wasn’t the police stopping people confronting the EDL it was the leaders of the UAF march as far as I can see. At least NEAR got in their faces and put the UAF to shame on that point.

I talked with some lads supporting UAF who had mistakenly heard that EDL had only brought a handful of people and they were quite shocked when I showed some of the pictures I had taken. I bet they were gobsmacked when they saw the TV reports. To be fair, if they’d been with UAF all day they wouldn’t have had an opportunity to see the EDL at all.

In their defence, the UAF had managed to get decent numbers out in what can be a politically apathetic city and that does deserve credit. Their ranks were filled mostly by local people showing who has the numbers in the region.

Perhaps I’m being a little harsh. The anti-EDL protest was a reaction to the EDL march. Since the EDL have almost nothing of any substance to say about anything it is very hard to say anything back to them!




I think what was missed was an opportunity to present an alternative message about the REAL terror we are facing today as the working class prepare to pay for the rich’s economic crisis. That the EDL’s ‘message’ of paranoid, delusional, right-wing, anti-worker, forelock-tugging patriotism mixed with a bit of wannabe-Loyalist, off-duty Fascism, Zionist lunacy and a side-order of England football songs offers the working class NO WAY OUT would then either become obvious to any of their potential recruits or could be spelled out if necessary. People like EDL are part of the problem not part of the solution and that’s the message that needs to be broadcast.


A BIG FUSS ABOUT NOWT


The EDL boasted they had a great day out getting their message across to the people of Newcastle. The EDL reports told of support from the onlookers who lined their parade but I only witnessed two instances of this, one of which was actually a case of friends or relatives waving to each other! Anyway, there weren’t any onlookers as such as the only people who watched the march were mostly photographers, bemused stag weekenders and irate shoppers upset about having their Saturday afternoon disrupted!




The opposition said they had a great day and had dealt a massive blow to the EDL forces that had looked to run amuck through Newcastle. But to be honest, apart from the brave attempts by NEAR to get in the EDL’s faces I’m not sure what the UAF could be claiming to have done other than to have marched through town.




The truth is yes, the EDL had local support on that march with banners from Newcastle and Durham and even people from Sunderland but they were outnumbered quite heavily by local opposition from Left, Trade Union and Community groups as well as maybe around 100 unaffiliated Asian youth. The people of Newcastle weren’t interested in what the EDL had to say and almost a thousand were there to let them know they positively rejected their ideas and their presence in Newcastle.

Newcastle is far from perfect and there are racially aggravated assaults in some areas but on the whole the people here just get on with each other as best we can. The EDL had no basis for even coming to the area either on their own terms or anyone else’s.

Buzzkill, July 2010.


Thanks to Buzz for the two articles and photographs. Here is a link to the only organisation I could find that is coming from the same position:



Stop Racism and Fascism Network