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Photos from Protest against the BNP's Red White and Blue Festival 2009

Photos from one of the groups blockading a road to the RWB and the joint march back to town.

Police Evidence Gatherer

Cops help block the road...Fash wait and wait!

On the move

Many groups were represented

Anti-Fascist Anarchist Flag

'One solution, revolution!'

Groups form as one

I will post report in due course.

ARA

Comments

Hide the following 16 comments

Nice subject photographs but use a higher f stop to improve your depth of field and focus. Locations and details of subjects would be nice too. Not a bad effort but identification would be tough. Try Amateur photographer for some helpful tips.

Edward Gerry Thomas

@ Edward Gerry Thomas

15.08.2009 23:34

Original photos were better, but I made them smaller with paint and that messed them up a bit also I blurred peoples faces for obvious reasons.

ARA

toilets were provided

16.08.2009 09:21

The antifascists brought portaloos and put them in the main market square where the rally was. Some people on the procession also had some buckets, a tent, and loo rolls in case we got blocked in by the police and held somewhere.

I think some of these comments are just from ignorant fash trying to wind people up.

Doug

Who is that?

16.08.2009 11:30

Who's the geezer with the Antifa flag? Antifa weren't on the demonstration as they aren't interested in going on inefectual UAF A to B demonstrations where nothing happens but shouting the same tired rhetoric of Nazi Scum at BNP members. Can I just say that before anyone starts going on about Antifa being on the demo, that one flags presence doesn't mean an organisation supports the demo or had any members on it. What needed to be done is an actual concerted attempt at stopping the festival instead of just standing around posturing with placards behind the police then going home having not affected the BNP in the slightest.

Antifa-scist

@ antifa-cist

16.08.2009 12:25

That's one way to make yourself sound like a grade A twirp! Antifa is a network, so eventhough there wasn't a Antifa movement against RWB this year, members of the group may very well have been on the UAF march. I know this is unlikely but to discount any members attending on the basis that were wasn't a mass mobilisation is complete folly.

Get it right

@ Antifa-scist

16.08.2009 12:35

So 'What needed to be done is an actual concerted attempt at stopping the festival' yet Antifa didn't even bother to mobilise against the festival...errrrr

anonymous

@ Antifa-scist

16.08.2009 16:27

I'm not really up on the ins and outs of anarchist or socialist politics but isn't that just a general anarchist anti-fascist flag rather than one affiliated exclusively with the antifa network?

The demo was good, our group blocked off a road for quite a while and fash were waiting in there cars getting annoyed. The fash got out of their cars but didn't feel like taking the demo on. Sure it didn't close down the RWB but neither did Antifa.

ARA

Thought it out

16.08.2009 16:32

"So 'What needed to be done is an actual concerted attempt at stopping the festival' yet Antifa didn't even bother to mobilise against the festival...errrrr"

Maybe the thought about what it would actually achieve and decided that it wasn't worth the protest, or just maybe there are other ways to try and reduce support for the BNP. oh i forgot the swp/uaf dont know anything apart from screaming down a megaphone.

plus standing with the swp/uaf can be risky business, a lot of co-operation with police and a lot more of people that would never support their fellow comrades when required.

I wouldnt want associated with uaf or swp actions, i mean what have you achieved against hte BNP over the last few decades?

Del

its not even an anarchist flag, and certainly not an Antifa England one

16.08.2009 17:52

that flag was produced in europe and bares the universal antifa logo. Antifa goes from being an actual membership group to an assembled crowd depending on the country - and Antifa is not an exclusively anarchist group in *any* country.

bill stickers

@ bill stickers

16.08.2009 18:32

Really? I thought the black of the flag represented anarchism and the red anti-capitalism/anti-fascism. Like the black and green flag is for Vegan anarchism. Am I wrong?

ARA

A few points

16.08.2009 20:33

The black and green flag is of green-anarchism.
Antifa is an idea, not an organisation.
Antifa England is an example of an organisation.

veg@n

Antifa-schism

16.08.2009 21:31

C'est la vie. But always nice to see it happen

Antifa-schism

That was me

17.08.2009 11:48

Hey, just to say... it was funny to read this discussion here, because I was the guy with the Antifa flag and the grey hoody.

Essentially, to explain, yes the flag is from the Antifa network. Before the protest I was in Germany with their antifa, and i got the flag from them (oddly, its the only english antifa flag ive ever seen) (to ARA)

I may have got it from Germany, but it is an English antifa flag (though obviously not one from the England Antifa organisation). Yes, you're right that in most other countries antifa isn't exclusively anarchist, however I am an anarchist. As far as i understood it, the black and red represent a coalition of the socialists/communists (the red flag obviously) and anarchists (the black flag obviously) (to Bill Stickers +ARA)

About the discussion about UAF tatics; yeah i was flying the antifa flag pretty much due to my dislike of the UAF, however, don't be fooled into thinking that that day was a mere a to b march. We managed screw up their first day by blocking alot of their speakers/participators, but yeah i agree that more could have been done; I was pretty annoyed that more antifa weren't there, there were like four people (including me) who could identify with antifa politics.

FlagGuy

question

17.08.2009 16:42

noobie question sorry...

what does antifa mean?

paul thomson

@ paul thomson

17.08.2009 16:59

The word Antifa comes from an abbreviation of anti-fascist and is a network of activists worldwide that physically attack fascists and their property. UAF don't like them and they don't like UAF.

http://www.antifa.org.uk/

ARA

hmmm

18.08.2009 12:00

Sorry ARA, but I think that is a bit of a bollocks way to describe the Antifa network. Ofcourse, it is totally undeniable that some members of the Antifa network have been involved in that type of stuff, but to make it seem as if that is what they base themselves upon is a bit rediculous considering the fact that in most countries (probably all) Antifa are only slightly more militant, in terms of tatics, than the UAF; the main difference being the lack of support from mainstream politicians, a greater focus on anti - capitalist politics, and, obviously, a greater willingness to be put in the line of danger). By saying this, I'm honestly not trying to enter myself into all the useless UAF - Antifa mudslinging that goes on. Personally, i think alot of that mudslinging is a total waste of energy and time.

FlagGuy

UK Indymedia

Photos from Protest against the BNP's Red White and Blue Festival 2009

Comments

Focus

@ Edward Gerry Thomas

toilets were provided

Who is that?

@ antifa-cist

@ Antifa-scist

@ Antifa-scist

Thought it out

its not even an anarchist flag, and certainly not an Antifa England one

@ bill stickers

A few points

Antifa-schism

That was me

question

@ paul thomson

hmmm

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