[Apols in advance for a very long email...]
Bringing geography into the debate, it's important to note how the far
right in the UK has moved away from the 'street-control' tactics of the
1970s - early 1990s. This change of spatial strategy from the street to
the ballot box was a direct result of the effectiveness of militant
antifascists to control and defend territory in urban areas. (An
excellent and early example of this was of course the Asian Youth
Movements in the mid-70s, who organised patrols of inner-city
neighbourhoods to protect against right-wing bonehead gangs. Literally,
then, the struggle was a struggle over the control of urban space.)
With the shift from the streets to the ballot box we've seen a (*gulp*)
deterritorialisation of far-right spatial strategy in this material
sense, but they still organise according to territory (boroughs,
councils, even boards of school governors!) at a local scale. In
particular, they are especially effective at organising on a
neighbourhood scale. Any serious response to this change in tactics
needs, equally, to remain territorial to an extent. The way they
organise at the grassroots is more like a federation of community action
groups than a political party, and this is why they are so dangerous.
So it is all great fun to throw eggs at Nick Griffin, hold city-centre
demonstrations, and occasionally smash up a Blood and Honour gig, but
this spatial strategy doesn't map onto that of the BNP. It only really
catches the last dregs of the BPP, NF, C18, B&H and other assorted
fascist grouplets who have retained a (very very unsuccessful) 'street
control' strategy.
So the question is how we organise, spatially, to combat the BNP. Well
it seems like there is a number of things people might consider. A
crucial starting point for successful anti-fascist mobilisation is to
identify areas being targeted by the BNP and counter their brand of
'community organisation'. This is difficult, long-term and potentially
fruitless. They pride themselves on speaking and listening to the
communities in which they operate. Solidly organising communities
through neighbourhood committees, tenants' associations, trade unions
and so on can cut off their means of getting at people.
The important issue to bear in mind is also that they clearly practice a
class politics. This is a reason why the "middle-class liberal
finger-wagging and Nazi labelling" strategy also doesn't work very well.
Although much of their leadership is full of toffs, the politics they
propose is based on simple working class values: community spirit,
self-reliance, looking after each other, and so on.
Any spatial strategy that is to counter their politics must similarly
base itself in these sorts of working class values, as this is where we
find their 'discursive battleground'. We need to reconfigure these ideas
in specific areas to counteract the BNP (mis-)understandings of such
terms. As well-educated and relatively well-off workers, we academic
geographers can't do a lot in this respect. I'd wager that most of us
don't live on council estates (even if many of us may have been brought
up on them). So this answer brings us another problem to deal with. We
don't have a lot of power to stop the BNP because we don't have that
basis in the spaces of working class everyday life. We can involve
ourselves in community groups - yes, and this will be very useful - but
there will always be a certain distance in terms of social makeup,
privilege and 'embeddedness' in the everyday conditions of the forms of
labour and spaces of community that the BNP's target audience operate in.
To my mind, the main power academics have in particular is the power we
have always had - our writing and our research. This might involve
writing and researching topics for a wide audience that will try to
dispell the exclusionary and reactionary forms of 'community' and 'class
politics' that the likes of the BNP are trying to propagate.
Anyway, this is really just a brainstorm.
The key message is that one way we geographers can combat the far right
is to recognise the power of geography as a tool for understanding their
spatial strategy, thus helping develop spatial strategies of how to
combat them effectively.
Ant
Ed Brown wrote:
> Whilst I agree that we have to look very carefully at why people have
> voted BNP, we should be under no illusions about the significance of the
> election of these two MEPs. They bring with them significant resources
> in the form of expenses for the running of two offices in Brussels etc.
> and they open doors into the mainstream of the UK's political system. We
> underestimate the significance of this at our peril. For a long-standing
> perspective on the significance of the BNP and campaigning against them
> see http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/
>
> Ed.
>
>
> On 10 Jun 2009, at 11:48, WATSON Allan wrote:
>
>> I agree with Linda that there is a need to more carefully examine the
>> reasons behind these votes.
>>
>> Personally, I hope that these votes are more of a protest at the
>> current state of affairs than a genuine rise in 'white extremism' in
>> the UK - and numbers will fall away as conditions improve. My
>> suspicion is that many of the votes come from the ill-informed idea
>> that 'immigrants' are 'stealing' jobs in a time when unemployment is
>> rising - propagated by the BNP and others.
>>
>> I have just returned from the Normandy D-Day celebrations with my
>> grandfather - and while it is a giant leap from here to a repeat of
>> the experience of Germany, there are some very important historical
>> lessons which should not be forgotten.
>>
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Allan
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Linda Kaucher
>> Sent: 10 June 2009 11:12
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: petition: hope not hate
>>
>> Those MEPs did not get there by magic, people voted for them.
>> The very obvious question is why people voted that way.
>>
>> But strangely, in the endless talk, and all the 'disgust', that very
>> obvious question is not being asked.
>> Instead there is an attack on the democratic process - dangerous
>> action of itself.
>>
>> Such a reaction most certainly does not answer that key question.
>> Such a reaction most certainly does nothing about people's tendency to
>> vote in that direction.
>> And it is strongly promoted by New Labour and other parties who have
>> sent military forces overseas to kill, in wars no one wanted.
>>
>> LK
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers on behalf of Jo Norcup
>> Sent: Wed 6/10/2009 9:24 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: petition: hope not hate
>>
>>
>>
>> People may be aware that the right wing fascist British National Party
>> gained
>> two seats representing Britain in the recent European elections. If
>> you are
>> disgusted as I am, you might want to sign the hope not hate petition
>> to be
>> presented to the European Parliament. The link is below:
>>
>> http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/page/s/notinmyname
>>
>> All best wishes
>>
>> Jo
>>
>>
>>
>> Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic
>> communications disclaimer:
>> http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/secretariat/legal/disclaimer.htm
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>>
> -
> Dr. Ed Brown
> Department of Geography,
> Loughborough University,
> Leicestershire,
> LE11 3TU, UK.
>
> E-Mail ([log in to unmask])
> Direct Line +44 (0) 1509 222738
> Fax +44 (0) 1509 223930
--
Anthony Ince
Research Student
Department of Geography,
Queen Mary, University of London,
Mile End,
E1 4NS
http://www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/staff/incea.html
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