This is the text of a leaflet announcing our plans for a national mobilisation against the BNP’s Red White and Blue Festival. A pdf version is available for download here.
Stop the Fascist Red, White and Blue Festival 2008
For too many years the BNP have enjoyed their annual Red, White and Blue festival without major opposition. They have usually kept the location secret for as long as possible but nevertheless have often brought numbers in their hundreds for a weekend of morale boosting, party-building and scarcely concealed, well-documented Nazi and fascist celebration.
This year we already know where the RWB festival is to be. Immediately after their festival in 2007, they announced it will be in the same location in Denby, which borders Nottingham and Derby and is only a few miles from the M1. This part of the East Midlands has been one of their prime areas of recent growth as well as having been a long established area of fascist activity and the birth place of the violent Combat 18.
Despite the still developing split in the BNP, they are insistent that their festival will go ahead. If it does then it will allow them to regroup, reorganise, fix and expand after the damage to them by their recent political in-fighting.
East Midland Anti-Fascists reorganise
Over the last year anti-fascists in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire have been working together to harass the BNP. Primarily this has been facilitated by the Nottinghamshire Stop the BNP campaign but it has also been supported by Derby UAF as well as a multitude of trade union organisations. All of these campaigns are determined to stop the RWB festival being a successful recruitment event for the BNP.
Already 150 people were mobilised in October, 2007 and physically blockaded and stopped a local BNP rally being held and addressed by Nick Griffin. In addition leaflets and stalls have been held in towns and villages where the BNP have been known to be particularly active.
Nottingham conference call for national mobilisation
A local anti BNP conference was called in Nottingham on Jan 19th and attended by 100 people.The conference was sponsored by many trade unions in the region including the FBU, UCU, UNISON and NUT Delegates called for a mass protest against the BNP festival; demanded that councils block permission for the event and asked trade unionists as far as possible to refuse to do any work that might help facilitate the BNP event; and for thousands of people including trade unionists and anti-fascists throughout the country to join us in filling the surrounding area in mass protest.
The BNP festival is still going ahead. We call on all local and national anti-racist campaigns and bodies opposed to the BNP to support the call of the Nottingham conference.
Please raise support for this mobilisation within your organisation. Contact us by emailing nobnpfestival@riseup.net,
Watch for news on the plans for this mobilisation at https://nobnpfestival.wordpress.com
Join us in protest to stop the BNP 2008 festival,
expected date late July, early-mid August (unconfirmed date of 15th-17th August)
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue Festival 