Saturday 31 October from 12 midday outside the Art Gallery

Leeds Unite Against Fascism is holding a rally to celebrate multicultural Leeds on Saturday 31st October outside the Art Gallery on the Headrow at midday. We are also calling for the banning of the anti-Muslim protest planned by racist bigots, including the English Defence League (EDL) in Leeds city centre on the same day.

There are four immediate steps you can take:

1. Circulate the statement below condemning the EDL and email Leeds Unite Against Fascism to add your name as a supporter of the statement.

"We the undersigned strongly oppose plans by the 'English Defence League' - a group linked to the fascist BNP - to demonstrate in Leeds city centre. The EDL is a racist group dedicated to attacking Asian people and Muslims. Islamophobia - bigotry against Muslims - is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. Its aim is to divide us by making scapegoats of one community, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in the 1930s.

Today they threaten the mosque, tomorrow it could be a synagogue, temple or church. Today they threaten Muslims, tomorrow it could be Jewish people, Hindus, Sikhs, black people, lesbians & gay men, travellers or Eastern Europeans. There is no place for Nazis, racists or the BNP in Leeds multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious community.

We call on the Home Secretary and the police to ban the EDL action.

We also urge people to attend the peaceful ‘Celebrate and defend multicultural Leeds’ rally to be held outside the Art Gallery on Saturday 31st October at midday."

2. Publicise and attend the rally called by Leeds UAF on Saturday 31st October in the city centre outside the Art Gallery on the Headrow at midday.

3. Please write to the Home Secretary, the local council and police calling for a ban of the EDL racist action.

The Home Secretary, The Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

Cllr Richard Brett, Leader, Leeds City Council, Civic Hall, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 1UR Email: richard.brett@leeds.gov.uk

Chief Constable West Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Police Headquarters, PO Box 9, Laburnum Road, Wakefield, WF1 3PE

4. Invite a speaker from Leeds Unite Against Fascism to your trade union, community or faith group. Please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk

UAF National Response

Demonstrate in London outside the BBC on Thursday 22 October! The BBC has confirmed that it is inviting Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist British National Party and a man with a criminal conviction for denying Hitler's Holocaust, onto its flagship Question Time programme on Thursday 22 October in London.

Unite Against Fascism condemns the BBC for extending an invitation to a Nazi. We are calling a demonstration outside Question Time to show our opposition to Griffin and to the BBC's shameful decision to grant him a platform.

We encourage all anti-fascists in the London area to come to the demonstration and to apply for tickets to the Question Time audience. We are also encouraging people around the country to organise protests on the day outside their local BBC offices.

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of UAF, said: "The BNP is not a normal, democratic party. It is a Nazi party whose political agenda is to destroy democracy and wipe out ethnic minorities in Britain. By granting Griffin a primetime platform the BBC is in practice helping to legitimise the BNP and its politics of race hatred."

Sabby Dhalu, joint secretary of UAF, said: "We unequivocally oppose the BBC's decision to invite the fascist BNP onto Question Time. Giving fascists a prominent platform simply encourages their thugs on the streets to engage in racist, Islamophobic and homophobic violence."

Leeds UAF will shortly post details about a protest in Leeds against the decision of the BBC.

Leeds Unite Against Fascism is holding a rally to celebrate multicultural Leeds on Saturday 31st October outside the Art Gallery on the Headrow at midday. We are also calling for the banning of the anti-Muslim protest planned by racist bigots, including the English Defence League (EDL) in Leeds city centre on the same day.

There are four immediate steps you can take:

1. Circulate the statement below condemning the EDL and email Leeds Unite Against Fascism to add your name as a supporter of the statement.

"We the undersigned strongly oppose plans by the 'English Defence League' - a group linked to the fascist BNP - to demonstrate in Leeds city centre. The EDL is a racist group dedicated to attacking Asian people and Muslims. Islamophobia - bigotry against Muslims - is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. Its aim is to divide us by making scapegoats of one community, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in the 1930s.

Today they threaten the mosque, tomorrow it could be a synagogue, temple or church. Today they threaten Muslims, tomorrow it could be Jewish people, Hindus, Sikhs, black people, lesbians & gay men, travellers or Eastern Europeans. There is no place for Nazis, racists or the BNP in Leeds multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious community.

We call on the Home Secretary and the police to ban the EDL action.

We also urge people to attend the peaceful ‘Celebrate and defend multicultural Leeds’ rally to be held outside the Art Gallery on Saturday 31st October at midday."

2. Publicise and attend the rally called by Leeds UAF on Saturday 31st October in the city centre outside the Art Gallery on the Headrow at midday.

3. Please write to the Home Secretary, the local council and police calling for a ban of the EDL racist action.

The Home Secretary, The Home Office, 2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF

Cllr Richard Brett, Leader, Leeds City Council, Civic Hall, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 1UR Email: richard.brett@leeds.gov.uk

Chief Constable West Yorkshire Police, West Yorkshire Police Headquarters, PO Box 9, Laburnum Road, Wakefield, WF1 3PE

4. Invite a speaker from Leeds Unite Against Fascism to your trade union, community or faith group. Please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk

Leeds UAF will be organising a wide range of activities over the coming months. Please see the website for regular updates and email info@leedsuaf.org.uk for further information and to offer support.

1 October at 7pm - Love Music Hate Racism - A meeting for teachers/workers in schools to organise events/interest among pupils in schools at the West Park Centre on Spen Lane, Leeds.

6 October - Student meeting at Leeds Met - further details to follow.

11 October - Support Barnsley UAF campaign against the BNP in the crucial upcoming by-election. Please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to share transport to Barnsley from Leeds.

16 October - "Celebrate and Defend multicultural Leeds" leafletting in Harehill (meeting outside the Atma Centre on Hares View at 13:30.)

19 October - leaflet Elland Road at the Leeds v Norwich City football match (meet outside the co-op on Beeston Road at 18:30)

22 October - Protest against the BBC inviting the BNP onto Question Time (From 5pm outside the BBC at 2 St Peter's Square, Leeds, LS9 8AH)

23 October - "Celebrate and Defend multicultural Leeds" leafletting in Harehill (meeting outside the Atma Centre on Hares View at 13:30.)

24 October - Leaflet Leeds City Centre - 11am-1pm

26 October - Local meeting in the Bangledeshi Centre in Harehills at 7pm.

30 October - "Celebrate and Defend multicultural Leeds" leafletting in Harehill (meeting outside the Atma Centre on Hares View at 13:30.)

31 October “Defending multicultural Leeds from the racist EDL” – Meet outside the Art Gallery on The Headrow at 12pm

Further stalls to held in Harehills, Headingley, Chapletown and Beeston. Please check the website regularly for further details and email info@leedsuaf.org.uk for further information and to offer support.

We are appalled by the BBC's decision to invite Nick Griffin, leader of the fascist British National Party, onto its flagship Question Time programme. Griffin is a noxious racist and neo-Nazi. He has a criminal conviction for incitement to racial hatred for publishing an antisemitic magazine that denied the Holocaust.

The BBC justifies its actions by claiming that the BNP should be treated just like any other party. But no other party has a "whites only" membership policy. No other party burns golliwogs at its "family festivals". No other party has a history of deep involvement in Nazi politics and supporters with a record of organising racist violence against minorities.

The BNP is not a democratic political party. It is a fascist organisation that should be shunned by wider civil society. As a publicly funded body, the BBC in particular has a duty to oppose racism. Black, Asian, Jewish and LGBT people pay the licence fee too. It is their rights to live free of hate that the BBC should be protecting, not those of BNP bigots.

Like all fascist organisations the BNP craves respectability and pretends to be democratic in order to further its real agenda of attacking democracy and spreading bigotry. By inviting Griffin onto Question Time the BBC is playing into the BNP's hands and thereby, however unintentionally, aiding the fascists.

We call on the BBC to stop rolling out the red carpet to racists and stop giving succour to the BNP by inviting its bigots on to our airwaves. The BBC should reverse its decision to invite Griffin onto Question Time – and start taking a robust stand against racism and fascism.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Sign this statement by sending an email marked "Question Time" to unite@ucu.org.uk

Complain to the BBC by phoning 03700 100 222 or the BBC's online form

Join the Facebook group protesting at the BBC decision

Take the UAF petition round your workplace or community

Make a donation to Unite Against Fascism

Anti-fascists were jubilant after over 2,000 protesters marched and rallied in Codnor, Derbyshire, against the British National Party's "Red, White & Blue" rally being held in area that weekend. A full coach travelled from Leeds to join other UAF groups from around the country in Codnar.

The main body of the protests involved a 1,500 strong march from Codnor Market Place up to the site of the BNP's festival of race hate. A separate group of 500 anti-fascists occupied road a junction in the nearby village of Denby, causing severe disruption to the fascist event and at some points blockading it completely.

The two groups of demonstrators joined together in the afternoon outside Crosshill Church in Codnor for a united march back to the market place.

One of the favourite chants on the day captured the spirit of unity against the BNP: "We are black, white, Asian and we're Jew / And they're many, many more of us than you."

Earlier in the day there were sets of protesters occupying both ends of Codnor-Denby Lane, thereby "kettling" the BNP rally and preventing any BNP members or their guests from getting to the event. Protesters came in coaches from across the country, from Glasgow to Portsmouth.

There were angry scenes at the entrance to the "Red, White & Blue" as the anti-fascist march was prevented from marching past the site by lines of police vans, officers and horses. But by and large the protesters were confident and good-humoured but resolute in their opposition to the fascists.

Unite Against Fascism is aware of around a dozen anti-fascists arrested on the day, mostly those involved in occupying road junctions. We believe that such tactics of non-violent direct action are a legitimate response to the BNP's racist thuggery and we do not believe anyone should be arrested for such actions.

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said: "This was a great day for anti-fascists. We brought more protesters to Codnor this year than the numbers the BNP managed to attract to its 'festival' of race hatred. They had fewer people attending this year because the protests drove away their softer supporters.

"Protesters also managed to cause real disruption to the event by making it difficult if not impossible for the BNP's supporters and guest speakers to get into the event.

"Today we saw what can happen when black and white, young and old, Muslim and Jew, gay and straight, come together in unity to fight the fascist BNP. We now need to build this anti-fascist movement in every locality where the Nazis are active – and drive the BNP out of town."

Book coach tickets: call 07932 221 014

Unite Against Fascism is calling on anti-fascists across the country to converge on Codnor, Derbyshire, at 9am on Saturday 15 August to protest against the British National Party rally taking place in the village that weekend.

UAF supporters intend to "kettle" the rally by surrounding it with protesters. This action will demonstrate that the vast majority of people in this country reject the Nazi politics of the BNP.

The BNP pretends that its annual "Red, White and Blue" event is a harmless family-oriented "patriotic" festival. In reality it is aimed at promoting the BNP's fascist agenda to both its hardcore followers and its softer supporters. Previous years have seen SS marching songs played as "entertainment" at the rally.

The rally will also be a magnet for neo-Nazis across Europe. Last year the BNP invited guests including Czech neo-Nazi Petra Edelmannova who has called for a "final solution to the Gypsy issue" and Sweden's Marc Abramsson, a Swedish fascist who campaigns for "racially pure kindergartens" that exclude non-white children.

This year's guests are likely to include representatives of Jobbik, a violently racist Hungarian Nazi party that organises pogroms against Roma people.

Weyman Bennett, joint secretary of Unite Against Fascism, said:

"The BNP's 'Red, White and Blue' is a nothing more than a festival of race hatred. The fascists will use their rally to harden up its supporters and build its army of thugs. Wherever the BNP organises, racist violence follows.

"Allowing this festival to go ahead will mean more race hatred and racist attacks on our streets in the months to come. That is why it is so important for anti-fascists to come to Codnor in huge numbers to surround the BNP's rally.

"The presence of two BNP Nazis in the European parliament also poses challenges for anti-fascists. We need to build the broadest possible movement against the BNP with roots in communities across the country."

Unite Against the BNP

Leeds UAF will be campaigning at a wide range of national and local events over the summer. Please find some of the details below and check the website regularly for updated details. Leeds UAF is committed to building a broad campaign to defeat the BNP and urges all those opposed to fascism to join us at the following activivties and events.

Saturday 18 July - UAF National Conference, 10-5pm, Manchester Central Hall, central Building, 4-5 Oldham Street, Manchester, M1 1JQ. For more info see www.uaf.org.uk

Sunday 26 July - Leafletting at Party in the Park - Temple Newsam - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to help.

Sunday 2 August 2009 - leafletting at Gay Pride at 12 noon in Millenium Square - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to help.

Friday 28 - Monday 31 August - Leafletting/Stall at The West Indian Carnival in Chapletown - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to help.

Saturday 15 August - Stop the fascist BNP Red White and Blue Festival - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to travel with Leeds UAF from Leeds.

Monday 21 - Friday 25 September: Leeds Uni Freshers Fair stall - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to help.

Thursday 24 September - Leeds Met Freshers Fair stall (Headingley Campus) - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to help.

Friday 25 September - Leeds Met Freshers Fair stall (Civic Campus) - please email info@leedsuaf.org.uk if you would like to help.

Please see this article for event and please let us know by emailing info@leedsuaf.org.uk if there are any events you would like to invite Leeds UAF to.

Anti-fascists show the people of Leeds and Yorkshire reject the fascist politics of the BNP

Six hundred people attended the Unite Against Fascism regional rally and march in Leeds on Saturday June 13.

The event demonstrated the breadth of opposition to the breakthrough by the BNP in the Euro elections. The day also saw an impressive contingent of trade unionists and young people.

Speakers included trade unionists, local councillors and representatives from the student movement, as well as disability and LGBT campaigns.

All the speakers emphasised that the BNP is not a normal political party - but a fascist party dedicated to trying to create an 'all white Britain' - something which can only be achieved by violence and the destruction of democracy. If we are to succeed in isolating and defeating the BNP it will require a mass campaign which unites all those opposed to the BNP and challenges the racism it attempts to feed on.

At the end of the rally we marched down the Headrow also avoiding a potential conflict with the Orange Order who had booked the space outside the art gallery later in the afternoon.

It was great to see the very positive response we received from passers-by, including some joining the march, as we headed through the city centre towards the BBC studios.

The march ended and dispersed after a short rally outside the BBC. Speakers voiced their opposition to the fascists being given legitimacy and an 'easy ride' by the BBC.

Since the Euro election last week UAF protests in our region have seen hundreds of new people joining the anti fascist movement.

Over the coming weeks and months Leeds UAF will be launching a broad range of initiatives across the city to maximize the opposition to the BNP and celebrate our multicultural society.

Unite to Stop The BNP - assemble outside the Art Gallery, The Headrow Saturday 13 June at 11 am

Yorkshire & Humber Unite Against Fascism will be holding a protest on Saturday June 13 outside The Art Gallery, The Headrow at 11 am.

Last night saw the fascist British National Party (BNP) gain its first two seats in the European parliament. BNP candidate Andrew Brons, a former stalwart of the National Front and a lifelong Nazi, narrowly took the final MEP place in the Yorkshire & the Humber region. The fascists polled 120,139 votes, representing 9.8% of the vote as compared to 8.0% in 2004.

BNP leader Nick Griffin took the final MEP place in North West England in the early hours of today. Griffin, who has a criminal conviction for incitement to racial hatred, polled 132,094 across the region, or 8.0% of the vote as compared to 6.4% in 2004.

John Campbell, Chair, Yorkshire & the Humber Unite Against Fascism said: "This is a major turning point in British politics. This breakthrough by the BNP threatens to normalise the presence of a fascist party on the British political scene in a similar manner to Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National in France. We cannot allow this to happen. Yorkshire & Humber Unite Against Fascism is committed to mobilising the largest possible mass movement across every walk of life to stop the fascist BNP and drive them out of the political mainstream - linking all democrats, trade unions, minority communities and the great majority of society against racism and fascism."

Abdul Gooljar, Islamic Society of Britain said: “The BNP are 21st century Nazis who threaten all our democratic freedoms. They try to take advantage of people's anxieties in an economic crisis to scapegoat minorities. We will not allow them to divide the people of Yorkshire.”

Dan Cohen, President Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Synagogue in Leeds said: “A British National Party MEP is a disaster and a tragedy for Yorkshire. A disaster as the BNP has nothing to offer other than its outdated message of intolerance and hate. A tragedy as we have just commemorated 65 years since the D-Day landings, where our grandparents literally risked and in some cases gave up their lives to fight against fascism. The BNP may wear a mask of respectability, but they are no different to any those we fought 65 years ago."

Bill Adams TUC Regional Secretary said, “a day of shame for democracy in Yorkshire and the Humber. Over the very weekend we have celebrated the start of the defeat of Fascism on D-Day 1944, the electorate return to the European Parliament an admirer of Adolf Hitler to represent us in Europe. We must continue to campaign against the fascists who seek to divide our communities, spread hate and fear with racist policies, and who are committed anti Europeans. Their success comes from people not voting in the election, not from some mandate they claim to have across the region”

Fiona Edwards, Woman’s Officer, Sheffield University Students’ Union said: “We must all rededicate ourselves to uniting all those who reject the fascist BNP’s poisonous messages. We will not allow the BNP to abuse democracy in order to destroy it.”

Leeds UAF urges all those who oppose racism and fascism to join us on Saturday 13 June at 11am to show the majority of the people of Yorkshire will not allow the fascist BNP to spread their racist lies.