♦ Anarchist anti-fascists converged on a pub in north London on Sunday 28th November to confront the extreme nationalist political party Jobbik who are attempting to make inroads into the Hungarian community in London. The meeting in the Gloucester Arms pub in Kentish Town was to be the foundation of a British chapter of the notorious racist party, who promote openly anti-Semitic and anti-Roma policies and recently won three seats in the European Parliament.
The bonds between the British National Party (BNP) and Jobbik are growing since both have been elected to the EU. Gabor Vona, the Jobbik party chairman, announced in October the founding of the “Alliance of European Nationalist Movements” in a declaration of common goals drafted by BNP leader, Nick Griffin. Five parties have initially signed the nine-point declaration: Jobbik, France’s Front National, Italy’s Fiamma Tricolore, Sweden’s National Democrats and Belgium’s Front Nationalists.
The demonstration outside the pub was made up of autonomous anti-fascists, mostly from the Camden Anarchist and Whitechapel Anarchist groups as well as the local Unite Against Fascism group. After an uneasy stand off the meeting went ahead as planned. It was unclear if any BNP were in attendance.
Ivan Khutorskoy
♦ Anarchist anti-fascists were also in attendance as part of an international callout by RASH (Red and Anarchist skinheads) and Antifa Russia to honour the memory of Ivan Khutorskoy, who was murdered by fascists on Monday 16th November. London-based antifascists, RASH’s and SHARP Skins, gathered at the International Brigade memorial on the South Bank of the River Thames, on evening of 4th December, to pay their respects to memory of Ivan Khutorskoy, who was shot and killed at the entrance to his apartment building.
Ivan was a towering figure of the Moscow anti-fascist scene, informal leader of the youth antifascist movement, founder member of Moscow RASH, this was the fourth attempt on his life. He had been slashed with a razor in 2005, attacked with baseball bats and stabbed with a screwdriver, and nearly died after being stabbed in the stomach during a street fight. He had recently been working as security for concerts put on by anti-fascist groups, and had also worked as security during the press conferences of the prominent human rights lawyer and defenders of anti-fascists Stanislav Markelov, who was shot dead last January by neo-Nazis.
Comrades at the South Bank handed out leaflets and unfurled a red and black flag against the memorial as a mark of respect.
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