17.10.2001

Teesside

Fascists attack SA candidate

Geoff Kerr-Morgan, Middlesbrough Socialist Alliance candidate in the general election and a well known local Socialist Workers Party member, was attacked by a dozen thugs, some recognised as BNP members, as he sold Socialist Worker outside a meeting addressed by Gerry Adams, president of Sinn F?in.

The meeting had attracted a packed audience despite the outrage of Middlesbrough council worthies - most notably the chair of the police committee, Ken Walker, who had called it ?disrespectful? and ?disgusting? to ?besmirch the names? of those who had lost family members serving in the British army in the north of Ireland.

Unfortunately there was only a token SA presence and these brave fascists had obviously chosen their moment carefully. What was of more interest was the non-intervention of local members of the constabulary, who, as the reader may well imagine, were present in numbers at such a meeting. Even the fact that a local WPC was hit by a traffic cone hurled in the melee failed to provoke arrests.

That local fascists feel confident enough to launch such an attack is something the SA must take on board - indeed discussions about organising stewarding groups in the north-east are currently underway. SA members need to take security, as well as our politics, seriously.

Meanwhile the anti-war movement has also attracted controversy. When anti-war activists and leading local SA members on Middlesbrough Trades Union Council stated their intention of calling on the local trade union movement to oppose the war, they faced a stream of abuse in the local media. Thankfully the comrades managed to persuade the meeting to ignore the pitiful protests from the local Labour Party and support for the anti-war campaign was agreed.

Earlier a public meeting of Teesside Against the War, held in central Middlesbrough, was attended by over 70 people. Chaired by Stockton South Socialist Alliance candidate and CPGB member Lawrie Coombs, it certainly reflected the diverse nature of the anti-war movement - speakers from the Socialist Alliance, the Greens and various religious denominations were represented.

What is noticeable here is the willingness of Quakers, greens and imams to put over their own world view in contrast to the timidity on the part of some SA comrades to bring to the fore the politics of our own movement. The readiness of such comrades to act as hod-carriers for others is not our most desirable characteristic.

One of the interesting features was the large turnout from the local Asian community, whose leading light, Mehdi Huseini, an apparently disenchanted Labour Party member, spoke of the reluctance of many Asians to get involved in politics for fear of retaliation and blame in a climate where anyone opposing the government is open to accusations of ?supporting the terrorists?.

The meeting closed with some controversy over whether or not the organisations represented should suppress their individual identity in favour of promoting an undifferentiated, and therefore entirely pacifistic, campaign. In a thinly veiled attack on the best organised grouping, the SA, whose leaflets, bookstall and banner were prominent, a Green Party speaker and an independent leftist from neighbouring Hartlepool called on those with a ?political agenda? to keep it to themselves. Clearly for such people no organised socialist face is acceptable, not even a pacifist one.

Comrade Coombs, speaking from the chair, stressed that the moment the anti-war movement went down the road of bans and proscriptions, that was the moment it lost its vitality. Socialists need not only to present a public profile, but to put forward their own particular arguments. Indeed we must seek to win hegemony over the movement.

Debate at the Stockton SA meeting the following Monday reflected what had gone on during the previous week or so. The meeting discussed how socialists should relate to others in the anti-war movement - how we get our politics across within this largely pacifistic milieu. There was a discussion on how to ?make? socialists out of the current situation - although there was no agreement over what role the SA should play. The Socialist Party comrades displayed their usual reluctance to commit themselves to the SA project. People will not spontaneously become socialists in periods such as this, and they will certainly not be attracted by shambolic organisation and a lack of resolve. Our politics must act as a magnet, and we must offer a forum for lively debate on the politics of the war in order to attract such comrades.

A subsequent meeting of Teesside Against the War seemed to shape up in terms of organisation. Lawrie Coombs was confirmed as chair, while fellow SA member Geoff Fowler was elected treasurer.

Comrade Coombs was interviewed by Radio Cleveland, where he argued for opposition to both Blair/Bush and the Taliban/bin Laden from a working class perspective.

Bill Jeannes