Here we go again, the St George's Day weekend in Brighton will once more be tarnished by dodgy 'not the English Defence League, honest guv' March for England. Our home-town is now unfortunate enough to have played host to this outbreak of dubious patriotism for five years in a row. Anti-fascists are calling for a counter-mobilisation to jeer them off the streets.

On the face of it the March for England (MfE) is an annual shambling plod through Brighton by lagered-up idiots. A few folk have suggested to SchNEWS that they should be simply ignored – and indeed from the vantage point of the Brighton bubble, where soya cappucino flows on tap and anarcho-buddhism is virtually a mainstream religion, they do seem like a hilarious irrelevance.

However, unfortunately MfE is an organisation as well as an event and as an organisation they are very much part of the new fascism – the growing European 'counter-jihad' right. Of course the counter-jihad's most famous exponent to date is Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass-murderer.

Although the annual march in Brighton is the main public event organised by the group, their banners can be found at many other EDL protests across the country. It's leadership are enthusiastic members and supporters of the EDL. MfE membership overlaps significantly with other groups including the Infidels, English Nationalist Alliance, Stop Islamification of Europe and Casuals United. Their focus is on a sense of English rather than British identity and opposition to Islam. They have also recently started to get excited about a possible war with Argentina.

Although MfE claim to simply be patriots – what they mean by 'English values' is in fact thinly veiled racism, often although not limited to anti-muslim statements. The word 'muzzie' – the modern day version of 'paki' – is never far from the discussion on their forums or facebook profiles.

During their last outing in Brighton the MfE openly displayed English Defence League flags and chanted “Allah is a paedo” – which besides being offensive doesn't even make any sense. They also (at the start of the march at least) displayed a pink union jack, apparently in support of LGBT rights. This didn't stop a substantial part of the march shouting 'You lot take it up the arse' at passers-by and counter-demonstrators.

COLOUR BAR

This year there have been desperate pleas by organisers to make this a 'no colours' event, i.e. that EDL members should leave their flags at home. Will they be able to restrain themselves? Last year the MfE truly revealed their colours as a racist mob roaming Brighton's streets.

The truth is that the MfE come to Brighton because they feel that it is a site of 'anti-english' activity – they are against pretty much everything our city stands for. Let's show 'em they're not welcome!

Meet up along Queen's Rd between the station and the Clock Tower from 11 a.m Sunday 22nd April.

http://stopmfe.wordpress.com

March for England factfile

http://brightonantifascists.wordpress.com/

Statement from Stop the March for England

We stand in opposition to the March for England not because we are anti-free speech. We have no problem with anyone celebrating their national, regional or ethnic identity or criticizing organised religion. We are not calling on the police or local government to ban this march. However we believe that ideologies of hate flourish when they are ignored and want the people of Brighton to show that the hate speech of the English Defence League isn’t welcome here or anywhere. The MfE were given the benefit of the doubt the first few times they appeared in Brighton, a mark perhaps of our city’s laissez-faire attitude and reputation for tolerance, however they’ve used their platform to spread a message of hate and that we should not allow.