Part 4 - DW062 001 027 004

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4 Alliance Against Fascism Recently there was a meeting in Southall of the local residents and various groups about the problems and racist at- tacks faced by ethnic mi- norities in the locality. These attacks and as- saults mainly come from the National Front and local fascists. After a lively discus- sion, an ad-hoc committee was set up, and the fol- lowing was decided: "The Committee's aims are 1) To oppose all efforts at developing fascism. +++++++++++++++++++++++ THINGS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM When I was working in a toy firm in East London, people often said to me, "Oh, there's a lot of Blacks working there, aren't there? All this talk about racialism, they've got a chip on their shoulder." But something happ- ened there a little while back and I think it made quite a few people change their minds. Well, there is this rule in that firm that if any- one is found to have unpaid- for toys on them they would be sacked instantly, charged, taken to court and their home searched by the police. In the past some people had been unfortunately caught and this had happened to them. One day during a spot search one black girl was found to have some un- paid toys on her, she claimed that she was unaware they we- re there and somebody must have planted them on her. So the toys were confiscated, she was suspended for one week wiht pay and would re- sume work the following week. Well, as you can imagine this made "headlines" in the shop in which she was working. Some people said "oh, it's alright for them, they get away with murder--- remember old Alice, she work- ed here 15 years, they sacked her just like that." But it so hap- pens that in that shop there were more blacks than whites went to see the shop steward and said "This is not right, management is trying to stir up trouble. With the rules as they stand this girl should be sacked. We don't like the rules, we fight to have them changed, but especially now, a short time after all these racial killings in Southall and Woodford and so on, it's obvious what management is 2) To expose all fascist and racist propaganda against ethnic minorities and expose the capitalist system as the real cause of the crisis. 3) Strengthen the unity of the working people at the place of work and in the community. 4) Fight against racial discrimination of all kinds and organise de- fence against racial at- tacks." Enquiries about the committee can be sent to NEW AGE and we will forwardthem. -+++ trying to play on, isn't? Either they scrap this rule and wipe all the records clean or they sack thes girl, or we go on strike." The management was against the women. The union was against them, they even brought a District Offi- cial down and they all said: "If you go on strike it will be racial discrimination and you will be responsible for ble for all the consequences." the women said: "The other way round mate, not to stri- ke would play right into your hands and create a deep and bitter division between the black and white workers in the firm." Management was adamant that they weren't going to scrap that rule. No way, they said. And as for the girl they said:"We can't sack her, that would be ra- (continued on p2.) THE REAL FIGHTING SPIRIT OF WOMEN. FRONT PUTS WOMEN "IN THEIR PLACE" "Each sex evolved separat- ely. Their differences are eventually observed in their +different styles of conduct and their character. No more + today than in the past, the +characteristics of the social +role appropriate to each sex +cannot be modified by an arbi- +trary or unlimted regimen. +They rest firmly on biologic- +al foundations which cannot +be neglected without exposing +them to grave consequences." +"Those who insist in a loud +voice on the 'identity' of male +and female, the 'sexual revo- +lution', and the right to +break 'conventions' are per- +haps only inspired by an ego- +tistical and unthinking de- +sire to remove themselves from +the role that nature and so- +ciety have assigned to each of +them." These words come from the January issue of 'Spearhead', which is published by John Tyndall, leader of the Natio- nal Front. They appear in an article called' The Feminine Condition Which attacks the present-day movement for women's libera- tion. Fascist slander The article implies that all those women who have wor- ked in that movement believe that every difference between men and women (except the physical ones) is due to con- ditioning, and says that in reality, masculine and femi- nine behaviour is determined genetically (i.e. it is in- herent). This is as good as saying that if women want to change the attitudes that they or men have, or if they want to change their position in soci- ety in relation to men, tough luck, they can't, because their attidues and social pos- ition are determined by bio- logy. Of course. the same kind of arguments nave been used by the NF about Black people only it seems that while black people are to be "sent back to Africa", women are to be sent back to the kitchen and bed- room! Fascists find support in USSR The article approvingly quotes Arianna Stassinopoulos' book 'The Female Woman'. But that is not where the state- ments at the top of this art- icle come from. The quotations at the head of this page are from an article by Soviet Scientist A.I. Belkine, who heads a laboratory at the Psychiatric Institute in Moscow. It is not surprising that these statements are consis- tent with the beliefs of the National Front fasiests. Since the capitalist system was ful- ly restored in the Soviet Union reactionary views like these have often been put forward by Soviet scientists, historians and political leaders to justi- fy the oppression of women, national minorities, and the working class. Liberation In fact, history has shown that women can change "their nature", and that men can change their attitudes to wo- men. At one time it was "natural" for women to be forced to mar- ry a man of their parents' choice and be little more than the property of their husbands - few questioned this state of affairs a couple of hundred years ago. Now this has changed to a great extent, and those who argue that women are born to a certain status and attidudes are obliged to take hold of more recently developed "female characteristics" and pretend that these are the natural ones that should be"defended"! *** NF AND CHILE The National Front claims to believe in democracy, yet it constantly shows its real op- position to democracy - even the very limited democracy of capitalist system. In the January edition of 'Spearhead' appeared a little item praising general Pinochet of Chile. "Elections" 'Spearhead' reports that Pinochet had held a referen- dum "in which 75 percent of the Chilean people voted in support of the government, with 5 per cent abstaining and only 20 per cent voting against.... Not surprisingly, President Pinochet has announced that in Chile 'elections have now pas- sed into history', a fact which has not been missed by Chileans and only serves to emphasise that democracy may be the best, but it is not the only form of government which, as the saying goes, rules O.K." Of course the Chilean re- ferendum took place under a fascist dictatorship, and in no way can it be taken to show the true feelings of the Chi- lean people. About 30,000 Chileans were killed during and after Pino- chet's takeover, and thousands of progressive people are still imprisoned. Perhaps the NF would like to take a leaf from Pinochet's book.....

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