Page six

  
   
 
  
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

  
    
 

The Other Press

 

A white is mugged. A
black teen-ager is pushed
under a bus by white
hooligans. Three whites
beat a middle-aged Asian
o death in a_ subway.
Soccer crowds jeer black
players. A Leeds factory
worker of Asian descent is

 

 

 

him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then there are the race
riots. Notting Hill 1976 was

police in Southall. Over 750
were arrested, 30 demons-

 

As. Britain’s economic

 

 

position worsened and
immigration rose, many

 

 

were stereotypic working
class symbols.

The skins were tough.
They supported their local
football team by starting
fights with the opposition’s
fans. The skins hated
aliens’, ‘‘queer-bashing’’
and ‘‘paki-bashing’’ were
their idea of an evening’s
sport. They became the
“‘shock troops’’ of emerg-
ing facist organizations like
the National Front.

The skins formed the
mob behind the National
Front, seeing the decay of
their lifestyle as a result of
the influx of non-white
immigrants. Founded 12
years ago, the National
Front is now _ Britain’s
fourth largest _ political
party, winning increasing
success in local and
national elections. ‘‘Its
leadership,’’ writes Martin
Walker of the Guardian,
“includes men who were
once proud to be termed
Nazi, who served prison
sentences. for organizing
para-military groups, who
talked of Jews as ‘‘mag-
gots’’, of blacks’ as
“‘scum’’, and who dreamt
of the coming of the ‘chill
north wind flaunting the

Rock Against Racism

swastika banner in the
sky’. 47

“Its central message
remains one of racial
hatred. Yet such men, and
such a party, have achieved
electoral respectability.’’

Amazingly, the Tories
have labelled it an ‘‘immi-
gration problem’’. They
plan to curb immigration

. from black countries and

eventually halt the flow
altogether.

The government first
oassed its Race Relations
Act in 1965, amending it in
1968 and 1976. A Commis-
sion for Racial Equality has
been established. Mere
posturing? Before the
election last, Margaret
Thatcher’s standing in the
polls shot up 11 per cent
after she made what was
widely interpreted as an
““anti-immigration’’
speech. A Gallup Poll taken
in February, 1978, found.
that 49 per cent of whites
thought that financial help
should be offered to non-
whites to return ‘‘home’’.
But for most non-whites,
home is Britain.

 

The Adventures of

Ivan Barbarinovic

a by Lorthington

   
   
 

 
  
   
   

    

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