Category Archives: Fascism

Durham Miners Association dissapointed by SAFC response on Di Canio

The Durham Miners’ Association have issued an additional statement today regarding Sunderland AFC’s appointment of the nazi saluting self-declared fascist Paolo Di Canio as new coach. The DMA statement can be seen here.

In a shocking response letter from Sunderland AFC, Club Chief Executive Margaret Byrne refused to confirm support for the DMA’s request that her club support a campaign “to expose the danger which fascism poses in the present economic climate”.

The DMA have decided for the moment to leave their Miners banner on display in the club, they however they have expressed publicly that

        “…. the politics of the Club’s coach should be kept under scrutiny” and emphasised that “any recurrence of fascist and/or racist undertones would mean that the banner be immediately removed and placed back in the community.”

It is absolutely stunning that Margaret Byrne could write to the Durham Miners Association stating that Paolo Di Canio is not a fascist. This is despite thefact that Di Canio has himself said that he is a fascist and proudly wears a tattoo of Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini.  There have also been umpteen photos of Di Canio on the internet making fascist salutes.

In the immediate aftermath of the furore surrounding the appointment of Di Canio, Margaret Byrne similarly stated that Di Canio had been misquoted. One has to wonder what part of “I am a fascist”, she thinks was a misquote.

Byrne has also said that Di Canio was ‘misunderstood’.  Again one has to wonder, what Margaret Byrne has not understood about the numerous pictures on the internet of Di Canio making fascist salutes.

It does indeed seem to be the case that as mentioned by the Hope Not Hate

“Sunderland are in a hole and are intent on keeping digging. Sometime they will have to stop digging and start to face up to just what they have done in appointing an openly fascist manager like Di Canio”

Church gets involved in Di Canio fascism row as Dean of Durham writes open letter to Sunderland manager

The Dean of Durham has written an open letter to new Sunderland manager Paolo di Canio calling on the Italian to publicly renounce fascism or risk being associated with “toxic far-right tendencies”.

The Very Reverend Michael Sadgrove, the son of a Jewish war refugee and a Sunderland supporter, said he was struggling to stay loyal to the club and that he found Di Canio’s “self-confessed fascism deeply troubling”.

Di Canio refused to confirm or deny whether he was a fascist at a news conference yesterday but has previously stated he is “a fascist but not a racist”.

He has also been pictured giving a fascist salute to Lazio ‘ultras’ and photographed attending the funeral of a leading Italian fascist.

In his open letter to Di Canio, the Dean of Durham wrote: “Your appointment raises very difficult questions. You see, I am the child of a Jewish war refugee who got out of Germany and came to Britain just in time. Some of her family and friends perished in the Nazi death camps. So I find your self-confessed fascism deeply troubling.

“Fascism was nearly the undoing of the world. It cost millions of innocent lives. Mussolini, who you say has been deeply misunderstood, openly colluded with it. You are said to wear a tattoo DUX which speaks for itself. This all adds up to what I find baffling.

“You say that you are not a racist, but it needs great sophistication to understand how fascism and racism are ultimately different. I can promise you that this distinction will be lost on the people of the North East where the British National Party is finding fertile ground in which to sow the seeds of its pernicious and poisonous doctrine.

“You did not necessarily know this before you came. But I believe that unless you clearly renounce fascism in all its manifestations, you will be associated with these toxic far-right tendencies we have seen too much of in this region.”

See original Article from The Independent

Also see The Northern Echo

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Durham Miners Association express disgust at Di Canio appoinment

The Durham Miners’ Association have issued a statement stating their disgust at the decision to appoint Paolo Di Canio as manager of Sunderland AFC and have demanded the return of their Miners Banner from the club.

One ex miner described Di Canio’s appointment as “an outrage and a betrayal of all those who fought and died fighting fascism.”

It is totally understandable that the Durham Miners Association are so angry at the appointment of the self-professed fascist Paolo Di Canio, that they are asking for the banner which has being hung proudly for years at the Stadium of Light to be returned.  Given the sacrifice of men from the Durham Light Infantry in fighting against Di Canio’s fascist hero Mussolini, in North Africa and Italy and also the long struggle of the mining unions in our region fighting fascism, it is extremely reasonable of the DMA to do this.

Hopefully the board of SAFC will give it back and at the same time reflect on the wisdom of the appointment of Di Canio, a man quoted as being a fascist and seen in numerous photographs making a fascist salute and who was unable to renounce his fascism when asked about it several times at the Sunderland press conference.

Severe concern at this move has also been expressed by other anti racist and anti fascist organisations such as Hope Not Hate, Football Against Racism in Europe 

See : DMA  , Hope Not Hate 

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Oldest Auschwitz survivor, Antoni Dobrowolski dies aged 108.

As the Anne frank Trust exhibition in Newcastle reminds us of the horrors that ensue from fascism, and educates school children from the the region, the sad news was announced this week of the death of the oldest auschwitz survivor, Antoni Dobrowolski.

Antoni Dobrowolski, a teacher, was imprisoned by the Germans in 1942 after being arrested by the Gestapo. His imprisonment was part of wider strategy to arrest those caught educating Polish children under occupied Poland. The Nazi occupiers banned all education of the Poles beyond four years of elementary education in a plan to use the poles as a slave race.

Antoni was part of an secret movement who defied the orders and continued to teach Polish children. As a result he was imprisoned and then sent to Auschwitz. Dobrowolski returned to teaching after the war ended.He passed away at the age of 108.

See BBC, Searchlight

Racist NF turn out in Sunderland

This week saw National Front (NF) protesters put on a poorly attended static protest at the site of a proposed new mosque in Sunderland. The NF’s protest has led to heightened tensions in the area and concerned residents looked on as the small group of fascists stood seperately. Equal numbers of antifacsists turned out to show that racists are not welcome in Sunderland.

Simon Biggs, from the National Front states that “there are no British-born Muslims” – what about those who competed for Britain and did our country proud in the Olympics? – not least Mo Farrah, a Muslim,  who came here as as an asylum seeker when he was eight and has been described by Lord Coe as ‘Britain’s greatest-ever athlete’, after his wins in the 10 000 and 5 000 metre races.

Whose position is it to decide who can live here?  It is neither the role of the NF nor anybody else to decide what religion you have to be to be a British citizen. Indeed that whole way of thinking is incredibly regressive; it was back in the mid-19th century when people were last treated as second-class citizens. In those days you were discriminated against if you weren’t an Anglican – something which worked against the many Roman Catholics and members of free churches who lived in North-east England.

Gary Duncan, 42, from Sunderland, speaking on behalf of the anti-fascists, said: “It doesn’t matter what they say is the reason they’re against the mosque, it’s all about racism and that’s it. They’re not complaining about the church down the road.

This comment is particularly pertinent.  The NF have a long record of poisoning race relations and trying to stir up fears.  It appears that they are doing the same in Sunderland in relation to the proposed mosque in St. Mark’s Road. This is not the first time that a far-right organisation has bussed people into the region from outside with the sole aim of damaging community relations. Then of course many of them disappear home, to leave local residents to sort out the mess left behind.

Bizarrely National Front activists claim that local children will be at risk. Why? Sadly it is true that there have been a couple of high-profile cases of Asian men acting in appalling ways, grooming young girls for sex. Their behaviour was indeed disgraceful. But when you consider the the tiny number involved in comparison to the number of Muslims in the country, who in themselves only number about 4% of the population.  There have been many grooming rings which come from white backgrounds. To suggest that a mosque is somehow a danger to local children is both grossly insulting to the vast majority of Muslims in our region and in Britain as a whole and deeply and dangerously misleading.

It is claimed that the mosque will divide the community. There is no logical reason for this. Indeed it appears far more likely that it is the far-right, yet again, who are trying to divide the community in Sunderland. The failure of their demo on August 11th suggests that they will fail again in this tawdry task.

See: Sunderland Echo

No pals in Pallion- BNP publicity stunt meats a painless death.

The BNP headed to Sunderland today to give another display of how weak the party is in the North East.

In a poor attempt to claim to be defending animal rights, a small rabble of racist meat eaters stood around on the streets of Sunderland today protesting at the use of Halal meat in a Subway franchise in Pallion. This was yet another excuse to disguise a racist agenda and impose it on our communities.

Unfortunately Sunderland BNP protestors were as thin on the ground as a layer of mayo and were outnumbered by antifascists who made Subway a no go area for fascists.

The BNP’s current leader, Griffin, attempted to make the most of the publicity, by putting out a press release yesterday outlining his plan to make a stand in Sunderland and protest on a very important issue for his party… Err… sadly, he forgot to show up for the actual protest……What a lovely example he sets as a leader. Some might say that the use of meat heads like that was cruel.
Hope Not Hate

Sunderland Echo

Sunderland Echo