Leonard Zeskind spoke at a side-bar meeting of trade unionists at a Trade Union Congress in Brighton, England on September 11. The event was organized by Searchlight magazine’s trade union liaison officer, Cathy Pound, who also served as moderator. The speakers also included Megan Dobney, regional secretary of the Southern and Eastern Trade Union Congress; Steve Hart, political director of Unite the Union, Bob Crow the general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Marine and Transport Workers Union and Dominic Byrne, a divisional secretary for the National Union of Teachers. The meeting discussed British unions’ opposition to racism and fascism, to the thuggish English Defense League, and building opposition to the drive to enforce austerity measures. Leonard Zeskind talked about the dangers posed by the Tea Party movement in the USA. Thanks go to Cathy Pound for all her good work!
The University of Northampton’s Radicalism and New Media Research Group held an international conference September 13 and 14, “A Special Relationship of Hate” 50 Years of the Anglo-American Far Right.” IREHR’s Leonard Zeskind gave one of the keynote talks on the Tea Party movement and the (unsubstantiated) feelings of white dispossession. Other keynotes included Dr. Martin Durham of the University of Wolverhampton, who presented a strong argument that the far right was now a “trans-national” movement. Other academic presenters talked about the English Defense League, “Ezra Pound and British Fascists,” and the National Socialist Underground. Laura Pidcock and another educator from “Show Racism the Red Card,” talked about their anti-racist educational work in schools and cited several examples of their successes. And Gerry Gable talked about the founding of Searchlight magazine in 1964.
Paul Jackson, head of the Radicalism and New Media Research Group and Matthew Feldman of the University of Teesside deserve special plaudits for their efforts.
Leonard Zeskind’s presentation can be heard at http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/archive/audio/2012_09_13_RNM/2012_09_14_RNM2012%20Leonard%20Zeskind_talk.mp3
And the other speakers can be heard on podcasts at http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2012/09/a-special-relationship-of-hate-50-years-of-the-anglo-american-far-right/
