Alf with students defending the Harrow Mosque from the EDL in 2009
The man responsible for the death of Alf Filer, local activist in Brent, member of Brent Fightback and a lecturer at Harrow College before he moved to Worthing, has been jailed for drunk driving. Alf is greatly missed and often crops up in our conversations. If he was still alive he would be in the forefront of the current battles against cuts and austerity.
Here is the item as carried by the BBC:
A drink-driver has been jailed for six years for killing a man who was standing by his broken down car in East Sussex.
Joseph Lavelle, 36, of Worthing, West Sussex was
two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit when he hit Alf Filer,
58, on the A27 in Hangleton.
He was jailed at Lewes Crown Court having admitted death by careless driving under the influence of alcohol.
The painter was also banned from driving for five years, police said.
Mr Filer, also from Worthing, died at the scene on 23 June last year.
The political activist and former lecturer had only moved into the area from London in the past year.
Sgt Neil Walker, from Sussex Police, said: "This is another tragic example of the way in which drink-driving wrecks lives. This terrible incident has robbed a family and the community of a well-respected and much-loved man."
Salim Shawamreh will be speaking at the Harrow Mosque (Mahfil Ali) North Harrow Assembly Hall, Station Road, Harrow at 8pm on Friday September 9th.
Salim will describe the experience of his family in 1948 when they were forced off their land in the Negev Desert and made refugees. The family moved to the Old City in Jerusalem, where Salim was born, but then in 1967, during the Six Day War, they were made refugees again when they were moved to the Shufat Refugee Camp. Salim trained as an engineer and saved money to build a home for his family. Despite many attempts to get a building permit, one was never granted, which is usually the case for Palestinians. Finally desperate to house his family, Salim proceeded to build a home but it was demolished by Israeli authorities. To date this has happened four times and each time the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) has rebuilt their house. A fifth demolition order is on their house.
Salim will be travelling with a new photographic exhibition prepared by ICAHD UK and entitled, ‘Dreams of Home’.
I am sorry to have to record that Alf Filer, a Brent socialist activist, died last night in a car crash. Alf had recently taken early retirement from his job as an FE lecturer in Harrow and moved to Worthing. He apparently died when a another car crashed into his broken down vehicle on the Brighton-Worthing road.
Alf, a member of Socialist Resistance was active in the Coalition of Resistance and a supporter of the Palestinian cause. He had a long history in Brent going back to the Grunwick strike and was a supporter of Brent Fightback until he moved to Worthing, where by all accounts he shook the place up! On a personal level he had undertaken the challenging task of bringing up his two sons on his own.
Alf played a leading role in the defence of the Harrow Mosque when it was threatened by the English Defence League and Stop the Islamisation of Europe. He referred back to the Battle of Cable Street to emphasis the importance of mass community mobilisation against the extreme right.
Alf invited me as a Green Party representative to a student hustings at his college at the General Election and I was able to see at first-hand the regard in which he was held by his students. Students were polled beforehand on their voting intentions and then afterwards when they had heard contributions from the candidates. This very practically demonstrated his conviction that debate and education could change ideas and change minds.
Alf will be much missed and my thoughts are with his sons Leon and Lawrence at this difficult time.
Reading about the rising tide of Islamophobia in the US over the building of a Muslim Cultural Centre in New York caused me to reflect on the demise of the SIOE (Stop the Islamisation of Europe) in the UK. Little has been heard of them since the mass mobilisation against them at the Harrow Mosque on September 11th last year LINK and their failure to muster more than15, rather than the promised 1,500, at their subsequent demonstration in December 2009 LINK. It appear that their humiliation seriously weakened the organisation.
They are now seeking to build support on the coat-tails of the American protests and had planned demonstrations yesterday in support of the SIOA in Denmark, Norway, Germany, Bulgaria and Australia. A possible protest outside the US Embassy here in London was given little prominence. It would be interesting to know how many turned out.
Meanwhile Harrow Mosque is thriving and pursuing the aim outlined on their website:
Our vision is to become a dynamic hub that seeks to meet the needs of diverse local Muslim communities and builds bridges with wider society. We are committed to a peaceful and prosperous Harrow where communities learn from each other and work together for the common good. We will continue to host open days at the mosque showcasing our work, along with inter-faith events with other communities.
Along with colleagues from the Brent Palestine Solidarity Campaign BLOG LINK I recently received a warm welcome at the mosque when leafleting for a boycott of dates grown in territories illegally occupied by Israel and our presence was announced to the worshippers. We have had similar experiences at other local mosques including Wembley Central, Brent Central and Monks Park.
Stephen Gash of Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) promised 1,500 people at his anti-Islam demonstration outside the Harrow Mosque.
In fact only 15 turned up, even though numbers were augmented by English Defence League supporters, and the rather sad little group, one wearing a blond wig and another a santa hat, were corralled into a cold car park and protected by police. A couple of them made speeches to the windswept car park observed by press photographers who out-numbered them 3 to 1 - all against the background of chants from several hundred anti-Fascist demonstrators, who sometimes broke into open gales of laughter at the sheer absurdity of the lonely little band in the car park. Stephen Gash the 'leader' even managed to be late and nearly miss the event! There is more than a touch of Captain Mainwaring about the man - without the lovability.
Given these numbers it is surely time for the local press to stop building up the group and cease publicising their baseless claims and their incitant comments.
Hundreds of anti-Fascist demonstrators made it clear that the Fascists were not welcome in Harrow and the diversity of the demonstrators once again showed that the local community were united in defence of the Harrow mosque.
Ajmal Masroor, a spokesman for the Harrow Mosque, crossed to the corral and spoke to representatives of the SIOE and EDL and invited them into the Mosque to discuss their concerns. His invitation was turned down and Stephen Gash said he wanted to talk to the Home Office instead. A similar invitation has earlier been issued by the group British Muslims for a Secular Democracy without success.
The SIOE has thus shown it is not really interested in dialogue or debate, but just in creating division. In my speech to the Solidarity Vigil, as Green Party parliamentary candidate for Brent North, I pointed out that what the SIOE, EDL and BNP have in common is racism and xenophobia. Despite the SIOE's website claim that racism is 'the lowest form of stupidity' they are quite happy to get 'nod and a wink' support from the EDL. At the September 11th demonstration anti-Mosque demonstrators openly gave Nazi salutes and EDL members were present again today.
The SIOE attempt to 'soften up' an area by organising a provocative demonstration, with EDL help, and any reaction is then depicted as Muslim violence. Having caused division the BNP then move in by leafletting the area, as they did in Harrow after the September 11th demonstration, trying to build electoral support on the back of the dirty deeds of their allies. It is important that we see them as overlapping organisations with a similar agenda, and take with a pinch of salt their internicine squabbles. The SIOE may be absurd and today's demonstration comical, but the racist and Fascist nature of the groups that build on their provocations must be recognised and their activities firmly opposed.
I congratulate Brent and Harrow Unite Against Fascism for organising a highly effective, united and peaceful demonstration
Brent and Harrow Unite Against Fascism are again organising a demonstration to show Harrow's rejection of the SIOE's (Stop the Islamisation of Europe's) attack on Harrow's Muslim community and their mosque.
Assemble at 12 noon on Sunday on the broad pavement outside Harrow Civic Centre, opposite the mosque. Police have announced they will be carrying out stop and searches for weapons. The leader of the Labour group on Harrow Council and Navin Shah Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow will be joining the solidarity demonstration.
PROTEST AT LIVNI'S LONDON VISIT ONE YEAR AFTER ISRAELI WAR CRIMES
Also on Sunday there is an all-London alert for a demonstration against Tzipi Livni, former Foreign Minister of London who was a major force behind 'Operation Cast Lead' the Israeli offensive against Gaza which began on December 27th last year and killed 1400 Palestinians, many of them children, and injured 5,000.
Livni is due to speak at a meeting of the Jewish National Fund from 10.30am until 4pm on Sunday somewhere in North London. The organisers are kept the venue secret until the last minute in order to minimise demonstrations against Livni whose callous pronouncements on the Gaza conflict will be remembered for a long time. Up to date information will be published on this website and on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's website and PSC's Facebook Page.
The Stop the Islamisation of Europe and EDL are demonstrating against the Harrow Mosque again on December 13th. Unite against Fascism are holding a counter-demonstration:
A message from Brent and Harrow UAF:
The Swiss referendum decision not to allow the building of any more minarets will feed the Islamophobia motivating the right wing demonstration against Harrow Central Mosque on Sunday December 13th. This makes it all the more important that we have a large, peaceful, united demonstration with a strong representation of trades unionists and Harrow's diverse community, young and old. An organisation called British Muslims for Secular Democracy will also be holding a counter-demonstration to the one called by Stop the Islamisation of Europe. We welcome their participation and will be happy to have them speaking at the rally.
ASSEMBLE 12 NOON, DECEMBER 13TH, OUTSIDE HARROW CIVIC CENTRE
The media, by concentrating on a few skirmishes in a generally peaceful demonstration, takes away from the power of a diverse community with many differences standing together against a common threat.
This video of photographs taken on Friday shows what 95% of the vigil was really like!
It wasn't a riot, as the Guardian website claimed, but a good humoured, lively and sometimes excitable demonstration of community solidarity against right-wing extremists which succeeded in keeping them off Harrow streets and well away from the Harrow Mosque.
The few stray rightists who did turn up were chased away by local youngsters who soon returned to the main demonstration. There were reports that Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) cancelled their demonstration when the police informed them of the scale of the counter-demonstration.
Today's events showed what can be done when a whole diverse community unites against those who seek to divide it. Given the SIOE's (and their supporters in the English Defence League and British Defence League) extreme provocation in organising the anti-Islam protest on the anniversary of 9/11, during Ramadan and after Friday Prayers, the solidarity vigil was remarkably restrained.
Ken Livingstone, chair of Unite Against Fascism and former mayor of London, spoke out yesterday against the anti-Muslim rally called by far right organisations outside Harrow Central Mosque this Friday. Livingstone said:
"If anyone were to call a demonstration outside a synagogue or church, this would rightly provoke a national outcry. There should be exactly the same response from the government, politicians, all religious faiths and the media to the call for a demonstration outside a mosque. The only possible meaning of this event is a protest against Muslims and Islam – a religion followed by more than a billion people in the world."
People should wake up to the fact the protests outside mosques are taking us back to the fascism of the 1930s when fascist thugs marched against Jews and their places of worship. This demonstration should be condemned and banned on the grounds of blatant religious discrimination and a threat to public order."
"Islamophobia - bigotry against Muslims - is as unacceptable as any other form of racism. Its aim is to divide us by making scapegoats of one community, just as the Nazis did with the Jews in the 1930s.
Today they threaten the mosque, tomorrow it could be a synagogue, temple or church. Today they threaten Muslims, tomorrow it could be Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, blacks, gays, travellers or Eastern Europeans.
There is no place for Nazis, racists or the BNP in Harrow's multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious community."
This is part of a joint letter signed by local Labour MPs Gareth Thomas, Tony McNulty, Barry Gardiner and Dawn Butler opposing tomorrow's right-wing demonstration at Harrow Mosque. The letter has also been signed by Navin Shah, London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow and local trade unionists, community associations and activists.
The demonstration has been called by Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) but has been hijacked by the English Defence League and British Defence League and other far-right groups and individuals who have been publicising it on their websites and Facebook. It has been deliberately scheduled to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11to label all Muslims terrorists and to coincide with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to give maximum offence. SIOE claim not to be racist (they just hate Islam!) but an image on their website depicting an evil face superimposed on a mosque looks like something from the Nazi era, and the comments made by supporters reveal their true nature.
A counter-vigil,organised by Brent and Harrow Unite Against Fascism,will be held on the pavement outside Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, opposite the new mosque building which is still under construction. The vigil begins at 1.30pm with a rally at 6pm.
This is the biggest threat by racists and Fascists to West or North West London since the National Front marched in Southall 30 years ago. They must be opposed once again.
