{"id":10266,"date":"2016-10-18T15:18:01","date_gmt":"2016-10-18T14:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10266"},"modified":"2016-10-19T10:43:26","modified_gmt":"2016-10-19T09:43:26","slug":"bound-for-nowhere-fascist-band-calls-off-gig","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10266","title":{"rendered":"Bound for nowhere: Fascist band calls off gig"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

An American neo-nazi band who were planning to hold one of the \u00e2\u20ac\u015blargest white power concerts ever held in Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 have cancelled their trip, after a public outcry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Sunday (October 16), neo-nazi thrash metal band Bound for Glory<\/em> pulled out of the gig, which was due to take place in Falkirk on October 22, citing \u00e2\u20ac\u015btravel concerns\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The decision was made following a campaign by anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate<\/a>, who called on home secretary Amber Rudd to prevent the band\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entry into the UK and on the Scottish government to cancel the gig.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If the gig had gone ahead, Hope Not Hate founder Nick Lowes said, more than 400 neo-nazis, mostly from England and Germany, would have been in attendance for the biggest \u00e2\u20ac\u0098white power\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 concert ever held on Scottish soil.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead, after over 1,700 people contacted their MPs and MSPs and Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s justice secretary, Michael Matheson, said he was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bconsidering every option\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to prevent the band playing, Bound for Glory<\/em> decided to stay put and cancel the gig.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Commenting on the cancellation, Lowes said that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bin Scotland generally at the moment, there seems to be more of a public rejection of racism\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bit was huge victory for people power.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The victory is welcome news after hate crime<\/a> across UK spiked by 41 per cent in the days following the EU referendum. The number of incidents has now fallen but still remains significantly higher than the levels recorded last year, new figures show<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Insidiously banal <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hope Not Hate communications director, Nick Ryan, said the reason for the increase in hate crimes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which are not generally being committed by organised far-right groups similar to those that would have attended the Bound for Glory concert \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is insidiously banal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe increase isn’t because there are now more racists in Britain. Rather, the people who held those views to begin with now feel more comfortable expressing them in public,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said Ryan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNor do we think these incidents are being organised by far right groups, although they, as well as some mainstream politicians and the media, have certainly contributed to the current climate.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A recent\u00c2\u00a0report<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0on the UK by the European Commission against racism\u00c2\u00a0and intolerance also highlighted\u00c2\u00a0a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnumber of areas of concern\u00e2\u20ac\u0165\u00c2\u00a0regarding\u00c2\u00a0xenophobic\u00c2\u00a0rhetoric in politics and the\u00c2\u00a0media.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The report\u00c2\u00a0cited David Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of the word\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098swarm\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00c2\u00a0to describe migrants, Nigel Farage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0statement\u00c2\u00a0about\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bmuslims who want to form a fifth column and kills us\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and the Sun\u00c2\u00a0newspaper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0publication of column that likened migrants to\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0098cockroaches\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national\u00c2\u00a0officer for equalities\u00c2\u00a0Harish Patel, said the government to get its priorities straight after using intolerant language.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTurning immigration not only into an issue but a “problem” was a dangerous game played by the government and the far right including UKIP.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bImmigration is neither an issue nor a problem but exploitation, is, racial harassment and discrimination, is. These are what we have witnessed over the years and have demanded their elimination or steps by the government towards this goal. These are the real ‘issues’ and ‘problems’,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Patel said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is shameful that we are witnessing racism, abuse, threats and physical harm on our streets, schools and workplaces. How can we then call ourselves a civilised country that wants to preserve so called \u00e2\u20ac\u0098British values\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s values are unity, equality, trade union rights and solidarity and this government should stop pandering to the likes of Ukip and do its job of protecting and improving the rights and dignity of all those living and working in this country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suffer in silence\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Has post-Brexit abuse affected you? If so Harish Patel advises, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you have had racist abuse at work you should inform your Unite rep and the employer (\u00e2\u20ac\u201c or just Unite if this is more appropriate in the circumstances).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had racist abuse outside of work please still tell your Unite rep and the police too if you are able to. These crimes have skyrocketed but we believe many more go unreported.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur Unite reps are trained in zero tolerance issues\u00c2\u00a0 <\/a>and we have regional equalities organisers<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0 who can advise them. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suffer in silence.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An American neo-nazi band who were planning to hold one of the \u00e2\u20ac\u015blargest white power concerts ever held in Scotland\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 have cancelled their trip, after a public outcry.   On Sunday (October 16), neo-nazi thrash metal band Bound for Glory pulled out of the gig, which was due to take place in Falkirk on October […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[486,242],"wps_subtitle":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Huge victory for people power\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 but racist abuse goes up","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10266"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10270,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10266\/revisions\/10270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}