The Real Battle of Cable Street

Brilliant documentary. As mentioned below it shows how communities have the potential to come together and organise themselves, how society is formed from below. It also shows how social bonds can form despite cultural differences, and how 'ethnic minorities' are capable of standing up for themselves without patronising laws against "hate speech".

Fascinating documentary. Shows how the real fascists ( or at least the fascists' footsoldiers) were the police. Sadly not much has changed since those days. Quite an eye-opener for anyone living in the east end, as I do. Alan Hudson knows his subject well but it was also great to hear it from someone who was actually there!

This small documentary shows us how cultural diversity conflicts were once overcome in order to achieve a greater goal and reminds us that this is a subject that is far from dead. When everyday new inmigration laws "play" with people's lives, sending them back and forth, using them as economic or political objects, as the Bangladeshi people, the situation is such a clear example.

The myths of Cable Street have been blown away for me by this programme. Love the conclusion that the battle of Cable Street will only have contemporary meaning if we challenge all immigration controls today.

I particularly liked the sentence that the crowd on Cable Street was united not culturally, but POLITICALLY... regardless of ethnicity they fought against the fascist idealogy.
I heard it from my grandparents, that the thing that unites people the best is common enemy...

Is it possible now, top be united politically or do we need external danger, another extreme situation to mobilise?

Interesting to find out that East Enders fought against any interference from the police on their patch. So, as Alan tells us, when a facist sympathiser was being evicted from his East End home, the communists came and stopped the police, saying 'this is something we will deal with, we will argue with their politics - that's our job'. Have we lost the belief in our own capacity to organise ourselves and take matters into our own hands? Or is it right to expect the government to protect us?

A lot of people bang on about lunatic fringe fascist groups like the BNP & as the election looms we'll hear more but I think we can learn a lot from the Cable Street story-there was clearly more at stake than Mosley's loser Black shirts.