Despite a setback for Reform in the Makerfield by-election the far right continues to grow, and its extreme wing, including openly fascist elements, are growing in confidence. The far right were quick to exploit the horrific murder of Henry Nowak and a knife attack on a disabled Belfast man.
Their violent street protests, including arson attacks which targeted migrant families in Belfast, brought a heavy police crackdown, but that will not stop them. Recently, a militant opposition – of leftists, trade unionists and communities — have begun to get better organised. That is what we need to stop the far right.
Who are the extreme far right? What sort of opposition do we need?
The extreme far right may seem disorganised — made up of fragmented groups and constantly changing umbrella alliances — but it is not.
In the racist nationalist battle cry for remigration – forced repatriation — they have found a common cause. Some of these groups — Reform and Tommy Robinson — tend to say 'assimilated' nonwhite people can stay in the UK. Others, including rapidly growing Restore, are less 'generous'. Together they have made the idea of forced repatriation, something that only fringe fascist groups argued for twenty years ago, politically acceptable.
The far right, are now a huge threat, and increasingly a physically violent threat, to people of colour, migrant communities. And they are attacking women and LGBT+ rights. They are peddling online and real world misogyny. As they make inroads into 'mainstream' political opinion they are — and this is not just Reform — an alarming and present danger inside the trade union movement.
The far right needs to be confronted in the streets and we need to build an alternative socialist politics of equality, aimed at fighting the rich and powerful, the tiny elite which has exploited our labour and ruined our lives for centuries.
Yet the labour movement’s leaders continue to talk the talk about opposing the far right, but act as if they may get round to doing something about it sometime in the far off future. The future is here!
On Saturday 13 June thousands of people from Brighton and the south east came out to stop a 2-300 strong far right, some openly fascist group organised under the banner of 'South East Patriots'. A carefully planned operation by a coalition, Carnival Against Fascism (CAF), blocked off every possible route for the far right. They were unable to march and were eventually escorted back to Brighton station by the police. This rout should give us confidence!
There are a few significant things to note: • CAF’s aim was not to be a bigger show of numbers, rather, from the outset, they wanted to stop the far right from gaining prestige by marching.
• Shows of strength, like the thousandsstrong anti-racist protest in Belfast, which came after the rioting, are important.
But stopping far right attacks (and in future we must do more about permanent community self-defence), is even stronger.
• CAF’s plan included confronting the police who were protecting the far right. The police are not our friends — on the day they used pepper spray against our people.
• A trade union bloc was organised; local union banners were visible and an important part of the day. CAF invited Trade and Tenants Unions Fighting the Far Right (TUFF), a new network set up to push for unions to mobilise against the far right, to help build, lead and steward the bloc.
• CAF was organised as a coalition, no one group, and certainly not Stand Up to Racism – who initially called their own demonstration but eventually joined the main protest on the day – dominated. Those of us who participated, have no doubt, ensured not only that many more people came out to stop the far right on the day, but our strategy was also better
Similar local coalitions are now getting organised around the UK. All unions branches, feminist groups, students unions and community organisations need to get on board. Get your union branch to sign up to TUFF’s mailing list and be part of a growing network.
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