The storm and the street – racist riots and how to fight back

rs21 statement on the far right protests and how to fight back

The explosion of far right violence around Britain and in the North of Ireland this weekend has seen brutal attacks on Muslims, Black and Asian people, attacks on mosques, the torching of a library and community centre in Liverpool, an advice centre in Sunderland, and an assault on a hotel in Rotherham where migrants were housed.

Counter-mobilisations have been quickly pulled together, and in some places have successfully outnumbered and pushed back the far right. But the response has been patchy. In places where there are not many organised socialists and antifascists the far right mobs have been able to run riot unrestrained.

Where counter-demos have pulled large numbers, sometimes the far-right were still able to splinter off and carry out violent attacks after. The absence of the police over the past few days has been stark, and in some cases, only a few police cars, or even just bikes, were deployed to tackle huge numbers of the far-right. There have also been reports of police protecting the far-right from counter-protestors in some places. 

The short-term trigger for these mobilisations was the Southport stabbing, but they cannot be separated from Tommy Robinson’s 20,000 strong march through Central London last weekend, on the back of other, recent large far-right mobilisations in London and other parts of the country in recent months. Also, while hundreds of thousands have marched across the country against the genocide in Gaza for almost a year now, the Tories and Labour alike have been saying Muslims are  terrorists and anti-semites. Now some of the same far right activists who were joining Zionist counter-protests are now taking part in these riots alongside actual Nazis. 

The cost of living crisis and years of austerity have created some of the conditions that led to this. With huge levels of child poverty, we’re also seeing children taking part in the violence. Racism driven by the state is at the core of what’s happening here. That racism, pushed by Tories and Labour alike, creates the environment for moral panics around migration and ‘invasion’ to emerge. 

And that racism has always been integral to the colonial and imperialist history and character of British capitalism. Migrants have always been constructed as a threat to ‘British’ jobs, culture, welfare and so on, from anti-Jewish riots against immigrants fleeing Eastern European antisemitism in the early 1900s, to violence against Black migrants in the 50s and 60s, to the EDL mobilisations against Muslims in the late 2000s. 

This construction is not merely the result of the far right or the media, but liberal and even leftwing institutions and political figures who, while abhorring the kind of violent scenes seen in recent days, will speak of xenophobia and racism as ‘legitimate concerns’. They racialise the ‘traditional’ and ‘authentic’ working  class as white, and place racialised people and migrants outside and in opposition to it. Liberal Islamophobia (disguised as opposition to antisemitism) and liberal transphobia (disguised as concerns about children’s welfare) have given cover to the growth of the far right.

Trade union leaders have mostly been silent. Mick Lynch spoke at a counterprotest in Belfast, and Daniel Kebede has tweeted calling for antiracist organising efforts, but the silence from most other trade union leaders is a sign of the political weakness of the trade union movement.

WHAT DO WE DO?

The long history of fighting the far right shows us that only the organised power of the working class and self-organising of communities within it can defeat fascists, we can’t rely on the state to protect us. Here are some immediate steps we could take:

• Mobilise all networks to get out on the streets – the longer it takes to mobilise effective counters on the street the stronger and more bold the racists will become
• Insist on calling these what they are: racist riots. Reject all discourse of ‘legitimate concerns’. Push for strong condemnations, especially from trade union leaders but also Labour and the press. Members of community unions should also push their branches and national structures to take a firm anti-racist stance urgently.
• If you’re a trade unionist, sign the open letter pledging to stand against the far right – link in our bio
• Organise local discussions and meetings to bring together antifascists and local community of Muslims and other targeted groups and talk about how we strengthen our networks in order to organise going forward. This essential work is already happening in several areas, including an online Muslims Against Fascism meeting.
• We need to build a broad alliance that includes Muslims and racialised communities that are the current target of the violence, trade unionists, anti-imperialists and queer & trans people. The Palestine movement has to play a prominent role here.
• We have to build class organisation for the long term that can provide a solidaristic alternative to the far right.

Millions of people are looking on in horror at what is happening. Tens of thousands of activists are talking about how we respond right now in union spaces, socialist organisations, mosques, queer networks, and with their friends. We have a history of powerful alliances coming together in moments of danger, and that’s exactly what we need to do right now. No need for despair. The need is to organise. No Pasarán!