After the 7th August – building networks across the country

The mass turn out against the far right on 7 August is a cause for celebration. TK Adisa argues that it is now the responsibility of anti-fascists across the country to build and strengthen networks of resistance.

Last Wednesday saw tens of thousands of people on the streets up and down the country standing up to the far-right, after 40 immigration-related buildings across the country were named as targets in a leaked Telegram message. The far-right were massively outnumbered in London and other big cities, with only a handful gathering in most places. It was a show of our collective strength and resolve to respond to attacks on our friends, neighbours, families and communities with solidarity. 

It’s important to celebrate this win. We shouldn’t underestimate the demoralising effects of such massive mobilisations on the far-right; as evidenced by screenshots circulating on social media showing their shock and panic as they realised the extent to which they were outnumbered. The fact that even right-wing rags like the Daily Mail, responsible for so much of the racist discourse behind the violence, covered the demonstrations positively is a testament to their impact.

But this is just the start. Whilst our numbers might be intimidating and demoralising for some of the far-right, they will also have learnt lessons from this. They are likely to have learnt more about the importance of digital security and the size, composition and militancy of counter-demonstrations in different places and so on. Some of them will also have their resolve hardened by seeing the size and diversity of crowds. We have to be careful about projecting an image of total victory based on the successes of big city mobilisations, when some confrontations around the country did not go well for our side. 

If the far-right had been more organised, strategic and militant in their approach, things might have been different in some places. The responsibility of antifascists now is to strengthen local organising networks around the country. 

This means building broad fronts within communities, and communication networks for rapid mobilisation; pushing for our unions to take meaningful stances in support of anti-fascist action, pressuring our workplaces, and other institutions like charities and universities to condemn far-right violence and specifically name racism as the source of the issue. There are several crucial struggles within the movement and in our communities that need to be fought and won to do this. 

Firstly, the question of staying home or going out. We must resist the idea that people should stay home and, as some commentators and social media pages have suggested, “let the police do their job”. Of course, we don’t just throw ourselves at the fascists with no planning. But the history of anti-racist and anti-fascist struggle shows we cannot rely on the police to protect us, and we cannot allow fascists to be emboldened by free-roaming our streets. 

We keep each other safe. This history also shows us that, contrary to current discourses that suggest racialised people stay at home, the self-organisation and mobilisation of racialised communities has always been key to defeating fascism. 

Then there is the question of militancy versus mass mobilisation. We need to go beyond a divide in the movement, often expressed as tactical disagreements between antifascist groups and Stand Up to Racism, and build the capacity for mobilisations around the country that are mass AND militant. 

When there are sharp divisions between militant antifascists and mass-oriented organisers, a number of problems come up. The movement needs a diversity of tactics, so that we are prepared to resist both mass mobilisations of the far-right and the extreme violence of smaller groups of them.

We need broad sections of our communities to be willing to turn out – in numbers – and feel confident in themselves, trusting in each other to the extent that if things get more hairy, they will feel strong. Large and unified mobilisations have a massive symbolic power, but must also fulfil their practical aims of keeping participants safe and where necessary, defending our communities.

Building connectivity and trust in our communities is of course central here, but encouraging and facilitating basic know-your-rights training as well as skillshares led by more experienced anti-fascists could go a long way.

This fight is not over. Many Muslims, migrants, Black and Asian people around the country are living in fear right now and even if the far-right violence dies down, seriously building our collective strength is critical if people are to feel safety in a sustained way. Whilst the moment is a terrifying one, we are also seeing deep expressions of solidarity across lines of race, nationality and religion as communities organise against the fascist threat. Here, we might see the roots of coalitions that could fight, not just to resist far-right violence, but to liberate us from the system that delivered it to us.