On Saturday, September 13, well over 100,000 “Unite the Kingdom” anti-migrant protesters marched in London—vastly outnumbering (and surrounding) the counter-protest, which drew just 15,000. Here we reprint two articles from Counterfire, based in London, analyzing the urgent need for the left to mobilize and organize against the far-right.
The fascists and the challenge ahead
By Pete Webster
Saturday’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration saw over 120,000 attend and was a huge success for the far right. It should be a wake-up call to the very real threat of fascists becoming more confident and emboldening them to organize further violent anti-migrant actions over the coming days and weeks.
A Met Police statement issued Saturday evening stated that: ‘There is no doubt that many came to exercise their lawful right to protest, but there were many who came intent on violence. They confronted officers, engaging in physical and verbal abuse and making a determined effort to breach cordons.’
Questions need to be asked of the Met’s operational decisions on the day, as it was obvious that a hard core of right-wing thugs were intent on creating widespread and violent disorder from the very start of the day. As we have seen, the police have no problem on enforcing restrictions, bans and dispersal orders when it comes to our pro-Palestinian demonstrations. They could have closed roads that would have stopped significant numbers of hardened racists from gathering in Trafalgar Square effectively surrounding the counter-demonstration and cutting off any safe exit routes. Instead they ended up being confronted by a riotous mob, many of them drunk from early morning onwards.
The counter-protest organized by Stand Up to Racism attracted no more than 15,000 and an alternative approach to its strategy and tactics is desperately needed. It simply is not enough to organize counter-protests hoping that ‘we’ can outnumber ‘them’.
If we are to rise to the challenge, we need to take a heed of what lessons can be learnt from defeating the National Front in the 70s and 80s and the BNP in the 90s. Key to that was the establishment of the Anti-Nazi League and the essential ground work that was required to build sufficient forces to push back against the fascists. Chris Bambery’s recent article explores this more fully.
There are other significant weaknesses that need to attention too. Several very good union General Secretaries addressed the demonstration and it was good to see a number of union branch banners but the level of mobilization was poor overall. These unions have significant resources at their disposal and could instigate anti-fascist campaigns at all levels and put on transport to swell our numbers. Despite a fall in recent years, there are still over five and half million trade unionists and this provides a great environment in which to build.
It is also disappointing that that there was no call out to oppose the Unite the Kingdom march from the organizers of Your Party. They have gathered nearly a million sign-ups in recent months yet communication with this enormous base has been lacking, while many among them could be drawn in to organizing resistance to the right. This needs to be rectified.
It was also obvious from the events that there is a synergy between the hard-core fascists and the Zionists supporting Israel’s genocide, as evidenced by the number of Israeli flags on display. Hatred of the Palestinian fight for freedom is underpinned by Islamophobia. This too should be a wake-up call to all those active in the wider pro-Palestinian movement, since any gains or victories for the far-right is to the former’s detriment.
It was good to see so many pro-Palestinian people displaying keffiyehs, T-shirts and placards amongst the counter-demonstration but there was no mobilization call from many of the movement’s leaders. This too would have resulted in a significant increase in numbers.
Given that this overwhelmingly working-class movement has been sustained over the last two years, collectively engaging millions and that it continues to grow, it would seem politically essential to build links to strengthen both movements.
The rapid rise of the far right, fueled by Starmer’s tailgating of Reform, the Tories and much of the mainstream media indicates how quickly things can change, in this case, for the worse. Time is of the essence here. There is much work to do and that needs to start today.
About the author: Pete Webster is a frequent contributor to Counterfire.
This is how to stop the right
By Lindsey German
Saturday was a bad day for the left in British politics. The ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march led by Tommy Robinson was very large – I would say approaching 200,000, judging by aerial footage and by the sheer number of marchers that I and everyone I spoke to encountered going to and from the demo. This is the biggest far right demo in British history. It was led by fascists and the far right but that number obviously included many others who accepted their false arguments about migrants being to blame for everything that is wrong with Britain. One of the main slogans was ‘Keir Starmer is a wanker’.
I was on the counter-protest and was kettled in Whitehall for over three hours as fascists surrounded our demo, with a large crowd in Trafalgar Square who attacked the back of the march. We always knew we would be outnumbered, but we were dramatically so, with our side having around 15,000 people. The police claimed they were overwhelmed and only very late on did they attempt to clear the square and open up a route out for us. They also allowed far-right demonstrators through to our stage to abuse those waiting for the rally to start. There were remarkably few arrests given the scale of their violence and attacks. The day was a defeat for the anti-fascists and has sent shock waves through the left.
The big question is what do we do to counter the far right? We now have a very frightening situation – both an electoral right-wing party in the shape of Reform which is ahead of all other parties in the polls, and a mass fascist and far-right street movement, which will do everything it can to intimidate Muslims, ethnic minorities, trade unionists, women and LGBT people. There are millions of people who will rightly be alarmed by this development and want to know how we fight back.
We need to understand where it has come from. There have now been close to two decades where working-class wages have fallen in real terms. Living standards are under constant attack from inflation and wage restraint, where monopolies keep jacking up prices. The housing crisis is the worst ever, with people paying up to half their wages on rent, buying a house totally out of reach for nearly all working-class people, and landlords subject to little control. The NHS is in permanent crisis through underfunding. Jobs are lousy with bad conditions and low pay.
The right has succeeded in channeling the blame for all this and much more on scapegoating migrants and Muslims. The summer of demos outside hotels housing asylum seekers has helped build this movement, as has the ‘raise the flag’ campaign, which has been used to intimidate ethnic minorities and anyone else who objects to enforced flag worship. One friend on the demo told me that in her area of southeast London red swastikas on a white background were appearing. These movements have been much amplified on social media, which plays a big part is spreading all sorts of disinformation about asylum seekers and Muslims.
But we also have politicians and mainstream media to thank for this boost to the far right. Keir Starmer might have apologized for his ‘island of strangers’ remark, but the damage has been done. Yvette Cooper and he have repeatedly expressed their joy at flying flags, have promised to be harder on immigration, and have invited Donald Trump on an unprecedented state visit. The media constantly highlights the ‘problem’ of immigration, and television ‘personalities’ criticise migrants with barely a whisper against them – in strong contrast to those who champion Palestine, like Gary Lineker.
Whatever expectations workers had from a Starmer government have been dashed as he pursues Tory policies which are deeply unpopular over cutting benefits and the winter fuel allowance. Starmer is now so failing that even his own once loyal MPs are turning against him. Many once Labour voters are looking to Reform. At present the right is undoubtedly the beneficiary of Labour’s failure.
The movement against the far right needs to understand these questions. It’s not enough to repeat slogans like ‘Refugees welcome here’ or ‘Whose streets, our streets’ (particularly inappropriate on Saturday). We have to argue both that refugees and migrants are not to blame for our conditions, but also to target who the enemy really is and to criticize employers and landlords. We also need to build struggles which can help turn working-class people away from the fascists and towards a different alternative. The unions have a major role to play here, not just sending speakers and the odd banner to demos but actually fighting to mobilize their members.
The protest on Saturday was nowhere near big enough. We must change the way we are working to ensure that we grow and mobilize those who agree with us but aren’t yet coming out on the streets. This means bringing in much wider forces who are appalled at what has happened. It also means involving the huge numbers on the Palestine demos, arguing that these are connected struggles, as I did in my speech on Saturday. We have to dig down into communities, into workplaces, colleges, tenants’ associations and much more. There will be a lot of fear after this, particularly from some people in ethnic minorities, and we must organise to support each other and to build opposition to the vile racism which is growing in strength.
I remember the 1970s well when the fascists grew. I moved in 1977 from Dalston, which had a large Afro Caribbean population, to a tower block in south Hackney where the population was much whiter and there was a legacy of fascist organizing in Hoxton that went back to the 1930s. We organized locally, painting out fascist slogans on my block and building a local Anti-Nazi League group which met in my living room. The ANL/Rock against Racism carnival in 1978 which took place nearby was a turning point when we realized that many local people did not support the fascists. We must do this sort of local organizing again. We also need local workplace organizing, with badges, leaflets and other material. And public rallies in every town and city about who is to blame for the crisis and why the fascists must be fought, not pandered to.
This will require a change in the left and which means preparing for debate and argument on a wide scale. The right-wing march claimed it was about free speech. Of course it was not – they want to silence the voices of all who disagree with them, through violent means if necessary. The left should be the champions of free speech for all but outright fascists. The answers to the right need careful and sustained argument, not just sloganizing or dismissing everyone in their orbit as unwinnable racists. There are a range of issues where we are now in quite a minority. Our arguments are factual and principled. We must not be afraid of arguing because that is the way to win over the middle ground. The key issue is isolating the fascists from the soft support around them. And it has never been more urgent.
Trump is arriving here on Tuesday where he will no doubt be heartened by this march. He is launching a war on the left in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing. Robinson and co will be boosted by last weekend’s success. Time for us to move forward on a much bigger scale to take them on.
About the author: As national convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, Lindsey was a key organizer of the largest demonstration, and one of the largest mass movements, in British history. Her books include ‘Material Girls: Women, Men and Work’, ‘Sex, Class and Socialism’, ‘A People’s History of London’ (with John Rees) and ‘How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women’.
