Eurasia Press & News
Anti-racists discussed how to push back the far right and fascism at a Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) international summit in central London on Saturday.
Around 500 took part—in-person and online—in a day of speeches and workshops about the next steps for the anti-racist movement.
Louisa, a UCL university student, had come to her second SUTR event. “It’s scary what is happening right now,” she told Socialist Worker. “This is our future. We have a duty to care about what happens.
“The more people who get organised, the faster we can make a difference.”
She added, “Often I felt helpless. I don’t feel like I know all the particulars, but this summit is a great way to learn. This is what I want to spend my free time today doing.”
Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election shaped discussions at the summit. Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage was at the Republican victory party celebrating—and hopes it will help the British far right build.
Luke, a Unison union rep, told Socialist Worker, “I’m here because of Trump and that filtering to Britain and how that affects minorities here. Over the summer we saw the riots that have been correctly called the Farage riots.”
He warned that the politics of the far right “will spill over onto the streets again”.
Luke was on the SUTR march in London on 26 October, when over 20,000 anti-fascists denied up to 25,000 of Tommy Robinson’s supporters a victory. “The lesson learnt from 26 October is that we need to be ready and prepared,” he said.
“We need to organise and come together and be stronger for the next one.”
Themes at workshops included the fight against Farage and Reform UK, refugee solidarity and Asian struggles in Britain.
Kahina Guelamine is from the Marches des Solidarite Collectif de Soutien Jeunes Migrants in France. “The fight against racism and fascism starts with solidarity,” she said. “Our fight is alongside migrants and refugees. That is the only way to win against fascism.”
Kahina rejected mainstream politicians who try to scapegoat undocumented migrants. “You can’t just decide who is a good or bad migrant,” she said. “Unaccompanied minors, refugees, migrant workers, asylum seekers, what are these terms?”
“The ruling class invented these terms to decide who has the right to live, who has the right to education, to healthcare, to our cities. But our schools, healthcare and cities are for everyone. The world we want is a world without borders.”
Maria Chondrogianni is the president-elect of the UCU higher education union. “If Labour fails and doesn’t tackle the far right, it will come back even more effective,” she said.
“The US, Britain, Austria, France and Germany all show us that taking on the far right needs to happen now. In a world where the nationalist voice gets stronger, international solidarity with Palestine, Sudan, Lebanon is essential.
“The fascists in Germany destroyed trade unions, so we must defend them and show people that socialism has the answers to their problems. Trade unions grow and get stronger when we take industrial action.
“When we learn from the examples from workers worldwide, our internationalism is the best way to take on the far right.”
Mainstream politicians and the media scapegoating migrants and refugees fuels the rise of the far right. In Britain, Keir Starmer and home secretary Yvette Cooper have called for a border crackdown and the deportation of 14,000 people by the end of the year.
Jeremy Corbyn said that in a recent parliamentary debate about immigration “the language MPs use is a disgrace”. “Both sides of the House of Commons were vying with each other over who is going to deport more people more quickly. It was a horrible competition,” he said.
One Labour Party member who joined the summit told Socialist Worker, “I’m strongly against Starmer even though I’m in the party.
“Visiting Giorgia Meloni to talk about immigration is a disgrace. It gives legitimacy to the far right. We should stand against Starmer’s deportations. We need to make a positive case for immigration and refugees, setting out a progressive alternative to the negativity.”
He argued that refugees “are people coming from desperate positions” and “we have a duty to help these people and make sure they are safe.”
Nikki, who joined the summit, said that there was a lot of overlap between the Palestine solidarity movement and anti-racist movements. “We have been brainwashed to normalise Islamophobia” since the War on Terror after 9/11, she told Socialist Worker.
“That is being used to make Israel’s genocide and Britain’s complicity appear fine.”
She added, “We need to look to our similarities rather than our differences and hold the economic elite accountable. They don’t want us to be united.”
Chris, who lives in south London, said, “As a black woman, I feel very strongly that we should fight against racism.” She said she’s “experienced a high level of institutional racism” and “the system is against people like me”.
“The far right isn’t giving up so we can’t give up,” she said. “If they aren’t relenting then we won’t relent. We are more in number and so we just have to be more organised.”
In Britain, anti-racists face a new and dangerous situation in Britain. There is an interpenetration of a far right electoral party led by Nigel Farage and a fascist street movement led by Nazi Tommy Robinson.
Kudsia Batool, head of equalities at the TUC union federation, argued, “Reform UK got a big vote in the election, and those votes came from our colleagues and our members.
“Union reps and members need to be tuned in and turned on to rooting out the far right. And we have to train people, give them the political tools, to do that.”
The leaders of Reform UK are using by-elections to help build a mass, far right party. Anti-racists’ urgent task is to expose Reform UK’s far right politics and racism, its anti-establishment fakery and its pro-boss agenda.
The Labour government’s betrayals of working class people’s hopes for change and its scapegoating of migrants gives oxygen to the likes of Farage. As Paul Holborow—co-founder of the Anti Nazi League in the 1970s—told a workshop, “The greatest recruiting sergeant for Reform UK is Keir Starmer.”
Anti-racists have to fight against the far right—and the state racism against refugees, migrants and Muslims that fuels it.
Samira Ali, SUTR national organiser, said, “There are times in history when you have to stand up and be counted and this is one of those times.
“Donald Trump is back in power, fascists are gaining power across Europe and Nigel Farage is trying to build a far right party.
“Where does the far right gets its racism from, time and time again we see mainstream politicians conceding to attacks on migrants, refugees or Muslims. If you don’t challenge racism and despair the far right will win out.”
Samira said she was “sick to death of fascists talking about two-tier policing”—the idea that the state scapegoats right wingers.
She said the real scandal was the disproportionate policing of black and brown people in this country” and sent solidarity to justice campaigners.
Samira urged people to build SUTR groups across Britain. “The lesson is that we have to build a movement, that we have to confront the fascists and say we will never make concessions to racism,” she said.
