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Solidarity and Unity Now
85 Plays5 months ago
Anti*Capitalist Resistance statement on far right violence sweeping Britain and Northern Ireland in August 2024.
https://anticapitalistresistance.org/solidarity-and-unity-now/
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Transcript
Far-right violence in the UK: August 2024 analysis
00:00:00
Speaker
Solidarity and Unity Now. Anti-Capitalist Resistance Statement on Far Right Violence, Sweeping Britain and Northern Ireland, in August 2024.
00:00:12
Speaker
The tragic murder of three young children by a 17-year-old in Southport in July 2024 has been manipulated by opportunistic fascist forces to organise a series of riots across England. They have kick-started a response from across the organised workers' movement and threatened Muslim communities.
00:00:31
Speaker
The initial reason for these protests was rapidly abandoned, as they became excuses for violent racism, targeting mosques, hotels housing asylum seekers, and any individual black person they could find. Whilst the counter-protests often outnumbered the reactionaries, that wasn't always the case. And even where it was, communities were left vulnerable after the anti-racist protest had ended.
Societal conditions enabling far-right violence
00:00:56
Speaker
What we are seeing is the consequences of decades of neoliberalism, gutting our communities, and turning us all into competitors in a global market. Austerity stripping back our lives to the bare minimum. Racist tabloids pumping out anti-immigrant hate to sell newspapers. Politicians from both the Tories and even Labour stoking anti-migrant sentiment to scoop up votes. The consequences of this are being played out now.
00:01:23
Speaker
Whilst the riots themselves have only involved a few thousand people in total, they point to a far right that is increasingly confident and believes that they have a much wider layer of support around them. The weekend before the tragic events in Southport, Tommy Robinson held a rally in Trafalgar Square of around 15,000 people, which he claimed was the largest patriotic rally in history, and also said it was close to 100,000 people.
Fascist social media influence and rhetoric
00:01:52
Speaker
These riots are another example of the growing threat of fascism to draw in wide numbers of far-right, populist authoritarians. Conspiracy theories and online rumours, amplified by fascist social media accounts, encouraged people to take to the streets. They advocate for climate conspiracy theories as much as they perpetuate racist lies about immigrants.
00:02:16
Speaker
many involved in or sympathetic to these riots deny the accusation that they are far-right or fascists. The far-right no longer focus exclusively on race. Instead, they talk about multiculturalism being the problem. They target Muslims, but claim this is not because of race, but because they are a different culture. They claim not to target black people, but immigrants and refugees, which everyone knows is code for black people.
Evolving far-right alliances and targets
00:02:46
Speaker
They complain about too many non-white people in movies or TV shows. They argue that modern film and TV is too woke. These codes, dog whistles, and inferences are the swamp in which reactionary ideas swim, plausible deniability whilst you throw a brick at a mosque.
00:03:07
Speaker
This framing even allows them to attract a handful of people from ethnic minority groups who support the Islamophobic agenda or want to protect their limited securities under capitalism by adding to the chorus of hate against newly arrived refugees, a pulling up the ladder approach.
00:03:26
Speaker
This new alliance allows them to also make common cause with some Zionist groups protesting anti-Semitism, rebranding their far-right ideology away from explicit Nazism. They can claim to be the staunch defenders of the Zionist cause. But this is because the Zionist ideal of most Jewish people living in Israel coincides with their own wish to remove every Jewish person from Britain.
00:03:53
Speaker
The same people also target trans people. Tommy Robinson's demo was called on Trans Pride Day, and a steward of the trans demo was attacked. Anyone on the margins, anyone who doesn't conform to their rigid ideal of white, cis-heterosexual, right-wing and atriotic life, is a target.
00:04:16
Speaker
The shift from presenting as classical Nazis, as the National Front once did, to a more amorphous, post-fascist far-right populism, is only an evolution of their strategy. They know they can reach larger numbers if they moderate their language. But behind the talk of multiculturalism, it is clear that they want an all-out war against anyone who doesn't fit their vision of a pure, white Britain.
Political responses and social tensions
00:04:44
Speaker
These violent, nationalist racists are hoping to organize those people attracted to increasingly right-wing ways of seeing the world, blaming refugees for a lack of housing, blaming immigrants for low wages, blaming trans people for undermining their concept of gender. For all their claim of protecting women and children, they are deeply misogynistic and oppose feminist demands for women's bodily autonomy.
00:05:12
Speaker
The right to want to force women into a traditional family life, and in some cases out of paid work. Their politics of grievance blames everyone except for those with power, all that anger targeted at some of the most marginalized and vulnerable in our society.
00:05:30
Speaker
What the Labour government does to improve the quality of people's lives, and whether it calls out racism when it manifests, is crucial. Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, continuing the austerity agenda, is only going to make the issue worse. Trade unions and community campaigns need to fight for a reversal of these politics of scarcity that only drive more people into the arms of the far right.
00:05:56
Speaker
Whilst mobilizing against the Boot Boys is important, we should not downplay the threat from the Faragist and Tory Right, whose policies and rhetoric have normalized feelings that could easily have led to the murder of asylum seekers this weekend.
Community and union responses to far-right threats
00:06:13
Speaker
ACR stands in solidarity with communities being subjected to these violent riots and those who fear they might be next. The far right must be opposed whilst their demonstrations are still small. Given the decline of living standards and the growing crises within capitalism, they are likely to continue to grow. Defense of our towns, hotels, housing asylum seekers, and immigration law offices through mass community mobilization is central.
00:06:42
Speaker
Self-defense is no offense for the communities that they are targeting with their violent race-hate. We cannot rely on the police to protect us. The police force is institutionally racist and queerphobic itself, and calling for more police powers only continues the recent trend towards authoritarianism.
00:07:03
Speaker
Trade unions and the workers' movement must make the fight against the far-right a greater priority. There must be an open debate in the workers' movement about how to defeat this reactionary wave. Trade unions need to discuss this issue at all levels and in ensure it is debated at the TUC in September.
00:07:23
Speaker
Unions should take the initiative in organizing unity meetings and rallies, which give a space for all those who want to speak out against the far right to do so, and be actively involved in organizing counter-mobilizations to fascist demonstrations. They must also continue and increase their equality work, opposing all forms of oppression and discrimination.
00:07:48
Speaker
The large protests in Liverpool against the far right and the alliances being built between the left and the communities mobilized around Palestine show how we can build a mass movement to defeat these ideas and the fascist thugs. The sizeable trade union contingent on the Trans Liberation protest on the 27th of July shows a way forward to linking the workers movement into wider social issues that can improve people's lives in practical ways.
00:08:17
Speaker
The protests also must be defeated politically. We need to advocate for the kind of politics that can undercut the grievances and despairs that are fueling the far right.
Vision for an eco-socialist movement
00:08:29
Speaker
We defeat fascism by showing to people that socialism works and that the labor movement can fight to defend living standards. We say, build united resistance to the far right and fascists.
00:08:45
Speaker
Defend migrants, refugees, and trans people. Counter fascist threats. Defend mosques. Self-defense is no offense. Organize resistance to Labour's austerity policies. Build a mass eco-socialist movement that fights for social ownership, participatory democracy, and radical abundance as a way to counteract the despair and hatred of the far right.