No room for complacency over the far right

TOMMY ROBINSON — ex-Nazi British National Party (BNP) member and former leader of the fascist English Defence League (EDL) — and 700-800 of his supporters gathered in the centre of Telford in Shropshire last Saturday.

It was a gathering whose core was made up of fascists and organised racists — some even giving the Hitler salute — that claimed to be standing up for the forgotten white working-class people of the town.

Patriotic Alternative had a banner at the event, as did the hardcore far-right football hooligans of the Chelsea Headhunters. Former members of the proscribed National Action group were also at the Robinson rally.

Robinson, Anne-Marie Walters of For Britain and others stated at the rally that they were attempting to expose the reality of a horrendous child sex grooming scandal in the town — but they were in reality attempting to stir up hatred against the Muslim community and divide the people of Telford and beyond. Islamophobia is at the heart of their agenda.

Every decent, ordinary person wants to see justice for the victims of sexual abuse. Anyone who perpetrates such awful crimes should face justice.

The victims deserve the maximum care and support and need to know that those who have exploited and abused them will pay the price.

Sadly in many areas those in authority — including the police and local councils — are slow to act or listen to the young working-class women when they come forward.

But contrary to the claims of Robinson and co, research shows clearly that no one particular community is disproportionately responsible for this abuse and no one community is specifically its victims.

Robinson cares nothing for the victims of abuse, he cares only for his plans to rebuild the far right and its violent and Islamophobic agenda. His career has been on a downward trajectory in recent years.

The EDL was defeated, marginalised and splintered in the face of mass protests and opposition organised by groups such as Unite Against Fascism and other anti-fascist organisations, faith groups and trade unions.

A more recent period of large-scale support for Robinson saw some 15,000 supporters gather in Whitehall in June, 2018, to “free Tommy” after he was jailed for putting a case against child sex groomers at risk.

He was lauded by the Trump-supporting right in the US and several leading international far-right activists attended or tried to do so.

Republican Congressman Paul Gosar flew in to support Robinson and members of the Trump administration lobbied for his release. Geert Wilders of Holland’s far-right PVV party also joined the rally.

There were severe and violent clashes with the police and the event led to a growing opposition to Robinson and his supporters.

This culminated in a unity anti-racist and anti-fascist protest in December 2018, that saw Robinson and his supporters vastly outnumbered in central London.

His attempts to become an MEP for North West England in 2019 led to humiliation when a campaign headed up by Stand Up to Racism, trade unions, MPs, MEPs and faith groups saw Robinson achieve just 2 per cent of the vote.

The same period saw the rise of the Football Lads Alliance (FLA) and later the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA), emerging as a supposed response to the terror attacks in London and Manchester in 2017.

October 2017 saw thousands of “football lads” march down Whitehall abusing and attacking anti-racists.

The movement very quickly showed its Islamophobic and violent side, hooking up with the likes of Robinson and the rump of Ukip.

Again in the face of mass opposition organised by Stand Up to Racism, the trade union movement and others, the movement split and was driven back.

Since this period Robinson’s fortunes — and the fortunes of the far right — have been in decline, exemplified by his defeat in court in July 2021 at the hands of Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi who won £100,000 in libel damages from Robinson, who declared himself insolvent.

Robinson had alleged that Jamal, who had been violently attacked at school in Huddersfield in West Yokshire, was “not innocent” and that he “violently attacks young English girls in his school.”

Robinson claimed in videos that Jamal “beat a girl black and blue” and that he had “threatened to stab” another boy.

But times could be changing. Telford should be a warning to anti-racists.

The Tories’ appalling handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has left millions of people bitter and cynical.

Just like in the rest of Europe and the US and recently in Canada, the far right has attempted to lodge itself inside the anti-vax and anti-lockdown movement. This has given the disparate fractured elements of the fascist and racist right in Britain hope.

It’s interesting and worrying that “The Light” paper — which has been distributed widely at anti-lockdown events and promotes conspiracy theories — and its YouTube arm, Resistance GB, reported positively on Robinson’s demo on Saturday. Previously they have remained aloof from promoting the far right.

The success of the likes of Chega in Portugal, which made its breakthrough in recent elections, and the potential successes of Eric Zemmour and Marine Le Pen in the upcoming French presidential elections, continues to give the far right hope.

“Surely it can happen here too?” they think.

Robinson and his crew’s attempts to exploit the situation in Telford reflect a strategy by the far right to position themselves as the defenders of forgotten communities.

It is essential that there is no complacency in how we treat the attempts by the fascist and racist right to rebuild.

In a country where the government legitimises Islamophobia — just look at the sacking of Nusrat Ghani — and anti-refugee and anti-migrant racism on a daily basis, there is plenty of fuel for the fire that the likes of Robinson would like to start.

The main field of battle for anti-racists at present is clearly state racism.

The Nationality and Borders Bill — Priti Patel’s channel “pushbacks” and the attack on BLM and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the Police Bill are central issues for us to mobilise against.

But we would be remiss if we underestimate the ability and potential for the fascist right to regenerate and regrow.

On Saturday March 19, internationally and in London and Glasgow (and on March 20 in Cardiff) we are pushing for mass protests to take place to mark UN Anti-Racism Day.

These protests are being organised with the TUC. The link between the mass trade union movement and anti-racist, community and faith organisations was critical in driving back the far right on previous occasions.

It’s just as crucial now in opposing the government’s racist offensive and keeping the far right on the margins.

After two years of the ongoing pandemic, after the explosion of Black Lives Matter and in the teeth of some of the most racist legislation seen in this country for generations, we need to mobilise the anti-racist majority against both the ongoing Tory racist offensive and its denial of the reality of institutional racism and against the nascent re-emergence of the organised racist and fascist right on the streets of Britain.

Johnson’s use of racist and fascist tropes such his attack on Keir Starmer for failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile or, famously, his call to defend the Churchill statue at the height of Black Lives Matter movement legitimises and gives confidence to the far right. This is a very dangerous game.

In the end if the Tories get away with their strategy of divide and rule it will weaken working-class people’s ability to resist the assault on living standards and potentially once again open the door to the racist and fascist right.

Today Stand Up to Racism is organising a major online conference with the TUC Fighting for Anti-Racist Workplaces with an impressive line-up of trade union activists. Join the debate and let’s build for mass protests to mark UN Anti-Racism Day. We are the majority — black and white unite and fight!

* Weyman Bennett is co-convener of Stand Up to Racism. To register for the conference go to mstar.link/SUTR-TUCConf.