Women at the forefront of the fightback against racism
Around 1,000 people came together for the online launch of the Women Against the Far Right campaign on Thursday evening. The event was organised by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR).
SUTR national organiser Samira Ali said, “We want to build a movement of women pushing back against the far right”.
She said, “The Labour government is parroting a racist agenda, giving confidence to a street movement. The far right is trying to mobilise in the name of women’s safety. We think this is despicable. We’ve had enough.
“It is not refugees who are making us unsafe, it is exactly the people on the far right.”
Throughout the meeting, speakers criticised the hypocrisy of the far right’s claims to be protecting women and girls.
Sabby Dhalu spoke about SUTR’s investigations that have revealed the true face of the far right, explaining that “many men on the far right have convictions for violence against women.”
She said their “racism undermines the struggle for liberation of all women, and undermines the eradication of these horrific crimes.”
The rally was addressed by longstanding anti-racist and MP Diane Abbott. She said that “sadly, the Labour Party leadership is not saying what it should—that migrants are not a threat to women.”
She added, “Women must be in the vanguard of the fight against the far right.” And “fortunately, we are very much up to it.”
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy called out the hypocrisy of the far right’s claims to protect women. She said, “I don’t recall the far right marching outside police stations after a serving, white police officer kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard.”
“It seems their concern is only for victims of violence against women and girls when the perpetrator is a person of colour.”
Apsana Begum MP said that “persecuting refugees and having anti-migrant scaremongering does not benefit people in Britain. It does nothing to address the cost of living crisis, it does not fund the NHS or increase wages or solve the housing crisis. It will have no impact on household bills or on child poverty.”
Economist Grace Blakeley slammed neoliberal politics. She said that neoliberalism has “convinced us that we are alone, that we have to compete to survive and that no one is going to help us.”
She added, “We have to show that there is another option. The only way people will ever feel powerful again in an economic system that is designed to crush them, is to come together in their communities, in their workplaces and on the streets. We need to take on the people who are really in charge—the billionaires and the politicians.”
The rally was addressed by the band Nova Twins, who gave a testimony of their experiences of racism in the music industry and their fight against it.
They called on everyone to take their anti-racism into all areas of their lives and encouraged those attending to build Love Music Hate Racism.
Teacher and president of the NEU education union Sarah Kilpatrick told the rally about the impact the online far right is having on students. She said the right’s lies “have taken hold in such an enormous way”.
She slammed the defunding of education and the “destruction” of education for working class students. She said that “the lack of optimism is tangible. And it leads children to really unpleasant places.”
Sarah said that “the trade union movement is incredibly powerful if it is led by its activists.” She implored people to “get organised in your workplace, in your trade union and harness the power that you have as a worker. Because that is the only place I’m seeing hope right now.”
All the speakers spoke about the need to take to the streets on Saturday to stand against fascist Tommy Robinson and his “festival of hate” in central London.
Fanning the flames of Islamophobia and racism is hardly restricted to the far right
An interview with Minnesota-based trade union organiser Todd Dahlstrom
Reports from anti-racists in Bradford, Croydon and Southampton
