Birmingham: Workers and youth outnumber Britain First
Thomas Soud
On Saturday 20 June, Britain First’s national “remigration demo” in Birmingham ended in a humiliating defeat for the far right.
The fascist group had built for this demonstration for months. Last year, they managed to organise only 100 drunks carrying oversized flags.
This year, emboldened by recent far-right riots in Southampton and Belfast, and spurred on by the media’s relentless xenophobic propaganda, they felt they had the wind in their sails. Yet on the day, they mustered a miserable 150 people – bringing far more flags than supporters.
Outnumbered five-to-one by local left-wing organisations, the fascists scuttled off bickering amongst themselves, while deriding their leader, Paul Golding.
The following day, a desperate Britain First announced they were facing bankruptcy, admitting: “Our treasury is totally drained due to the event, and we need urgent assistance to recover.”
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The day was a clear victory for the left, confirming that the social base for fascism in Britain remains tiny.
But victory must not breed complacency. These thugs are being whipped up by far more powerful forces. Having lost the ability to rule through concessions and reforms, the capitalists are relying heavily on divide-and-rule tactics.
Every billionaire lackey – from Farage and the Tories, to Starmer and Burnham – has played the anti-migrant card, making the reactionary layers in society feel increasingly confident.
Even if Britain First collapses, these thugs will reorganise.
Where was the left?
We must be clear: Saturday’s victory occurred in spite of the reformist leadership of the left.
A turnout of 750 counter-protesters is far too small for a city of over a million people, with hundreds of thousands of black, Asian, and migrant workers.
Because of our limited numbers, we were easily kettled by the police, and every attempt to confront the fascists head-on was contained by the 1,000 police officers mobilised.
A decisive victory would require tens of thousands of workers. This was entirely achievable, but the biggest organisations in the labour movement did not lift a finger.
While the counter-protest was endorsed by several major trade unions, few workers were actually mobilised outside the usual layer of activists.
Zarah Sultana, whose constituency is just 20 miles away, remained silent. Ayoub Khan, the Your Party MP whose constituency is a 20-minute walk from where the protest was held, also said nothing.
The Green Party, who sit in the local council cabinet, issued a single statement the day before. They stated they oppose Britain First and urged residents to “continue showing the values that make Birmingham what it is,” but intentionally omitted any mention of the counter-protest, likely not wanting to upset their Lib Dem coalition partners. In the end, Green members organised a bloc of 20.
The ‘strategy’ of these reformist politicians is simple: stay home and let the police do their job. But workers can have no faith in the police. The police are happy to assist the Home Office in anti-migrant sting operations. Even a former West Midlands chief inspector declared that “racist police are on duty every single day.”
How did the communists respond?
Comrades of the RCP highlighted this hypocrisy, chanting “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?” as four activists were thrown into police vans. The answer is clear: they serve and protect a racist, oppressive capitalist system.
Comrades explained that to break through the police lines would require ten times the number of anti-fascists that were out; but this would be extremely difficult to achieve with weak reformist politics that dominates the left today, which offers very little direction for the movement.
Taking inspiration from our comrades in Leeds, the 50-strong Communist bloc also shouted slogans aimed at demoralising the far right, by linking them to the Epstein class: “Protecting women? What do you mean? You’re supporting Epstein!”
While our forces weren’t big enough to lead the demo, we got a good response from a layer of radical young people present. Comrades circulated throughout the crowd, explaining that even if the battle today was won, the class war will continue. Its victory requires revolutionary leadership.
Some of the young people there were entering the struggle for the very first time, and we encouraged them to join our bloc – not just as another voice to chant louder, but as their first steps in the struggle to smash the fascists and the entire capitalist system that spawns them.
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Humiliating defeat for Tommy Robinson in Oxford
Sarah Nankervis, Oxford
Oxford RCP comrades joined the street blockade to stop Tommy Robinson and his reactionary provocations.
Outrageously, he had been offered the platform by the Oxford Union under the usual guise of ‘free speech’ – ever the excuse for spewing lies and hatred that just so happen to divert anger away from the ruling class at the expense of ethnic minorities.
The people of Oxford were not fooled. Many student societies and activist groups condemned the decision by the Oxford Union, and protests were organised by Stand Up to Racism and Oxford Resists.
On the day itself, the police closed St Michael’s Street where the Oxford Union is located, stopping us blocking the entrance itself. The two protests therefore took one end each, coordinating to ensure each side was well guarded. This approach was enormously successful.
Whilst the police intervened to get Tommy himself through, humiliatingly he spoke to a near empty auditorium! The Oxford Patriots also made a brief appearance. We far outnumbered them and they retreated well before the start of the debate which was an easy early win to energised the protesters.
Our side of the street blockade, organised by Oxford Resists, was predominantly militant young people who shouted chants including “Whose streets? Our streets!” and “Oxford is anti-fascist!”
RCP comrades advanced the slogan with “Workers are anti-fascist!” which was picked up by the crowd, and “Tommy Tommy and his crew, he is in the [Epstein] files too!”
Beyond blocking the debate, our aim was to raise the need for political leadership to stop these attacks both on the streets and at its root – the capitalist system.
When comrades tried to make speeches raising these points we were unfortunately shut down by the organisers despite a positive reception among the crowd.
Our victory in Oxford demonstrates the strength of the working class. With proper leadership on the left, the far right would be stamped out for good!
