On the back of the racist pogroms organised by Loyalist paramilitaries in Belfast, around 300 masked men went on a rampage through the streets of Glasgow last Tuesday night.
Parading the city centre with their ‘White Lives Matter’ banner, they targeted people based on the colour of their skin, violently attacking three people and abusing and intimidating many more.
They tried to march towards Glasgow Central Mosque, where worshippers had to be locked inside for their own safety. And they were only just prevented from crossing the bridge into Glasgow’s Southside, an area where many black and Asian Scots live, presumably intending to carry out the kind of racist pogroms we saw in the North of Ireland.
The events of Tuesday night understandably left many workers, especially black and Asian workers, fearing for their lives.
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Politicians’ denial
When Police Scotland finally admitted what had happened, the Scottish Parliament was awash with statement after statement that “this does not reflect Scotland’s values”, “racism has no place here”, and “Scotland welcomes refugees”.
But the fact that masked men roamed the streets of Glasgow attacking ethnic minorities shows clearly that racism does exist in Scotland. These cheap words coming from the mouths of politicians do absolutely nothing to keep black and Asian workers safe.
The SNP, Scottish Greens, and Scottish Labour all like to pretend that racism is just an import from Farage and Robinson’s strongholds in England, or from Trump’s America. SNP leader John Swinney, for example, stated:
“That type of behaviour has no place in Scottish society and it will be tackled by Police Scotland. I do blame the Nigel Farages of this world, who stir up racial tension and stir up animosity.”
In the debate in Parliament on Tuesday, both the SNP and Labour also highlighted Elon Musk’s statements on X, and suggested that social media algorithms are the only reason the violence took place.
In reality the thugs who marched through Glasgow on Tuesday night were not imports from other ‘nasty’ countries, but were a small hardened core of Scottish Loyalist reactionaries – the remnants of a sectarian monster created by British imperialism to divide and attack the working class.
Last year, for example, 264 ‘Orange walks’ took place in Glasgow alone, with multiple reports showing that the police refuse to act when there are racist or sectarian attacks by marchers. This is no surprise considering there are strong links and crossovers in membership between the police and these Loyalist reactionaries.
SNP’s hypocrisy
The SNP is different to the Labour Party as it has not followed Reform into the racist swamp by calling for deportations, immigration reforms, and to “stop the boats”.
The SNP’s pro-immigration stance is partly because Scotland is facing issues caused by a declining population; partly in an effort to differentiate themselves from the hated Labour Party; and partly because of the way the independence question has traditionally cut across anti-immigration sentiment in Scotland.
However, just because the SNP aren’t involved in the disgusting migrant bashing that we hear from Westminster on a daily basis does not mean that we should let them off the hook.
Making statements that “racism is bad” and posing for pictures with refugees does nothing to improve the actual lives of black and Asian workers.
While they like to oppose austerity in words, John Swinney and his party has dutifully carried out brutal cuts passed down from Westminster for almost 20 years.
This has created a huge social crisis, with education, housing, and the NHS in tatters, which has in turn provided the fertile conditions that the far right needs to grow.
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Reform’s tug of war
Tuesday’s events have also had a big impact on Reform in Scotland. Their leader, Thomas Kerr faced attacks from within his own party for praising the riots in Parliament, and encouraging people to return to the streets on Wednesday.
Grant Calder, a leading Reform activist in Scotland, was forced to resign after being photographed front and centre in Tuesday’s disorder along with a tweet that “Jews are forcing us to swallow hordes of migrants to dilute our Protestant stock and shatter the Union”.
Reform in Scotland is currently in a tug of war between two different layers; one a small hardened Loyalist base, and another layer which realises they need to distance themselves from these Loyalist reactionaries to have any wider appeal to the working class in Scotland and get elected.
Communist’s response
How should we respond to this threat to the working class? As we have seen, politicians seem to think condemning racism is all that can be done. We need to be clear that this is a complete cop-out and does nothing to protect black and Asian workers.
The Health Secretary and others in Holyrood also urged people to leave the matter to the police. This is the same police force that has Loyalists and racists within its ranks, who murdered Sheku Bayoh in 2015, and who utterly failed to stop the racist mob on Tuesday night.
The police are simply a tool of the ruling class, and workers should have no trust in them to ensure our safety.
These reactionaries cannot be left to rain terror on our streets. Instead they need to be physically confronted and isolated by the mass of the working class who completely oppose their vile views.
The huge demonstration that took place in Glasgow on Saturday shows the real way forward. This massive show of strength saw as many as 7,000 people take to the streets of Glasgow, completely outnumbering around 30 reactionaries, and showing the real balance of forces.
This was a real start, and has moved the far-right mob onto the back foot. But one protest is not enough.
Instead of telling people to stay inside their houses, community leaders should start organising self-defence networks where the mass of workers can defend each other if they come under attack, in the proud tradition of the Battle of Kenmure Street.
