Lindsey German considers the bigger picture as our side advances

The fascists’ continued attempts to mobilise with their messages of hate against migrants and Muslims were dealt a major blow last Wednesday when huge crowds of counter demonstrators turned out on the streets, stopping a repeat of last weekend’s pogroms in places like Rotherham and Liverpool and making it very clear that a majority of people did not agree with them.

Thousands on the streets in town after town and across parts of London meant the right either did not turn up or were completely and humiliatingly outnumbered everywhere. Right wing papers like the Daily Mail praised those who turned out to demonstrate against them in what was a remarkable level of consensus from bourgeois media, which has done its best to encourage and amplify some of the scapegoating of migrants.

Demonstrations on Saturday also appear to show that the wind has gone out of the far right’s sails at least for this current phase of mobilisation. There were very large mobilisations of anti-fascists while only a few if any miserable specimens of the supposed master race turned up at designated demonstration points.

But we would be very foolish to believe that this is anything other than a temporary setback from which those like Tommy Robinson, fascist groups like Patriotic Alternative and behind them the shadows of Nigel Farage, Lee Anderson and Richard Tice, are at this very moment trying to find ways to recover.

The problem that they have is that most people – including many who might have some racist views on migration – do not like arson attempts on hotels housing migrants, do not like physical attacks on Muslims, and do not want the far right ideology to take hold.

So it is hard for the right to get support when it shows its true colours. However we should not be complacent: far right ideas are growing in many countries because of the failures of neoliberalism, the attacks on working class living standards, the destruction of public services, including public housing. The failed system is increasingly turning towards a form of liberal authoritarianism which is hated by those suffering.

Those politicians and media so aghast at the far right riots have themselves paved the way for this situation by stressing the ‘problem’ of refugees, and by demonising and insulting the Muslim community. So those on the left have to be independent of those forces, stressing that racism and fascism cannot be fought in conjunction with those who have helped to create and support the system on which they feed.

Keir Starmer has swung into authoritarian action demanding more policing and prison sentences, and claiming this is what has succeeded in stopping the fascist actions. He and his ministers do not want to give any credit to the counter protests or to protest in general. Some media outlets compare the peaceful counter protests to the hate marches on left and right – referring to the Palestine marches which have never been anything other than peaceful and aimed at stopping a genocide. In this they represent the best of humanity as opposed to those who terrorise people who have already suffered more than most of us can imagine.

The left must beware of false friends here and chart a path away from those who profess to oppose racism but while at the same time ignoring it when it suits them.

The anti-fascist protests of the past week were composed of a range of different forces including many who had been on the Palestine demos. A number chanted Palestine slogans and waved Palestine flags. They understood that the far right has been campaigning against our demos from the beginning and used the lies about them to boost their Islamophobia. Therefore Palestine is in the mix here when it comes to fighting against racism and fascism and it cannot be ignored.

The Jewish Chronicle is trying to prevent such protestors being on the anti-fascist marches, claiming their flags and chants will drive Jews into the hands of Tommy Robinson. This is offensive and dangerous nonsense. If Jews want to back Robinson – and most of them will not – this is because they have right wing politics and support the apartheid system created by Israel against the Palestinians. Those showing solidarity with Gaza should not be blamed for this.

Worse, the racists and far right gaining traction in much of Europe at the moment also support Netanyahu and his attacks on the Palestinians. The Melonis, Le Pens and Farages all back the Islamophobia which has become such a part of the demonisation of the Palestine movement. So it isn’t rocket science to see how important linking the issues is. Of course there are some people who oppose racism but don’t support Palestine solidarity. But just as we had to win the argument about why opposition to apartheid South Africa was crucial for all anti racists so we have to put that argument again in calling for a vibrant movement from below which links racism, fascism and imperialism.

Of course you don’t have to sign up to anti-imperialism, Palestine solidarity or indeed socialism to be an anti-fascist. But there has to be an element within the anti-racist movement putting those arguments in order to win people to the understanding that capitalism and imperialism are very much part of the problem here.

In a week where Netanyahu has committed another atrocity by massacring people including many children at a school in Gaza, and where he is gearing up for a much bigger war with Lebanon and Iran, it is the very least we can do.

This week: I will be attending the emergency demo against the latest killings in Gaza on Monday night in Whitehall, going to a planning meeting on zoom of Glasgow Stop the War, and watching what is happening in the Middle East with some trepidation.