In the aftermath of big anti-racist mobilisations, Chris Nineham looks at some of the issues raised by the re-emergence of far-right violence

Criminal disorder or organised racism?

The rioting was coordinated by networks of fascist splinter groups who were emboldened by the success of Tommy Robinson’s 30,000-strong mobilisation in London in July. In some places, protests that were called never happened which shows the limits of these networks. In others, they have managed to connect with groups of embittered local people. In general, this happened in large towns in de-industrialised areas with small ethnic minority populations rather than in the big cities. 

The establishment’s response is to see this as a law-and-order issue. This ignores the fact that it is being organised and that it has political and social roots. The most important of these is that politicians from all parties and the whole of the mainstream media have been spewing Islamophobic and anti-immigrant arguments for decades, making hard racist ideas and especially Islamophobia the common sense amongst some sections of the population. It also ignores the fact that austerity has wrecked services and that many working-class communities have been abandoned, creating a sense of bitterness and desperation in which poisonous ideas can spread.

It is right that the police arrest and charge the perpetrators. But the idea that there is two-tier policing is ridiculous. Hundreds of pro-Palestine activists have been arrested and charged on entirely peaceful protests. Five Just Stop Oil activists were recently sent down for two years for stopping traffic. We should press for the strongest possible sentences for racist violence, but we can’t trust the police and increased police powers will be used against our side if we are not careful. 

Is social media to blame?

Social media makes rapid mobilisations easier. It can help overcome weaknesses in organisation on the ground. It also allows for the rapid spread of propaganda. But this is true for all sides. Social media has been key to mobilising counter-protests too.

The main problem with the online world, like the media in general, is that it is owned and run by the rich and powerful, often by very right-wing sections of the ruling class. Elon Musk who owns Twitter/X has been shamelessly stirring up violence. This means that online platforms tend to favour the right and limit left-wing voices, something we need to challenge in every possible way.

But seeing social media and the spread of fake news as the main cause of the fascist violence is just another way of depoliticising the issue. Fascism of course predates the internet and has always used various forms of mass media, including famously the Daily Mail in Britain in the 1930s. Our side needs to have an effective online intervention, but this depends first on having an effective overall strategy. 

Is this connected to Israel’s assault on Gaza?

There are some who are saying that the violence is being funded and encouraged by Israel. This is a conspiracy theory that doesn’t help us understand what is going on. 

But the issues are connected. Tommy Robinson and other fascist leaders have taken up the cause of Israel not because they are funded by Zionists but because they are, as fascists tend to be, very strong supporters of imperialism. 

They support Israel because they are pro-war and because Israel is conducting a racist genocide against the people they hate most; Muslims. 

They are also driven mad by the fact that so many people have demonstrated shoulder-to-shoulder with Muslims in support of Palestine. We need to make this connection central to the resistance to the fascists. 

The fascists are right to be afraid of the Palestine movement. It is a militant anti-imperialist and anti-racist movement. It is the biggest mobilised force in British society and has majority support. Marshalling this movement against the fascists is crucial to marginalising them.

Should we confront the fascist mobilisations?

The level of violence has been truly appalling in some places and it is important to be very careful in targeted areas. But history tells us that it is crucial to challenge fascist mobilisations and those in the government and the police force who tell people to stay at home and ‘let the police do their job’ are making a big mistake.

This does not mean responding with small groups of tooled-up activists. That can lead to tit-for-tat attacks and won’t make the streets safer. What is needed is the widest possible mobilisation. In many places in the last few days, the fascists and their supporters have been outnumbered and effectively driven out of town. This will have demoralised them and restored confidence to minorities and all anti-racists. It will teach the fascists that they are a tiny minority and will help to strip away softer support from the fascist core.

Polls show that only a small minority of society has any sympathy for racist violence. To widen the mobilisations, we must get way beyond the organised left and contact trade unions, churches, mosques, community groups, and tenants’ associations so that our response reaches deep into working-class communities.

What is the longer-term strategy?

Obviously, this is a fast-moving situation, but there are a few general principles learnt from past struggles that can help guide us. The first is that we need to call the organisers out for what they are – fascists. The polls show that there is much less support for these violent agitators than there is for wider, ‘softer’ racist ideas. A campaign against the fascist Tommy Robinson and others at the heart of this movement, and the Islamophobia they peddle, can strip away their support and block the possibility of a convergence of Reform voters and a hard racist street movement which is the immediate risk. In the process, such a movement will push back against the spread of racist and Islamophobic ideas.

As argued above, this movement needs to be built on the widest possible basis. People have responded to the disgusting scenes of violence brilliantly in the last few days by coming out into the streets in large numbers. But the movement needs to be widened and we must set about making this happen everywhere with particular attention to the areas in which the fascists have managed to get a hearing. Local organising will need to be linked to national mobilisations. The Palestine movement needs to be central to this effort.

Finally, the left has to respond to the social conditions that underlie these events. We have a Labour government that is going to do next to nothing to improve conditions for working people. We need to start mobilising as widely as possible to demand real change; more funding for the NHS, schools and services, the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap, and the reinstatement of winter fuel payments for pensioners. While we confront the fascists, we need to build a left that fights for the interests of all working people.