Saturday’s pro Tommy Robinson demonstration in London saw around 15,000 far right activists take to the streets.
The demonstration to defend ‘free speech’ saw anti-racists and the police attacked and Robinson supporters giving the Hitler salute in Whitehall.
Some may dismiss these events as a storm in a tea cup. They may think the football firms and the far right will simply melt away of their own accord.
But this view is mistaken.
Robinson’s imprisonment for contempt of court is giving the far right a focus and a cause.
Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders and former Trump chief of staff Steve Bannon added their support to the ‘free Tommy’ movement.
And while the focus was on Robinson the real target was the Muslim community with Anne Marie Waters (For Britain) and UKIP leader Gerard Batten targeting the Muslim community with their bile.
‘When Robinson’s supporters marched in Leeds they chanted anti-Muslim slogans and days later a Mosque and a Sikh gurdwara were firebombed.
How long before more of Robinson’s supporters act on the message of hate that was spewed from the platform on Saturday?
Stand Up To Racism and Unite Against Fascism brought hundreds onto the streets against the far right on Saturday but we know that was not enough.
There is an old slogan in our movement that echoes down the years from Madrid and Cable Street in 1936, ‘they shall not pass’.
But racists were allowed to march off the leash in central London yesterday. We need far greater numbers to mobilise if we are to avoid a repeat of yesterday’s events.
The anti-racist, labour and trade union movement has to respond to the fact that the racist and fascist right are re-organising in Britain.
We haven’t seen mobilisations on this scale for a generation. We have warned about the growth of the Football Lads Alliance (FLA) and the ‘Democratic’ Football Lads Alliance for months.
Now groups that once said they opposed the fascist right are marching with them.
We have to mobilise against these people. It may start with the Muslim community as the main target but it won’t end there.
The trade unions and the labour movement are obvious targets.
It’s not to late to put the far right back in their place. But that will only happen if we see the danger for what it is and stop this new racist movement in its tracks.
There will be more ‘free Tommy’ protests in the coming weeks. We will be mobilising against the inspirer of the ‘Alt right’ Donald Trump when he comes to Britain.
We need to respond to this growing threat.
