Nick Chaffey, Southampton Socialist Party

500 joined Southampton’s ‘Unity Demonstration’ to oppose the far right marching on 25 October. Once again the far right were outnumbered.

Anger has grown at the weekly far-right protests at a local asylum hostel and the rise in racism. Recently, a flare was thrown through an open window in the hostel, and dozens of taxis were vandalised in Bevois, where there is a large Asian and Muslim population.

The far right threatened to march through Bevois. But the police were forced to change their route due to counter-protests from anti-racism campaigners, the community, and trade unions. Therefore, we marched from near the asylum hostel through Bevois to the town centre.

Many taxi drivers joined the protest, alongside other trade unionists. Socialist Party members helped Southampton Trades Union Council send out an appeal to back the anti-racist demonstration. On the day, there were activists from CWU, Napo, Unite, Unison, GMB and PCS union.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) campaign for “jobs and homes, not racism” has to be built to unite workers against the scapegoating rhetoric of the right. We must build wider trade union support for the taxi drivers, whose vehicles have been vandalised. Many of the drivers are in the GMB union.

Many students joined the march. Socialist Students had called on the Southampton University Student Union to back the march.

Local taxi driver, trade union rep, and Socialist Party member Ali Haydor said at the rally: “The far right seek to terrorise asylum seekers and Muslims. We need to stand together.

“And we need to do the politics. Because if we don’t, the politics will do us.

“That means we call on our Labour councillors to ditch Starmer, or we will ditch you. We need to unite for jobs and homes, not racism.” Ali’s words received loud cheers and applause from all who were there.

100 attended a Your Party meeting the next day. Many there had been at the demonstration.

Nadia Ditta – Bevois candidate for the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) in 2024, who got 32% of the vote for her anti-cuts, anti-war message – spoke, as did Southampton Trades Council president and NHS worker Maggie Fricker.

Both spoke on the need for a clear anti-cuts alternative that fights for the funding we need to deliver a people’s budget to restore jobs and services in the city. The meeting agreed to lobby the council pre-budget meeting in November.