Tom Porter-Brown, Birmingham City Socialist Students
200 people attended the Birmingham anti-racist demo, and went unchallenged, despite rumours of a far-right gathering. Socialist Party members had engaging discussions with a lot of attendees, and most of them seemed to resonate with our ideas. Many working-class people remain willing to oppose the far right’s racist ideas.
While the far-right riots may have died down, the root cause hasn’t disappeared. Nigel Farage’s voice finds an ear because there is no mass working-class alternative to tackle the real cause of our declining services, economy, and living standards. Farage and Reform can be cut across if we challenge their oppressive ideology, both in discussion and practice.
Counter-protests such as this are a good place to start. We spoke to counter-protesters, making the case for linking the struggle against racism and the far right to wider working-class struggle. A lot of them agreed with our criticism of capitalism. More people are becoming socialists.
Socialist Party youth meeting
We began the day with a meeting to discuss our youth and student campaigns. We shared a lot of good insights – what worked last year, going into the upcoming academic year.
Students face price hikes on all fronts – accommodation, groceries, transport, and potentially tuition fees. New students’ concerns mean they have the potential to be politicised. We address those concerns, whilst also opposing these capitalist policies and attacks.
In order to practically put up an opposition, students need to be active and organised. This is why Socialist Students will hold meetings where we discuss and plan, such as how we can support striking university staff, as well as organising walkouts and demos to put pressure on the student unions and university management.
We also suggested hosting meetings on student movements, both historically – student participation in the Russian Revolution, for example – or more recently, like the Bangladesh mass protests that toppled the government. Or even closer to home, how Socialist Students in Northampton helped win rent refunds after a cost increase.
New students can become politicised more easily when they see that they can win.
