Katie Tulloch, Brighton Socialist Party
The far right were vastly outnumbered in Brighton on 13 June, with their planned march failing to take place. An estimated 300 far-right protesters were met with at least 4,000 people as part of an organised counter-protest.
The far-right group had planned to march through the city and had announced several speakers including UKIP leader Nick Tenconi and co-founder of Raise the Colours, Ryan Bridge. These speeches were prevented from taking place. While police attempted to let the far-right group march, they were met each time by thousands of protesters blocking every possible route from the main station.
The small group was blocked under the railway bridge on Trafalgar Street, only a few metres from the station’s entrance, for over an hour. They were refused entry into numerous pubs, before being escorted back to the train station by Sussex Police.
A number of participants in the counter-protest, referred to as a ‘Carnival Against Fascism’, gathered along Queens Road dancing and listening to music, including a free set from local DJ Fat Boy Slim.
Socialist Party members took part in the counter-protest, initiating discussions with young people about the importance of working-class unity in the fight against austerity and racist division.
We spoke about how the anti-racist, working-class majority in society can combat the rise of cynical racism and anti-migrant rhetoric as establishment parties continue to collapse. We put forward that trade unions should use their strength of over 6.5 million members to launch a mass struggle against Labour austerity and fight for ‘jobs, homes and public services not racism.’
Other counter-protesters agreed that trade union leaders should not use fighting Reform as an excuse to continue to back Labour. The working class has abandoned Labour because Labour has abandoned them. To successfully defeat racist and anti-migrant politics, we must build a workers’ party committed to fighting in the interests of the working-class majority.
