AS HAS often been said, racists see the problems we face through the prism of race. Socialists should see these problems through the prism of class. It’s only by accepting this that we can truly challenge and defeat fascism and its bedfellow, racism. 

This must be our key demand on today’s counter-demonstration in response to the protest called by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, (aka Tommy Robinson) from his prison cell. 

Let’s not forget he’s in prison for libelling a 15-year-old refugee at a school in Huddersfield, fined £100,000 plus legal costs. He breached an injunction and repeated the libel and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. He is not a political prisoner. He chose to repeatedly libel a child.

Two significant events happened at the end of January. 

First there was the police attack on the pro-Palestine demonstration followed by subsequent arrests. This issue was extensively covered in this paper. 

The curtailment of people laying flowers was no accident. It was to show the left and progressives that they had gone far enough. To show people who perhaps ask questions about potential state and racist violence that they shouldn’t get involved. It is designed to quell the opposition to government policies on many issues, including anti-racism, Palestine and the environment. This should be seen as a nod towards Trump, recently inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States, and a capitulation to to far-right trends in Britain.

Second, Trump’s presidential address confirmed our worst fears. A state of emergency on the Mexican border means that the US army can and will be deployed on US soil. Tens of thousands of people will be rounded up and deported. Many more will follow, perhaps up to ten million. 

Meanwhile the US says it will declare war on Panama if it doesn’t have access to the canal. Sanctions have been lifted against armed gangs on the West Bank, but imposed against Cuba and other Latin American countries, resulting perversely in a bigger push to leave those countries. In withdrawing from the Paris Climate Change Accords, the US shows itself as a global warming denier and feeds the narrative that the green agenda is anti-worker. We have seen this in Britain with far-right actors jumping on people’s legitimate concerns in many cities including London and Oxford. 

The slogan “Make America Great Again” longs for a mythical world. To achieve this Trump and his allies have brought in the billionaires so that they can protect their wealth from the US working class and global competitors such as China. 

Trump’s speeches are marked by the dehumanisation of black immigrants. He attacks Muslims and women as not being American. He has courted white supremacists. We could go on but in Britain, as politicians sit at his knee, racists and fascists will see this as a green light. 

On March 1 Britain First plans to march in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, demanding “remigration.” We are confronted by a spring and summer of far-right protests, not just at hotels as previously, but in our larger cities. 

Elon Musk, Trump’s side-man, seen giving a fascist salute has already showed support for the AfD in Germany which has moved closer to fascism. 

Ukip, now openly fascist, slathers at the thought it may be able to access his money should Reform UK not follow his wish. It is said Musk is funding Robinson’s court cases.

Like the US many people in Britain dream of a nostalgic past where Britain ruled the waves. People understandably want a government that benefits them. That is why there was so much anger when the Waspi women weren’t compensated, and when the winter fuel payment was stopped. The retention of the two-child benefit cap has caused real hardship. The failure over a long time to protect women and girls from sexual predators has become an issue about grooming and rape gangs. As in the US people in Britain are being fed the story that it is not the capitalist state that’s failed but that the problem is caused by people of different cultures.  

As the great Angela Davis said, in a racist society its not enough to be non-racist but we must be anti-racist. In surveys people say they aren’t racist and Britain isn’t a racist society but all the statistics show something different.

I attended an anti-racist TUC conference at the end of last year. It was well-attended and all the contributions emphasised the need to organise in workplaces against the far right. It is important that unions are at the centre of the anti-racist, anti-fascist campaigns. However, unions must do more than put their logos on posters, they must work together across the labour movement, and communities, combatting racism and fascism and this must be more than just on bargaining matters. 

I know this isn’t easy. My own union PCS has had kick-back from some members for both supporting today’s demonstration and opposing Reform UK, but we must do this, particularly at such a dangerous time. We need imaginative education programmes. Bringing people discriminated against through the asylum system into our meetings. Talking and involving people with lived experiences.

All this means that there is no solution without challenging racism and fascism internationally, nationally and locally. We must challenge the growth of online fascism and oppose the political and media consensus which fosters racism, and we must challenge racism in our own communities and workplaces. It means challenging a growing international consensus and the actions of far right players home and abroad. Don’t leave it to someone else!

Our role as socialists and anti-racists is to build a movement which supports pensioners and workers, women and children and our services, health and social. 

We need housebuilding and public investment, plus a requirement to bring public services into public and democratic ownership. This requires a reset democratically so that real power exists in communities taking control of water and energy. Unions must be given power in the workplace, with anti-union companies such as Amazon being proscribed. 

Super-exploited workers from immigrant communities must be covered by the employment rights legislation. We need an anti-racist immigration and nationality system. 

Reform UK demands none of these things. It is a sell-out to the US. It’s a party of big business and bankers in hock to the super-rich. Reform UK wants to sell the NHS and introduce private pensions as an alternative to state pensions. It is anti-union. Our role as socialists and anti-racists is to build solidarity across communities. Solidarity today and with all our anti-racist and anti-fascist struggles.

Tony Conway is a vice-chair of the Communist Party of Britain.