Report from Newcastle upon Tyne and Hull, 27th Oct
A mass of flag waving was threatened to descend upon the people of Newcastle last Saturday, as thousands upon thousands were promised to be led / manipulated by xenophobic nativists.
This claim, through the convergence of UKIP, Advance UK and the so-called ‘Great British National Protest’, didn’t seem as quite as ridiculous as past such threats. For the far right has been buoyed up nationally by a number of recent governments, hell bent determined to be an enabling force at every turn. While the likes of the very wealthy, journalists and social media, endlessly platform their claimed grievances and “othering” of members of our class.
The recent result, a very large and concerning turnout in London, beamed into our homes for all to see and to be nauseatingly endured by that city’s residents.
Concurrently, there still is the flying of seemingly endless daft bits of material on a variety of streets up and down the country but mostly around roundabouts going nowhere. Then there’s the spraying of graffiti, mostly on bins for dog waste, if local experience is anything to go by. All this together provides a further intimidating feel for working class communities, both locally and wider afield. Dog shit politics, anyone?
However, in Newcastle, as midday arrived, rumours / excuses(?) spread of “coaches breaking down”, one wannabe leader living it up, lounging about on the continent – yet again, another failed one / “actor” turning up desperately trying to appear relevant, and a march planned ironically in the middle of a boat race; maybe all was not as could have been or as feared?
In the end, on the day, the far right mustered a paltry 300 in the Toon, compared to the counter demonstration’s number of around 12 to 15X that. Only stopped from being run out of the city by numerous lines of uniformed agents of the state, the far right was reduced to trying to claim “victory” by carrying out a mini march in undercover of near darkness as their main planned one was stopped, countered, re-routed and countered again, several times over.
Meanwhile, a number of those on the counter in Newcastle, shouted about the rightists, “Not being even able to stop a boat race!” This too embarrassed smiles and nervous laughter from some of the less hardcore, probably more confused younger ones with national flags? Whilst others on the counter demonstration asked the nationalists where they thought their flags were made and didn’t that show the whole thing to be at best, ridiculous?
Then, on the day, there were a handful of Kippers with religious crosses seemingly knocked off from some crap car boot sale around the MAGA movement in the US. More nationalists, with endless flags, engaged in strangely dull monotone speeches, lacking both wit and intonation, polluting the aural experience for those just out an about in town. One of these Tannoy based characters is known for being detained recently, for, “nutting their own side”. To top it all, spectators of the boat race had joined in the opposition, telling the wannabe marchers to “piss off”, for disrupting their viewing pleasure of the Tyne.
Much to the relief of many on Tyneside, the whole thing appeared at times to be pure farce!
Yet not only were several people arrested on the counter demonstration in Newcastle, some for apparently not telepathically understanding orders to disperse but the underlying pressures, locally and beyond, remain intensely difficult.
This is shown by those endless vitriolic attacks upon refugees by both government and national commentators throughout the country. It was also shown locally by the fact that those owning the venue that eventually hosted the Advance UK launch near the Quayside by the Tyne, also own the refugee hotel near the city centre that has been subject to demonstrations by the far right and naive, week after week after week. Where there’s muck and dirty dealings, there’s brass alright for those with capital, in this system.
Locally through to internationally, years of attacks upon our class, crises in capitalism, atomisation, quietism on the class struggle front, immiseration / flatlining or even falling living standards, have enabled a vacuum and space to appear for the hard and far right to exploit.
Having no scruples about empowering a divide and rule agenda to deflect from not offering an optimistic future, state and capital have opened up a chasm to be occupied by those who even appeared to want a 21st century style nation-wide pogrom against refugees last year, as decaying occupied hotels were set alight.
This all then further fuelled by social media, their billionaire owners and ever tweaked algorithms, so the forces of intense reaction have hit new heights – both electorally and also now as a (re)emerged street force, based on nativism, nationalism and bitter xenophobia. Throughout the UK, continental Europe and beyond, this appears the case. On the day however, the situation in Newcastle offered some very welcome optimism and the opportunity to catch up with and stand with comrades and our wider community. It provided at least, that collective sigh of relief.
This situation though will likely be only temporary. As comrades on the same day in Hull reported, the reality, countrywide, is variable at best.
For in Hull, the counter gathering was unfortunately outnumbered as a far-right rally hit the city. Around 100 far right gathered although accurate figures were difficult to assess, as the area also had a large number of the public around, wondering what all the fuss was about?
The static counter demo by Stand Up To Racism had around 30 people. Despite this, 6 comrades who refused to join the static counter demo stood firm whilst also mingling with the far right and public, chatting to some people nominally on “the other side”, to try to get them to peel away. This then, those who were on the edges of the right rally and who were perhaps still able to question what is happening and see through how they are being used and manipulated?! The far-right stewards (feeling important in the high-vis waistcoats) were not happy with this and kept rushing over to try and bully both our comrades and those they were talking too.
It is one thing to stand there with confidence as you vastly outnumber the opposition, it is quite another to try and positively confront the situation in your local area, when you are clearly outnumbered yourselves.
As both last weekend and recent events throughout the country and beyond have clearly shown, as a class we cannot rely on those in power, nor on our current socio-economic system, to offer us any solution. In fact, they and this current system fuel the attacks we face.
Let’s face it, the far right internationally are fake rebels and represent literally a defence mechanism for capital and state in times of crises. Fantasies about liberal democracy being any kind of answer to this, are clearly that, fantasies!
To effectively confront and resist, we must unify as a class, locally and internationally. We must stand with our communities, especially those on the sharp end of being attacked and “othered”. We need to meet, discuss and stand with comrades and potential comrades, and help enable where we can, others in our class to resist a disastrous agenda.
It is a massive task but still not an impossible one. Whilst we may appear small and relatively weak at the present time, the struggle can take twists and turns, and our class can still show impressive determination in the face of those who dream of further oppressing us.
Wherever we find ourselves, we must collectively turn the tables now by organising, discussing, meeting, and standing firm on a definite anti-capitalist, internationalist basis. It is only with the ending of capitalism and state internationally, that the threat of the far right will be ended and our prosperity and even existence ensured.
Locally, nationally and internationally, we must engage with offering a far more optimistic future, where we are able class wide, to challenge exploitation, resist manipulation and confidently stand together in solidarity; stand for a world of liberty and equality.
A failure to do so hardly bears thinking about!
AnarCom Network 