Researcher. Into feminist geographies, youth politics & participation, and oral histories and futures. Views my own. She/her.
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ALT FINAL HEARING THURSDAY 19TH & FRIDAY 20TH OF DECEMBER. Royal Courts of Justice, London. More info via link in bio.
ALT Image of rioters bragging in front of a burning car - text overlain says "here's your 'hostile environment'"
ALT The events of Saturday 3rd August took place in a climate of rapidly accelerating far-right militancy. Before we address its specifics, we feel it is worth presenting our analysis of how this militancy has reached an arguably unprecedented level, at least in the last decade. The current explosion in far-right demonstrations follows the tragic attack in Southport that took the lives of three young girls and injured multiple other children and adults. Immediately, far-right disinformation was spread in local Southport chats that alleged the attacker was a Muslim who came over on a small boat crossing, with neo-fascist groups such as Patriotic Alternative (PA) and the British Movement (BM) seeking to inflame tensions.
ALT This disinformation was deliberate, calculated and blatantly parasitic, with the Southport-based nazi David Adams (who is currently active in both PA and BM) entering the local chat to promote PA before promptly leaving. The riot in Southport saw a police van set on fire outside of a mosque in an attempt to burn it down, and subsequent protests in Hartlepool, Hull, Liverpool and unfortunately Manchester have seen direct attacks on Mosques and Muslims despite the confirmation coming that the attacker was a Christian born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents: everywhere however has seen a dramatic upsurge in racist and fascist violence both around and outside of the demonstrations. In light of this blatant lie, the far-right have doubled down on their racism, arguing that it's no longer even about Southport but a generalised cry to protect the figural women and children from an imagined 'invasion' of 'fighting age males.'
ALT Notably, these demonstrations have been predominantly male, and have seen an alarming amount of youth get sucked into violence through influence from fascist adults that will inevitably lead to criminalisation and further radicalisation towards the right. We therefore understand this movement as having moved past it's oppourtunistic parasitic phase, where a tragedy was shamelessly used to propel the fascist movement: it has now entered a period where the fascists no longer 'need' Southport, but will reference back to it as part of a wider political 'justification' that also includes events, figures and positions like the Romani resistance in Harehills, Tommy Robinson's supposed 'persecution' and deliberately manipulated figures about migrant crime rates. The media and government’s coverage of these far-right thugs as ‘protesters’ is a calculated decision to legitimize their ‘concerns’ obscuring the fascistic nature of their views which risks emboldening and normalizing their tactic
ALT With regards to Manchester on Saturday, we saw the extent of the state's response to the upsurge in far right militancy: Keir Starmer's new police powers that followed Southport were fully applied to antifascists and ultimately led the GMP to facilitate the violence of the far right demonstration. From the beginning, multiple crowd control pens were set up that neither demonstration entered, and this meant that antifascists spent the entire day kettled by the GMP with helmets, batons and padded gloves ready, alongside intelligence gathering officers and mounted police behind them for any breaks. The GMP were far more concerned with protecting the fascists 'right' to march and harass marginalised communities in the centre of Manchester. In the second half of the day, Hijabs were forcibly removed and Muslim women spat on, whilst crowds chanted "Allah is a pedo:" this was entirely preventable.
ALT A BBC image of police in riot gear and a headline saying LIVE: More than 90 arrests after violence erupts at several UK protests”
ALT Picture shows a calendar with the date July 12th on. And underneath it says Manchester 10 Appeals - Royal Courts of Justice
ALT ANTI RACIST SOLIDARITY - Adam Elliott-Cooper (BLMUK & Author), Chloe Cousins (Rainbow Noir & Colours of Youth), and Sara Bafo (NME & 4Front) will deliver the opening session and support us to build a collective understanding of anti-racist solidarity and how all struggles are interconnected. We will explore how we can all be in solidarity with each other, looking back in history, and looking forward to the future, as we dream together about how we achieve liberation.
ALT WORKING CLASS COMMUNITY ORGANISING - Join Kerry Pimblott (Historian & UoM) and Pascale (Northern Police Monitoring Project) on a short walk to the Ascension Church in Hulme, a historic site of working class community resistance. There will be a special focus on the Viraj Mendis campaign, and we will visit the archive room where you will see how anti-racist solidarity was built in the community by a range of people around immigration, working class identities and policing.
ALT ACTIVISM, SOLIDARITY AND CREATIVITY - Creativity is an act of resistance and solidarity. As we build power against the harms we face, we must be creative in how we build solidarity as we work towards our freedom. Mea Aitken (Kids of Colour) and Amie Kirby (Crip Culture Collective) share their experiences as young activists and invite you to talk about the things you care about and get creative making placards to take home or to your next protest.
ALT BEARING WITNESS IN ACADEMIA - Lauren Wroe (Social Workers Without Borders) and Patrick Williams (MMU) explore their work in universities and how they use their positions as academics to produce materials which supports resistance work in communities. This workshop will allow you to think about your journey through education, and explore how you can use or exploit the education system to engage in work that is in solidarity to social justice movements.
ALT image of a tram in Manchester city centre. Over the image in Reclaim's logo, the listen up campaign logo and text that reads 'The future is increasing hard for working-class young people'
ALT SOLIDARITY DAY Kids of Colour is hosting a Solidarity Day! A day of mobilising, critical thinking, and informal education for young people aged 16-25* of all 'races' from across Greater Manchester. The world feels scary right now, but we have power in each other, so let's come together to learn, organise and eat! The day will be grounded in anti-racism, unconditional solidarity, radical approaches, love for community, and of course, HOPE. FIND OUT MORE
ALT JOIN US! We welcome 50 young people to join us. If you're interested but this kind of thing is new to you, try it out, we've got you! When: 28th May, 1030am-5pm Where: Hulme Garden Centre Who: Young people of all races and backgrounds from/in Greater Manchester, aged 16-25 (we can make younger age exceptions if we know you already) Cost: It's free! Food provided and transport supported if needed
ALT THE DAY We've got lots of sessions for you to choose from, delivered by organisers, activists, and community members. Anti-Racist Solidarity: Our Connected Struggles Explore anti-racism and how we can all be in solidarity with each other, as we look back in time at resistance work and forward to our future Unions and Working-Class Solidarity Learn about the Viraj Mends campaign and how solidarity was built by people in Hulme around issues of immigration, working class identities and policing MORE
ALT THE DAY We've got lots of sessions for you to choose from, delivered by organisers, activists, and community members. Placard Making Get creative, come and talk about the things you care about and transfer reflections onto placards to take to your next demo Prison Abolition Come and dream about communities free from cages, and why we need solutions that centre care MORE
