TODAY thousands of us are marching against fascist Tommy Robinson. We’re bringing a message of unity, solidarity and hope against his racism and Islamophobia. 

Robinson — real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — wants to be the key figure in the British far right. And he certainly has the fascist past to match. 

In his early days Robinson was a member of the fascist British National Party, led by notorious figures like Nick Griffin. Robinson then went on to found the English Defence League — a violent, far-right street movement that marched against Muslims and attacked trade unions and the left. 

Both the BNP and EDL were consigned to history by the tireless campaigning of anti-fascists in Unite Against Fascism and Stand Up to Racism. We organised countless counter-protests, knocked on doors and mobilised in working-class communities across Britain to counter their politics of hate. 

Now Robinson senses an opportunity to rebuild. He failed to become an MEP in 2019 with an embarrassing 2 per cent vote, and although we have seen flashes of protests with the “Free Tommy” movement in 2018 and the Football Lads Alliance, Robinson has spent most of his time in recent years living off big money donations from the States and sunning himself in Spain. 

The situation now is different. Some people have written Robinson off as a joke, or an irrelevant attention-seeker. This fails to recognise the dangerous situation on the far right. 

Internationally, the fascists and the far right are on the march. The norm in Europe is to see far-right figures winning elections or riding high in the polls. In Italy Giorgia Meloni — the political heir of Mussolini — is prime minister. In France, Marine Le Pen won a national parliamentary first-round election for the first time in June. And in Germany the AfD — an organisation with a neonazi wing — has got around 30 per cent in three regional elections since the summer. Add a possible Donald Trump victory to this picture and you can see why Robinson feels confident to build in Britain. 

In Britain for the first time we have a far-right party in Parliament. Reform UK and Nigel Farage have embraced the rhetoric of the international far right — a toxic mix of Islamophobia, anti-migrant racism and talk of “globalism.”

Meanwhile the Tory leadership is seeing a race to the bottom between Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick — and it will sink lower. 

If a far-right street movement takes off in this context, we face a dangerous situation which could accelerate. A feature of the growth of the far right in Europe — and internationally — is that new formations on the far right can interact with street movements and radically reshape the right. 

This is the case in Germany where the combination of the electoral growth of the AfD alongside the fascist Pegida street movement has meant the AfD has hardened around the politics of its fascist wing.

Although Farage has so far distanced himself from figures like Robinson, his comments during the far-right riots in August gave cover to the idea that the rioters had legitimate concerns about Muslims and migration. And at the recent Reform conference, Farage bragged of making it a mass party, claiming it already had 85,000 members. Local branches will no doubt see every shade of fascist flock to them in the hope of having a pool to fish in to build their base. 

This picture can seem a dark one. But our message on today’s demonstration is that we can stop them. It’s not often Britain sets a good example. But on anti-fascism we can be proud of our record and use our history to build the fight today. 

To do that a number of things are crucial. 

We have to call out the fascists for who they are. Le Pen, Meloni, the AfD and others pretend they have shed their fascist past. Too many commentators take them for their word and refer to them as “post-fascist.” While they are focused on elections for now, the experience of the AfD and Pegida shows they are prepared to let the street movement off the leash. Robinson and Farage is a dangerous cocktail. That’s why it matters we call out the racism of Farage, and also label Robinson as the fascist he is. 

It’s also crucial we mobilise against them. The way we beat the EDL wasn’t by ignoring them or hoping they went away. Across Britain in working-class communities from Dudley to Bolton to Walthamstow we confronted the EDL whenever they marched. And in August this year, the far-right rioters were put on the back foot by the massive mobilisations from Stand Up to Racism. 

Counter-protests have a much richer, longer history. Cable Street 1936 stopped Oswald Mosley and the Blackshirts because anti-fascists stopped them marching. Lewisham in 1977 against the National Front was the same. Big, loud, vibrant counter-demonstrations can push them back and can mean fear changes sides. That’s what we are trying to do today.

This mobilisation and campaigning needs to make no concessions to racism. You don’t beat racism by compromising with it. You beat it by calling out the fascists’ lies and demonisation of migrants and Muslims. That’s why one of our key messages today is that we’re opposing Islamophobia and anti-semitism, and that refugees are welcome here.

We can stop the far right. But we need to get mobilised. We are proud that today’s protest is supported by every major trade union, MPs, Muslim and Jewish groups, socialists, the Green Party and more. We are building a movement of solidarity and unity to stop the far right. Be part of it.

Weyman Bennett is co-convener of Stand Up to Racism.