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Scotland rallies as the right rises
CONRAD LANDIN argues the power of the trade union movement stands it in perfect stead to fight fascism
Demonstrators in George Square, Glasgow, for the Scotland United Against Trump protest against the visit of US President Donald Trump to Britain in July
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THOUSANDS will gather in Glasgow today for the annual St Andrew’s Day anti-racism demo.
The STUC has published messages of support for the march from all five party leaders in the Scottish Parliament. It’s a testament to Scotland’s progressive political culture that a union-organised rally can attract such broad political support.
But there’s also much to be worried about. Only this month the BBC invited former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to speak at a conference in Edinburgh. Mr Bannon has become the figurehead for the prejudice and racism of the alt right.
“Let them call you racist,” he told a far-right crowd in France earlier this year. “Let them call you xenophobes,” Steve Bannon continued. “Let them call you nativist. Wear it as a badge of honour.”
Anti-Irish racism has also been in the spotlight following Hibs manager Neil Lennon’s brave decision to call it out for what it is.
Meanwhile last month English Defence League founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, aka Tommy Robinson, posed for photographs with pub bouncers and taunted anti-fascists on a trip to Glasgow. Just this week, Ukip leader Gerard Batten announced that Yaxley-Lennon will be his new adviser on “rape gangs and prison reform.”
Make no mistake, the far right has a new confidence – in Britain and across the world.
Today’s demonstration should serve a reminder that the fight to resist this has always been most successful when it is rooted in organised labour. It was trade unions and the broad left which brought communities together to resist Oswald Mosley’s fascists at Cable Street. Today, trade unionists are at the core of Football Lads and Lasses Against Fascism (FLAF), the movement being built to counter the racist thugs and carpetbaggers of the Football Lads Alliance.
For trade unions, anti-racism is not just another campaign to support. It can form a cornerstone of workplace organising. And the fight against austerity, led by Britain’s labour movement, can tackle the causes of prejudice at source – and fight back against divide and rule tactics.
In her message of support for today’s demo, Ruth Davidson hails Scotland as an “open, tolerant and welcoming society.” I must have missed her condemnation of her party’s Westminster leadership for whipping up racial tension and encouraging citizens to turn on each other.
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