Collective mass action defends our democracy, and is the answer to both government repression and nihilistic despair, argues David Jamieson

The appalling attack on worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester has rallied people across communities against antisemitism. In the city and throughout Britain, offers of support and appeals for unity against violence and racism were the rule. A statement from the Manchester Council of Mosques reflected the tone: ‘Any attempt to divide us through violence or hatred will fail – we remain united in our commitment to peace and mutual respect.’ We echo those sentiments.

At the top of society, however, the attack was quickly and cynically seized upon as a means to stigmatise and repress dissent. The beleaguered Labour government will grasp at any opportunity to relieve the pressure on it from many sides, and has a track record of repression to this end.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has called for people not to protest against the government’s repressive measures at the weekend, calling such criticisms of government policy ‘un-British’, and threatening the use of even more police restrictions on the freedom of speech and assembly. The Gaza solidarity movement is right to dismiss these calls.

The Defend our Juries campaign has announced that it will go ahead with its London protest against the proscription of Palestine action. The Stop the War Coalition and other groups are also continuing with protests against the Israeli detention of members of the Sumud flotilla attempting to break the siege of Gaza, including several British citizens.

Our rights to protest and speak against our own government’s foreign and domestic policies is non-negotiable. The Gaza solidarity movement is at the forefront of the fight to defend our basic democratic rights. It has seen the most extraordinary efforts of repression in modern British political history, including mass arrests, the targeted police harassment of its leaders, and repeated attempts to ban its marches, all of which have failed. The movement has already toppled one former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, and helped another, Mahmoud’s predecessor, Yvette Cooper, on her way. These have been landmark victories in the defence of all our rights.

We will never accede to the inherently racist idea that criticism of the state of Israel, or of the Gaza genocide, is an attack on Jewish people. This conflation by the establishment is a dangerous canard. The horrors of Gaza do not reflect the will of Jewish people, but the vicious and self-serving politics of Western governments. When our movement, including many thousands of Jewish people, takes to the streets, it is to place the blame firmly where it belongs: with Starmer, Trump and Netanyahu. That is why the government wishes to repress the movement.

Recent years have seen a rise in so-called ‘lone wolf’ style violent outrages from various quarters; some attached to specific ideologies, others expressing no coherent worldview at all. Attacks on places of worship have been a particular focus of this trend, with mosques and synagogues at particular risk.

It is a grim sign that some are turning their back on the project of collective social progress. Political action, free speech, mass democracy, universalism: this is the socialist answer to the nihilism and bigotry of this phenomenon.

State repression, the stigmatisation of political debate and the sowing of paranoia and enmity between communities will do nothing to combat this danger, and much to make it worse. We need to unite people behind common values, at a time when the state, the government and the right are seeking to drive us apart.

This is why we will accept no curtailment of our rights to assemble and speak. The stakes for all of us are too high.