Building the Together Against the Far Right national demonstration on 28 March as broadly and widely as possible is an urgent task, argues Cici Washburn

Across the country, people were shocked and horrified at the scale of Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom rally on 13 September last year, the largest far-right mobilisation in British history. With flags displayed up and down the country, visible on every train in London and many knowing someone who attended the rally, it’s become increasingly clear we need an urgent mass mobilisation bringing together broad layers on the streets.

In December, the Together Alliance was launched with its first initiative, a march together against the far right on 28 March, an essential action as the far right and fascists continue to organise.

The left was sizeably outnumbered on the counterprotest on 13 September and kettled for hours, however, since then, there have been several counterprotests in Glasgow, Newcastle and other places where we have outnumbered them. The far right are still emboldened and more vocally anti-left than in recent years; in Falkirk and Bournemouth the far right have picketed trades-council meetings and Your party meetings. In October, fascist Ukip leader Nick Tenconi planned an anti-migrant march to Whitechapel. Socialists, the Muslim community, Palestine and anti-war activists mobilised a massive show of opposition and when the police realised the counterprotest numbers would be huge, it banned the Ukip march, an example of how we make the far right unwelcome on our streets. In the summer of 2024, when riots took place outside hotels housing asylum seekers, there were huge mobilisations against the right from Walthamstow to Liverpool, Brighton and Newcastle.

Counterprotests are absolutely necessary, additionally we also need to organise and mobilise on our own terms; 28 March is timely chance for us to bring together a coalition that broadens and deepens the movement against fascism and the far right ahead of Tommy Robinson’s next march on 16May and ahead of the local elections in May.

Islamophobia is being whipped up not only by Tommy Robinson but also by Farage and Reform, the Labour government, Shabana Mahmoud in particular, and the mainstream media’s obsession with small boats and curbing immigration. This has resulted in a significant increase in hate crimes against the Muslim community.

The May local elections last year saw Reform massively increase its council seats at a scale that wasn’t quite expected and in places with traditionally strong working-class organisation, such as Durham and other Labour strongholds. It’s clear that the decline in working-class living standards, the cost of living and Labour’s continuation of Tory attacks on working-class people, such as the two-child benefit tax and the axing of the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance, is leaving a vacuum for Reform. The Your Party initiative is important in filling this vacuum but even if its trajectory improves, which we are working on and hope it will, a street-led extra-parliamentary mass mobilisation is essential in any case.

For some time, we have needed a strong movement whose sole purpose is to unite masses of people against the far right and the fascists. As socialists, we need to organise a broad, determined and welcoming movement that makes hard class arguments to win people and peel away the softer layers from the fascists and far right.

We need a coalition of trade unionists, socialists, community groups and campaigns, the Palestine movement and many more over this issue. The Together Alliance gives us an important chance of achieving this that we cannot waste. An impressive number of celebrities, musicians, trade unions, the TUC, Labour MPs, The Green Party, campaign organisations, charities, NGOs and many more have signed up to the alliance.

An opposition is needed with tens of thousands on the streets. We need urgently to get every trade-union branch and workplace supporting 28 March, coaches from every area in the country and to mobilise as widely as possible in our localities, the task is urgent and the stakes are high.

From this month’s Counterfire freesheet