Our streets, our communities

It is intolerable that migrants living in stressful and difficult conditions, many seeking sanctuary from torture, war and hunger, should now be so terrified of marauding racists and fascists that they don’t dare to leave their homes. Across the country, people have given practical and symbolic support to all the people and communities who are being targeted. Neighbours and supporters have come together to organise clean-up operations and demonstrations of solidarity, and a movement is coalescing to reclaim our streets and protect our diverse and vibrant society.

Jewish Socialists’ Group members, alongside many other Jewish people are part of this broad-based movement. We will not allow fascism to take hold again: we will challenge it online, in the media, on the streets, in our localities, in Westminster, nationally and internationally. This means not only demonstrating but working to end the austerity, gross inequality and corruption that are leaving so many people in despair, attracted to simple answers and vulnerable to being drawn into far-right movements, and analysing the history, politics and economics of what is unfolding. John McDonnell MP has written with great clarity and empathy in Labour Hub on how the far right are organising and what is attracting people to them. And David Rosenberg’s article in the Morning Star  looks at what we can learn from the past and what we need to create for the present and the future.

The Jewish Bloc participated in a rally against a frighteningly large far-right mobilisation in central London on 27th July. David Rosenberg spoke on behalf of the Jewish Socialists’ Group.

There was a visible presence of Jewish antifascists at a Hands Around Finsbury Park Mosque solidarity rally on 10th August, which gave a platform to many local people, including a speaker from a local progressive synagogue, to describe their experiences and responses to the far-right threat.

In North Finchley, an area with a big Jewish community, despite active discouragement from the local MP, Sarah Sackman (who also knows her Jewish history), thousands of antifascists occupied the High Street, while the couple of far right demonstrators, one elegantly draped in a St George flag, skulked on the opposite pavement, huddled up to a police officer. The antifascists included representatives of the JSG and Na’amod, along with many other Jewish individuals.

Walthamstow, which has a great and honourable tradition of driving the fascists out of their area, had a massive demonstration, which included antifascists from across north London. As in Finchley, Waltham Forest’s MP, Stella Creasy, was negative about the protest beforehand, then claimed glory for her constituency’s instant and massive expression of mutual commitment to maintaining a peaceful and diverse community.

All of these protests have included people of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs, some of whom spontaneously left their homes to protect not just their neighbours but the very nature of our varied society.

This pattern has been repeated across the country, from Scotland to the South Coast – a reassuring and welcome sign that we can create a lively, inclusive movement.