Pogrom (Russian: devastation or riot)

The press reports describe Belfast residents fleeing their burning homes, set alight by masked men shouting "foreigners out", as a pogrom. The attackers' anger and hopelessness is being stoked by rich and powerful far-right political leaders and the media they have in tow.

We know where this can lead, and we know we must stop it right now. We know because this is our history as well. Our grandparents and their parents fled pogroms that were provoked and orchestrated by governments and political leaders; many lives were lost or irrevocably damaged by those attacks and the even worse persecution that would follow.

The only way to defeat these fascistic atrocities is to give mutual aid and active solidarity to the people who are being victimised and blamed for injustices that are nothing to do with them. So join anti-racist and anti-fascist networks wherever you are. Work within all the communities you are part of – at work, in your families, in your locality. Talk to people you disagree with, who are being drawn towards the far right, about the real problems most people face in times of austerity and cuts to vital services. Support local, national and international initiatives, actions, press campaigns. 

We don't have to learn these lessons from scratch. In 1936, three years before the Nazis occupied Poland, far-right Polish pogromists attacked Jews on the street and set fire to their homes and shops in a small town called Przytyk. The poet and songwriter, Mordkhe Gebirtig, wrote a challenging song about it – Undzer Shtetl Brent/Our Little Town is Burning. It's a call for every person to take action to put out the fire, whatever it takes.

Here are the words of its final verses in Yiddish and English.

Undzer shtetl brent!
S’brent briderlekh, s’brent!
Di hilf is nor in aykh aleyn gevendt.
Oyb dos shtetl is aykh tayer,
nemt di keylim lesht  dos fayer,
lesht mit ayer eygn blut,
bavayzt az ir dos kent.
Shteyt nisht brider ot azoy zikh
mit farleygte hent.
Shteyt nisht brider,
lesht dos fayer –
undzer shtetl brent!

Our town is burning!
It's burning, brothers, it's burning!
Only you can save it.
If your town is dear to you, 
take what you need to put out the fire.
Extinguish it with your own blood.
Show that you can do this.
Don’t just stand there, brothers,
with folded arms.
Put out the fire!
Our town is burning!