Coordinated antifascist defense has been inspiring, but it must grow to become omnipresent

— Tuesday July 30 saw the start of an uprising of far-right terror on British streets. The Southport Mosque was viciously attacked after a vigil held for the child victims of the Southport stabbings. Despite the attempts of the community to hold a peaceful and respectful vigil for the tragedy, some men who attended that vigil were reportedly intoxicated, aggressive, and gravely inconsiderate of the grief of the loved ones in attendance.

They would soon after go on to attack the local mosque, willingly or unknowingly believing false information that the stabbings had been carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker, and thereby helping to light the kindling for a fascist revolt on the British Isles. The fuel to this flame was the now infamous propaganda campaign, led by some of the British right’s most influential figures.

In the week since, we saw clashes on the streets between these rioters and the police — as well as the antifascist public, who have come out valiantly to defend their communities. Yet the relatively new rebirth and cancerous growth of British fascism was without question not unprecedented, unpredicted or unpreventable.

For years, ethnic minorities and the left in this nation have demanded a fight against British fascism, yet to no avail. The EDL (officially defunct for over a decade), Patriotic Alternative, and the similarly defunct Pie and Mash Squad, all operated in the UK long enough for the British ruling classes to notice and act accordingly. Yet as in eras gone by, the liberal and conservative factions of the political class, with their eye on authority and capital, have drastically failed to protect us, leading to this monstrosity.

It has taken direct violent attacks on holy places, hotels, and black and brown members of the general public, for the government to even attempt to act decisively. Sometimes they failed to do even that, as in Bristol where residents were left as the last and only line of defence against an attack on the Mercure Hotel on Saturday 3 August. Two days later, police similarly failed to prevent the arson attack on the Holiday Inn in Rotherham, which threatened the lives of asylum seekers reportedly housed inside.

Coordinated antifascist defense has been inspiring, but it must grow. British antifascism must become omnipresent and attentive in order for our country and the people who live in it to be safe.

The philosopher Hannah Arendt states in her book The Origins of Totalitarianism: “In each one of us, there lurks such a liberal, wheedling us with the voice of common sense… There is a great temptation to explain away the intrinsically incredible by means of liberal rationalizations”. Indeed, the temptation to overlook fascism when it is on the rise is great, but must be avoided at all costs. That complacent emotional and rational impulse has been followed by the British Conservative and Labour parties and their supporters for nearly a decade and a half now, as during the first rise of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 1930s. It cannot, for the sake of our livelihoods, be allowed to continue.

The only consequence of that realisation, then, is a call to action. It is imperative that every breathing human being that resides on the British Isles seeks to oppose fascism in their community and beyond. Antifascism is essential for a society in which the horrors of fascism are historically apparent, and it is the responsibility of all who are able to do so be engaged in it, in whatever capacity. It is the most important issue of our time, for if we fail to address it, everything we hold dear is at risk.

~ James Horton