Listen: The Debrief – race riots, trade union resistance and lessons from history
The scale of the far-right presence in Bristol this summer caught trade unionists – as it did many people – by surprise.
Matt Hollinshead, a local organiser, went as far as telling journalist Adam Quarshie that “quite disastrous complacency” had hampered the response on 3 August, when hostile groups laid siege to a city-centre hotel known to house asylum-seekers.
Since the race riots, as this week’s Debrief guest Adam wrote recently, unions have begun getting their act together and founded an anti-racist taskforce, designed to coordinate demonstrations opposing the far-right across the South West.
But the reporting – part of the Cable’s This Better Work series exploring workers’ rights and industrial action – did not simply chronicle the steps taken by trade unions to stand up to fascism.
It also posed chewy questions about what unions’ role in anti-fascism should be – and whether they need to look inwards as well as out. For instance, while highlighting the government’s role in stoking animosity towards migrant workers, Adekunle Akinola, vice-chair of the Unison Black members self-organised group in the South West, pointed out that unions could also do more to show their support for these workers.
Nor have unions always set an example, with some having embraced racist policies in the past, while the far right has also previously targeted their membership – historically comprising large numbers of white working-class people. This is the same demographic being presented, in a way often woefully lacking in nuance, as being at the centre of anti-migrant activity in the UK.
But what does history say about the sources of fascist agitation in this country? What has organised labour’s response been to past race riots? And what should unions be doing now in order to play a meaningful role in pushing back a resurgent far right?
Join Adam Quarshie and your Debrief host Priyanka Raval for a fascinating deep dive into these questions and more.
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