The man who slashed a dinghy in the English Channel this summer is now awaiting trial. Meanwhile, Tommy ‘Ten Names’ Robinson is showing no signs of shutting up. Nigel may have slipped down the greasy polls, but that’s partly due to being outflanked on the right by Hangman Rupert. Meanwhile the AfD is on the march in Germany, the National Rally leads the race in France, and Vox is popular in Spain. Brazil looks to be getting another Bolsonaro. And from his platform on high, Elon cheers on all of the above.
In short, the far-right is on the rise. So what to do about it? Chant “Nazi scum off our streets” at them? By all means, but we thought it might be more interesting to look back at some other peaks of far right activity in Britain, and speak to some of the people who fought it. Maybe there’d be some insights, and tips.
The battle of Cable Street, which halted Oswald Mosley’s march through east London, was too long ago (it celebrated its 90th birthday last weekend); if anyone who was there is still alive, I didn’t find them. Likewise I was hoping to find someone from the 62 Group, formed in that year after a resurgence of fascism and antisemitism, but again no luck.
Five years later, in 1967, an 11-year-old named Tariq came from Pakistan to live in Bradford, and immediately experienced the racism that would lead him to become a founder member of the Asian Youth Movement and the United Black Youth League, before he was arrested as part of the Bradford 12. I caught up with Tariq Mehmood via video call from Beirut where he teaches. There weren’t any bombings that day, but earlier in the summer the windows of his apartment shook with Israeli strikes.
We wanted to find people from different times, and who had fought the far right in different ways. So I spoke to Red Saunders, who wrote the letter that led to the birth of Rock Against Racism, and Richard Buckwell who, when the National Front began to target football grounds on match days, started Spurs Against Nazis. I spoke to Matthew Collins, part of the Front and the BNP before swapping sides, and to Adam Kelwick, the Liverpool imam who took food and drink – plus a hug – to the mob outside his mosque after the 2024 Southport killings. Different battles, the same war – one that continues to rage today.
I was going to speak to Margaret Hodge about beating Nick Griffin and the BNP at the polls in Barking in 2010, but I got scooped by my colleague and (obviously now former) friend Simon Hattenstone, who did a big, annoyingly excellent interview with her tied to her memoir.
No matter, that Barking campaign was run by Jen Craft, now an MP herself up the road in Thurrock. I went to see Jen in her Westminster office. She talked through that battle for Barking, and also about how it – the threat and the fight – is different today. Spoiler alert: guess what, social media – and Elon – don’t make it easier.
Illustration: Edith Pritchett/The Guardian
