By Cumbria Left Horizons supporters
Last Saturday, there was a very successful anti-racism rally in Carlisle, as a response to the threat of the presence of far-right thugs in the city. The theme of the demonstration against the far right was “Jobs, Homes and Services – Not Racism!”
The previous week, Carlisle had been threatened with the presence of the far-right riots and a possible continuation of the violent pogroms that taken place across the country. The city, which had seen a far-right march in March of 2023, was placed in special measures by Cumbria police, who implemented a dispersal order for most of the city centre, in advance of expected riots last Wednesday.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by a working-class pseudonym, ‘Tommy Robinson’, shared the Cumbria police social media post to his followers, no doubt in an attempt to further instigate and direct his foot-soldiers to bring further chaos, rhetorically asking why the police are not “giving dispersal orders in Muslim areas? Only in white non-Muslim areas”. The dispersal involved much of Castle Ward, which included the only Islamic Centre in the city.
The dispersal order saw six arrested on the night, but there were rumours of another far-right demo/riot for the city on Saturday. Carlisle Against Racism (CAR), who had organised a large counter-demonstration against a far-right march in Carlisle last year, proactively called a peaceful demonstration to take place in the city centre.
Upward of 200 activists and anti-racists attended
Cumbria police issued a further dispersal order for Saturday, but liaising with the group, the police affirmed that the order would not impact on any peaceful demonstrations or gatherings. CAR organised speakers, chants, arranged stewarding and circulated this event in full on social media platforms.
The demonstration on Saturday saw upwards of 200 people: activists, organisations, trade unions and even a marching drumming band, gathered from all over the county in the city. Many trade unions: Unite, GMB, RMT, PCS, NASUWT, NEU, UNISON and Carlisle and District Trade Union Council, were represented by members and organisers.
There were powerful speeches and contributions, not only on the importance of community and anti-racist action, but also on the role of the right-wing media, media moguls and politicians’ in the use of divisive and violent language, inciting the violence and precipitating the attacks after the Southport stabbings.
Life expectancy in Cumbria is well below average
Cumbria as a whole has 29 communities that rank in the 10% most deprived areas in England (according to the Cumbria Intelligence Observatory) and this year the life expectancy of men is 77.29 years down from 78.4 years there years ago In Carlisle, where 94.4% of the population identify as white, one in five is living in relative poverty.
Much like the rest of the North, Cumbria has been marred by the loss of much of its traditional industrial base since the 1970s, particularly West Cumbria,.
Two hotels in the area were selected for hosting asylum seekers in 2023. It is not hard to see how the rhetoric and misinformation from the far-right has been able to take hold of some working-class people, and some of them seduced into scapegoating immigrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and Black and Brown members of the public. Worse still, are attacks on them and destroying what few shops are left open in the city centres.
Cumberland hospital even reported that a member of staff had been chased and threatened after work by a young hooligan, on account of the colour of their skin.
The chair of the local trades council, PCS rep, David Niven, spoke at the rally and pointed out what fourteen years of austerity meant, including,
* A massive increase in in-work and out-of-work poverty
* A sharp rise in reliance on food banks
* A significant real terms reductions in wages
* A lack of affordable housing
* Privatised and crumbling public services, especially the NHS.
“The right wing”, he said, “attempts to divert this discontent onto various ethnicities, migrants and asylum seekers…it is a clear attempt to divide the working class people and to divert them from the real cuplrits of austerity”.
However in rejecting the racism, division, and hatred of the far right Dave also called on the new Labour government “to end austerity now”, as the best way to cut across the far right’s attempts to divide the working class.
Jamie Penquite-Green, a Unite member and organiser for the Socialist Health Association, also spoke. She noted that it was not migrants who sold off all the council houses and then prevented the building of any new social housing. That was Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. “It was not immigrants”, she said, “who contaminated the water and jacked up the price of food…that was corporations”.
“Carlisle will not be divided”
She went on to say that some working-class people were misled into blaming immigrants because it is hard to see in the news and media to see billionaires sitting on their yachts, or refusing to pay their fair share of taxes on the wealth they make off the backs of working-class people. It is not that there is not enough money, she said, it that it is simply in the wrong hands and working class people should take it from the people in power, to give to the powerless.
Jamie closed on the idea that workers in Carlisle have more in common with Chinese, Russian, Korean and any other workers than we do with the likes of Farage and Yaxley-Lennon, who are using people for their own ends. That the racism of some sections of the working class is a problem, and the work must begin today to change society.
Another speaker from the crowd, a member of Unison – spoke of his own personal experience and tied together the strings of racist violence taking place here in the UK and the genocide taking place in Gaza and Palestine.
This in consideration that Reform UK fared well in Carlisle in the latest election, coming second in a number of wards. If the Labour party and its MPs (Carlisle, and others in Cumbria) as well as Carlisle city councillors, who have a majority across Cumberland council – fail to significantly improve the lives of working-class people, Reform will secure more support locally in the next election. It was significant that not one MP in Cumbria voted to get rid of the two-child benefit cap.
A feature of this very successful anti-racist rally was that supporters of Left Horizons played a leading role in organising it. Carlisle Against Racism has had a class-based approach to anti-racism since its inception in 2007 and it brings together groups and individuals under the CAR banner, including many young people.
As Trades Council Chair, David Niven said, “In the last week, we have seen the violent riots and racist hatred of the far right. But we have also seen a response from the anti-racist majority, through massive, peaceful, anti-racist protests in London, Bristol, Brighton, Liverpool, Newcastle and many other places, and here in Carlisle today…Our message is that we will not allow the racists to divide us”.
