Over 120 people attended the Stand Up to Racism North West Summit in Manchester last Saturday. Entitled ‘From Trump to Tommy Robinson – taking on the racist right today’.
The event was attended by trades unionists, Labour Party members, and others.
Speakers included Kate Green MP; Andrew Western, Leader of Trafford Council; Mark Rowe, FBU North West Regional Secretary; Neil Smith, Regional Political Officer, GMB North West & Irish Region; Councillor Heather Fletcher, Muslim Jewish Forum co-Chair; Peter Billington, Lancashire TUC; Brian Richardson, Stand Up to Racism; Manchester City Councillor Ben Clay; Nita Sanghera, UCU Vice-President; and others. Supporters of the event included Show Racism the Red Card.
In her speech to the conference, Kate Green MP thanked:
‘Unite Against Fascism, the activists, the campaigners, our trade union brothers and sisters, who came out to join us when Tommy Robinson tried to launch his book in my constituency, and said we don’t want your Islamophobic, far right hatred here and we drove him out of town. Thank you. It was the right thing to do… We stand together. No to hate. No to division. No to anti-Semitism. No to Islamophobia. No to racism. And we’ll be out there saying that on the streets right now.’
Speaking at the closing plenary session, Mark Rowe, FBU North West Regional Secretary, said:
‘We need a huge mobilisation against Trump and we also need to make sure that any future demonstrations that the right are putting on in support of Tommy Robinson, we have equally, if not more, the same amount of people out on the streets. The recent counter-demonstrations have been absolutely fantastic and the organisers should be applauded for the work that they have done and the time and the dedication they put in to organise those counter-demonstrations. ’
Speakers also included Andrew Western, Leader of Trafford Council, who said:
‘There is no greater danger to our world than Donald Trump. And so it’s right that we protest his visit. It’s right that we say he’s not here in our name… My experience of Robinson started last year when he decided that he was going to hold an event in Trafford – a glitz and glamour book launch – and Kate and I and UAF and many, many other people campaigned vigorously to stop that, and I’m really proud that we stopped that man coming to Trafford and I’m prouder still that together.. we stopped what was going to be a fifty pounds glitz and glamour book launch, and ended up with him – like a pound shop Del Boy – peddling his wares out the back of a van in the back end of Manchester. And these are the wins that we can have when we stand together.’
There were workshops on opposing the far right today (organised by Unite Against Fascism); Black Lives Matter and the Justice for Windrush generation; Women, the hijab and the fight against Islamophobia and racism today; and Love Music Hate Racism;
Delegates at the conference were encouraged to join the protest on both 13 July – against Donald Trump – and the counter-protest called by SUTR and Unite Against Fascism on 14 July, against the fascist demo in London in support of Tommy Robinson.
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