This is the first in a series of three articles on Stand Up To Racism, left-wing protest movements, and accessibility for chronically ill and disabled people
On Saturday 10 August, thousands of people across the UK took to the streets. There were many different events – like the estimated 15,000 people who were present in Belfast to the estimated 5,000 who protested outside the UK Reform Party’s HQ and then marched through the streets of Westminster, to finally reclaim Trafalgar square. This gathering of solidarity against racism, Islamophobia, and hatred towards refugees was organised by Stand Up To Racism in response to the far-right race riots and spread of disinformation in the wake of the Southport murders.
Thanks to far-right, hate-spreading accounts on X like Tommy Robinson (not his real name btw), and the accumulation of false ideologies by both mainstream media and political careerists, thousands of far-right racist thugs took to the streets, rioting as well as attacking any Black and brown people that they could find.
After watching these riots unfolding on social media, the news, and in some cases in our local communities, many of us where not only horrified and disgusted with these actions, we also wanted to do something about it.
So, from the fantastic response like the ‘Nan against Nazis’ in Liverpool to the walls of protection around local mosques up and down the country, the left have been coming out – and coming out in numbers.
Standing up to racism
The Canary was on the ground at the events in Southampton:
We were also in Brixton:
And we were at the event outside of Reform UK’s HQ that then went through Westminster to Trafalgar Square in central London.
Wearing our Stand Up To Racism t-shirts me and Steve Topple travelled to the event in Brixton via Uber. The driver that took us asked us when we got into his car what we were standing up for, not seeing our t-shirts properly. We both responded, “racism”. The Uber driver then turned round, looked at us properly and said “thank you so much” – which was really sad to hear and quite disgusting that he felt he even had to say it.
During our 10-minute journey we discovered that this man was an African refugee who has been living and working in the UK for years along with his family and children who were born in the UK.
We were discussing the horrors of recent events and the disgusting treatment of refugees or any Black or brown person in this country. He then told us that his teenage daughter, born in the UK, is currently asking to move to Africa. He explained that his daughter is so concerned about what might happen, she would rather move to a foreign country than stay here.
This is what years of mainstream media narratives, political point scoring, and classism has caused – allowing racism, Islamophobia, and hatred towards Black and brown people to spread like Covid through an austerity-riddled population that is being divided and conquered by the real enemy; as someone said at Brixton, “the one’s that fly into the UK via jets, not the ones who come here via boats”.
Marching through South London
The event at Brixton started with speeches from members of Stand Up To Racism and from allies who discussed the issues that Black and brown people are facing both due to the recent riots and within growing movements and activism in general. Labour MP Bell Riberio-Addy spoke:
"These were not protests… These were far-right racists… Pogroms… Some might call it terrorism"
Labour MP @BellRibeiroAddy speaking at the @AntiRacismDay demo at #Brixton #StandUpToRacism pic.twitter.com/8Okv1ERyeQ
— Canary (@TheCanaryUK) August 10, 2024
We heard a powerful and emotional speech from an artist called Phoenix who, although slightly nervous, discussed the issues that Black and brown activists have faced whilst fighting for their rights – including around the impact the Black Lives Matter protests had, how activists were treated at the time, and how they continue to be affected – including living with PTSD. All the speakers were Black or brown, except for one white local councillor.
After the speeches at Brixton the event took an interesting turn. In the spirit of DPAC, we began to march onto the road through Brixton. With police in tow, Stand Up To Racism and its supporters continued their march as a peaceful protest from Brixton to Victoria:
Apart from the police attempting to push a man and unsuccessfully getting no reaction from him, or their attempt to tell another man who was pushing his child in a pram that this was child neglect, the march to Victoria was noisy but uneventful:
On joining the other estimated 5,000 people at Farage HQ, the peaceful protest continued from Victoria, along past Westminster to finally finish in Trafalgar Square:
There’s a few ‘buts’ when we stand up to racism
Going to this march and showing solidarity along with the thousands of people who also did across the country, regardless of the fact that I’m a chronically ill and a disabled activist, was for me really important.
To see the faces of every person who came out, who were looking out of their windows, or who were supporting us as we walked through their communities was something I will never forget. And regardless of political views on the left, this is what we should all be about in my opinion. Inclusive movements that unite communities at a time when we need to show solidarity and fight for all of our human rights.
However, they also need to be accessible for all – for everyone that wants to support these movements or protests, like the thousands of disabled and chronically ill people in this country that don’t really ever get represented, have a voice, or are thought about when actions are being created. The left really does need to do better. After all, disability never discriminates.
What I have learned from this experience is there is little consideration, intentionally or not, for disabled and chronically ill activists at these types of events. I’m going to be looking at this more in a second article.
I have also, after being subjected to abuse on X for going, realised that there is a section of the left, (yes, not the right), that do not support Stand Up To Racism. So, I’m going to be looking at the history of the group and what people say the problems with it are, in a third article.
Despite people coming out to ‘stand up to racism’, it seems that along with the abuse and ableism in activism that exists we’re also going to need a “left-wing rule book” too, about what protests we can and can’t go to. That was news to me – and it might well be news to you, too.
Featured image and additional images via the Canary
