It’s been a few weeks now since fascist Nick Tenconi brought UKIP to Sheffield, as reported by the Canary.

After ousting Nick and his rabble, the city came together. Over 50 different organisations held a unity rally — standing up to the right and denouncing their divisive tactics.

Sheffield Communities Against Racism & Racism (SCARF) are a local group set up in response to the riots of last summer. They have released a statement responding to UKIP’s hate march through the city. The letter outlines their views on how to better mobilise against the far-right. Whilst 800 anti-fascists took to Sheffield’s streets to oppose UKIP, a huge group allowed themselves to be kettled into a small area where they couldn’t revive the anti-fascist tradition of direct action. And, is it really anti-fascism if a group of people are placidly standing down the road from fascists? Or is it just a token nod to Being Against This Sort Of Thing, and no more?

UKIP’s shithead tour

The conversation around the approach that the left should take is one that’s occurring in many spaces at the moment. I’ve witnessed it first hand over the summer.

In Newcastle, activists are faced with this same question since UKIP visited at the start of autumn. The counter-demo was split along several lines. Some at Monument for speeches; some at the migrant hotel; and then another swathe of people down on the Quayside to block the far-right march.

I got myself stuck in the kettle down at the Quayside with hundreds of people all packed into that narrow space. People linked arms in defiance of the police and the fascists, and in the end, the far-right march was diverted and kettled, falling short of its final destination. A lot of soul-searching has followed.

When I got in touch with SCARF to ask about their thoughts on the question of diverging approaches and attitudes to ongoing resistance, they told me:

Whilst SCARF is proud of our part in mobilising opposition to the march, we were ultimately unsuccessful in preventing it from taking place. Given this we thought it was important to reflect on the day, and the movement more broadly, to learn and to improve in future. It’s important to celebrate our victories but we see little benefit in inaccurate or dishonest self aggrandising accounts.

They continued:

Antifascists have been physically confronting fascists since the 1930’s… a diversity of tactics is necessary, as such no one group or approach should be seeking to dominate or exclude another.

 

Plenty of anti-fascists

I was a bit apprehensive on Saturday sitting on the train – you never know what turnout’s going to be like from social media alone – but a good few hundred people had managed to get out.

Gathered listening to the speeches, more were joining until quite the crowd was gathered. It was heartening to see so many people braving the wintry drizzle. One suspicious character loitered filming the assembly, but aside from that it was all quiet on the western front. Sheffield Drummers 4 Palestine arrived just before the march was set to leave – a branch inspired by M.D.4.P who I interviewed last month for the Canary.

 

It’s always a nice day when the drums are out. The sound of the skins bouncing off the walls of the narrow streets always rouses the spirits.

It’s notable that there were no police out.

The only flash of yellow was the high-vis of one of the frantic bicycle stewards shooting off into the distance to secure the path ahead for the incoming march. It’s so well organised that everything goes off without a hitch. Well, there was one wet wipe in a 4×4 too important to wait and drove around the steward. I’ve never really understood the strange narrative that the right wing employ that the left are all violent thugs. In reality we play quite well together. The only flare-up – the suspicious camera operator from the start decided to pop up and scream at people for being traitors halfway through the route.

Countering the far-right

Tudor Square was a poignant spot to end the day. A few weeks ago I was being aggressively umbrellaed here by YouTubers. Now I was watching this slightly happier, more hopeful group of human beings snake into the square and converge to listen to the debrief from the organisers and some more speakers. I caught the last of my shots for the day and went to find coffee and noodles. Sheffield is a beautiful city, I really need to remember to give myself some time here to enjoy it when I’m passing through. It’s easy to see why so many people rallied to defend it a few weeks ago.

 

But I can’t help but wonder about that central question. How the left counters the rise of the organised far right? Sometimes it feels like they’re running a better ground game than the left.

It’s great getting thousands of people out to tell UKIP to fuck off. That’s genuinely amazing. But if you’re only hitting the streets when it’s ‘vibe adjacent’, the hard work falls on the people getting out to protests weekly. And people forget, its not just protests.

There’s the organising; meetings, outreach, community initiatives, walking around and knocking on doors. The unglamorous work of real activism.

Forward path

I guess, maybe it isn’t about the approach right now as much as it is about numbers and consistency… if there were a thousand people outside your local hotel week in and week out then they wouldn’t have to be there week in and week out… the flag bandits would have lost interest long ago… Yeah, there’s definitely a place for all the old school activism – I think if people want to get together and listen to speeches then yo, thats your prerogative, but you will be missed.

Everyone’s an adult and make their own choices. If people want to listen to the police then again I can’t stop you. But fuck me I’m realising that people aren’t being melodramatic about how little they care about you and me! Im telling you, they don’t give a fuck.

If you think the police are there for our protection and safety come tag along with me. I’ve been at this a month, and my eyes are fucking open. If you want to follow orders, sit in a little box, and not be let out unless you’ve broken a bone or have visibly shit yourself — be my guest.

I cannot stop you shooting yourself in the foot. The inevitable reality, however, is this … In the long term, direct action is the only way. Whether the threat is racist institutions or lowkey fascist thugs, in our communities, and on our streets, is where they must be confronted.

By Barold

This post was originally published on Canary.