On 20 and 21 June, supporters of Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! (FRFI) participated in the Break up the Borders weekend of action. This was called by a coalition of anti-racist groups to protest against the racist, anti-migrant policies being implemented by the Labour government, including over 60,000 deportations, the weakening of rights of refugees and asylum seekers and the further militarisation of Britain’s borders. Actions were called in over 13 cities across Britain and the north of Ireland.
Central London
On 20 June RCG comrades from London and Brighton mobilised for a march through central London alongside Action Against Detention and Deportations, Solidarity Detainee Support, All African Women’s Group and others. The contingent paused outside the British Museum to highlight the Museum’s role in colonial plunder. It also stopped near the offices of Palantir, calling attention to the surveillance company’s role in oppressing migrants and Palestinians. The march finished in St James’s Park where final speeches were delivered by FRFI, Migrante and No More Exclusions. The comrade from FRFI spoke about recent state racism against migrants and explained that in imperialist nations such as Britain, all immigration controls are tools of racist oppression and must be fought against. They also pointed out that the kind of movement capable of doing this can be seen in the anti-ICE movement in the US.
Croydon
FRFI South London marched on the Croydon Immigration Reporting Centre alongside Migrants Organise. We marched from the town centre and rallied outside the reporting centre where speakers drew connections between Labour’s racist attacks on migrants, support for genocide in Palestine and its long-standing role in upholding British imperialism. Participants emphasised international solidarity, linking the fight against deportations and for socialism in Britain to struggles for liberation worldwide.
Nottingham
On 21 June, Nottingham RCG held a speak-out at Old Market Square with Notts Red Study, Nottingham Against Transphobia, Notts Solidarity group and Nottingham Camp for the Liberation of Palestine. We had an open democratic platform where speakers denounced racist immigration controls and showed solidarity with migrants. Speeches connected the fight for migrant rights to all working-class struggles. At the speak-out there were chants attacking the state for its barbaric attacks on migrants and emboldening the racists on the street.
Newcastle
FRFI Newcastle organised a rolling picket on 20 June, starting at Link House, to the bustling high street, Northumberland Street, in Newcastle’s city centre. We held an open mic which we used to expose the role Link House plays – it serves as a central Home Office Immigration Compliance and Enforcement facility. We exposed the role of the rotten Labour Party, state racism, inter-imperialist war and the conditions Britain creates that forces people to flee their home countries. We promoted our 4 July march that will demand ‘Britain out of the Middle East’. Join the march to fight against Britain’s imperialist wars abroad and interventions in the Middle East!
Liverpool
Liverpool FRFI held a Break up the Borders speak-out against state racism at the annual Africa Oye cultural festival in Sefton Park on 20 June. We gave speeches opposing the racist Labour government, racist policing and immigration controls. Attendees who had travelled in from across the country told us how they were appalled at the open racism of the Labour government. We handed out leaflets for our upcoming film showing about the 1981 uprisings against state racism, some which took place down the road from Sefton Park in Liverpool 8, and we spoke to local people who described to us their daily experiences of state racism.
Fight state racism!
Demonstrations against state racism are sorely needed in Britain; anti-racist politics has been led by the liberal Stand up to Racism which deliberately diverts all attention away from the racism of the British state and towards the far right alone. As FRFI has always argued, the British state, currently governed by the Labour Party, is the source of racist oppression in Britain, not the far right. The main enemy of anti-racists in Britain must be the imperialist British state.
Every migrant has the right – here to stay, here to fight!
Fighting racism: the state and the streets
This pamphlet explains that imperialism forms the material basis of racism in Britain and that racism is the form national oppression takes within Britain. It shows that for the fight against racism to be effective, it must inevitably confront British imperialism and therefore the British state.
