Then They Came For The Racists

And I Did Not Speak Out, For I Read Kevin Maguire’s Editorial.

After the recent riots in my home county and elsewhere, I had several thoughts and have finally condensed them into an article.

There are similarities between both these and the Tottenham riots of 2011. Both were an outpouring of anger by disenfranchised workers, though neither were aimed at the right targets. Both were partly due to anger at the police and both were condemned by some politicians and justified by others.

What I noticed was that the Tottenham riots being condemned by the “right wing” and supported or justified by the “left” where the same thing is happening with the Southport riots, but with the left condemning them as racist and the right claiming to support the working class in their anger.

Neither side supports the workers, they are just playing politics. The irony is that the rioters all hate the same things: the state and their enforcers: the police and the mainstream media. Socialists in our country have the same enemies.

The media have done their job here, further dividing our class.

The other irony is that, just like the JSO protests which resulted in the tightening of protest laws, these riots have resulted in an authoritarian clampdown by the state. Overnight courts, immediate short sentences, an emergency police force appearing out of nowhere.

Starmer himself has promised “worse is yet to come” and this will be delivered through the fuel allowance cuts for a start.

You might think the riots were actually directed by the state. Why would you burn down a community asset like the Spellow Library?

Just like the previous government changing laws to stop the annoying JSO, the continuity government is bringing in emergency powers to stop the scary racists.

We as a class need to know, and tell others, that all these authoritarian powers have one  end goal – to oppress workers and keep the capitalist class in power.

Whether you’re an angry working class black lad or an angry working class white lad, an angry Muslim or an angry hippie, our enemy is the same. It’s the British ruling class and their state machine, it’s the lying press who try to turn our class against itself, it’s the rich themselves who fund both “left” and “right” in order to mask their class interests. Our class will remain powerless as long as we fall for the same old tricks, only through class unity can we get any of our real needs addressed.

Chris Haws, September 2024