By Declan Clune, Secretary – Southampton & South West Hampshire Trades Union Council
I am writing as one of the organisers of the counter demonstration held in Southampton city centre on Saturday 25th January 2025. We were there to oppose UKIP’s protest on the same day, time and location, and to stand against the division UKIP and their supporters represented and called for in our beautiful and diverse city.
Local trade unions, trade unionists and anti-racist campaigners were mobilised under calls from Southampton & South West Hampshire Trades Union Council and Stand Up To Racism to unite in defence of our communities.
It is clear from the numbers that turned out for the counter-demo, and the fact that UKIP’s call for Sotonians to join them was largely ignored, that Southampton rejects racism and division. As reported in local media, UKIP’s leader called out at his rally, “Who is here from Southampton?”, which was followed by silence. Social media posts of those attending shows the majority of UKIP’s support had travelled from as far afield as London and Rushmoor, as well as closer areas like Portsmouth and Fareham.
The vast majority of our counter demonstrators were from Southampton.
We in the trades council are now in the process of organising a trade union-led campaign to fight racism, and encourage everyone to get involved. We will collectively call for action from our trade unions to mobilise a national demonstration, led by the Trades Union Congress (TUC). We will call for political action to fight for policies that will fill the political void that currently exists, and creates the breeding ground that racism and fascism feed upon.
We are now in our 15th year of austerity, a period that has seen working class communities suffer the most. We have been expected to pay for a banking crisis and the Covid crisis, crises we do not create. We have seen the largest transfer of wealth to the already filthy rich, while seeing the valuable services and jobs in our communities being closed and lost. This looks set to continue.
We in the trades council have supported and taken part in campaigns to fight the closure of services all across our area. We have had some success and have learned important lessons along the way, lessons we will take forward with us as we continue to fight against austerity led closures of our services.
UKIP has a strong working class base amongst its supporters. And they have been told, along with the rest of the country, that the reason they struggle to get health appointments, education placements, affordable homes, decent, well paid jobs, is because of immigration. We are here to tell them, that is a lie and that political choices to maintain a system that relies on working class division are responsible. They point the finger of blame at migrants and refugees to distract the working class and encourage fighting amongst us.
We are here to convince working class people, and everyone else, of what is at fault, and who and where we need to fight. We stand shoulder to shoulder with everyone in our communities, whatever race, skin colour, religion, sexuality, gender, age or ability. We welcome all!
Join us in our campaign, we are stronger together.
In Unity,
Declan Clune
Secretary
Southampton & South West Hampshire Trades Union Council
- In Common is not for profit. We rely on donations from readers to keep the site running. Could you help to support us for as little as 25p a week? Please help us to carry on offering independent grass roots media. Visit: https://www.patreon.com/incommonsoton
