Just a few weeks ago, chaos and clouds of smoke filled the air as violent protestors set a police van on fire and allegedly threw missiles outside a hotel housing people seeking sanctuary in the UK. 

The Knowsley riot came less than six months after a petrol bomb was launched at an asylum reception centre in Dover, in an attack the police believe was motivated by extreme right-wing terrorist ideology. 

How did we arrive at a point where mobs are forming to intimidate people who have fled devastation and war?

We believe the answer is simple. To us, these high profile incidences of far-right violence are the logical consequence of a government that has been fanning the flames of hatred against people seeking safety here. 

With language of invasion and a plan to send refugees to Rwanda, this government has been trying to spark fear and division in our communities. 

We should not let them. We need to show them that the working class are Black, brown and white, queer, disabled and trans, migrants and refugees, that we are united and we are willing to stand up for what’s right.

We need to realise that the government could improve life for our communities, including people seeking safety here, if they had the political will. 

Not only could they open up more visa routes for people seeking refuge, they could grant people in our asylum system the right to work, they could make fast and fair asylum decisions so people aren’t waiting in limbo for years, not to mention raising taxes on billionaires to properly fund our public services. 

But all the evidence we’ve seen suggests this government doesn’t want to make ordinary people’s lives better. 

Instead, they would rather breed division between people who have very little and those who have even less, and continue to line the pockets of their friends at the very top. 

They want working class people to be fighting amongst ourselves, rather than protesting against the root cause of the inequalities and struggles we’re all facing.

There are millions of people in this country who feel abandoned by those in power and they are not wrong to feel that way.

Ironically, while the far-right seeks to exploit this to their own advantage, boosted by a government spreading fear about immigration, no one knows more about being abandoned by the state than people forced to leave their homes behind and seek safety in a new country. 

We can’t let this toxic divide-and-rule politics win out. If we want to protect our public services, raise our standard of living and defend our human rights then we have to fight for better conditions together. 

The working class of modern Britain is diverse and we have enormous power, as shown by the impact of recent strike action.

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This was also highlighted during the pandemic, which forced the government to recognise so many migrants and refugees for what they have always been: essential workers, and essential parts of our community. 

Uniting people to work towards a better world for all of us is no easy task but it is the only way to win that world, as we’ve found in our work with the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), a migrant-worker led trade union which brings together some of the most precarious and exploited workers in the country. 

Many of IWGB’s campaigns have been fought and won by migrant workers. From takeaway app riders, to hospital cleaners and security guards, members have demanded and secured basic rights that many of us take for granted, such as sick pay, annual leave and a guaranteed minimum wage.  

Whether it’s outside hospitals, on our streets or on university campuses, these workers have been joined by hundreds of IWGB members from across different backgrounds and sectors. 

The shared joy, unity and visibility of these picket lines is key to building power and winning change. 

In fact, just three months ago, after months of strike action and active solidarity from the wider union movement, cleaners and caterers who were members of IWGB won better terms and conditions at London Bridge Hospital.

Their hard-fought and hard-won campaigns offer a lesson for all of us. Bosses and politicians may look to target migrants first, but their bulldozing of our rights rarely stops there. 

Thankfully, huge numbers of us from across different backgrounds are standing up for our rights, and against the malice and disregard for working people we see across the country.

Whatever our race, whether born here or born abroad, whether we’re nurses, teachers, railway workers, couriers, cleaners or posties, we’re standing united on the picket line, on the streets and in our communities. 

And increasingly, the wider trade union movement is waking up to the power and strength of all of us. 

Last month, 21 trade unions signed a pledge which commits them to representing and advocating for migrant workers rights. 

It looks like they’re waking up to government and bosses’ attempts to pit workers against each other, by using nationality as a dividing line. They know that more stability and rights for migrant workers – many of whom have to go through an expensive process to renew their right to remain – would benefit all workers.

Given historic disregard for migrant workers by some members of the labour movement, it’s positive to see signs of change. And as the far-right rises again, our unity could not be more important. 

There is only one working-class and it doesn’t have a colour.  

We must keep banging the drum, reminding people that the cost of living crisis is the government’s fault, not migrants. 

As Mick Lynch said, ‘We will not be divided on the basis of our belief, or the colour of our skin, or the part of the country we are from.’

We must all strive to make that clear.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]. 

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