Sep 25, 2026 · 4 hr 10 min · 28 segments
Solidarity 774, 23 September 2026. Articles: Far right danger on the streets Misfortune again for Germany? A skilful but shameful balancing act Putin targets Ukraine’s infrastructure Unions pledge to…
Far-right danger on the streets.
On Saturday 5th September, a new umbrella far-right group, Patriot Platform, signalled its existence by blocking a main road in Dover and stopping traffic, then the next day joining a demonstration in Portsmouth against the arrival of a mega-dinghy of asylum seekers.
They helped form a blockade around coaches.
which were due to transport asylum seekers to home office processing centres.
Since then, the RNLLI lifeboat station in Portsmouth has been temporarily closed due to online and physical abuse at volunteers.
Dressed all in black and wearing balaclavas, Patriot platform men behaved like a vigilant fascist gang.
Working with other far-right groups like UKIP, Pink ladies and followers of Tommy Robinson, they will, if not stopped, travel wherever there is a flashpoint over immigration and places where refugee boats end up.
Where people save refugees from drowning and outside the asylum hotels and increasingly ex-military bases, where the government houses people waiting for results of their asylum claims, they will stir up hatred.
the forces in dover and portsmouth were assembled over the summer by daniel thomas tomo tommy robinson's former bodyguard both patriot platform and robinson himself have taken to displaying christianity as the key value of their politics they are not far right they say but ordinary decent christians Thomas seems to have unified a number of local patriot groups, and they are organized through both public-facing and private social media platforms.
They have taken some inspiration from the direct action tactics of the environmental movement and the left.
This branch of the far right turned up to support the Oxfordshire village of Biddington in its Declaration of Independence in protest at a plane to house 1,200 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
Villagers say that so many strange men in their midst will be a certain danger to women and children.
Pennington represents a miniature extreme outbreak of paranoia which has been created over years by lies and myths told about refugees and migration over years and which could easily spread.
verifiable expertly researched facts about migrants are easy enough to find but many people from the nice middle-class people of pittington to the far-right thugs who followed daniel thomas have been overwhelmed by the by fear a hyperbole and whipped-up xenophobia and racism evidence what evidence there is on crime by non-citizens shows it at about the same level as crime by citizens Besides, the fact that people housed in ex-military bases will have extreme restrictions on their freedom of movement and are unlikely to bother anyone with their foreign ways has also escaped the notice of the people of Piddington.
The real problem here is the terrible conditions for the refugees and asylum seekers in those barracks and the maybe irreversible impacts on their physical and mental health.
Politicians and the media have signalled plans to arrest and jail the leaders of Patriot Platform, as they did with the English Defence League, EDL, in the 2010s.
No socialist or anti-racist is going to get upset by this.
that outcome if it happens.
It may provide a breathing space for the very under-organized labor movement and left to do better at confronting the far right.
Yet the politics of the far right will not be defeated by legal crackdowns.
we will need to turn out much larger numbers with not only A to B unity marches, but also confronting this new wave of anti-migrant action, including its protests outside new asylum accommodation and being organised to protect our actions and demonstrations.
We need to defend migrants' migration and the right to claim asylum with clear fact-based arguments.
Appeals to people's better nature will not work.
We will need to be prepared for a difficult fight for these ideas in our communities and workplaces.
Far-right danger on the streets.
On Saturday 5th September, a new umbrella far-right group, Patriot Platform, signalled its existence by blocking a main road in Dover and stopping traffic, then the next day joining a demonstration in Portsmouth against the arrival of a mega-dinghy of asylum seekers.
They helped form a blockade around coaches.
which were due to transport asylum seekers to home office processing centres.
Since then, the RNLLI lifeboat station in Portsmouth has been temporarily closed due to online and physical abuse at volunteers.
Dressed all in black and wearing balaclavas, Patriot platform men behaved like a vigilant fascist gang.
Working with other far-right groups like UKIP, Pink ladies and followers of Tommy Robinson, they will, if not stopped, travel wherever there is a flashpoint over immigration and places where refugee boats end up.
Where people save refugees from drowning and outside the asylum hotels and increasingly ex-military bases, where the government houses people waiting for results of their asylum claims, they will stir up hatred.
the forces in dover and portsmouth were assembled over the summer by daniel thomas tomo tommy robinson's former bodyguard both patriot platform and robinson himself have taken to displaying christianity as the key value of their politics they are not far right they say but ordinary decent christians Thomas seems to have unified a number of local patriot groups, and they are organized through both public-facing and private social media platforms.
They have taken some inspiration from the direct action tactics of the environmental movement and the left.
This branch of the far right turned up to support the Oxfordshire village of Biddington in its Declaration of Independence in protest at a plane to house 1,200 male asylum seekers at a nearby former military base.
Villagers say that so many strange men in their midst will be a certain danger to women and children.
Pennington represents a miniature extreme outbreak of paranoia which has been created over years by lies and myths told about refugees and migration over years and which could easily spread.
verifiable expertly researched facts about migrants are easy enough to find but many people from the nice middle-class people of pittington to the far-right thugs who followed daniel thomas have been overwhelmed by the by fear a hyperbole and whipped-up xenophobia and racism evidence what evidence there is on crime by non-citizens shows it at about the same level as crime by citizens Besides, the fact that people housed in ex-military bases will have extreme restrictions on their freedom of movement and are unlikely to bother anyone with their foreign ways has also escaped the notice of the people of Piddington.
The real problem here is the terrible conditions for the refugees and asylum seekers in those barracks and the maybe irreversible impacts on their physical and mental health.
Politicians and the media have signalled plans to arrest and jail the leaders of Patriot Platform, as they did with the English Defence League, EDL, in the 2010s.
No socialist or anti-racist is going to get upset by this.
that outcome if it happens.
It may provide a breathing space for the very under-organized labor movement and left to do better at confronting the far right.
Yet the politics of the far right will not be defeated by legal crackdowns.
we will need to turn out much larger numbers with not only A to B unity marches, but also confronting this new wave of anti-migrant action, including its protests outside new asylum accommodation and being organised to protect our actions and demonstrations.
We need to defend migrants' migration and the right to claim asylum with clear fact-based arguments.
Appeals to people's better nature will not work.
We will need to be prepared for a difficult fight for these ideas in our communities and workplaces.
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