Ahead of Nigel Farage’s planned visit to Doncaster next week, protesters spoke up against the rise of Reform UK in a ‘Stand Up to Racism’ demonstration in Sheffield.

Around 100 people came together in a show of action at the Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association (SADACCA) on Saturday afternoon (March 15). 

Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) organised the event in response to what they have noted as rise in racism, Islamophobia, anti-semitism and fascism.

Ciaran Wakefield, representing the organisation, said: “We think it’s really important that in the face of growing attacks on migrants by this government, growing attacks on the most poor and vulnerable in society, that people’s anger is not directed towards those that are also poor and vulnerable.

“What the event is about is building our communities and giving confidence to our communities to actually fight back against it.”

Local grassroots organisations gave speeches and held workshops discussing the history and narratives of the far right ahead of Nigel Farage’s planned visit to Doncaster on March 25. 

See above: election predictions for the Doncaster elections taking place on May 1. Source: Electoral Calculus

Amid predictions that Reform UK will prise control of Doncaster council from Labour in upcoming local elections, Farage plans to unveil his party’s mayoral candidate at the rally.

Representatives from Love Music Hate Racism Doncaster, which hosts concerts opposing racism after the riots which took place last summer, also attended the event. 

Organising Committee member, Molly Eroje, said: “If Reform gets in, people from Doncaster won’t have as much power at all if we leave the Convention on Human Rights. I think we could lose a lot of freedoms and liberties that we have fought to have. I just think it could be a scarier place for everyone.

“For migrants that’s also going to be quite frightening because that racist Islamophobic sentiment is only going to be heightened.”

Migration was a key talking point throughout the day. Sheffield City of Sanctuary, a local charity advocating for migrants, organised a performance urging government to ‘Lift the Ban’ on asylum seekers’ right to work.

Advocacy and Systems Change Coordinator, Melinda Mo Martinez, said: “Currently the asylum system is so terrible and hostile that if we change policy for the worse, it’s going to have a terrible impact for people seeking asylum in the UK.”

Recent Statista data shows as of this March, 25% of Brits would vote for Reform UK, while only 21% are Tory and 26% would vote for the governing Labour party.

The conference emphasised the need for the left to unite, with speakers from both education and healthcare unions urging attendees to make a show of strength in Doncaster next week. 

Emma, a teacher and officer for the National Education Union, said: “ Reform is a threat to us all; we all need to come together. If we stop Reform in Doncaster we will feel ten feet tall.

“Successive governments, both Labour and Conservative, aren’t standing up for working class communities. This means that in the absence of alternatives, people end up looking to the far right to say it’s immigrants and refugees that are to blame for the lack of jobs or social housing, rather than it being about the bosses or successive governments that have let communities down.”

Emma, who didn’t give her surname, also fears a far-right leadership would be bad news for education. She predicts a movement to privatisation, a disregard for a broad curriculum which embraces multiculturalism and LQBTQ+, and threats to the right to organize trade unions. 

The impact of a Reform UK government on the NHS was equally a topic of concern.

Umaah Yusuf, a junior doctor representing Medact Sheffield, imagines potential changes could include significantly more private involvement, rising inequalities in health care, a reduction in the time frontline staff are able to have time with their patients, and more workers leaving the NHS due to hostilities. 

She added: “Good health starts in healthy communities and not in the hospital.”

One of the people making up the lively crowd which greeted the speakers was Jawad Hussain, a student originally from Rotherham. 

He decided to show his support at the event after riots last summer meant he and his family could not leave their home. 

Mr Hussain said: “Reform’s going at such a rapid pace, but so are we. As Muslims in Rotherham, we are not scared anymore, we are ready to fight back.”

SUTR intend to return to South Yorkshire on March 22 to partake in a mass leafleting as part of a national day of action.

Oliver Tsemo, Chief Executive of SADACCA and hosting SUTR, said: “SADACCA is a place of social justice and Reform UK does not align; their philosophy is not social justice. That’s why it is important for us to host a Sheffield anti-racism organisation.”