We are a coalition of anti-racist organisations, trade unionists, community groups and activists from across Essex. We have come together to organise this demonstration and show that our Essex is not dominated by racist rioters and far right politicians!
Essex is full of people who are determined to see an equal, inclusive future for our communities and who are opposed to the ‘divide and rule’ politics of the far right.
We can already see the impact of the far right winning local power. Essex County Council is now run by Reform UK and in one of their first acts, they banned libraries from ‘promoting’ Pride and other events. They want to demonise minorities for political advantage, but have already had a surprise because people have fought back against this blatant bigotry.
Of course we have problems in Essex – the lack of housing particularly for younger people, the state of social care, a crumbling infrastructure and attacks on the Green Belt. But migrants and refugees did not cause those problems!
Migrants did not create years of austerity which have directly caused the crisis in our NHS and other services. Migrants did not sell off council houses, push up rents and build speculative housing. Migrants did not leave our roads full of potholes!
In reality, many of our services from hospitals to home care depend on migrants to keep them going.
One thing is certain though – we won’t solve any of our problems if we allow ourselves to be divided, whether by ‘Tommy Robinson’ and his street thugs or by Farage and his so-called ‘populist’ politics of taking money from billionaires and blaming minorities for all our ills.
Join our demonstration in Chelmsford as we march for Unity against division, for solidarity not scapegoating and for hope and inclusion instead of racism and bigotry.