Mary Atkinson reports on a recent panel discussion.

In June, far right riots hit UK towns, for the second year running. Migrant families in Ballymena, County Antrim, saw their homes attacked, with many forced to flee for their lives. Then, rioters set fire to a leisure centre in a nearby town where families had been taking shelter, after a Stormont minister posted the location of the safehouse on social media. Those inside the building at the time have spoken of their sheer terror. 

This is the urgency of the fight against the far right in today’s UK, where migrants are scapegoated by everyone from far right rioters to the top levels of government. Keir Starmer has latterly walked back on his Enoch Powell-style description of the UK as an “island of strangers,” over a month since they caused outrage – but the damage is done. 

For those fighting what feels like a tide of far right and anti-migrant sentiment coming from all directions, the work can be exhausting. But so much of the work happens not on a national scale, fighting bad faith actors with deep pockets, but on the doorsteps in our own communities. And that work is taking place every day, not just here in the UK but across Europe, where communities are facing a far right on the ascendancy, working from the same playbook and employing the same tactics, whether in government or in the streets.

Against this backdrop, the Migrant Champions Network met recently to bring together local politicians working in a variety of contexts to counter the far right and speak up for the values that unite us – at heart, the idea that all of us, no matter where we’re from or how we got here, should get to live with dignity and joy, and that we can achieve that vision by working together in community. 

Chair Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini, a local councillor in Oxford and a co-founder of the Migrant Champions Network, opened the panel by discussing her experiences advocating for migrants’ rights on the doorstep. “I’ve had many, many doorstep conversations. Most of the time, in person, I’ve not had much pushback. The rhetoric from mainstream media and politicians is that standing up for migrants’ rights is not what people want – but in my experience, when you stand in solidarity with people, it builds trust.”

“Life is really tough – that is a legitimate grievance,” she added. “But the causes of that are misinterpreted, and the Overton window shifts to the right, and with amplification from the media, that shift becomes really quite clear.”

Councillor Sean Halsall, a local councillor from Merseyside who played a pivotal role in resisting the far right riots that surged through many of our towns and cities in the summer of 2024, shared his experiences using his platform as a councillor during last year’s violence.

“Last year I saw what I’d never imagined witnessing: an insidious attempt from the far right to sow in my community. What we saw the following day, though, was the town I know: our community coming out to clear up the rubble, to rebuild the walls torn down by the far right, and to show that they won’t divide us, and they don’t get to dictate who belongs here and who doesn’t.

“We have to stop allowing politicians and parts of the media to peddle the same, tired line, that migrants are the problem. It’s dangerous and divisive, and distracts us from the truth,” he said.

The following speaker, Javier Bokesa Abia, is a councillor in the town of Fuenlabrada in Spain, a town close to Madrid that is home to diverse migrant communities, and whose population exploded in the 1980s and has continued growing ever since. “When it comes to boosting morale and practical action to resisting far right discourse, local councillors have a huge role to play,” he argued.

Javier discussed the range of municipal bodies and initiatives underway in Fuenlabrada to aid community cohesion, and the crucial importance of citizen participation.

“When someone comes from another country, their inclusion doesn’t only depend on them. Society has to make sure that migrants feel included. Fuenlabrada grew really fast, from 2,000 to 200,000 people. Most of these migrants originally came from other regions of Spain, and they created neighbourhood associations in their new areas. These associations worked with the local government to ensure the relevant services were being provided, in a system of co-governance – and that happened again in the ‘90s when people from other countries started to arrive. The local government made sure these new communities were involved in decision-making. 

“When I lived in the UK, I realised that communities weren’t really mixing. We need to move from multiculturalism – the sense that communities tolerate each other – towards cultural hybridity, with communities feeling that they are the same.” Javier then detailed how the city he works in has worked to make community cohesion a reality, with community groups funded by the government to take part in local decision-making.

“We live in this individualistic society, where people are told that they have to make it on their own,” he said. “But everything we have achieved here is through associations, trade unions, civil society.”

Finally, Kemal Çufoğlu, a councillor from Colchester in the south east of England, spoke about his experiences as a migrant doing crucial community work in his role as councillor. 

“Local councillors can do so much, directly and indirectly, to counter the far right and their discourse. We can promote migrant organisations and the events they organise. But we also need to talk about the lack of inclusivity. Our council is not truly representative of the local demographics, and we need to talk about this openly. 

“Councillors need to be proactive in reaching out to our communities,” he said. “The traditional ways of doing outreach – like sending an email – might not be effective. For example, people who’ve come from places with authoritarian leaders might not feel safe engaging with the council in our new homes. So the approach needs to be tailored.

“We must also resist attempts by progressive parties to appease the far right with their messaging and policies. I’ve heard councillors say that racism doesn’t exist – and these same councillors would make fun of the accents of migrant residents who spoke at meetings. Councils have to make tackling these provocations an urgent priority.”

Summing up, Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini issued a call to arms to councillors across the UK. “It’s a really difficult context we’re living through, but we’ve come through similar times before. Think about the local and national issues for your residents – why are companies profiting from running detention centres and care homes, while our communities are suffering disability benefit cuts? People are left in unsafe accommodation by companies that make huge profits by running our public services into the ground, and creating more divisions. This is what we need to fight against.”

A video of the full event can be watched back here.

Mary Atkinson is Coordinator of the Migrant Champions Network.