What I gained from stewarding the counter-protest against Tommy Robinson’s Unite the Kingdom protest

With multiple pin badges, leaflets, and other promotional materials in hand, after I animatedly helped encourage people to donate to and join Stand Up to Racism, I set off down the streets of London to steward the counter protest against Tommy Robinson. 

It was through this that I took in what really made London and the UK as a whole. The unity, diversity and solidarity with all groups coming together to bring about change and call for peace was what brought out the best of our nation. These were British values at their finest; in spite of what Tommy Robinson and his supporters thought, we were the ones who could “unite the kingdom” the best. As I marched on, in spite of the pouring rain and the wind blowing, I felt a real sense of warmth. Peace, love, rain (and the savoury smell of the very British delicacy of bacon sandwiches from a street vendor at one point being intermingled with the wet air as we walked past) was London in all its glory.

That was until we spotted the other side of the march. This was the side where garish displays of red, white and blue in the form of St George’s flags, Union Jacks and Israeli flags failed to cover and shield the aggression and violence of their bearers. Not even a right-winger dressed in a Union Jack waistcoat and bow tie cycling past us on an old-fashioned penny farthing bicycle, despite looking like a circus performer, could add any humour to the situation. Bottles and cans (which had ironically previously contained European lager), along with missiles were launched at many on our side. Chants of “Tommy Robinson”, “stop the boats” and IDF rang in our ears and drowned out our feeble voices. Police dived in only to be beaten and attacked by the fascist thugs. It was then that I began to feel scared. We were stewarding a protest against a vile hundred thousand strong army of brutal violence-lusting racists with thick skulls and bloated bellies. Whatever we could do to keep others safe was futile, especially since we were concerned for our own safety. This army was fuelled by anger, fear and hatred, and led by manipulation, group mentality and misinformation . Not a single original thought could be observed amongst that herd, as reflected by their chants, all phrases that they had parroted off from the egocentric paranoic narratives of Robinson and the so-called politician Nigel Farage. Thus no intelligent or socio-politically interesting statement could be uttered by them. While we were there in want of peace and love, all they wanted was to spew hate. It all gave a very sad reflection on the state of society and the lack of alternative means by which one could respond to crises that could be accessed by this demographic. I hope to learn from this experience to further appreciate the importance of community, education of the people on society, and (as well as proving to be a very scary and upsetting experience for me), I admired my bravery and that of many others.