Taking on racism: the role of trade unions and community organising.

Mohammed Mumit is a member of the Public and Commercial Services Union, and of the union's National Black Members' Committee. He has spent the last few years trying to help develop Birmingham Trades Union Council as a vehicle that can bring about worker community solidarities. He sees unions as bottom-up - not top-down - organisations. Here he talks about the role of trade unions in community organising, including in building defence groups in solidarity with communities threatened with attack by the far right, as in the August 2024 riots. He also notes Starmer's law and order response and failure to speak out against the racism of the rioters. In discussing the far right's online presence, he argues that cuts in youth services can lead to young people looking for alternative sources of community - including the community offered by the far right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]