28 April – 12 May 2026
Who gets to define what racism is and isn’t, and what sorts of anti-racism are publicly acceptable to the gatekeepers of the public space? As hundreds of celebrities sign an open letter defending Southbank Centre Chair Misan Harriman from what is described as a ‘dishonest’ media ‘smear campaign’, the need to defend free speech against racism in all its forms has emerged as the defining struggle of our times. It is a struggle that necessitates bringing together all communities affected in a principled stance that, while recognising differences in racisms’ effects, builds a positive and inclusive cultural environment that can challenge the current cultural and political tendency to create hierarchies of oppression and stoke up communal divisions.
At a first reading, this week’s regular calendar of racism and resistance might seem rather depressing as it captures all that is divisive in the current political climate. But a deeper dive shows something else – the growing awareness of the interconnectedness between all forms of racism, and the specific pressure points that can challenge them.
First, there is clearly much concern in our movements about rising antisemitism. It is recognised that the Jewish community, which already suffered in October 2025 the Greater Manchester synagogue attack, in which two died, has much to fear from a rise in hate crime, epitomised by the actions of the attacker, who had a history of mental illness and violence, and stabbed a man who was Muslim, before going to Golders Green with the specific intention of hunting for anyone who was ‘visibly Jewish’. Now, following the United States and Israel’s unlawful war on Iran, Jewish neighbourhoods in the UK (and Europe) have been targeted for reprisals. This means the Jewish community faces hate crimes from a diffuse range of actors, including, according to the police, terrorist and ‘hostile state threats’. The Metropolitan police recognised this by setting up the new Community Protection Team.
Second, in light of what campaigners rightly regard as an official permissive attitude towards the far Right, specifically Tommy Robinson and his Unite the Kingdom rallies, there is concern about the lack of protection from Islamophobic hate speech and racist violence afforded the Muslim community. The accusation is that when it comes to anti-Muslim racism, the state proves enabler by allowing anti-Muslim demonstrations and far-right provocations to go ahead, precisely because Islamophobia is not regarded as a form of racism, but, in the words of Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, legitimate speech as ‘criticism of religion is allowed in this country’.
And, finally, there has been an increase in legal challenges to defend freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in relation to the genocide in Gaza – with the silencing, erasing, defaming and dehumanisation of Palestinians linked to the criminal justice system’s embrace of anti-Palestinian racism. Progressive lawyers shocked by the attempt (now following a Court of Appeal challenge deemed unlawful) to prosecute Rajiv Menon KC, a former head of Garden Court Chambers for contempt of court in relation to his closing speech at the trial of six activists accused of criminal damage at the Elbit Systems factory. Another initiative that should be followed is the formal legal complaint lodged with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) by lawyers for the Palestine Coalition. It challenges claims made by the Metropolitan Commissioner, in two interviews, that the force had in the past imposed conditions on Palestine solidarity marches to prevent them approaching Jewish places of worship. These public statements, according to lawyers for the Palestine Coalition, were defamatory, spread disinformation and in breach of expectations about the conduct of the Commissioner as set out in the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.