Transform conference reminded the left of just how to counter the far right

A recent Transform conference brought numerous left-wing voices together on a panel to discuss ‘how the left should respond to the rise of the far right’. And the comments of at least three panellists overlapped in asserting the importance of trusting and listening to communities, and taking tangible action together with those communities.

Transform: “put trust back in the hands of communities”

Molly Shelton is a co-founder and coordinator of Assemble, a group working to set up local assemblies around Britain with the aim of empowering ordinary people to work on solving the problems they face. Speaking on the panel, she said we need to:

take seriously that Reform are the fastest growing movement. And while it looks like unseating Reform is really important, we’re not gonna be able to do this work together without banding together to financially support each other, to pool resources, and to realise the power in building a democratic agenda through a progressive alliance – working with electoral formations but also this innovative grassroots community action.

In this spirit of unity, Assemble came together recently with Transform, The Ron Todd Foundation, For the Many, Majority and OCISA to offer “funding, training and national networks for local people”.

Shelton also stressed that:

Any political party has to be a social movement first

And that’s why the assemblies which have arisen “are explicitly linked to the direct action movement, the anti-fascist movement”. This means that people don’t just collectively decide on their demands, but can transform them into action. And this embeds a democratic mandate into the street movement. As she emphasised:

We need to put trust back in the hands of communities

And that means accepting that people are different and have different priorities:

It’s essential to meet people where they’re at on the issues that already matter to them

Resisting isolation by grounding ourselves in tangible community action

Nandita Lal was a 2024 independent election challenger to David Lammy. And she told the panel:

We don’t understand how much isolation we are fighting… People are so desperate for… solidarity.

And that’s why any resurgent left-wing movement, she stressed, must ground itself in communities across the country:

We have to do actual tangible, concrete things for our community, whether that’s being part of growing food together, doing books together, health clinics together, so that your community knows you’re there in solidarity with them.

Locally, she explained how amateur actors coming together to create a play (called Netanyahu on Trial) was a unifying event which, while serious, allowed people to socialise and build connections. And she suggested that left-wingers have developed a strong message on Palestine in particular partly because “it represents so many of the issues that we all face”, from child poverty to hyper-militarisation, and the pursuit of corporate interests from Palantir to BAE Systems.

It can be hard within the current economic system to campaign together for a better future, she explained, but if we do it together with likeminded people it can feel a lot more enjoyable.

At the same time, she insisted, left-wingers should connect more with independent media while remembering that the media establishment can’t ultimately stop the march of history. Referring to how BBC coverage of India’s struggle against colonialism was similar to its coverage of Palestine’s struggle today, she pointed out that India did get independence in the end. And she stressed that the BBC:

will always be an instrument of the ruling class. And that’s why independent organisations like the Canary are so important to get our voice out there.

Transform: “listen to the communities”

Transform principal speaker Solma Ahmed insisted, meanwhile, that the genocide in Gaza has united people in a way that has been so necessary. This was a small source of hope because:

In my area, I never thought that we would have a diverse range of communities working together

In this historic moment where Western governments are consciously burning down international legal norms to defend Israeli war criminals, there’s a sense of people power and unity on the anti-war left that hasn’t been visible for a long time. And “we need to build on that”, Ahmed stressed.

Part of building positive relations between different communities, however, is listening to each other more. And she gave an example of this in Colchester. During the far-right race riots in 2024, she said there were some progressive white people in the community who wanted to protest locally despite the city not being a target for racist mobilisation.

The Muslim community called for the protest not to take place, she explained, because they felt it would thrust them into the limelight and make them targets for far-right attacks. A small gathering took place anyway, reportedly with no Muslims in attendance. And with this in mind, Ahmed asserted that, when responding to the far right:

please speak to the communities, listen to the communities, and do what the communities want.

Featured image via the Canary