Drawing the different faces of anti-fascists resistance in Cardiff
Whereby Ian Cooke-Tapia went to city center to support and document anti-fascist protests.
Today, near 200 people gathered in Cardiff City Centre in response to a rumour that there would be a fascist riot in our city as part of the ongoing race riots that have mostly taken place across England and Northern Ireland. I am not the best source of information on the subject, but I severely recommend other outlets’ reporting on the issue. What’s both surprised me and filled me with great local pride is that, as far as I know, no such riot has taken place in Wales. That doesn’t mean that our brothers and sisters of the Global Majority are not feeling afrad and unsafe, but it does say something about Cymru, I think. Or at the very least it shows that something is definitely different on this side of Offa’s Dyke.
Yesterday around midday social networks went abuzz with whispers that these far-right fuckwits were going to gather in Cardiff and, we imagine, do something. A call out went out, and today we gathered by the Thunderbolt Sculpture at St David’s Centre. Why were they going to gather at the Utilita Arena, a not-so-obvious target? Wouldn’t they give out the wrong address to deliberately distract us? Would they have instead attacked mosques, cultural centres, or marched through Butetown? These were some of the questions I heard today. I got a sense that people were both unsurprised at the apparent disorganisation of the far-right in Cardiff, and fearful that they might be a psy-ops operation. As far as we could tell, there were only four men stood by the side, chatting and making calls. Someone mentioned to me that they had actually come down from Bristol, but what do I know.
Today was a show of solidarity, of unity, and resistance against increasingly vocal and financially powerful groups weaponizing the pain austerity, corruption, and toxic politics cause. Letting them run riot in our cities and tows is not possible. We will resist them, be four weirdos wearing the same jackets, or 1000 of them.
Ian Cooke-Tapia, August 9th 2024