In this blog, Alex Jones, Head of Programmes at SMK, discusses his experience and reflections at a recent Stand Up to Racism march.
A couple of weekends ago, my son and I joined around 3,000 others at the Stand Up to Racism march in Leeds. My son was angry about Gaza and worried about the rise of the far right. He wanted to do something. I was proud of his passion and joined him.
I’m no stranger to a march, nor to standing up to the far right and joining thousands of others to stand against racism in unity felt good.
The march was young, vibrant, and diverse. Led by Women Against the Far Right, joined by trade unions, LGBTQ+ groups, refugee charities, Palestine campaigners, and ordinary people from across West Yorkshire. It was a celebration of solidarity. In a time of fear and algorithm-driven outrage, it was a welcome counter-narrative.
But there were moments that gave me pause.
The far-right presence was small, maybe twenty, but intimidating. Masked, filming individuals for their social media channels, provoking and refusing to stop when challenged. One campaigner, filmed without consent, later told me she’d had bricks thrown through her window.
That was the most disturbing part. But I also found myself questioning how our messages land with those not already on side.
Some chants, loud, sometimes unclear, expressed understandable anger, but I wondered if they repelled more than they invited. At the rally’s end, speeches were passionate, but I found myself asking: are we building bridges or reinforcing divides?
One moment stood out. A speaker quoted Lord Heseltine’s recent warning about the rise of far-right politics and his concerns about ‘dishonest attacks’ on migrants. But she introduced him as “that horrible old Tory.” I winced. If we want to show that racism concerns people across the political spectrum, how does that kind of rhetoric help?
Thankfully, other voices struck a different tone. Dave Pike from the Trade Union Congress (TUC) urged us to have difficult conversations, with family, neighbours and colleagues, to change minds and build bridges.
Questions about how we campaign, who we reach, and who we might be pushing away, are ones I’ve been sitting with since the march. But they’re not mine alone. They’re part of a wider conversation; one we’re actively wrestling with at SMK.
Last weekend, almost 1 million leaflets were delivered across the UK during Hope not Hate’s Weekend of Hope. HOPE not hate have long recognised that defeating hate means more than just calling it out, it means understanding the conditions that allow it to grow, and working to build stronger, more connected communities. Their work combines research, community organising, and campaigning to challenge extremism and offer hopeful alternatives.
Activist and social change researcher, Natasha Adams, has written powerfully about the need for new strategies in the face of rising authoritarianism and polarisation. She reminds us that resistance alone isn’t enough, we need to build movements that are strategic, inclusive, and rooted in care.
And just a few weeks ago, Forward Action and Rally highlighted the urgency for charities to rethink how we engage online in the face of a radicalised digital landscape. This blog post following the event, is a call to act fast, but also to act wisely, with intention and empathy.
Do we need to shape a new kind of campaigning? One that doesn’t compromise on values but also doesn’t give up on dialogue. One that recognises that if we want to build a better world, we have to bring people with us, even those we might not agree with. At SMK we are actively looking at this question, looking for ways to keep this conversation going, but more importantly find ways to support practical responses.
As I reflect on that day in Leeds, I keep coming back to the words of the Bishop of Kirkstall, Arun Arora:
“Hate will not win. The fascists are bound to lose. The decency and compassion of the people of this city will triumph. Our call is not only to oppose racism, but to build a city where it cannot flourish. And we can only do that by being alongside those seduced by the siren voices of hate because they feel overlooked or ignored.”
That’s the challenge. How do we stand firm in our values while drawing others in? How do we build a better world without further fracturing society?
*Image by Alex Jones at the Stand Up to Racism march Leeds October 2025