Socialist Party Wales Socialism In Wales
Over a hundred gathered in Cardiff at a protest organised at short notice in solidarity with LGBTQ activists who are being persecuted by the Polish government.
President Andrzej Duda has attacked the rights of LGBTQ people, emboldening bigots across the country. Towns run by right-wing parties have declared themselves “LGBT-free zones” and many face harassment or are forced back into the closet.
At the Cardiff rally, Polish and Welsh speakers spoke about their experience of homophobia and discussed how this could be combated.
Right wing populists like Andrzej Duda, Boris Johnson and Donald Trump are pushed into power, backed by big business, when mainstream capitalist politicians are discredited, as they have been recently as a result of carrying through austerity and neoliberal policies.
Protesters were under no illusions that the rise of a similar force would be impossible in Britain, with many pointing to the racism of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage and Trump’s sexism.
A socialist alternative based on uniting all ordinary working class people and opposing all forms of discrimination must be built in order to block the rise of right wing populist and far right forces.
