ORGANISE 2020 must be more than just a festival to showcase the strengths of trade-union organising: it’s also an opportunity for us to regroup, reaffirm and recognise the power of trade unions in securing the change workers need.

The need to fight back against racism and the far right has never been as important as it is today, because organising matters. We need to reflect and learn, but also commit to even greater action by our unions, our members and activists against racism and the far right.

As trade unions, there is no better time for us to be seen and heard on this issue. In recent months we have borne witness to the racialised and deadly impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and to the global pandemic of racism which has continued to sweep through our lives, prompting new demonstrations worldwide.

The racialised impact of Covid-19 highlights the historic and systematic failure ofgovernments and administrations to tackle racial injustice.

But it’s not more reviews we need from government, it’s action: action to end racialised health inequalities, to end poverty, discrimination at work, in education, in housing, in the criminal-justice system, and action to end inequality and exclusion in our politics and our democracy.

Across the country monuments to slavery and imperialism have fallen as a renewed movement for social change and racial justice has awoken. Our unions, nationally and internationally, must be part of that movement for change as we act for racial justice on our streets, in our communities and in our workplaces.

Our unions have a proud history in the fight against racism and fascism. But let’s be clear, our fight is far from over.

More than 50 years ago we fought back against the hate-filled rhetoric of Enoch Powell as the first legislation was enacted to outlaw race discrimination in the workplace following campaigning by trade unions and other civil-society organisations — and still we must fight: far-right activists and neo-nazi thugs are once again growing in confidence.

The British government’s hostile environment narrative has been seized upon by racist, anti-migrant extremists. Everyday racism is commonplace in many of our workplaces. And we should not forget that as well as hatred of ethnic minorities, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of hatred are also prevailing features of these far-right agendas.

We must examine how far-right networks have been reinvigorated by the actions of political leaders from Trump to Bolsanaro whilst, at home, the hostile environment continues. Far-right networks have also undergone major shifts, with access to international finance and opportunities for global online organising.

We must now work together to ensure that a moment of important national and international condemnation following the murder of George Floyd becomes an enduring movement for real and lasting change.

As governments seek to roll back on workers’ rights and to deny the right of trade unions to exist we must recall our deeply held trade-union values and our commitment to international solidarity and to organising for racial justice.

As the country plans its recovery from the devastating impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, tackling structural and institutional racism must be at the core of our organising agenda and priorities as we bargain and campaign for racial justice in workplaces, schools and elsewhere.

In this moment of change, we must also regroup, challenge ourselves and work together, ensuring that our structures are inclusive and representative and that our activism continues to be committed, confident and connected as we organise for racial justice.

Patrick Roach is the general secretary of the NASUWT.