Groups across Cornwall are uniting for a noisy protest to stop Nigel Farage from speaking at Reform’s Cornwall conference at the Carn Brea Leisure Centre on 24th February. The protest starts at 3:30 and will run until the early evening.
Coordinated by Cornwall Resists, the groups want to stop Farage by shutting down the conference and aim to ensure that Cornwall is not an easy breeding ground for far-right hatred. Cornwall Resists is also calling on people to politely contact Carn Brea Leisure Centre to encourage them to cancel the booking.
Groups supporting the protest include the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, Radical Pride, Falmouth and Penryn Acorn, All Under One Banner Kernow, Youth Demand Falmouth and the Kernow Antifascist Network.
Cornwall Resists highlighted the reasons for taking action in a social media post:
“There’s no doubt that Kernow needs reforming. Our land is nothing but a playground for the rich. We, the locals, are priced out of our communities, our land stolen by second homeowners. Our services have been decimated by years of Tory – and now Labour – cuts. Meanwhile, our wonderful language, history, culture and desire for autonomy are mocked or dismissed.
“Our country is broken and our first-past-the-post parliamentary system is an archaic shambles that doesn’t represent us. We all know that radical change is needed. But Reform is not, and will never be, the answer.”
It further stated that:
“Reform scapegoat refugees and asylum seekers because those at the top of the party are rich. They have no interest in helping ordinary working people. Our services aren’t collapsing because of refugees – they’re collapsing due to years of underfunding while the rich just get richer.
“Farage is not a man of the people. On top of his £91k a year salary, he earns over £1 million in other work. He is part of the problem. He is part of the rich elite that is screwing over the rest of us while the planet burns.
“Let’s be clear – while not every Reform voter is a fascist, those at the top of the party undoubtedly are – and their rhetoric, and every vote for them, is a threat to every person of colour in our communities.”
A spokesperson for Cornwall Resists said:
“It’s amazing to see so many groups mobilise against the far-right in Cornwall. We know that to beat Reform we need to do more than organise against one conference – and this is ongoing work. But when fascists try to speak and mobilise in our communities, local people can and will respond.
“When fascists tried to target refugees at the Beresford hotel two years ago, local people shut them down. We are proud of our heritage, proud that our patron saint was a refugee, and we will let Farage and Reform know that there is no place for hatred and racism in Cornwall. Kernow is antifascist!”
