Far-right populism has been a growing phenomenon, not only in the UK, but across Europe. Nigel Farage’s, (leader of Reform UK) recurrent play on ‘populism’ has this time rendered a little more success than his previous attempts at 10 Downing Street, albeit, disconcertingly. During the week of the March 25, Farage took to the stage to rally his troops in Doncaster – supposedly a Reform stronghold – only to be met with organised resistance from several protestors.
According to YouGov, and at the time of writing, the latest voting intention survey showed Reform on top for the first time. The poll shows Reform leading with an estimated 27% of the vote, followed by Labour at 25% and the Conservatives at 21%. While this may send shivers down the spines of much of the electorate, how many are willing to take action? The party leader has faced criticism in the past, sometimes in the form of milkshakes or eggs, however, with Reform UK gaining in the polls, some are taking more serious counter-action.
On March 25, Farage took his campaign to Doncaster – his Reform stronghold in South Yorkshire. His aim was to, as per usual, cosplay as the ‘working-class’ while telling working-class voters to rally against the elites—an act he curiously manages to maintain in spite of his blatant elite status.
Little did he know he would be met with fierce and organised resistance from within—nine hecklers were removed from the building after recurrent interruption. I managed to interview one of these demonstrators.
Requesting confidentiality, he said the protestors in question were:
“From the Stand Up to Racism and Youth Demand. It was organised by stand up to racism in collaboration with Youth Demand”.
When asked about their objectives and motives, he responded:
“To challenge Farage… to show him that there is opposition [and] to give confidence to the people that actually there is resistance and we can beat Reform”.
I then asked him who or what were they protesting. He responded:
“[We were] protesting against Nigel Farage to show that he is a wealthy man, who went to the most expensive school in Britain”. He continued: “he wants to direct peoples anger towards the wrong places so it doesn’t get directed towards the wealthier elite that he is part of… he profits off of dividing people and it gets him money through things like GB News”.
Just look at Farage owning 500,000 shares of the company, raking in a supposed £600,000 for just 20 hours work – just like any working man!
Farage was ultimately in the city to unveil his new Candidate for the Mayor of Doncaster – Alexander Jones – a male model and entrepreneur (of course!), until he was interrupted by calls of “liar” and “refugees are welcome in Doncaster, tax your mates Nigel”. These demonstrators forced Farage to reveal his true character. Unable to control himself, he was seen shouting “boring” at a female protestor, also claiming that these demonstrations were the result of universities and teaching unions seeking to subvert democracy. Again he doubled down on teaching unions, accusing them of ‘poisoning the minds of young people’. What a bloke.
Over the years, we have seen much resistance to Farage. It is obvious that Farage is little more than a populist façade and manages to blame just about everything on immigration. In his most common costume, he is seen with a pint in his hand and a smile on his face, distracting voters from the knife he has planted in their back. As Reform only looks like its going to grow, we hope to expect more of this organised youth resistance as it attempts to combat the the possibility of Farage residing in 10 Downing Street in the future.
