Hundreds walk in unity march from Cowley to Oxford city centre
“It’s very easy to divide people when there’s a cost of living crisis"
Amarjit K. Barn, one of the organisers of Unity March & Rally, is worried about the far right rhetoric. As a long time resident of Oxford, she wants to “show unity and represent Oxford as a diverse, multicultural, cosmopolitan place.”
She is amongst the hundreds who walked at the march on Sunday, November 16, on a day when temperatures dipped across the UK after battering rains of Storm Claudia. Nevertheless, the 2.6 miles march began at Templars Square in Cowley, and culminated at Bonn Square in Oxford’s city centre.
Participants in the march could be seen carrying posters and banners for multiple causes related to anti-racism, including migrants and refugees, Islamophobia, and antisemitism. They chanted slogans as a volunteer drummers group played at different intervals of the march.
The poster invite for the unity march included 16 organisations such as Women Against the Far Right, Stand up to Racism Oxford, Student Action for Refugees Oxford, Unite the Union, Fire Brigade Unions among others. Banners and flags of Oxford Green Party, Oxford Labour Party, North Oxfordshire Socialist Alliance were also seen in the march.
Jo Barber, 39, shared she is participating in the unity march “as a celebration of art and city of sanctuary. This is a march for everyone– we welcome refugees, support the trans and the LGBTQ community, disability rights– many of the good things that are happening in the world. It’s basically a response to all the fascist forms that’ve been going on recently. We know a lot of people are scared ... so we created this event.. the sample bands, drummers, all day, good people and organisations, they’re coming out, women, to march.”
Amarjit shares “I was a student here many years ago, and I think Oxford is a very special, unique place that should be at the forefront of multiculturalism and intelligence, and to counteract and show a presence alternative to the far right.
“I was a student of German language and Literature here in the 90s. The dangers of the rise of the Far Right rhetoric is real. The tech billionaires such as Elon Musk are adding to this through their rabble rousing platforms such as X.
“It’s very easy to divide people when there’s a cost of living crisis.. as you can see, on Cowley Road, a lot of shops have closed… people are obviously struggling.. and it’s prime pickings for the far right.
“We just wanted to show a peaceful display. The unity of what Oxford as a city of sanctuary represents.”