Unite has launched its Unity over Division campaign in response to the rise of the far right in Britain and across Europe.

Far right political parties and groups are trying to gain a foothold in our communities. They are using people’s unhappiness at the loss of services and affordable housing to try to divide our communities and set neighbour against neighbour.

At a time of many years of failed Tory austerity, the longest pay squeeze for decades, increasingly insecure work and our NHS stretched to breaking point, these groups are diverting working class anger away from the real issues and twisting people’s pride in their country.

Unity over Division is a Unite campaign aimed at ensuring that the government’s vicious austerity policies are exposed and that progressive solutions are argued in every workplace where our union organises. It’s aimed at equipping our officers and activists with the counter arguments to challenge the far right’s narrative, including myths around immigration and migration in Britain, the welfare state, NHS, education and women’s rights.

It is more important than ever that the government’s vicious austerity policies are exposed and that progressive solutions are argued in every workplace where Unite organises and has members. This is why the education programme is fundamental to the Unity over Division campaign. Unite is uniquely placed to communicate with our 1.3 million members and reach thousands of leaders who are able to influence the political debates that are going on in workplaces across the nations.

Our aim is to reach 12,000 Unite activists a year with our training and education materials.

As well as the Unity over Division education programme, the campaign has mobilised for protests against the far right in towns and cities across the country.

Our message? That scapegoating any group of people serves no purpose. It just distracts from the real causes of problems in our workplaces and communities.

Let’s celebrate what we have in common and respect our differences. Let’s reject hatred in favour of hope. Because we are the many and those that seek to divide us are the few.

Interested in holding a Unity over Division education programme in your region, sector, branch or local community? Email the campaign here for more information: Unity@unitetheunion.org