Ninety years on, the lessons of the antifascist battle of Cable Street have never felt more relevant | Sarah Sackman

With sectarian forces increasingly seeking to divide us, we must come together to fight for security, fairness and tolerance

• Sarah Sackman is the Labour MP for Finchley and Golders Green

“No pasarán!” – they shall not pass. It’s the rallying cry that strikes at the core of my identity. The same anti-fascist slogan heard by my Spanish grandmother, who endured the horrors of that country’s civil war, echoed in London where my Jewish paternal grandparents lived. Ninety years ago, it was this cry that united tens of thousands of East Enders, who stood tall against Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts at the battle of Cable Street.

The story is well known. In 1936, disparate communities came together to block the far right from marching – Jewish residents, Irish dockers, Somali seamen, trade unionists, independent socialists and communists alike.

Sarah Sackman is the Labour MP for Finchley and Golders Green and minister of state for courts and legal services