1000’s of anti-racists took to the streets throughout the north and south of England on Wednesday night, reclaiming our cities and cities again from the far-right rioters who’ve been terrorising British Muslims, individuals of color, refugees and migrants over the previous eight devastating days.
In doing so, anti-racists have additionally reclaimed the narrative again from the politicians and media operatives who’ve emboldened these violent racists with their inflammatory rhetoric on migration, making it clear that almost all in Britain doesn’t purchase into their hatemongering and that our multiracial neighbourhoods and communities are “no go zones” for the far-right.
This unprecedented present of drive from the respectable individuals of Britain got here on the again of a warning from police that greater than 100 far-right gatherings had been deliberate throughout the nation on Wednesday. It was stated that the far proper, who’ve already been inflicting havoc throughout the nation in so-called “anti-immigration” demos for days, had been planning to assault the workplaces of immigration attorneys and refugee and migration charities in addition to mosques and group buildings.
Individuals who have been horrified by such assaults earlier, in addition to the widespread looting and violence in opposition to law enforcement officials that accompanied them, stated sufficient is sufficient. Mixed with a decided response from the police (greater than 400 rioters have been arrested and a few 140 have already been charged) the presence of anti-racists and anti-fascists on the streets in massive numbers proved sufficient to intimidate the far-right thugs. Ultimately, in lots of localities the place such violent gatherings had been deliberate, solely a handful of far-right rioters confirmed up.
It appears the race riots are actually over, and those that participated in them and even inspired them from afar are beginning to really feel the “full drive of the regulation”, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised.
Whereas this victory in opposition to racists and fascists, this reclamation of Britain’s identification, ought to undoubtedly be celebrated, there’s additionally an pressing must ask: How did we find yourself with far-right riots on our streets, and what can we do to forestall the repeat of this atrocity?
Many in Britain have pointed to on-line disinformation because the supply of the far-right riots. Certainly, deceptive, inflammatory social media content material scapegoating Muslims and refugees for all that’s mistaken with the nation, from the rising value of residing to lack of housing and even heinous crimes in opposition to kids, has performed an vital position in emboldening the worst in our society to take over our streets.
Nonetheless, British Muslims and people belonging to different ethnic minorities on this nation know for a proven fact that the hate that led to the occasions of this previous week is far older than social media.
These riots triggered outdated traumas in our communities that return at the very least half a century.
Certainly, these of us who’re the youngsters of working-class migrants invited to Britain to rebuild the nation after World Warfare II really feel like we skilled first hand on this previous week the discrimination, hate and intimidation our dad and mom confronted on this nation within the Seventies and Eighties.
Our dad and mom had instructed us how elders, youths and ladies from our communities had been instructed to remain house when far-right thugs had been out within the streets, in search of targets, victims. Final week, that unhappy historical past repeated itself. There have been warnings for Muslim girls and elders, and everybody else who occurs to look as if they could be Muslim or a “migrant”, to remain at house, to keep away from sure streets and neighbourhoods. We feared we is likely to be harassed, overwhelmed up, and even face acid assaults as we tried to go about our each day enterprise.
This previous week has additionally reminded us that the particularly potent anti-Muslim hate and bigotry that was unleashed within the aftermath of 9/11 didn’t go wherever regardless of years of anti-racist efforts to curtail it.
After al-Qaeda’s assault on New York’s twin towers 25 years in the past, the US and its allies, together with the UK, launched into a so-called “conflict on terror”, unleashing unimaginable terror and struggling on Muslim communities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and throughout the Center East. Concurrently, Muslims additionally started to be demonised in political and fashionable tradition, which totally normalised and mainstreamed anti-Muslim bigotry. This two-pronged marketing campaign of destruction and dehumanisation inevitably additionally had a profound impression on Muslims residing throughout the West, together with the UK.
Put up-9/11, in most of Europe, Islamophobia grew to become state coverage. States began banning the niqab, the hijab, the constructing of mosques and the decision to prayer. There have been a number of makes an attempt to ban halal meat throughout completely different nations. For years, most mainstream media in Europe proudly disseminated Islamophobia, publishing with out consequence false tales and hysterical headlines to gas bigotry in opposition to Muslim communities.
Within the UK, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration and anti-refugee voices in media and politics have been as loud as these on the continent, however there has at all times additionally been a widespread effort to defend multiculturalism and all of the communities, together with Muslims, that make Britain nice.
Previously few years, nonetheless, there was a concerted effort to undo the anti-racist features made in our nation since 9/11. The politicians and the media tried their finest to demonise Muslims and baselessly current our communities as a menace to the way forward for our nation.
Particularly for the reason that starting of Israel’s conflict on Gaza, now we have seen a return to the darkish days within the instant aftermath of 9/11. The anti-genocide marches calling for peace and a ceasefire had been branded as “hate” and British Muslims demanding an finish to the killing had been branded as “hatemongers” by these in political energy in addition to in mainstream nationwide media.
All this led to the horrific explosion of hate now we have seen on our streets prior to now week. Certainly, the race riots had been an inevitable consequence of all this – because of the efforts of anti-racists they lasted solely per week, however they had been a long time within the making.
Now that the far-right menace on our streets seems to have been quelled, affected communities are attempting to catch their breath and course of what they’ve skilled.
So how can we stop the repeat of this horrific explosion of hate in opposition to Muslim and different minority communities?
The one approach to make sure the UK by no means sees such racist riots once more, the one approach that our communities can really feel totally secure and safe on this nation, is for the federal government to embark on a conflict in opposition to harmful far-right ideologies.
The federal government should take the far proper and its Islamophobic bigotry head on, defend and uphold the internationally recognised rights of asylum seekers and migrants. It should create a brand new asylum and immigration system that’s aligned with worldwide regulation and respectful of the dignity and humanity of all individuals.
Additional, it should make its stance on Islamophobia clear.
Except the leaders of this nation recognise that hatred of Muslims, migrant and refugees is a supply of home terror, that it’s threatening the very cloth of British society, I’m sure that there will likely be different weeks of disgrace on this nation’s future when minorities are instructed to remain house for his or her security.
The federal government should now thank the British individuals who stopped the far proper in its tracks, and take instant motion to make sure their efforts weren’t in useless.
Starmer and his cupboard should defend multiculturalism and concurrently take motion to deal with the deep-seated inequalities and injustices affecting the UK’s multiracial working lessons that enable for far-right ideologies to take maintain in our nation. The rest can be capitulating to far-right extremists and handing energy to them over all our lives.
The views expressed on this article are the writer’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
