UK riots raise the spectre of racism and evoke haunting memories (2024)

London, United Kingdom – Since riots broke out across Britain, news outlets have focused on the role of disinformation shared on social media.

As far-right mobs rage in several towns, questions abound: should social media platforms crack down on the proliferation of dangerous conspiracy theories – primarily that people of immigrant and Muslim backgrounds are more likely to commit deadly crimes or sexual abuse? Are companies like TikTok inflammatory, allowing rioters to flaunt footage of their hate crimes with abandon?

There’s little doubt that social media plays a significant role in stoking tensions. However, the threat of the far right is not new, and many of their views entered the political mainstream long before we were glued to our screens.

Violence first flared after three girls – Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Bebe King, six – were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday camp in Southport.

After the northern English town in mourning held a peaceful vigil, a group of far-right agitators ran riot in scenes that have been repeated for a week.

Conspiracy theorists were quick to float the idea that the Southport attacker was Muslim and a migrant.

Neither is true of his identity. The suspect has been named as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana. Suspects below 18 have automatic anonymity, but judges decided to identify Rudakubana, in part to stop the spread of false information.

He is a British national born in Wales, reportedly to Christian parents from Rwanda. Despite attempts to debunk the provocateurs, it was too late. The damage had already been done.

Responding to a video shared on X on Saturday by the infamous agitator Tommy Robinson, picturing black-clad men and boys throwing fireworks in a Liverpool street, Musk wrote on his platform: “Civil war is inevitable”. He’s now at loggerheads with the British government over the comment.

The first duty of government is to keep its citizens safe. Many Black and Asian citizens do not feel safe.

— Lester Holloway (@LesterJHolloway) August 6, 2024

Those joining the days-long riots have chanted against – and attacked – migrants, Muslims and non-white Britons.

Mosques have been vandalised. Rioters have thrown bricks into the homes belonging to ethnic minorities and smashed the windscreens of their cars. A Syrian supermarket in Belfast was set alight. Hotels housing asylum seekers have been surrounded by furious crowds, some of whom have made deadly threats; one masked man was filmed making a slit-throat gesture. Racist graffiti was sprayed on the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, perhaps an indicator of how many communities are at risk: “Fu** P***s”, “Scum”, “Get out England”.

Aftermath of violence in Tamworth shows how a mob smashed their way into a hotel used by asylum seekers, tried to set fire to it with them and staff inside. Petrol bombs, fireworks, bricks and other missiles were thrown at police. The building is covered in racist graffiti. @GMB pic.twitter.com/ymby7CGA8z

— Richard Gaisford (@richardgaisford) August 5, 2024

The Daily Telegraph’s crime editor shared a quote from a resident in Middlesbrough, where riots broke out on Sunday: “They were yelling, ‘There ain’t no black in the Union Jack’ and randomly smashing windows in the hope the houses belonged to immigrant families.”

The nation feels like a tinderbox. Counter-protesters have rallied and clashes with police are increasing. Hundreds have been arrested.

And for some, today’s scenes bring back memories of the kind of racism that emerged in post-war Britain, when immigrants from the Commonwealth were maligned.

Haunting memories

In the seventies and eighties, after then-shadow defence secretary Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood Speech, Caribbeans and South Asians were regularly intimated on the streets.

“P**i-bashing”, a term that refers to violent unprovoked attacks on South Asians and their businesses, was widespread.

Others are remembering the mood in Britain after the September 11 attacks in 2001, when British Muslims felt collectively blamed and abused.

More recently, xenophobia was stirred during the referendum that decided Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2016.

Nigel Farage, the hard-right populist considered one of Brexit’s key architects, oversaw a wave of anti-migrant rhetoric that has, some argue, been adopted by mainstream political parties.

The former Conservative government railed for years against undocumented migrants and repeatedly promised to “stop the boats”, a promise that the new Labour administration has also made.

In addition to the horrific violence inflicted on our communities, we're also witnessing Black and brown people being grilled media platforms, practically begging for our humanity to be acknowledged, explaining why we shouldn't be violently assaulted.

— Yemisi Adegoke (@briticoyemo) August 5, 2024

On July 4, Labour won a majority in an election that was overpowered by talk of the two types of migration – undocumented and net migration, which refers to overseas workers or students who arrive on visas.

Reform, the Farage-led movement which blames societal woes such as unemployment, crime and housing shortages on migration, became the third party by vote share. Four million Britons, a not insignificant number, backed the group whose chief said in May that Muslims do not share British values.

With 80 anti-racist and migrant rights organisations, we've written to @Keir_Starmer asking for Parliament to be recalled to address the scale of this crisis.

The new govt must change the dial, and foster zero tolerance for far-right, racist and anti-migrant narratives. pic.twitter.com/h1pH2GMhWB

— Runnymede Trust (@RunnymedeTrust) August 5, 2024

Ahead of the election, when I reported in Clacton-on-Sea, the coastal town where Farage is now an MP, his backers shared troubling views. All of those I interviewed deplored undocumented migrants.

“All them boats coming here, I honestly believe they’re terrorists,” said one. “They’re coming here to invade us and eventually, they’ll kill us all and wipe us off the face of the Earth.”

Some spoke against Muslims.

Another touted the false theory that serious crimes in London were mostly carried out by “foreign input into the country”.

‘Britain’s descended into race riots’

As Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces a huge test just a month into the job, few brown and Black Britons or migrant communities feel safe. More far-right riots are expected in areas home to large minority populations.

What is the origin of misinformation? How has anti-immigrant sentiment transformed into the spectre of white supremacy, or vice versa? These are the pertinent questions that minority communities are asking.

One post being widely shared blames the media. It shows more than a dozen front-page headlines that have demonised migrants and Muslims in recent years.

No idea how yesterday happened. None at all. pic.twitter.com/qxhWcOzjKq

— Brendan May (@bmay) August 4, 2024

“So Britain’s descended into race riots,” begins a new poem shared on Monday by George the Poet, a celebrated artist. “I don’t know how any journalist sees this and stays quiet. We just had an election soaked in racism and most of the media wasn’t fazed by it. I almost, almost can’t believe what I’m seeing.”

For him, and many others, there are two culprits: the media and politicians.

His poem continues: “These people being violent to immigrants ain’t too surprising considering the times that we’re living in. Heightened suspicions and rising divisions are direct products of right-wing conditioning.”

These riots were started by the political and media establishment. Solidarity with everyone under attack 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/w76ockjuCf

— George The Poet 🇺🇬 (@GeorgeThePoet) August 5, 2024