An act of major violence in the United Kingdom K on 29 July has sparked not only violent protests led by far-right groups, but also anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim sentiment, where, among other things, the diaspora is blamed for the economic uncertainty the country is currently experiencing.
Harry Allen
After the murder of 3 young girls at a dance class in Southport, a 17-year-old, now 18-year-old British man, Axel Rudakubana has already appeared in court, with the murders sparking a series of anti-immigration riots across the country.
The most vicious riots have been anti-Islam in tone, but have since affected all minorities across the country. Asylum seekers housed in hotels have been a major target of attacks, whilst we’ve seen police stations similarly looted and attacked. Even libraries have been on the receiving end of unrest.
An explanation of the link between a British-born, second-generation Rwandan, and anti-Islam protests are something still awaited from key agitators like Tommy Robinson, who filmed his ritual dog-whistle from a luxury hotel in Cyprus.
Disinformation has spread like wildfire in the wake of rioting, with X (formerly known as twitter) opening the floodgates to far-right conspiracies, further fanning the flames of discontent. X owner, Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” has even taken to the platform, criticising the prime minister’s response as “two-tier.”
Kier Starmer, and Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper have clamped down hard on the civil unrest with more than 400 arrests made in the last week, prompting complaints of unequal police treatment of white British protesters. However, these complaints do not want to look at the disproportionate violence exercised by the demonstrators.
When reports are surfacing of minorities being told to stay at home, when workplaces close early, and when others face very serious attacks, there should be zero solidarity with the protestors’ motives. Indeed, things changed last week when anti-racist protesters thronged the streets of different cities and stood up not only to a violent far right that had taken to the streets for several days, but also to the false narrative that media, social media and some politicians have planted in the minds of many after a week dominated by unbridled far right violence against migrants. That narrative that has created hatred against immigrants.
These counter-protests have led to radio silence from the British far-right, with attendance numbers dwarfing the number of rioters. Metropolitan Police chief, Sir Mark Rowley spoke of “the show of unity from communities together defeated the challenges that we’ve seen.” Referring to the failure of the far-right to mobilise.
Migration and economy
It is a loop as old as civilisation itself, economic troubles need a face, or in this case, a collection of faces of different colours and nationalities to blame.
Britain is indeed in serious trouble, but we can’t say we haven’t had 40 years of warning. Social unrest will always follow economic uncertainty.
From Thatcher and Blair, to Cameron and Sunak, rampant increases in privatisation, deregulation and austerity policy, have skyrocketed economic inequality.
One of the key indicators of inequality, the Gini coefficient, has been increasing rapidly since the late 1970’s, with that inequality being solidified by the 2008 banking crash and Britain’s decision to leave the European Union in 2016, cutting off our biggest trading agreement in a single vote.
A global pandemic in 2020 led to levels of public spending not seen since the Second World War. Britain sold itself out to big tech, corporate contract winners and ended up with enormous public debt and rampant inflation.
The result is a purchasing power that, along with our living standards, has decreased. The economics are clear, the level of racism and xenophobia are more extraordinary considering the evidence available.
Neoliberalism, the driving force of government policy since Thatcher, has a distinct character. It has consistently needed an ever cheaper, ever flexible labour market for free market policies to thrive.
For example, the food-courier service Deliveroo, which thrives under neoliberal policies that prioritize labour market flexibility and lower overheads – also known as rider’s wages.
Relying heavily on migrant workers to deliver that food, the irony of delivery workers now fearing for their lives should not be lost on the wider British public.
The reality of immigration and the narratives about it contradict each other. On the one hand, migrants are needed, on the other, they are rejected.
According to The Migration Observatory in 2023, the number of people coming to the UK hit 685,000, driven by an increase in non-EU citizens coming to the UK. “Most of the increase in non-EU arrivals from 2019 to 2023 was through work and study routes, with health and care as the main industry driving growth in labour migration”, they reported.
Immigration – driven by wars, poverty, internal conflicts, threats to life and desires for a better future – is putting pressure on housing, public services and infrastructure. This is reported in a new study by the Centre for Policy Studies.
Some within and outside the UK see immigration as beneficial to their economies. It is a fact that the economy is heavily dependent on immigrants as they are the major force, for example, for the NHS, social care, and foreign students for universities. However, the view of some people is that “large-scale migration without the equivalent large-scale investment in the infrastructure to cope with the pressures it causes is an accident waiting to happen”.
It is clear that migration patterns, follow a desire to save their lives, earn more, learn more or just live in a dignified way. Those dreams are tainted, but all of this is still achievable in Britain despite the economic forecast.
White ‘English’ rioters are taking aim at those looking for the same comforts: good wages, good education and good healthcare, but a neoliberal system, based on maximisation of profit, cannot run without cheap labour. It’s woven into the fabric of the system.
We can build a more humanitarian migration policy by removing present inequality. Our desire to kick the can down the road on neoliberal capitalist policy, rather than reform it, will continually drive more labour to Britain. We have zero right to pick and choose if our economy thrives on that same policy. Only by fixing the economic reality, will a different social harmony emerge, you can’t manufacture that through hollow condemnations, mass arrests, and empty pledges to prevent islamophobia.
Years of race relations, and community building have been torn down in days. Delicate improvements, generation-by-generation, on improving social attitudes are being worn down by career politicians looking for quick wins, and social media algorithms are feeding off, and enlarging that hate, yet entirely off the hook for any sort of punishment until later this year.
It didn’t have to be this way, but when the country needed left, Britain consistently chose right, and followed its insecurities. The British people have been unlucky, the economics unkind, but to realise that the economy has been the only thing keeping the social fabric together, points to much greater underlying problems, we must confront them head on.
(Photos: Pixabay)
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