For more than a week, the streets of the United Kingdom have been the scene of unprecedented riots by right-wing extremists.
Cars were set on fire, hotels and refugee shelters attacked, and local mosques became prime targets for rioters. Now, it seems that calm has returned to the streets and the unrest has been brought under control to some extent, at least in England.
Following the horrific murder of three girls and the wounding of several others in a knife attack by a 17-year-old during a children’s dance class on a quiet residential street in Southport on 29 July, public unrest erupted across the country, from the south-west to the north-east. The streets became a battleground between right-wing extremists, the police, immigrants and local communities opposed to violence.
The killer was falsely identified on social media by far-right profiles and fake news spreaders as a Muslim asylum seeker who had arrived illegally on a small boat. For some far-right agitators, a tipping point had been reached and it was time to take to the streets. Videos and posts by Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the now-defunct English Defence League, whose X/Twitter account was reactivated last year on the orders of Elon Musk, were viewed an average of 54.3 million times a day between July 30 and August 9, according to the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.
So far, around 1,000 people have been arrested and nearly 550 have been charged. Concern in the UK about the future is greater than ever, with fears of what could happen with the spread of fascism, xenophobia and right-wing extremism.
The continued normalisation of far-right ideologies culminated in the events of the past few weeks. Libraries and a Citizens Advice office were set on fire, property was destroyed and people of colour were attacked. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Starmer issued ambiguous warnings, refusing to acknowledge that the riots were intended to terrorise Muslims and other vulnerable communities.
For years, the British Conservative government has promoted an ultra-conservative discourse that promotes policies against vulnerable groups and asylum seekers, marked by Islamophobia and a strong commitment to repressing dissent. A clear example of this is Suella Braverman, the former Home Secretary, who described the pro-Palestine protests as “hate marches”, which served to criminalize the protesters and their support for the Palestinian cause.
Another key figure in understanding what has happened in the UK over the past few weeks is Nigel Farage, the quintessential face of British far-right populism. Farage called “some of the actions” of far-right protesters “truly disgusting” but also seemed to justify the rioters, saying it was “a reaction to the fear, anger and unease that is shared by tens of millions of people.”
Moreover, Elon Musk, whose ties to fascist elements are undeniable, also played a significant role in amplifying the British far-right. Musk shared—and then deleted—a fake post by the co-leader of the far-right Britain First party, which claimed that the UK was building “detention camps” for rioters, and proclaimed that civil war in the country was “inevitable.”
However, we should not be misled into thinking that these are only “ultra-radical” or populist voices. Too many people in positions of power have denied the existence of Islamophobia for too long or have directly encouraged it. Islamophobia can be defined as a form of racism that is directed against manifestations of Muslim identity or any public expression perceived as such.
In this context, it is crucial to understand that Islamophobia has become a global response to the Muslim public presence, and as such, it is not exclusively the preserve of extremist groups. “Respectable” groups, such as the British Conservative Party, have been normalising anti-Muslim racism for years. Examples of this normalisation of hate speech are numerous: from Boris Johnson’s comparison of Muslim women to “letterboxes”, which led to a 375% increase in hate crimes against Muslim women, to former Culture Minister Nadine Dorries retweeting messages from Tommy Robinson, a well-known far-right activist.
Nor can we ignore the negative coverage of Muslims in the British media, where stereotypes that facilitate the marginalisation of these communities are regularly propagated. This has led to a third of the UK population endorsing prejudices such as “Islam is a religion of violence” or “Muslims will never be as British as other Britons”.
During the height of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015, British media provided much more negative coverage compared to other European countries. Dehumanising terminology dominated the tabloids, which referred to refugees as an “influx”, “wave”, “hordes” and “swarms”. In addition, the media amplified fears using military metaphors and war imagery, with headlines such as “send in the army” to stop the “invasion”.
As white nationalist mobs attacked Muslim communities this week, these outlets became their loudspeakers, amplifying intolerance. Some even claimed that Muslims should expect this kind of behaviour, while others promoted dangerous conspiracy theories about a supposed “Islamisation” of society. In doing so, these outlets normalised views that portray migrants of colour as a threat to British society and British Muslims as a “suspect community” to be blamed for the country’s problems.
The British media and politicians have sown the seeds of this violent disorder, spending years vilifying and scapegoating Muslims to divert attention from policy failures and win votes and ratings. Until such hate speech against Muslims is reversed, a repeat of such violent unrest is inevitable.
By XAVIER VILLAR
