“Racist riots and fascist street movements do not emerge in a vacuum. They were a product of racist and Islamophobic language used by the Tory right, Reform UK and the cynical campaign to use Muslims and asylum seekers in particular as scapegoats”
By Sabby Dhalu, Stand up to Racism
Tackling the far right will be an important aspect of this year’s TUC Congress after racist riots and the large mobilisation of anti-racists led by Stand up to Racism (SUTR) up and down the country, that stopped the riots for now.
This week saw yet more asylum seekers drown during another perilous journey across the Channel in the hope of reaching safety. Asylum seekers continuing to make life threatening journeys across the Channel and drowning as a result is criminal because it is preventable. We cannot allow human beings dying whilst crossing the Channel to become normalised. This latest incident has led to stepped up calls on the government to implement safe routes for asylum seekers, by the Refugee Council, Amnesty International, Care4Calais, Safe Passage International and SUTR.
Refugee Council CEO Enver Solomon this week urged Labour to drop the Tory rhetoric, adopt the language of ‘compassion and humanity’ and focus on humane alternatives instead of costly deportations. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper recently announced an increase in deportations and detentions, widely perceived as a concession to anti-immigration racism expressed during the far right riots. Only Reform UK or the Tories will benefit from Labour ramping up the anti-asylum seeker rhetoric, as a recent opinion poll showed. A Westminster voting intention poll by We Think Polling, put Reform UK in second place on 21% and up 5 points from the previous poll.
The riots should be a stark reminder to Labour that it must challenge racism head on, not concede to it. Racist mobs chanted the “stop the boats” slogan championed by the previous Tory government. They also chanted “Allah. Allah. Who the **** is Allah,” “We want our country back,” “F***the immigrants” and “P*** c****, f*** off back home”.
This illustrates two points consistently made by anti-racists. Firstly, that racist riots and fascist street movements do not emerge in a vacuum. They were a product of racist and Islamophobic language used by the Tory right, Reform UK and the cynical campaign to use Muslims and asylum seekers in particular as scapegoats and a distraction, whilst fourteen years of austerity has left people worse off.
Secondly, attacks on one community almost always lead to attacks on all communities that face racism. The racist riots included pogromist attacks on Mosques, Muslims, asylum seekers and violent attacks on African, Asian, Caribbean and Eastern European communities, leaving many frightened to leave their homes.
An anti-racist activist in Middlesbrough described the far right as “on the hunt for non-white people in the city,” setting cars on fire, blocking cars with Asian, African, and Caribbean drivers and attempting to drag them out of the car. Meanwhile, horrific events in Hull included missile attacks on a Mosque, injuring the Muslim men who were there to defend it. A family of Romanians in a car was confronted by a racist mob of about 100, the windscreen was smashed, people pulled at the doors and a man tried to hit the driver with a metal bar before the occupants fled. A black man was attacked by a gang of fascists, then attacked by police.
Riots first erupted in Southport a day after the community was still mourning the loss of Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, who died after a horrific knife attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Far right thugs destroyed residents front gardens, using the paving slabs and bricks to attack the Southport Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre, leaving those inside fearing for their lives. A Southport resident said: “It was a targeted hit on that Mosque, it was nothing to do with those little girls.”
There is no doubt that fascists were part of the riots, with many giving Nazi salutes and men with swastika tattoos involved in the riots. Such grotesque exploitation of a horrific and brutal attack on children and others in order to incite religious and racial hatred to build a fascist street movement, must be robustly condemned and face the full force of the law.
As well as challenging racism and Islamophobia, mobilising against racism, far right and fascist thugs is a crucial part of the strategy to defeat them, as recently demonstrated. The swift and large mobilisation of anti-racists led by SUTR up and down the country, turned the tide and stopped the far right riots for now. The decent majority of people in Britain were horrified by the racist riots.
When details of far right plans to target immigration advice centres and solicitors were going viral, SUTR led and coordinated a response to this threat and organised counter-demonstrations to protect these places from racist attacks and to make a determined stand against racism. Up and down the country tens of thousands of anti-racists mobilised and the vast scale of the mobilisations prevented the racist riots. Trade unionists were central to the mobilisations. Anti-racist mobilisations throughout the country continued into the weekend, including a demonstration outside Reform UK HQ in London with many recognising the role of Nigel Farage and Reform UK in creating fertile ground for the riots.
We stopped the racist riots but there is no room for complacency. We must be prepared to mobilise again and again. The lessons of history on defeating racist and fascist movements have been demonstrated many times: unite, mobilise against and challenge, do not concede to racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and all forms of racism.
- Sabby Dhalu is Co-convenor of Stand up to Racism (SUTR). You can follow her on Twitter/X and SUTR on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter/X.
- Stand up to Racism are holding an emergency vigil outside of Downing Street on Friday 6 September at 5.30PM – Refugees Welcome vigil and protest – Safe Routes Now, No More Channel Deaths.
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