From late July to early August this year, violent riots — the largest since the 2011 race riots — guised as peaceful ‘protests’ shook the UK. Triggered largely by the stabbing and subsequent murder of three girls aged between six and nine at a dance event, eight other children and adults were also injured during the attack. Shortly after, in an anonymous tweet, a suspect was labelled across various social media platforms with no supporting evidence. The name being circulated was “Ali al-Shakati”. This misinformation led to widespread outrage throughout the UK, despite police later confirming the assailant as a British-born teenager with Rwandan parents who had no affiliation with Islam and Muslims.
Even so, the riots persisted, and rioters continued to act on their anti-immigration and Islamophobic sentiment. The English Defence League (EDL), a far-right, anti-immigration, Islamophobic organisation acted as the ringleader of these riots, which reached a violent climax in the city of Southport. Engendered by decades-long anti-immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment across the geopolitical sphere, these riots perpetuate and further legitimise this denigration, justified by the rise of international students and migrants post-COVID, reaching a breaking point.
Due to the initial misinformation, this isolated attack was immediately weaponised as a justification for the violent, racist attack on immigrants. A candlelight vigil held for the three young victims was swiftly overrun by rioters travelling far and wide, setting a mosque on fire. An undeniable truth is unveiled among the rubble and dust: it was never about the girls, it was simply a false opportunity to ignite the right.
Immigrants and Muslims have actively avoided walking their own streets. The simplest of tasks, such as buying groceries became a matter of life-or-death, with shop owners having their businesses destroyed. Veiled Muslim women in particular were targeted, raising questions as to why people are not allowed to display their faith.
Interestingly, growing anti-immigration sentiment has much to do with the very immigration laws which brought these Asian immigrants to the UK. Immigrants were historically called into the country after British colonies gained independence and the Commonwealth was formed as a result of the UK’s labour shortages. The immigrants who arrived took on many jobs ranging from scholars to bus drivers and restaurant owners, and often uprooted their whole families. This immigrant culture is very different to the immigrant culture of countries such as Australia or the USA, where the majority immigrants arrived as part of skilled migration programs, while UK immigration programs did not have the same restrictions.
Anti-immigrant sentiments are not new in England. Recently an interview went viral on the internet depicting a man spewing blatant vitriol — “they’re taking our jobs” — with many sharing and echoing his convictions. In reality, what prevented this man from getting a job was his criminal record, which he undoubtedly acquired of his own accord. So why is this narrative always being forced by the white majority? Maybe there is a barrier not allowing them to accept the multicultural society that benefits them or perhaps there is an ease in holding immigrants up as scapegoats for the inability of certain lower-middle class white groups to progress within society.
When a crime is committed by a minority, as seen through this attack, the focus turns onto the minority group and immigrants in that country, calling for mass deportation, rather than turning to the government or the victim’s families. However, when a crime is committed by a white person, as seen with the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbings in Sydney earlier this year, the assailant is labelled as a deranged individual and the crime is mourned, with following pleas to change laws that support this violence and stabbings. This is a message that the Western media has turned to for decades, to try and perpetuate hate onto a particular minority within society. Such hate-fuelled racism and misinformation within Western societies is not new, with roots relaying back to hate crimes committed against Muslims in America following the terrorism of Al Qaeda on 9/11.
The irony of this all lies in the fact that the British essentially “immigrated” and colonised these countries, leaving them in a state of chaos and/or economic disadvantage to this day, which has caused immigration out of those countries.
A shorter explanation would be: we came here because you came there.
