Hi all. Unless you’ve been living under a rock recently, you’ll be well aware of the awful scenes we’ve been seeing in the UK. There are various opinions on why this has been happening and who is to blame. I don’t like telling people what they should think, but I don’t think it’s possible to talk seriously about these recent atrocities without mentioning the far right. In my opinion, this country has a serious far right problem. I don’t know how we solve it, but I have some general thoughts on the matter.
There has been a misconception about racism in this country for a long time. How you apportion that between willful ignorance and just plain ignorance is not something I’m sure we’ll ever know. But the belief seems to be that there are very few racists in this country, and – of that small minority – most of them are older people who are of a different generation and don’t know any better.
I think the riots and disorder that we’ve seen put paid to that assertion. There have been plenty of racists out in force, and many of them have been men between the ages of 20 and 50. Not exactly old age pensioners.
If you’ve been following the goings-on in the news, you might be fairly shocked to see me use the word ‘racist’ to describe these mobs. The media, pretty much exclusively, have been referring to these people as ‘anti-immigration’.
Here’s why I think that is nonsense: firstly, these mobs have not been going after immigrants from America, or Ireland, or Poland. Instead, they have been attacking mosques and setting hotels with asylum seekers inside on fire. Secondly, the far right goons have been attacking people of colour, ironically, without prejudice. Not caring whether these people are actually British citizens or not, they’ve been setting upon any non-white passers-by they’ve come across.
Why have these rioters been referred to as ‘anti-immigration’, then? When politicians use that term, as crass as it would be if true, I imagine that they do it to potentially avoid losing voters. They might think that if they dub the mobs as racist or Islamaphobic, it could lose them numbers from the far right. So they tiptoe around it.
As for why the media do it, your guess is as good as mine. I do find that big organisations will go out of their way to avoid talking seriously about racism. But, other than it being a difficult subject to talk about at times, I don’t know why there is such reticence to call a spade a spade. The word ‘racism’ in our world is like the name ‘Voldermort’ in the Harry Potter universe.
Anyway, what started the riots? Well, there is a very long answer involving certain individuals and media outlets who have stoked fear and mistrust of immigrants over many years. The likes of Nigel Farage, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), the Daily Mail, the Conservative Party, the Labour Party (recently), and obviously parties like UKIP and Reform, to name but a few.
Immigrants, specifically those who aren’t white, have been demonised for a long time. The above-mentioned people have used words like ‘swarm’, ‘invasion’, ‘infestation’, ‘filth’, ‘savages’. When you hear this sort of thing enough, you stop seeing immigrants as people (if you ever did). You see them as animals or the enemy. And, for a certain section of people, immigrants become the sole reason for all of their issues.
Can’t get a job? Stop the boats. Can’t get a council house? Stop the boats (even though immigrants mostly aren’t eligible for council housing). Can’t get a doctors appointment? Stop the boats (even though immigrants are more likely to be working in the NHS than being on the waiting list). It does amuse me that immigrants apparently simultaneously come over here and take all ‘our’ jobs, and also come over here and lazily claim benefits. Well, as I’ve come to learn, racists are nothing if not incredibly stupid.
Back to the riots, the shorter answer is that they were in response to the tragic events in Southport where three young girls were murdered. It was a truly horrible and devastating thing to have happened, and on that basis, you can almost justify a certain amount of civil unrest. I’ve gone on the record before about believing in the right to protest. So, I wouldn’t have blamed anyone for protesting over the senseless killing of children.
But these weren’t protests. They were riots from the get-go. And what fueled them? A lie. Someone online (I’m honestly not sure who the first person to do it was) claimed that the assailant in the Southport attack was a Muslim man who had recently come to this country on a small boat. The inference being that if we stopped immigrants coming into this country and/or there were fewer Muslims in this country, these killings wouldn’t have happened. Because, famously, white English people have never killed anyone (more on that anon).
Whatever the intention of the online liar, the ‘revelation’ that the attacker was Muslim was like a spark to a tinder box. Far right yobs travelled from around the country to attend the Southport vigil, crate of Strongbow in tow, ready for violence. A mosque was attacked, and police who came to restore order had bricks and bins launched at them.
Of course, it was subsequently revealed that the suspected murderer was, in fact, not Muslim. He wasn’t even an immigrant, having been born in Wales. But, the far right aren’t the sort to let facts and reason stand in their way. Further riots broke out all across the country over the course of a week or so.
And, I hate to admit it, but I was scared to leave the house. I’ve always been aware that, as a person of colour, I might be targeted when out and about, if I was unlucky enough to encounter the wrong sort of crowd. But that’s just something I’ve accepted as being a possibility, no matter how remote the chances were; it never manifested itself as a fear that stopped me from doing anything.
This time was different, though. This time, I felt that it was likely I’d be attacked if I ventured out, so I mostly stayed home, hoping that the riots would die down. On the couple of occasions when I had to pop out, I was paranoid the whole time, wondering if someone would see me and say something or, worse, physically assault me. I started locking my car from the inside whilst driving, which is something I never usually do.
And, by the way, when I say that I hate to admit I was scared, I don’t mean it in a macho, ‘fear is a sign of weakness’, kind of way. I don’t see being afraid of something as being a weakness, necessarily. The reason I hate to admit it, though, is that I don’t want to give the racists the satisfaction. Because that’s what they want. They want the non-white folk to feel as if they don’t belong. It’s how they feel they can take ‘their’ country back.
Circling back to the lie about the suspect being Muslim, there’s a reason that misinformation spread as easily as it did. For a worryingly large number of people, they wanted it to be true. They were so desperate for it to be a Muslim perpetrator, as they felt that then gave them carte blanch to be as violent and disorderly as they could be.
I mean, call me a hippie-dippy looney lefty if you like, but I actually think violent crimes are bad no matter what skin colour the attacker has. But maybe that’s just me.
This demonisation of immigrants wouldn’t be so bad if this was applied across the board. But it’s not. When a violent crime is committed by a white person, there’s a collective shrug, and we all move on. Unfortunately, there are many recent examples of this.
Last year, a woman by the name of Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven newborn babies. It was an obviously horrible story that, to be fair, did cause a lot of outrage across the country. But there were no riots. A few months ago, a man went on a rampage with a sword and killed a schoolboy. There were no riots. Was this also because the murdered schoolboy was black? I prefer not to speak.
A couple of weeks after the far right riots, a man attacked a woman and girl in Leicester Square with a knife. There were no riots, and it barely got any media coverage. Was the lack of media coverage because the man who stepped in to save the woman and girl was Muslim? Who can say? Although kudos to the Daily Mail for doing the most Daily Mail thing ever, by putting a picture of the Muslim hero next to a headline, “Knifed at Random.” I see what you were trying to do there!
The point is, in all the above cases – and many more where the perpetrator is white – we collectively seem to have the intelligence to understand that it is those particular individuals who are the problem. We’ll say things like, “she’s evil,” or, “he’s mentally unwell.” But when it’s a person of colour who commits a terrible crime, too many people suddenly lose the capacity to judge the individual alone. The wording becomes things like, “that’s the problem with these people,” or, “this is why we shouldn’t let them into our country.”
So, what hope is there, when so many people have such hate in their hearts? Well, there have been two things that have made me hopeful. Firstly, the counter-protests, which saw people march in their thousands, spreading messages of togetherness and thoroughly rejecting far right ideologies. It really did give me great hope, seeing how many people who are not only anti-racist and anti-fascist but also willing to potentially put themselves in danger to stand up for these ideals.
Then, secondly, but along similar lines, was how small the far right movement revealed itself to be. After the initial couple of riots, it’s clear to me that the far right were emboldened to go even further with their demonstrations. There were online messages, calling for mass mobilisation all over the country, with multiple town centres targeted. I was fearful that things would get much worse before they got better, and I worried that the police just wouldn’t have the numbers to deal with such widespread disorder.
But then… nothing much happened. The far right gatherings that did occur didn’t attract huge numbers. Any violence that did break out was swiftly dealt with by local police forces.
So, why did the far right demonstrations fizzle away quicker than expected? I have a few theories. I think that the masses of counter-protestors possibly did scare some of the people who were planning on rioting. It was maybe a revelation that they – and their views – were vastly outnumbered.
It also helped that many police forces were quick to make arrests in the days after the initial rioting. The police, alongside many people online, were quick to share images and videos of people getting a knock on the door and getting led away in handcuffs. It was probably felt that if rioters could avoid getting collared during the riot itself, they’d get off scott free. Seeing that many people were being identified and apprehended later probably made others think twice before causing any trouble.
Lastly, I just don’t think the far right have the numbers that many of them seem to think they do. As I mentioned at the top, I think there are more racists in this country than many would care to admit. But I don’t think there are as many as those on the far right believe there are.
You see, I reckon the more destruction and chaos the far right caused during the riots, the braver they got. The more they felt emboldened and that their voices would be heard. So they ambitiously tried to arrange riots all over the country at the same time and bit off far more than they could chew. And the concept of far right clowns suddenly realising that they’re not as relevant as they thought they were is absolutely beautiful to me. If the whole experience has made them feel small, scared, and like they’re a minority in this country, well, wouldn’t that be the sweetest irony of all?
Thank you for reading. I know this one wasn’t exactly a fun read. Honestly, it wasn’t a great deal of fun to write either. But I did find it quite cathartic, so hopefully, there’s an element of that for readers too. I don’t know what I’ll be writing about next time. I have a few rough ideas, but nothing that is particularly jumping out at me. With that in mind, it might be a while until my next one. Until then, take it easy.
Rob Recommends
Killers of the Flower Moon – Film – 7/10
Martin Scorsese has had many collaborations with Leonardo Di Caprio, but this is probably the weakest one since Gangs of New York. Scorsese has, of course, also collaborated with Robert De Niro plenty of times, and I have to say that I like De Niro in this.
There are plenty of good performances all around, and the story is an important one; I’m sure there are many Native Americans who appreciated having this tragic story told by such an artistic and brilliant director. This possibly says more about me than the film, but I found it a bit boring in places.
Firstly, the movie is three and a half hours long. That is too long for me. It’s rare for me to get loads of time to myself, so having to carve out the best part of four hours for this was a chore. If you insist on making something this long, it has to be way more entertaining, as far as I’m concerned.
I also couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that this would have been a hell of a lot more fun if Quentin Tarantino directed it. I’m sure this film has or will win plenty of awards. I just think it was a solid piece, nothing more.
Slow Horses – TV – 9/10
There’s an ongoing joke online that Apple TV are the worst at promoting what shows they have available. You have to spend time looking around yourself, and then, every now and again, you come across a hidden gem. This was the case for me with Slow Horses, a show which apparently came out in 2022 but that I’d never heard of. Apple need to have a serious word with either their marketing or UI/UX department.
Anyway, this show is bloody brilliant. It’s gripping from the get-go. Gary Oldman is an absolute chameleon. He, like almost no one else I can think of, is able to lose himself in the various roles he’s played over the decades. It’s to the point where you forget it’s Oldman at all in this. He is simply Jackson Lamb, head of the loser division of MI5. It’s an incredible series, and I urge you to give this one a go.
A Rob Blog 