A year on from the riots and things must change

A year on from the riots and things must change

Last summer we saw far-right riots sweep across the UK. We saw communities fearful of attacks from thugs, people unable to leave their homes, lives upended. We also saw communities come together and say “enough”, “we stand united”.

The hate and division, the hostile political rhetoric and fearmongering, hasn’t gone away though. We continue to see violence against those seeking to build their lives here, mobs attacking hotels across the country, such as in Epping and Norwich, rioting in the streets, such as in Ballymena, and the burning of effigies of refugees. We also see politicians saying we need to “accept”, or “understand”, the “concerns” of those creating violence on our streets. We all need to stand united as one community and say “enough”.

As we mark the anniversary of the far-right riots we are calling on people to do just that. Whether it is through our social media campaign, or just in general, because we are all one community, no matter where someone was born.

We spoke with people affected by the riots shortly after they occurred and the main feelings were those of fear and abandonment. Abandoned the authorities and politicians, the same politicians now saying we need to “accept” the views of those who caused such fear.

Over the last 12 months we have seen an increase in hostile policies against us, as migrants, yet more rhetoric aimed at demonising us and “othering” us. We have seen policies which risk actively putting some of us in further harm’s way, but we have also seen how people come together and support us. 

Migrants are not an “other”, we are not “scapegoats”. We are part of communities. We want, like everyone else, to live our lives in peace. To be able to walk the streets without fearing for our safety, to allow our children to play outside without worrying that they will face racist abuse. The threat to communities does not come from those of us who chose to live here, but from those who chose to spread hatred and racism, those who embolden and enable by excusing or defending it.

Last year’s riots where sparked by deliberate lies from the far-right after a hideous attack which should have seen us all united in grief and support for those who lost their children. Those same lies continue to be spread across the mainstream and social media, but we can show through social media that we, as one community across the country, are united against those lies.

Hatred does not spring from a vacuum. There are those who see anyone slightly different from themselves and automatically target them, and then there are those who feel cut out from society, disadvantaged and dispossessed, who make for easy targets for those who weaponise hate to turn to their cause. It is those people, those spreading the hate and turning communities against each other who are to blame for the violence we saw, not migrants and marginalised communities.

We need to stand united to call for a country which works for everyone, no matter where they were born. A country where we are all treated with respect, where we can all achieve our hopes and dreams. We need to stand united in our call for a country where we recognise our differences as strengths, strengths which can help everyone when accepted.

There are genuine, serious, issues facing this country, and they affect many people, regardless of where they were born. We have a continuing cost-of-living crisis, people struggling with poverty, and under-investment in infrastructure, among other things, none of that is down to migration. Migrants are as affected, sometimes more so due to the additional tens of thousands of pounds many of us have to pay to live and work here, as everyone else.

We must stop letting that small minority of those who see hate and violence as “legitimate” being the loudest voices. Joins with us as we stand #UnitedAgainstDivision, and say “we say no to hate. We stand as one community”.