The tragic deaths of three children in Southport, as well as the injuries of ten others, was shocking. No-one knows the motive. Most likely, the attacker is ill or has a “weird” motive like many similar attackers in the US. [1]
However, the fuse for the incendiary riots that have followed was fake online news blaming Muslims and migrants for the deaths.
Once said fuse was lit, well-known figures — more agitators than influencers — fanned the flames of sectarian hate.
BACKGROUND
On 29 July, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana stabbed and killed three young children, and injured ten others
Born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and possession of a bladed article
Initial reporting prevented naming the suspect, and far-right agitators exploited this to spread misinformation and disinformation blaming migrants and Muslims
Since then, far-right riots have gripped many areas in the UK, with over 428 arrests and 120 charged, vehicles set ablaze, mosques vandalised, and police officers attacked
Inflammable cocktail of incitement brewed for years
Those who have followed politics closely in the past few decades will know that it was mainstream politicians in the UK, along with their allies in mainstream media, who brewed the toxic inflammable cocktail of incitement against migrants and Muslims over many years.
Many have shared collages of tabloid headlines disproportionately problematising migrants and Muslims.
Violent crime, sexual crime, skimming benefits, taking homes and jobs. Where real problems do exist, there is no serious consideration of the causes — for these media outlets, it is as if such things do not exist across society.
Rather, they are inherently and solely linked to skin colour, religion, or country of origin!
A point on the Zionist state’s slaughtering of Gaza
Following “Israel’s” slaughter in Gaza, politicians like Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak portrayed peaceful expressions of pro-Palestine sentiment as unacceptable “hate-marches”. [2]
And they were cheered on by the right-wing print media, while the establishment media like the BBC downplayed the humanity of the victims in Gaza.
All of this fell into the agenda of the occupying power that demonises Palestinians as “terrorists” in order to justify their indiscriminate killing.
Nevertheless, having said all of the above, we can summarise the causes into three categories:
the establishment agenda;
well-known racist agitators;
and systemic xenophobia.
Let us not lose sight of things
The situation for Muslims is not like in Palestine today.
In fact, there are many good people in Britain who do not think this kind of thuggery is warranted.
For example, the people of Southport — reeling from their own tragedy — came together to repair the damage to the local mosque the very day after rioters targeted it.
Others might have been duped into buying into some of the false narratives, but still do not agree that violence is right.
There are immense dangers of some falling into a trap of becoming a mirror image of the attacker — reacting to the threat by targeting others, thereby escalating the issue.
Muslim community leaders who’ve addressed young people that have come to defend mosques have made this point very eloquently: that they need to be ambassadors of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, a message that would resonate with a young person in a way that other styles would not.
The establishment agenda
Back in the mid-2000s, following bombings in London, Tony Blair did not blame what is now known to be the cause of the backlash that led to insecurity for the people of Britain — namely his foreign policy, which included criminal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Instead, Blair blamed “multiculturalism”, “Islamism”, “false grievances”, a failure of integration, ideology etc., but not what even he was forced to admit in later years to be the cause.
When, in 2006, he declared the end of the state policy of multiculturalism, it was gloves off for other politicians and corporate/state media in attacking Islam, Muslims, and, indeed, people from other cultures who did not adopt the core Western secular liberal values.
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism was a policy that existed for decades in the UK.
Its target was allowing migrants to express their own cultures in the hope that, after one or two generations, their children would become assimilated.
However, it became clear that Muslims bucked that trend. Whilst many were productive citizens, they either held firm to, or in some cases re-embraced, Islamic values rather than just adopting the dominant secular liberal ones.
Launching Prevent
Blair launched Prevent, which was initially exclusively about Muslims.
After Blair’s era, we saw Gordon Brown discussing national citizenship agendas. Cameron and Gove pushed their “muscular liberalism”, particularly in schools. Theresa May campaigned with billboards that migrants should “go home”. Boris mocked women in niqāb. Rishi Sunak reinforced the “grooming gangs” narrative, and repeated the mantra of “stopping the boats”.
Whether “terrorism”, “grooming gangs”, or other crime, the real data did not support the dominant narrative that it was a Muslim or migrant problem.
Attacking migrants
In terms of migration, the focus on asylum seekers was unwarranted.
In 2023, there were approximately 80,000 asylum applications, two-thirds of which were legitimate. [3]
By comparison, there were 700,000 economic migrants given visas to come to the UK, from India, Europe, and elsewhere.
It was the latter group that caused the greater strain on services, housing, etc. But they could hardly be blamed for that, when they were invited to fill a skills deficit in Britain.
Yet it was easier for politicians across the political spectrum to cover the failings of the political system by blaming migrants and asylum seekers, focusing on the very small proportion (~five per cent) of illegitimate claimants.
Covering up failings in domestic and foreign policy
The establishment narrative to cover their own failings in foreign and domestic policy became so toxic that, by 2024, they were forced to repeat it endlessly.
In the 2024 election campaign, where a former human rights lawyer, Keir Starmer, was interviewed by the Sun newspaper about migration, he focused on “people coming from Bangladesh… not being removed…” [4]
And he said,
“I’ll make sure we got planes going off, back to the countries where people came from.” [4]
This was extraordinary, when people from Bangladesh did not make up significant numbers seeking asylum, nor economic migrants! It was “dog-whistle” politics that showed he was willing to follow the establishment cover-up.
The “War on Terror” might have been the start of the change towards Muslims in Britain, but the establishment’s recent efforts to support its occupation of Palestine and silence criticism is almost certainly the cause for the escalation of this sort of negative narrative.
Racist agitators
Household names in sectarian hate
Tommy, Andrew, Nigel, Laurence, and Calvin are names that have become associated with fanning the flames of sectarian hate.
Some are self-promoting narcissists, for whom controversy and polarising people draw viewers, voters, and ultimately dollars.
Some are driven by jealousy, inadequacy, and an inferiority complex — they hate Islam and/or brown people because they perceive them to respectively be a thriving religion and culture, whilst their own is collapsing.
Some are funded by those with ulterior motives. The links between the most base of these right-wing agitators and the Zionist lobbies is clearly documented. It is not for no reason that some of these people turn up at pro-”Israel” rallies, or that some come to the gatherings of racist yobs with “Israeli” flags.
In some cases, there is a deeper agenda
Both Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage have been endorsed by Trump’s former advisor, Steve Bannon.
Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss stood next to Bannon while he praised Robinson. Like Trump, Bannon is of the establishment class — but, like Trump, he also wants to destabilise the current establishment order in the US and UK.
Bannon, the former Vice President of Cambridge Analytica, spoke of tactics using disinformation via the Internet. He described it as “flooding the zone with sh*t”. [5]
The promotion of conspiracy theories culminated in the near-coup of 6 January 2020, when Trump lost the election. He encouraged Liz Truss to reach out to Reform UK to promote a nationalist resurgence. [6]
Cambridge Analytica was funded by US billionaire Robert Mercer, a big backer of Donald Trump. Mercer, alongside Ronald Lauder, the President of the World Jewish Congress and heir to the Estée Lauder fortune, spent millions of dollars for a secretive group that ran anti-Muslim campaigns on social media.
Both these disrupters within the newer establishment and the existing establishment support the Zionist occupation of Palestine — and the anti-Muslim narrative can serve pro-occupation propaganda.
Systemic xenophobia
Sadly, this isn’t a uniquely British problem.
In the US and Europe, we see the rise of racism, anti-immigrant sentiment, and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Nation-states bind people through nationalism that is inherently linked to race, borders, history, and sometimes religion. As such, it excludes citizens whose own experience is different.
In Turkey, Syrian refugees have been scapegoated by politicians. In Pakistan, Afghan refugees similarly so. Rohingya refugees have been used as a political football in Bangladesh.
Such politicians wrap themselves in national flags to smear those who are vulnerable, and the secular idea of the “nation” appeals to the worst of human sentiment — “me and my tribe first!”
How the Prophet ﷺ handled migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ had to deal with migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers after he migrated from Makkah to Madinah with his companions, and was invited to be the ruler after years of sectarian hate.
He (ﷺ) didn’t incite tribalism, but instead had a policy that rose above it. He (ﷺ) implemented brotherhood.
The Prophet ﷺ paired a migrant (muhājir) with an established resident, known as the Ansār (Helpers). He (ﷺ) wanted the Ansār to share what they had, and to help the Muhājirīn to become stable and independent, and help build the society.
Islam was able to override tribalism in a way that ultimately brought about good for everybody.
Moving forward
Given the forces that are at play here — some deeply ingrained — it is hard to see an easy way forward.
We can’t expect much from politicians who have created much of the problem, and who certainly show no moral leadership in trying to solve it.
Certainly, we should be very wary of anyone who calls for more laws or increased securitisation, because history suggests they will most likely be used against us. Let’s not forget, a brown woman is currently awaiting prosecution for calling politicians “coconuts”. [7]
Threats like these are as much a test of fear as anything else.
Making Hijrah?
Some talk about Hijrah. Aside from the fact that this is not an option for the majority, such talk is premature, and catastrophises our situation. This is unhelpful. We do not need to fuel the fear.
Rather, we should look to how our Prophet ﷺ dealt with abuse and threats: being steadfast in carrying a message and speaking out, not afraid to challenge problematic norms, impeccable behaviour, unmatched integrity. And all the time, having trust in Allah, for He alone is sufficient for us.
Source: Islam21c
Notes
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6p2yrg3pvpo
[2] https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/30/uk-ministers-cobra-meeting-terrorism-threat-israel-hamas-conflict-suella-braverman
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-december-2023/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to
[4] https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-starmer-complains-migrants-countries-bangladesh-are-not-being-removed
[5] https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/16/media/steve-bannon-reliable-sources/index.html
[6] https://bylinetimes.com/2024/02/26/a-nationalist-uprising-islamophobia-and-the-bannonisation-of-british-politics/
[7] https://www.islam21c.com/news/cage-sunak-braverman-coconuts/