CRUSHING RIOTS IS ONLY A SHORT-TERM FIX

THE riots over the past two weeks in the United Kingdom (UK) were a shock and a disgrace. They arose from the appalling incident on July 29, 2024, when a 17-year-old male stabbed to death three little girls between the age of six and nine years old. It took place in Southport, a seaside town north of Liverpool, in north-west England.

Killing adults is a very serious crime. But killing young children during a ferocious knife attack, in a kiddies’ dance club, is unbelievably horrifying. What ignited the violent riots almost immediately after the attack, was the misinformation in  Facebook and Telegram social media posts. These suggested that the suspect was a Muslim, or one of thousands of illegal immigrants who have entered the UK in recent years seeking asylum. Wrong, but the damage was done.

Stormed

On Sunday, August 4, 2024, hundreds of rioters stormed a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham that housed asylum-seekers. Police were pelted with bricks and chairs, while defending the hotel from attackers. Next day, the rioters set fire to a BMW after the occupants – believed, incorrectly, to be Muslim immigrants - had run for their lives. Hundreds of protesters attacked a local mosque with bricks, bottles and rocks. Members of minority groups have been attacked. The violence was countrywide in more than a dozen towns and cities, including London, Manchester and Liverpool. More than 400 people have been arrested, with over 100 charged, and a few prison sentences quickly handed out.

The killer was not an immigrant. He was born in the UK in 2006 and moved to Southport in 2013. His parents were immigrants from Rwanda but he, himself, is as British as Boris Johnson. Unfortunately, he’s black. Agitators are exploiting long-simmering tensions over the immigration trend of recent years. Employment has grown by 3.6 million since 2011, but fully 74 per cent of this is down to immigrant workers, usually undercutting local labour and increasing demand for housing for low paid workers.

Economy

The economy has thus created more jobs, but not reducing unemployment among the previously resident. These are the urban poor, increasingly vulnerable to the right-wing extremism, led by thugs, with the anger towards minority ethnic and religious groups. There is already a hatred of the Muslim extremism, mainly arising from the 9/11 massacre in New York.
Making matters worse is the UK government housing asylum-seekers in hotels at a cost of 8 million pounds a day. That’s official - 2.5 billion pounds a year – around E60 billion p.a. – in the 400 or so hotels used. And the formerly heroic National Health Service is creaking under the weight of an aging and growing population, following years of funding constraints. The official policy for asylum has been generous; in fiscal policy terms, crazy.

But there is no excuse for this kind of extreme right wing racist behaviour, and it must be recognised that it is a tiny proportion of the UK population that is rioting, and behaviour not confined to the UK. And do not forget that many peaceful anti-racism, yes, anti-racism demonstrations are emerging across the UK. In the early days of mass immigration into UK – the 1950s and 1960s – immigrants were from the Commonwealth, especially the Caribbean and Indian sub-continent. Sadly, they were not properly integrated into British society. Then came the 1968 ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech by Enoch Powell, the academically brilliant but emotionally ignorant UK politician (an old boy of my high school – ouch!). Nearly all the immigrants at the time were black – today only 65 per cent of immigrants born outside UK are black - and Powell’s comments were viewed as seriously racist. He was sacked from his Conservative shadow cabinet position.

The government then launched its anti-racism programme and for decades, no one dared criticise the generous hand of welcome extended to the millions of various ethnic identities – black and white - who happily swarmed into the UK to enjoy jobs and the British social welfare system; and especially after the European Union membership broadened. The population of UK has grown from 55 to 67 million since 1970. Why d’you think the UK left the EU in the now infamous BREXIT? Because the doors had been open too long. With a continuing undercurrent of a feeling pf material deprivation, the Southport killings have re-ignited animosity to immigrants. Not something you can change overnight.

Misinformation

Social media has proved very dangerous. Those racist influencers spreading misinformation must be held accountable for inciting hatred and violence. Police know who they are. In the meantime, the new UK prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, should drop the ‘Sir’ bit, and not rely on his big threats of ‘the full force of the law’. His new Labour government needs to launch a programme that brings role models into the public domain to spearhead a fuller integration and enhanced harmony among all ethnic and religious groups; a long haul, but worth it. Immigration must be more strictly controlled and the ‘indigenous’ Britons (there actually aren’t any in UK - check your history books) must learn to cooperate and integrate with the immigrants. But let’s not forget – it takes two to tango.

Elon Musk has also allowed his X platform to be used by extremists to escalate conflict, himself adding that ‘civil war is inevitable’. His massive wealth does not sanitise that pathetic and provocative – even dangerous - prediction. Stick to yer computer, Fusty Muskie.

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