This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. Published 2024-08-13 19.48
Photo: Danny Lawson/AP
The social tensions build up. Dissatisfaction is brewing. Frustration grows. All it takes to ignite the violence is an igniting spark.
It arrived in the UK in the form of false rumors spread on social media.
A horrific knife attack with an unknown motive against some young girls kidnapped by far-right forces.
Quick versionJust over two weeks have passed since the worst race riots in Britain in a century broke out.
By then, the new British Labor government had been in office for less than a month.
But the tensions in British society had been building for a long time.
In 2016, the British voted by a narrow majority to leave the EU. The promise was to stop immigration. To take back control of borders and make prosperity flourish.
The result was the opposite. Immigration has since doubled.
This at the same time as the economic situation - directly against promises - has deteriorated significantly due to Brexit. Add to that the rampant inflation that followed in the wake of the pandemic with increased heating and mortgage costs.
No wonder the British working and middle classes are seething with discontent and bitterness.
So when three young girls, aged 6, 7 and 9, who were going to imitate Taylor Swift, were stabbed to death in Southport in an attack of insanity, anger was already lying and vibrating around the industrial cities, especially in the north of England.
All that was needed was the spread of false information about the perpetrator for the riots to take off in many places where a large majority voted for Brexit.
It was alleged that the 17-year-old was an asylum-seeking Muslim who entered the country on one of the many small rubber boats that now cross the English Channel almost daily.
Photo: Owen Humphreys/AP
Born in Cardiff
In fact, he was born in Cardiff to Christian parents who immigrated from Rwanda. What his motive is remains so far unknown.
But once these facts came to the table, it was already too late. Then the street riots had started. Hotels where asylum seekers were accommodated were attacked by angry mobs.
Although there was no clear organizer of the riots, the police suspect that people from the now disbanded far-right and anti-Muslim organization English Defense Leauge, EDL on social platforms such as Whatsapp and Telegram were involved in starting the riots, which quickly took on an anti-immigrant side.
One of those who spread hate-filled posts to his one million online followers was Tommy Robinson, one of the founders of the EDL.
The violence was first directed at the police, but then also at asylums and mosques. Only thanks to the intervention of the police and brave private individuals could outright lynchings be stopped.
But even if it was extreme right-wing elements behind the violence, many "ordinary" people also participated in the protests.
They did not go there to set fire to the asylum accommodation but still wanted to voice their displeasure at the apparently uncontrolled asylum immigration.
Welfare is cut
The arguments have been heard before. People are afraid that those who come will take the low-paid jobs or drive down wages. The British believe that far too much money is invested in caring for asylum seekers while social welfare is being cut.
But there is also the feeling that the government is doing nothing to stop the flow of arriving refugees. Or perhaps more accurately they try, but constantly fail.
The Conservatives voted this summer to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their applications examined there. An idea that was first stopped by the Supreme Court.
When Labor won the election, they scrapped the Rwanda plan but want to replace it with a special police force to put an end to refugee smuggling across the English Channel. But it will probably take time before one is in place and it is far from certain that they will be successful.
What is undeniable is that there is widespread dissatisfaction among ordinary Britons with immigration, while there is a severe shortage of certain labor after many Eastern Europeans left the country after Brexit.
In many of the cities where the riots were most violent, poverty is high and unemployment is high. The unemployed do not have the education required to take the available jobs as truck drivers or nurses.
They see immigrants in general and asylum seekers in particular as competitors for an increasingly crumbling social safety net.
Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of Great Britain. Photo: Joe Giddens/AP
Fast Track Courts
A perfect breeding ground for political movements that want to fish in murky waters.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer's honeymoon was cut short. At best, the forceful response of those in charge to the riots has nipped them in the bud. More than 700 perpetrators of violence have been arrested. Some minors. Many are tried by weekend and night-time courts that quickly sentence them to cognizable sentences. This also applies to those who "only" incited in social media.
500 new prison places are to be created so that the condemned will be forced to crawl behind bars immediately.
Everything to show that the behavior the perpetrators engage in cannot be accepted by society.
Starmer has some experience in the field. In 2011, when London was rocked by riots and looting after the murder of a black man, he pushed in his role as Attorney General for speedy trials.
Dissatisfaction and frustration are not excuses for committing violent crimes.
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