On July 29th, a mass stabbing during a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class for children at a dance school in Southport, a seaside town in northwest England, led to the tragic deaths of three young girls, aged between six and nine, and left ten others injured and needing hospital care. Axel Rudakubana, a seventeen-year-old British citizen born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, was arrested at the scene. He faces charges of three counts of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and possession of a knife. According to the BBC, Rudakubana, who has autism spectrum disorder, had been reluctant to leave his home or communicate with his family.

Initially, police could not reveal his identity due to his age. However, Liverpool Crown Court lifted the reporting restrictions on August 1st to combat the misinformation spreading online. By then, though, it was too late. False claims and malicious speculation had already taken root. High-profile reactionaries spread a narrative suggesting the attack might be terror-related and falsely claimed that the attacker was a Muslim refugee who had arrived by boat the previous year and was on an MI6 watchlist. This misinformation ignited a series of violent events.

Less than two hours after a vigil and minute’s silence were held for the victims on July 30th, a far-right crowd gathered outside a mosque near the vigil site. Chanting “No surrender” and “England Till I Die,” they attacked both the police and the mosque. The unrest spread rapidly, with disturbances reported in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sunderland, Hartlepool, and Aldershot by the next day. Over the weekend, clashes erupted in Liverpool, Blackpool, Hull, Stoke-on-Trent, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol, and Belfast.

On Sunday, rioters set fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and assaulted police officers. Bins were set ablaze to block fire escapes, and some rioters entered the building, terrorizing those trapped inside. A similar incident occurred at a Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth, Staffordshire, where asylum seekers were reportedly housed. Rioters set fires, smashed windows, and threw missiles at officers. In Middlesbrough, rioters vandalized homes and cars and hurled objects at police.

One of the most concerning aspects of the violence was the rise in spontaneous street harassment and attacks targeting Muslims and immigrants, unconnected to the offficial demonstrations. Outside of the protests and clashes with the police, small groups targeted houses and cars in so-called immigrant areas. This has the potential to linger and become a more common occurrence. 

On Wednesday, thousands rallied across the UK to counter reports of planned attacks by far-right groups targeting solicitors, immigration advice centers, and mosques. The anti-racist protests, involving a diverse range of groups from imams to trade unions and left-wing political organizations, successfully prevented further escalation of violence.

Having detailed the events, we now want to highlight several key points.

The social and economic changes of the past forty years have left many people struggling, and their frustration with their deteriorating circumstances is understandable. Traditional industries like coal mining, steel production, and shipbuilding have been replaced by low-paying service sector jobs and precarious gig economy work. Most Britons have not seen a real-term pay increase since the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Former industrial areas in England, Scotland, and Wales face severe poverty, addiction, and high suicide rates. Meanwhile, social infrastructure has been neglected, leading to diminished services like the post office network, inadequate investment in utilities, and underfunded healthcare and education systems. The mass sell out of council housing stock has put people at the mercy of the private rental sector. The vast majority of the council housing stock is now owned by private landlords. In March 2024, the official statistics compiled by the state show that almost 100,000 households are officially homeless. The rise of finance, technology and property within the economy has further exacerbated the disparity between London and the South East and the rest of the UK., as most of the wealth produced by these sectors is concentrated in the Greater London Region.  Muslims and immigrants are scapegoated for these systemic issues, which are actually the result of profit-driven policies and require a class response

A disturbing pattern has emerged where the far right exploits horrific incidents like murders to stoke prejudice against Muslims and immigrants. This was evident in the Dublin riots of November 2023 and is similarly used by the far right in the U.S. to craft political narratives around violent events there.

Inevitably, mainstream commentators have already sought to argue that the violence highlights ‘legitimate concerns’ held by many peope about immigration, and that these concerns must be addressed to prevent further unrest. This is a sinister argument. It reveals the short distance between the far right and elements of mainstream society.  Passive acceptance and support for the anti-migrant and Islamophobic politics plays an important role in sustaining extreme attitudes on these issues. In other words, it is a warning. If we do not embrace far right policies on migration we have nobody to blame but ourselves for any violence that occurs.  This kind of response is part of the problem and must be combatted. It fails to grasp the root causes of the violence and instead shifts blame onto immigrants and minorities. Such arguments ultimately fuel reactionary politics and further marginalize vulnerable communities, exacerbating division and violence.  

The erosion of social cohesion described above has been filled by reactionary right-wing politics. Far-right ideas around migration, climate change, gender, race, and vaccines have gained traction, having moved from the margins to the mainstream. Though these idea may appear more moderated in mainstream contexts, their core essence remains unchanged. Thanks to the work of reactionary street movements, online personalities, far-right groups, and their ‘respectable’ allies in the mainstream they have reshaped modern politics along identitarian lines.  This shift has normalized divisive and racialized rhetoric. For instance, the recent general elections saw major parties competing over who could more effectively curb small boat crossings from France. Boris Johnson’s derogatory remarks about Muslim women, calling them ‘letterboxes’ and ‘bank-robbers,’ did not hinder his political career; he became prime minister shortly thereafter. Similarly, the Brexit referendum featured explicitly anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric. These examples show how systemic racism and xenophobia have become entrenched in mainstream politics, fostering an environment where violence against minorities can thrive.

The race riots and pogroms that rock Britain over the last forthnight emerged from these contexts. They were decades in the making.  The limited amount of power the working class had built up through its struggles over time was rolled back, and in its place we now have the untrammeled power of the bosses on one side and the reactionary politics of the right on the other. The examples above illustrate the way in which xenophobia and bigotry are layered on top of each other. Each wave paves the way for another, until we manage to turn tide. 

Heartening as they are, protests alone will not disrupt the trajectory we are on. Instead we look to the struggles of the class to do this. The struggles to improve our lives and fight against racism are interconnected. It is In the everyday struggles of the class that we see the most effective route beyond the racist identitarian nightmare. Struggles for the simplest improvements, such as better pay and conditions, contain a political dimension, in that they challenge the power of the employers to impose their diktats at will, and force them to contend with our power. When we are strong and powerful all workers benefit and our horizon grows larger. The sense of powerlessness that feeds hate and prejudice recedes and can be supplanted with a positive vision of the future for all.