The displays of solidarity against the racist, anti-immigrant and Islamophobic terror we’ve seen on our streets have been heartening. Outpourings of support like that always are when simmering prejudice boils over. But to those of us who have been scalded time and again, it’s not a sense of comfort that lasts.
Across Liverpool, Brighton, Sheffield, Bristol and east London’s Walthamstow, anti-far-right protests this week have served as welcome reminders that some communities are far stronger than the hateful hordes would have us believe.
That’s true for the most part, and these rallies will have given those of us who have been targeted by these groups some fleeting sense of protection. But it would be naive to pretend that tensions like these and threats against people like us will lie dormant for the foreseeable future.
When the far-right mobs thin out to the extent that they again become sporadic, smaller-scale pro-bigotry rallies, the sense of urgency that has led to the heartwarming show of unity we’re seeing will dissipate for those who are not directly under threat. (Let’s not pretend 2024 was the dawn of fascistic swarms such as these; I’ve taken refuge from EDL and far-right rallies on several occasions throughout my life, and I’m 31.)
In fact, it already seems to be waning. With absolutely zero sense of irony, the “let’s not tar those with concerns about immigration with the same brush” brigade have been out in force – and not just on the far right. This, again, despite the fact that those “concerns” have never been rooted in actual facts.
Immigration is not to blame for the disintegration of the NHS. It is not to blame for rising levels of crime here or anywhere else. It is not to blame for the cost of living crisis. For austerity. For the housing crisis. For a general decline in quality of life in the UK.
But immigrants will continue to be scapegoated for all of the above, even – and especially – among those who think themselves a world apart from the far-right goons who have taken to the streets, precisely because it appeals to the exact prejudices that have been baked into our society for centuries.
Proponents of the prejudice we’re seeing know this too well. Look at the likes of, say, Priti Patel, who far too many have tripped over themselves to congratulate for not explicitly validating far-right causes this time (remember the wave machine proposal to name just one of countless inhumane anti-immigration proposals?). They may have appeared to have U-turned on their usual positions on normalising bigotry. But it is all a very carefully choreographed performance.
As some seem to have forgotten in the clamour to congratulate historically staunchly anti-immigration MPs, the Conservative Party leadership race is on and the once in-vogue far-right conservatism is no longer in vogue.
No, this time some Conservative voters want a return to polite bigotry. The kind dressed up in Oxbridge, Etonian and private education, with middle-class sensibilities and the wherewithal to shield one’s thirst for meting out discrimination in veiled terms like “British values” and “integration”.
The type that cloaks itself in seemingly judicious language while seeking – once again – to justify authoritarian bids to further curtail human rights. The type happy to promote the Conservative government’s Rwanda policy, and who have histories of voting in support of the exact kind of policies they now blame Nigel Farage for stoking.
Then there are those who remain silent. Boris Johnson, arguably the biggest influence in the last several years in terms of this wave of bigotry (including anti-LGBTQ+ policies which have helped to stoke the culture wars we’re seeing today).
Michael Gove, who even two years ago was defending his part in investigating the bogus Trojan Horse scandal of 2014, in which an anonymous letter claimed hardline Muslims planned to “take over” schools in Birmingham, and which helped to spread baseless conspiracy theories about Muslim communities.
Suella Braverman, whose statements and actions in the past couple of years alone seem to me to read like snippets from a manifesto for the rioters, yet has been uncharacteristically quiet despite having a lot to say about protests in the recent past.
Again, it’s not just the Conservatives. The Prime Minister has taken a hard line stance against the violence despite his role in shoving Labour further to the right and supporting anti-immigration measures.
As have figures like Margaret Hodge, who today claims “nobody wants Britain to be a country that allows divisive and dishonest populism to thrive” yet in 2007 was praised by the BNP for saying “indigenous” Brits are right to feel a “legitimate sense of entitlement” over immigrants in terms of access to social housing. There are too many examples (across most parties and again, a hell of a lot of newspapers and broadcasters) to count.
In the days, months and perhaps years to come, we will see this support for targeted communities morph into justification for yet more police powers – powers that will likely harm those they are intended to protect, and that some have incorrectly labelled as unduly harsh towards rioters (most likely because they rarely if ever face repercussions on this scale). We will also see a shift back to the sort of apologism that emboldened these mobs. Will people still take to the streets in solidarity when that happens?
Dishing out hugs to Black and Brown passersby may make some feel warm and fuzzy inside, even genuinely moved, championed and protected today.
But without further action, well-meaning gestures like these will become the equivalent of the black squares well-meaning social media users posted in 2020 to show they sympathised with the protests which followed the death of George Floyd: a nice, perhaps honourable thing to do in the moment, but entirely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things without unequivocal rejection of the normalised viewpoints that led us here.
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