Anti-racists saved Britain, now it’s time for Keir Starmer to take action

Thousands of anti-racists took to the streets across the north and south of England on Wednesday evening, reclaiming our towns and cities back from the far-right rioters who have been terrorising British Muslims, people of colour, refugees and migrants over the past eight devastating days.

In doing so, anti-racists have also reclaimed the narrative back from the politicians and media operatives who have emboldened these violent racists with their inflammatory rhetoric on migration, making it clear that the majority in Britain does not buy into their hatemongering and that our multiracial neighbourhoods and communities are “no go zones” for the far-right.

This unprecedented show of force from the decent people of Britain came on the back of a warning from police that more than 100 far-right gatherings were planned across the country on Wednesday. It was said that the far right, who have already been causing havoc across the country in so-called “anti-immigration” demos for days, were planning to attack the offices of immigration lawyers and refugee and migration charities as well as mosques and community buildings.

People who have been horrified by such attacks earlier, as well as the widespread looting and violence against police officers that accompanied them, said enough is enough. Combined with a determined response from the police (more than 400 rioters have been arrested and some 140 have already been charged) the presence of anti-racists and anti-fascists on the streets in large numbers proved enough to intimidate the far-right thugs. In the end, in many localities where such violent gatherings were planned, only a handful of far-right rioters showed up.

It seems the race riots are now over, and those who participated in them or even encouraged them from afar are starting to feel the “full force of the law”, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised.

While this victory against racists and fascists, this reclamation of Britain’s identity, should undoubtedly be celebrated, there is also an urgent need to ask: How did we end up with far-right riots on our streets, and what can we do to prevent the repeat of this atrocity?

Many in Britain have pointed to online disinformation as the source of the far-right riots. Indeed, misleading, inflammatory social media content scapegoating Muslims and refugees for all that is wrong with the country, from the rising cost of living to lack of housing and even heinous crimes against children, has played an important role in emboldening the worst in our society to take over our streets.

Nonetheless, British Muslims and those belonging to other ethnic minorities in this country know for a fact that the hate that led to the events of this past week is much older than social media.