On Saturday the 3rd of August, Bristol became one of many cities that experienced unrest due to the mobilisation of far-right, anti-migrant extremists calling for the deportation and harming of migrants. Whilst such actions are appalling, the occurrence of these disruptions is of no surprise. These discriminatory rallies are symptomatic of decades of structural discrimination targeted at the exclusion of Black and Minority communities and the demonisation of Muslim communities. There is no aspect of British structure with clean hands. Politicians, social media personalities, celebrities, and public sector decisions have, over time, fed into polarising rhetoric that has inevitably led to these violent demonstrations.
It is crucial to name the place of ‘misinformation’ in the instigations and organising of such hate. Misinformation can not exist without specific malicious intent. The deliberate, deceptive propaganda that falsely focused a racialised and religious narrative on the perpetrator of the tragic Southend killings, sought only to weaponize and cause wider harm to migrants and asylum seekers. As such the hateful trail has widened, now present in the South West of England, with similar anti-migrant protests and pro-migrant counter-protests occurring around the Bibby Stockholm in Dorset.
Bristol itself has become one of the epicentres of social unrest. Unrest is not a new phenomenon to us here. The history and DNA of racialised struggle is a road Bristol has walked before. But we are proud to have witnessed an overwhelming turnout of Bristolian counter-protesters who vehemently opposed the far-right demonstrations. The counter-protesters formed a human barricade ensuring the protection of asylum seekers, in front of the Mercure Hotel; their temporary home. Avon & Somerset Police Force Officers efficiently dispersed the violent protestors. For us, one thing is clear: racism, Islamophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric are not welcome in Bristol.
We welcome the Government’s explicit acknowledgement that Islamophobia and racism drive these groups and welcome their rapid response in providing emergency security to mosques that have been particularly targeted the past week.
However, Bristol remains an outlier, with varying degrees of unrest seen in different towns and cities throughout the United Kingdom. We are calling for politicians, leaders of civil society, and ordinary citizens in every area of the United Kingdom to strongly condemn the actions of far-right extremists destroying private and public property, vandalism of mosques and community centres, and targeted violence against Black, racially Minoritized, and Muslim communities. We strongly call for the end of polarising and racist rhetoric at all levels of UK society. We call for improved media literacy for all to combat the adverse effects of misinformation that help breed these far-right protests. Together we can ensure that a strong and sustained message is sent to those seeking to cause harm: racism, Islamophobia and anti-migrant rhetoric are not welcome in the United Kingdom.
Black South West Network