From July 30th to August 6th, an escalation of racist and Islamophobic violence against our communities swept the UK.
We watched in horror as people of colour were assaulted, shops, businesses and mosques targeted, Muslim graves desecrated and hotels housing people seeking safety set alight.
During this time a far-right mob surrounded and attacked an asylum hotel in Rotherham, terrifying and traumatising people inside. Imagine you had fled war, persecution or torture to reach the UK, a country you believe to be safe, only to have your life put in danger once again, this time by far-right hate. It’s almost beyond comprehension.
Many of the people that the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) supports are people seeking safety, living in hotels like these. Others have come here to work, join family, or simply in search of a better life. During the UK riots, they have become terrified to go about their daily lives – to work, to the shops, or to drop their children at school – out of fear that they could be the next targets of an attack.
Recent events take us back to the 1980s. While it is shocking that the far-right are out on our streets yet again, it is not surprising to those of us who work in this sector.
We know this violence does not exist in a vacuum.
Racist, targeted attacks on Muslims, migrants and people of colour are the inevitable and direct result of decades of racist, dehumanising policies and language peddled by our politicians and the media, rooted in the UK’s colonial past. The far-right has been emboldened by hateful media narratives and a race to the bottom between established political parties, battling over who can create the cruellest migration policies and “stop the boats”.
Today, our immigration system is made up of hostile policies designed to make life in the UK impossible for migrant communities and keep them on the margins of society. The language used to describe this system may have changed, but every single policy remains in place, across all areas of public life.
The Hostile Environment turns those in our public services into border guards, it tears our communities apart and entrenches racism.
In recent years, we’ve seen successive governments shut down almost all safe routes to the UK, through the introduction of cruel laws like the so-called Illegal Migration and Safety of Rwanda Acts. With the arrival of a Labour government came welcome news that they would scrap the abhorrent plan to deport people seeking safety to Rwanda. However, their plan to redirect funds to a shiny new border enforcement agency reveals more of the same anti-migrant hostility, just under a different name.
At the same time, we hear our media and political class spout, normalise and fuel anti-migrant, racist narratives. The slogans we can hear chanted by fascists – “stop the boats”, “take back control” – are the very same ones we’ve heard used time and time again by our political leaders and splashed across the UK’s most read tabloids. These narratives are an attempt to distract us from the very real issues facing people in this country, such as enormous NHS waiting times, a cost-of-living crisis making life harder for all of us, and sky-rocketing rents. But that’s not all.
These words don’t just distract – the scapegoating and demonising of migrants has very real and devastating consequences, as we’ve seen over these past months.
Instead of treating this as new wave of hate as a wakeup call, some MPs have given oxygen to the far right by arguing the rioters have “legitimate concerns”, and the Hampshire Police and Crimes Commissioner has gone so far as saying that “mass uncontrolled immigration” is what is causing the civil unrest. These are the dog whistles of the far-right, disguised as “common sense”.
We are at a critical point in history and what we do next means everything.
While the far-right do not speak for most of us, these past months have shown that overt, violent racism is very much alive in the UK and is the sharp, living embodiment of dog whistles and racism disguised as “legitimate concerns” or “controlling our borders” that has become so normalised in the UK.
To counter this wave of hate, we need strong leadership and unwavering solidarity. Politicians and journalists must take accountability for their role in fuelling this violence and speak up against racism and in support of people who move.
People moving is a fact of life – we always have, and always will. It’s time those who hold positions of power in this country recognised that.
It’s time to end the politics of hostility and division, and that starts with abolishing the Hostile Environment in its entirety, along with racist policing and immigration raids which tear our communities and workplaces apart. People seeking safety must be housed in our communities, where they belong, not isolated and exposed in inadequate, unsafe and overcrowded hotels. Politicians must stop this endless and futile competition over stopping the boats and provide safe routes for people seeking sanctuary on our shores.
As for the rest of us, we must stand firmly together alongside our neighbours and loved ones. Check in with loved ones and neighbours, offer support and build collective care. If we are safe and able, we should organise, in our workplaces and communities. It was inspiring to see people up and down the country take to the streets, to resist fascism and racism. We outnumbered them in our thousands.
We shouldn’t need this resistance, but we will keep fighting as long as we do. People are scared and angry, for themselves, their families and loved ones. But solidarity is stronger than fear, and hope will win over hate and intimidation, every time.
Caitlin Boswell (she/her) wrote this blog during her time as Policy & Advocacy Manager at The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), a national migrants’ rights charity. Caitlin worked on policy and advocacy in all JCWI’s campaign areas, with a focus on the rights of migrant workers and strengthening collaboration between the migrants’ rights and trade union movements. Prior to JCWI she was a Support Worker, providing one-to-one support for migrant women affected by the criminal justice system and immigration restrictions. Before working in the migration sector, Caitlin studied for a Masters in Gender & Law at SOAS, writing her thesis on the UK immigration system’s treatment of queer asylum seekers.
Continue reading this blog series to learn about what dog whistles are and about different types of dog whistle discrimination from people who have experienced it first-hand:
- Introduction: SWU shines a light on “dog whistle” discrimination in new blog series
- Part 1: Dog whistles – a socially destructive form of discrimination
- Part 3: Dog whistles at work – neurodiversity
- Part 4: Dog whistles in context – transphobia
- Part 5: Austerity’s dog whistles inform systemic violence – disability discrimination
You may also be interested in reading the blog “I want to talk about the UK riots and the impact on the social work profession” by SWU Executive Committee member Nana Yabbey-Hagan.
The SWU blog “Intersectionality is a valuable tool for Social Work Practice” is a precursor to this series.