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Photo: 'Say No to Tommy Robinson' protest - Flickr
Parts of the UK have been gripped by violent riots in recent days. In more than thirty places, including Manchester, Belfast and Leicester, violent anti-immigration and anti-Islam protests broke out, attacking mosques, setting fire to libraries and police cars, storming asylum shelters, and issuing Nazi salutes. So far over 400 people arrested.
The ongoing wave of racist and Islamophobic attacks in the UK was sparked by disinformation spread online following Monday 29 July's stabbing in Southport that killed three children. False claims that the attacker was a Muslim and asylum seeker quickly spread online. Prominent users of X (formerly Twitter), including former GB News presenter Laurence Fox and anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson, have been involved in spreading fake news to millions of people. The rioters scanned alongside "Rule Britannia" and "Who the f*** is Allah" then: "Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson".
The faces behind the disinformation on X
Tommy Robinson is the founder and former leader of the English Defence League (EDL), a far-right movement known for its harsh anti-Islam views and violent demonstrations. Despite the fact that the EDL no longer exists in official form, Robinson remains a prominent figure within the British far-right scene, where he has maintained his influences through social media and other platforms. While the riots escalated in England, Tommy Robinson was enjoying a holiday in Cyprus. On X, where he has 882 thousand followers, distributed he sent inflammatory messages from his hotel during the riots. Among other things, he falsely claimed that British Muslims were involved in stabbings in Staffordshire and attacks on women in Scotland. According to the Daily Mail, over the course of last weekend he more than a hundred times posted on X.
Who many also believe has helped spread the rumours, and met Tommy Robinson several times, is Andrew Tate: the self-proclaimed misogynist who said he made millions of dollars from webcam services and has been charged with rape and human trafficking. Hours after the stabbing in Southport He said on X: "An illegal migrant arrived on a boat a month ago. Then he decided to stab children". This post had 15 million views within two days.
Many news articles claim that Elon Musk, the CEO of X, played a controversial role in this process. Thus states Joe Mulhall of the organisation Hope not Hate that the renewed presence of far-right activists on platforms such as X has contributed to the anger and chaos. After taking over Twitter, Musk granted amnesty to previously de-platformed figures, including Robinson. This once again gave extremists a platform to spread their hate messages. Musk also Self-shared fake news about the riots on X. For example, he shared a fake article from The Telegraph claiming that Keir Starmer is considering sending rioters to "emergency relief camps" in the Falklands. Musk deleted the post about 30 minutes later, but a screenshot from Politics.co.uk suggests it was viewed almost two million times before it was removed.
Radicalisation of politicians
Immigrants, especially Muslims, are often portrayed as an existential threat to 'Western culture', states professor of migration history Leo Lucassen. So did far-right politician Laurence Fox, founder of the populist Reclaim Party, tweeted that "for decades British girls have been raped by immigrant barbarians" and that "it is war". Also spoke Nigel Farage, leader of anti-migration party Reform UK, on "fragmentation of our communities due to massive, uncontrolled migration" in his response to the violent riots.
Politicians also often express their support for radical right-wing activists with such views. One example is PVV leader Geert Wilders, who attended a 'Free Tommy Robinson' demonstration in London in 2018. During this demonstration Wilders expressed his support for Robinson and demanded his release from prison, where Robinson was serving time for contempt of court. Wilders condemned "restrictions on freedom of speech in the UK".
Professor Lucassen also argues that anti-immigrant thinking over the past 20 years has been radicalised. An extreme expression of this, repopulation thinking, was promoted for a long time by radical far-right politicians. In the Netherlands too, the racist 'repopulation theory' recently became a much-discussed topic that many popularity won.
Experts already warned about this
Sara Khan, former adviser to prime ministers Rishi Sunak, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said in a interview with The Guardian: "This was clearly coming for some time. I have written numerous reports for them saying that extremism is on the rise and our country is not ready to deal with it. Successive governments have done nothing about it." Khan argues that there is insufficient legislation to 'tackle hate speech'. "Of course you can have a debate about immigration, about the numbers of people coming here, but there is a way to talk about these issues without using dehumanising and inflammatory language."
Migration expert Hein de Haas also reacted to the riots in Britain by pointing to decades of anti-immigration and anti-Muslim propaganda which have created fertile ground for racist violence. "Immigration is certainly not just a good news story (the more fundamental problem is the whole pro/anti framing of the issue), but it is clear that these riots are fuelled by decades of systematic hate speech against immigrants and Muslims. That has nothing to do with 'legitimate concerns'." In doing so, he also shared a picture of headlines from news magazines, including 'Muslim schools ban our culture', 'How to spot the jihadi next door' and 'Islam poses a threat to he West, say 53pc in poll'. A similar argument was also shared By Lucassen: "English tabloids have been portraying immigrants as an existential threat with fat, dehumanising headlines on the front page for decades."
The power of social media and online hate speech
The recent Islamophobic riots in England clearly show the dangers of online hate speech and the power of social media to fuel violence and division. The events highlight the need for both responsible regulation of online platforms and a concerted effort to combat hate and extremism, both offline and online. Besides regulation of social media, a greater focus on education and social awareness is also essential to reduce the impact of online hatred and promote an inclusive society.
