Unpacking the riots

Unless you have been living under a rock, you will have heard about the rioting taking place in cities all over the UK due to the stabbings that happened in Southport. 3 girls named Bebe, Elsie and Alice, aged six, seven and nine, were killed by a seventeen year old boy during a dance class. And instead of focusing on the tragic event and mourning the death of these young girls, the British public decided to focus on the fact that the stabber might have been born from immigrant parents. 

There has been a lot in the news recently about immigrants travelling over to the UK illegally, and how this should be handled. Many people, a lot of which are from the White working class, believe that these immigrants are stealing their jobs and homes, and creating poverty for those who were born in the UK. So when a possibly-born-from-immigrants boy stabs a girls' dance class, these people grab the excuse with both hands and begin creating chaos. Throwing bricks into library windows, setting fire to community centres, all with the mantra of 'God save the king'. Did you know that the stabber was also Christian, and yet there have been no attacks on the Church? Interesting. 

There has been a focus on the Muslim and Asian community by these rioters. However, we have no solid proof of what country these boy's parents are from. They could be from Norway and still be an immigrant. They could be from Ukraine, even! Which leads me to the next ironic detail… throwback to 2022, when Russia first invaded Ukraine. We welcomed the victims of that war with open arms - encouraged them to come, even - but they were immigrants too! So how come we were such a great country to them? Oh yeah. Ukraine is a European country. Most of the immigrants would have been White. I suppose that makes it okay, then. 

My point is, I believe that if you looked at all of the anti-immigration people in the country, you would find that 99.999% of them are racist. Even if they don't know it themselves. This is because for decades, politicians have told the White working class that immigrants steal jobs and homes, and make this country worse. They have fed that narrative for as long as anyone can remember, and people believe it, because we aren't educated on why the wage gap really exists, and why people who are born in this country can live in poverty. The Tory government have used this excuse to get normal people to do their dirty work for them. "Stop the boats!" 

But I don't see statistics in rubber dinghies. I see people fleeing war, extreme poverty, abuse, climate change, corrupt governments, lack of rights - the list goes on. People who only want to be alive and safe and warm in this great country of ours. And they arrive and they are hated. And they wonder why they ever thought Britain was so great. 

We can combat this narrative. Instead of simply organising counter protests - which are a whole other conversation - we must turn to the politicians. The new Labour government are still organising itself, and are therefore open to new ideas. They want to know our opinions. We need to persuade them to change society before they settle back into how we have always been doing things. 

This generation and the next need to be taught about White poverty, and actually, properly taught about the British Empire and how it has affected our country. We need to be able to understand corruption in the government, and how it leads to the huge wage gap that exists today. Normal people can cause that change. The working class have always been fundamental in politics ever since voting was made available to them. A united working class will be critical in how we move forward. British people have never been great at doing the following, but we must put our differences aside. Recognise that we are all humans, with hearts and brains, and we all have something to bring to the table.