CAGE International – Be Independent as the Labour Government stands for ‘legitimising’ Far-Right Violence

London – CAGE International is calling out the hypocrisy of the Labour government under Prime Minister Keir Starmer which is now seeking to portray itself as the champions of minority communities. In the lead-up to the July 2024 general election, Starmer sought to win over right-wing voters by employing inflammatory, anti-immigration rhetoric. He, alongside top officials, specifically targeted people from Bangladesh.

As the riots intensified, Starmer failed to challenge the underlying Islamophobic and anti-immigrant narratives that contributed to the violence. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, and Chief Whip, Alan Campbell, instructed Labour MPs to avoid attending the very anti-fascist demonstrations which are now being held up as examples of how tolerant the country is.

 The examples of hypocrisy are too numerous to list but include:

• Sarah Edwards, the MP for Tamworth, stating, "the people want their hotel back," in reference to a hotel housing migrants that was subsequently firebombed by fascist mobs.

• Sarah Sackman MP making baseless allegations of anti-Semitism against peaceful anti-fascist protesters
   

• Jonathan Ashworth , a close confident of Starmer and other Labour insiders accusing Muslims of “sectarianism” for highlighting Labour’s unrelenting support of the Israeli Apartheid state and the Genocide in Gaza in the recent elections.

The aim of the Muslim community is to build a society in which inequality , injustice and economic devastation is eliminated. These are the root causes of the unrest and anger that is driving the far right protests. It suits Starmer and the establishment to use immigration as a scapegoat to divert attention away from these concerns.

British people should no longer have to tolerate permanent wars and live streamed genocides. It would be a betrayal of those communities that have protested for 10 months against genocide and fascism to erase the complicity of Labour in the UK and the Democrats in the USA in the devastation that their support for rampant capitalism, zionism and genocide have caused both home and abroad.

Our recently published Conscious Muslim Guide highlights the urgent need for a total reassessment of Muslim political strategies, emphasising self-respect and independent power-building instead of reliance on state patronage and approval.

We urge the Muslim community to reconsider our collective political strategies and engage with our Conscious Muslim Guide, which aims to empower communities to drive meaningful change and build real, independent power.

Photo by Mylo Kaye on Unsplash