UK Far-Right Riots a Manifestation of Decades of Institutional Islamophobia

London -  In the past two weeks, a spate of violent riots led by far-right figures, including Tommy Robinson and remnants of the English and Jewish Defence League (EDL), have erupted in cities across the UK. These riots are the inevitable outcome of three decades of institutional Islamophobia and virulent propaganda churned out unremittingly by mainstream media and successive Conservative and Labour politicians.

For over almost three decades, Friends of Israel lobby groups and right-wing think tanks such as the Henry Jackson Society and Policy Exchange have been at the forefront of targeting Muslims as a “suspect community” and “fifth columnists”. This toxic narrative and insidious propaganda served to distract attention away from the real causes of the waves of economic downturns in the past decades. The consequences of avaricious capitalism has resulted in inequality and poverty levels reaching record levels and caused deep resentment and anger amongst the most deprived sections of society. Moreover, the unconditional support for genocidal wars abroad and backing of the Israeli apartheid regime involving the waste of taxpayers billions on the military industrial complex has been camouflaged by drumming up hatred against migrants and Muslims.
 
CAGE rejects calls for the expansion of anti-terror laws or proscription powers when there are ample avenues available to prosecute perpetrators of violence, incitement of religious and racial hatred and propagating malicious hate online. The focus should be on the involvement of lobby groups, mainstream media outlets, politicians and tech companies in amplifying islamophobia rather than the fascist puppets creating fear and mayhem of the streets. These dark forces are driven by an unholy alliance of Big Business and politicians like Sir Keir Starmer, Michael Gove, and Tony Blair. Understanding and resisting this alliance is crucial for long-term solutions.
 
The Muslim community must remain vigilant and steadfast in the face of these threats. Our call is for courage, resilience and avoidance of any violent response to provocation. We need to transcend the hatred of our enemies and be steadfast in upholding the Islamic values of tolerance but with vigilance and honour in all our actions. 

• Identify the true perpetrators: We must not allow the media and politicians to use ‘far-right’ agitators as a scapegoat for their actions. The alliance of lobbyists, politicians, journalists, social commentators involved must be held to account for their role in fomenting racial hatred through sensationalist headlines, manufactured moral panics and discriminatory laws.

• Organise to defend our communities: We should act with courage and bravery, organising ourselves effectively to defend our communities and places of worship. Although the role of the police is to protect our communities from such hatred and violence, the police have shown themselves to be institutionally racist against Muslims and other ethnic minorities. As such the Muslim community’s trust in the police is at an all-time low. 

• Do not seek or rely on state support: We must shoulder the responsibility of defending our communities and not rely on the state or others.

• Increase security for places of worship: It is important that Muslim institutions increase security around their Masajid and neighbourhoods. The community is more than capable of creating grassroots organisations and networks as a defence against fascist attacks.

• **Empower one another and not spread fear: **We advise our community to read our Conscious Muslim Guide, which seeks to empower communities to drive meaningful change towards real and independent power building.

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