Six months since the riots, charities urge the government to take action on the growing threat of the far right

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This week marks six months since the devastating events from which the Southport community is still grieving, and the subsequent racist riots which exposed the realities of racism in the UK. Influenced by growing far right activity, rioters tried to burn down hotels with people seeking asylum still inside, attacked mosques and cemeteries, and harassed people of colour, while chanting “stop the boats” and “we want our country back” - slogans popularised by politicians and the media.

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As organisations that have ourselves experienced intensifying racist intimidation and represent those most impacted by this violence, we urge the government to take steps to address the root causes of the riots. Six months on, not enough is being done to avoid a repetition of last summer’s violence. In the context of growing far right sentiment across the globe, there is a real threat of renewed and increasing racist violence if we do not reset our approach. 

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Since last August, figures have revealed that incidents of Islamophobia have reached their highest level in 14 years. Meanwhile, hostility towards migrants continues to take hold across the country. 

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The government’s Community Recovery Fund, whilst offering remedial or ‘security’ support to communities most affected, is an inadequate intervention to what is needed to address the scale of this crisis.

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There are also dangers to treating the riots as simply a problem of law and order and pathologising individuals and communities whilst distracting from the policies and systems that create the conditions for racism and violence. This is particularly important as we know that, when policing powers are increased, people of colour are disproportionately affected. 

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The government must avoid the pitfalls of establishing an uncritical community cohesion agenda as the singular route to addressing these riots. Evidence demonstrates that community cohesion proposals have a history of blaming communities of colour for ‘failing to integrate’, especially regarding Muslim communities, which can exacerbate the very problems they purport to solve. At the same time, a focus on cohesion fails to tackle the material inequalities that have fractured and deprived communities of the assets and resources they so desperately need. A focus on community cohesion, which fails to address the decades-long dehumanisation of migrants and refugees through racist, hostile environment policies and segregation of asylum seekers in accommodation marking out their status and exposing them to racist attack, is counter-productive as well as cruel. 

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Instead, as the threat of the far-right continues to rise globally, we call on the government to show bold leadership and resist the incentives of regressive far right agendas. Now is not the time for retreat on these issues.

We urge the government to:

• Consult with the racial justice and migrants rights sector,  to develop  a long-term, cross-departmental antiracist strategy. This means building an interactive and integrated approach to tackling racism at a national and local level, accompanied by the significant investment that this requires. 
• Recognise the role that hostile debate and policy making towards Muslims, migrants and refugees have played in fueling the far right, resist pandering to far right narratives, and discontinuing those agendas in current policy programmes.
• Take action to define racism against Muslims. An agreed definition of Islamophobia would enable important clarity in identifying, deterring and sanctioning violent attacks and hatred towards Muslims.
• Build robust legal frameworks for addressing discrimination and equality. This means using its powers to impose a specific duty on English local authorities and national public authorities to assess the likely racialised outcomes of proposed policies.
• Build an anti-racist education system. We encourage action to introduce amendments to the National Curriculum to embed statutory topics on race, migration and the British Empire. 
• End the use of inappropriate and unsafe, exploitative for-profit asylum accommodation for refugees, and provide infrastructure for a community welcome for all.

Racist violence on the streets, and its explosion into online spaces, is a manifestation of the deep racism across our society. This painful anniversary should serve as a reminder of the need to address that and prevent further violence.

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Signed,

Runnymede Trust

Institute of Race Relations

Migrants Organise

African Rainbow Family

After Exploitation

Alliance of Police Accountability (APA)

Anti Racist Cumbria

Apna Haq

ASSIST Sheffield

Barrow Cadbury Trust

Birmingham Race Impact Group

Black Equity Organisation

BME National

Care4Calais

Caribbean & African Health Network

City of Sanctuary UK

Daaro Youth Project

Discrimination Law Association

Ekta Marwaha

Faith & Violence Against Women and Girls Coalition

Freedom from Torture

Global Link

Greater Manchester Ethnic Communities Network and Manchester BME Network

Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU)

Hackney Migrant Centre

Haringey Migrant Support Centre

Haringey Welcome

Humans for Rights Network

IMIX

Imkaan

Inclusive North

INQUEST

Jesuit Refugee Service UK

Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI)

Liverpool Muslim Council

Maslaha

Migrant Democracy Project

Migrant Voice

Migrants' Rights Network

Muslim Council of Britain

NACCOM (The No Accommodation Network)

Open Rights Group

Our Second Home

Praxis

Race Equality Network

Race on the Agenda

Rainbow Migration

RAMFEL

Refugee Action

Rights & Security International

RootsMove

Southeast and East Asian Centre (SEEAC)

St. Augustine's Centre

the3million

Three Hijabis

Ubele Initiative

Voices in Exile

Voices Without Borders

Welsh Womens Aid

West End Refugee Service (WERS)

West London Welcome

Women for Refugee Women

Women's Resource Centre

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