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Anti-Muslim Riots in Britain, Tommy Robinson, and How the Fox Got Rid of Its Fleas
News:
The UK witnessed a week of violent riots or disorder in 37 towns and cities since the murder of three small girls on the 29th of July, 2024, which was falsely blamed on a Muslim migrant. Dozens of police officers were injured as follows: Southport: 53, Rotherham: 51, Hull: 11, Sunderland: 4, Plymouth: 3, Stoke-on-Trent: 3, Liverpool: 2, Weymouth: 2, Tamworth: 1. Hundreds of rioters were arrested, and prison sentences are being given to those found guilty either of violent disruption during the riots or of using social media to incite violence. Now that the riots have subsided, massive social discontent remains simmering under the surface.
Comment:
Why did it happen? Two opposing views predominate, but both are lacking. One view is that nothing can justify the anti-Muslim racism and that the riots were fueled by ‘far-right’ misinformation and given respectability by the former head of the now disbanded English Defense League (EDL), Tommy Robinson. The other view is that while the violence of the riots was wrong, they originate from legitimate frustrations of normal white English people fearful of dangerous Muslim Immigrants who are taking-over their country and have rejected their British values.
Certainly, Tommy Robinson played a huge role by organizing marches and releasing lengthy propaganda videos such as his ‘Rape of Britain’ series arguing that Muslim communities in Britain were abusing British girls in what he calls ‘Rape Jihad’. His fear mongering propaganda was highly inflammatory, but something else must have made people so receptive to his message. As the riots were underway, he called his supporters to act peacefully, and yet the nature of his discourse was full of urgency and painted such an evil picture, not only of Muslims, but also the British police and politicians and media who he claims were allowing Muslims to ‘take over’ Britain. Inflammatory words, yes, but why would people be so ready to believe him?
As for the other view, most people in the UK are indeed getting poorer and in such times it is easy to blame other poor people – such as the Muslims. As for Muslims taking over Britain, that is fantasy. However, that is what the rioters and those who support them believe! In this view, Tommy Robinson didn’t make the people believe that – rather, it is claimed to be a fact and he has simply been saying what many white people believed but were too afraid to say.
So, some blame Tommy, but Tommy blames the people; although Tommy says that the people are justified because Islam and Muslims are so bad that something had to be done and the British politicians and the media were ignoring the problem.
Those in the media and the government looking to blame someone for anti-Islam and anti-Muslim hate are reminiscent of the old story for children of the ‘fox and his fleas.’ In that story a crafty fox gets rid of his fleas by biting onto a piece of wool and slowly walking into the water. As he gets deeper and deeper, the fleas crawl higher and higher on his body to keep from drowning, until the fox’s whole body is submerged and the fleas are all clinging to the foxes head. Then the fox slowly lowers his head below the water till only his nose is above water and perched upon it are all the fleas. Finally, as his nose slips below the water level the only refuge left for the fleas is the piece of wool that he holds in his teeth, and upon this they all jump; whereupon the fox lets go of the wool that now floats away with the fleas, and he is now able to return to the dry land - free of his fleas.
The politicians and the media who now point the finger at Tommy Robinson are this fox. They are the ones who created a fertile breeding ground for anti-Islam and anti-Muslim hatred since the days of Tony Blair’s government two decades ago. This racism is the flea that they want to cast off onto Tommy Robinson and his followers, who are the unwitting, although very willing, tool to make themselves clean again after the riots and continue attacking Islam and Muslims just as they did before.
When Blair was elected Prime Minister in 2001, he appointed David Blunkett as Home Secretary and that year Muslims in Bradford rioted in response to a march organized by the fascist far-right British National Party. Blunkett blamed the riots on cultural differences opening the door to a consistent barrage of cultural vilification of Muslims. He told the BBC that “we have norms of acceptability and those who come into our home – for that’s what it is – should accept those norms just as we would have to if we went elsewhere.” This only intensified with Muslim opposition to the war against Iraq, and one after another, year after year, British politicians from both the Labour and Conservative parties stressed the need for Muslims to adopt ‘British values.’ They established the so-called ‘Prevent’ policy to spy on Muslims even in schools, and in fact especially in schools, for signs of not being British enough or for suddenly growing a beard. It has not been enough that Muslims obey the laws and live at peace with those around them, they must ‘integrate’ meaning to adopt the so-called British values and change the thoughts in their heads and the feelings in their hearts to be accepted.
Leading up to the ‘white’ riots, peaceful protests against Zionist colonial genocide against Palestinians have been falsely called ‘hate marches’, and Palestinians have been falsely called terrorists for resisting the occupation. The ferocity with which these accusations have been propagated by the media and government is unparalleled in British history. Hizb ut Tahrir was proscribed under the anti-terrorism legislation with almost zero public debate and many people have been arrested and sacked from their jobs accused of antisemitism just for showing expressions of solidarity with Palestinians.
Muslims have suffered because of this onslaught upon them, but what about the effect on the rest of society? The effect of this propaganda upon uninformed minds should not be underestimated. A whole generation of white people have grown up being bombarded by the media and politicians with the viewpoint towards Muslims that they cannot be good citizens and are traitors to the country where they live because Islam’s values are different to British values. This instantly paints Muslims as inferior because they are guests of the white man who generously opened his country to Muslims. Of course, the British (the ‘good’ ones – the white ones) were the ones who came to everyone’s countries and took whatever they wanted without worrying what the natives thought, but that is another subject.
Who could truly even define British values anyway? There have always been a multitude of them, and they change over time. What Tommy Robinson did was to align Zionists, Hindu Nationalists and other Islam hating groups into an online movement along the axis of the ‘Rape of Britain’ narrative that could be easily digested by many otherwise apolitical white people fearful for their future. Now his followers are going to prison and he may join them soon, but for years ahead Muslims in Britain face more, not less, hostility for their faith in Islam.
[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اصْبِرُواْ وَصَابِرُواْ وَرَابِطُواْ وَاتَّقُواْ اللّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ]
“O believers! Patiently endure, persevere, stand on guard,1 and be mindful of Allah, so you may be successful.” [3:200]