“Political violence, particularly against minorities, has no place in a democracy. However, neglecting the undeniable social and cultural repercussions of mass immigration is a grave mistake that only serves to empower the hard right.”
Following the brutal mass stabbing of children in Southport, England, on July 29th, which resulted in the deaths of three young girls, violent unrest erupted across the country. The international media has largely failed to report on and contextualize the riots with the necessary care and circumspection.
I was living in London when thousands of young rioters laid waste to the city between August 6 and 11, 2011, following the police killing of a black man. The left-leaning media primarily focused on the “root causes” of the mindless violence, citing racial and economic grievances. In contrast, recent events have been met with a markedly different standard.
The shocking violence committed by anti-migrant mobs has been senseless, misdirected, and inexcusable. However, it did not occur in a vacuum. While economic deprivation is occasionally acknowledged as a factor, underlying issues related to mass immigration are largely ignored. It is far easier for the media to label protesters as racist and to blame right-wing political figures.
The latter, with their often inflammatory rhetoric, are certainly not without fault, and many protesters undoubtedly harbor racist views. However, it is misguided to frame the protests as driven by white fears about losing “cultural privileges,” as suggested by a British cultural studies scholar on a German news program. Nuance seems reserved for discussions about the Southport knife attacker, a 17-year-old British citizen of Rwandan descent who is technically not an immigrant.
The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal provides crucial context for the riots in Rotherham on August 4, 2024. This scandal involved the systematic sexual abuse of approximately 1,400 girls, most of whom were white, by predominantly British-Pakistani men between 1997 and 2013, alongside local authorities’ failure to act on repeated abuse reports. While this context does not excuse or justify the rioters’ actions, such as setting fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers, withholding this information only provides more ammunition for far-right agitators.
Similarly, the media’s near-silence on incidents of retaliatory violence by Muslim groups, such as those in Birmingham on August 5th fuels the far-right narrative, which can justifiably accuse mainstream outlets of biased reporting. Moreover, the anti-migrant uprisings across the United Kingdom are portrayed as an unprecedented disruption to social peace, conveniently ignoring the predominantly Muslim riots in Leeds just a few weeks earlier.
I am not suggesting that there are no significant differences between these examples and the recent riots sweeping Britain. However, they are related and should not be brushed under the carpet, as they reflect the failed immigration policies that have contributed to the rise of the current British far right. By downplaying these underlying issues, the media stokes the flames of discontent among lower-class whites, many of whom have embraced their own form of ethnic identity politics.
The alarming footage emerging from the United Kingdom strikingly mirrors the xenophobic violence that erupted in Rostock, Germany, between August 22 and 24, 1992. During those riots, stones and petrol bombs were hurled at an apartment block housing asylum seekers, with several hundred right-wing extremists participating and about 3,000 local residents watching and applauding—a painful chapter in Germany’s more recent history.
It is crucial that such indefensible behavior is met with the full force of the law. British authorities have committed to prosecuting those responsible for violence and destruction. At the time of this writing, over 400 arrests have been made. Political violence, particularly against minorities, has no place in a democracy. However, neglecting the undeniable social and cultural repercussions of mass immigration is a grave mistake that only serves to empower the hard right.
Gerfried Ambrosch is an author and writer and holds a Ph.D. in literary and cultural studies. He can be found on X @g_ambrosch
