Citizens who came together to repair their community after Southport riots are the true face of Britain – not the hate-fuelled minority, says Will Cooling
A traumatic week has seen Southport experience the worst and best of modern society – and exposed rifts that have been exploited for political gain for far too long.
Following the senseless attack on children at a local dance school, unfounded speculation soon swirled across social media, seeking to link the stabbings to the local Muslim community. Not content with spreading lies online, the far right disrupted a local vigil to the three dead girls and their critically wounded friends and teachers, seeking to attack a local mosque. Across several hours, suspected members of the English Defence League would chant racist nonsense, damage property, threaten residents and injure dozens of police officers.
It is very easy, in the aftermath of such chaos, to dismiss these actions as merely the behaviour of a cretinous fringe who otherwise have no influence in today’s Britain. But we all know that is not true. The previous government repeatedly played with fire when it came to demonising Islam. It has not been a year since Suella Braverman, then Home Secretary, used her Tory Party Conference speech to brag about making sure Prevent was focusing its resources on Islamic extremism. More recently, Michael Gove, made allegations against several Muslim advocacy and educational organisations from the despatch box that no minister has dared repeat outside of parliament for fear of being sued. Meanwhile, current Tory Leadership contestant Kemi Badenoch repeatedly refused to allow the government’s equalities office to use the definition of Islamophobia developed by MPs and civil society to recognise the fundamentally racist nature of most attacks on Muslims.
The Tory Party was far from alone in this. Reform recruited Lee Anderson to be its first MP after he had been expelled from the Tory Party for making racist comments about Sadiq Khan. Nor has his party leader been shy about demonising British Muslims, with Nigel Farage rushing to social media to release a video about the Southport attacks that peddled nothing but the type of innuendo and conspiracy theories one would expect from a carnival barker for the Donald Trump Presidential Campaign.
This drumbeat of hate has real consequences, with the online echo chamber that reckless and racist politicians have built for personal and partisan gain radicalising people to think the worst about their neighbours. We saw on Tuesday what happens when that hate spills out into the open.
But we also saw something else on the streets of Southport. That whilst for too long hate has had powerful enablers, it really is a small minority that thinks this way. Even at the height of Tuesday’s riot, there were local residents bravely pushing back at the rioters, telling them to their face that their hatred wasn’t welcome in Southport. Then the morning after, the local community came together to quickly repair the damage, with people of all races and religions supporting the local mosque. That sense of community spirit and pride is clearly being echoed by the government, with both the Prime Minister and home secretary making clear that the rioters would face the full extent of the law.
But over the weeks, months and years to come, the government must do more. It must lead an effort to repair the damage caused by the previous government, where British Muslims have been demonised or dismissed. It needs to make clear that Islamophobia has no place in British society and that it will take seriously attempts to marginalise and intimidate a community that offers so much to wider society. It is about time that we in Britain follow the example of the people of Southport, and make It clear beyond all doubt that we truly value and respect our Muslim friends, neighbours and loved ones.