WCCA Statement on the Far-Right Violence in the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has recently seen a rapid escalation in violence organised by the far-right; people have been beaten on the streets and verbally abused because of the colour of their skin, asylum status or faith. Hotels housing refugees, and businesses who are owned by foreign nationals have been vandalised. More attacks are planned for this Wednesday and Friday, and we expect this behaviour to continue.

These are not just acts of violence. These are pogroms – violent riots that intend to massacre or expel ethnic and religious groups, which have been fuelled by the misinformation that has circulated around the senseless act of violence that unfolded at a children’s dance workshop on 29th July. Our hearts go out to the families of the three murdered children: Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice Dasilva Aguiar and Bebe King. Our hearts equally go out to the families of the other children and adults who were attacked. Nothing can justify what happened that day. Equally, nothing can justify what has happened since then.

These events did not emerge spontaneously. They are the result of decades of economic decline and austerity that has devastated our collective living standards and hometowns. The Thatcherite fragmentation of community has turned many of us against each other, in part, through the promotion of hyper-individualistic ideologies, while the mainstreaming of far-right figureheads and discourse in politics and the media has enabled racism to become normalised. They also result from explicit strategies aiming to instil fear and create tensions among white and non-white working-class communities.

For decades public figures, politicians, and the ruling class have stoked racial and class divisions by willingly dehumanising immigrants, refugees and people of colour by labelling them as “swarms” and “invaders”, in addition to falsely claiming that multiculturalism has failed.  Elites are the manufacturers of this destruction that is currently spilling out onto our streets, using mediums such as social media and the mainstream media to gaslight us into believing that certain ethnic and religious populations are the reason for our poor living standards, and that people whose backgrounds are different to our own pose a threat to the cultures and safety of others, even though nothing could be further from the truth.

We are acutely aware of the significant amount of white working-class people involved in this violence and verbal abuse. Reflective of the white supremacy that remains deeply entrenched in communities across the United Kingdom, this is a stark reminder that the climate justice movement must be anti-fascist, anti-racist and internationalist. Establishing nationwide and international solidarity means that it is essential for us to demonstrate our shared goals and values, while collectively fighting oppression in all of its forms and manifestations. This minority of white working-class aggressors – a devastatingly vocal minority, does not reflect the true values and intentions of white working-class people across the United Kingdom, who have been raised to treat others with the dignity and respect that they deserve. In finding explanations for the actions that have happened we must not fall prey to making excuses for those who are taking part in these abhorrent acts. This is unacceptable and we urge parts of the left who are currently doing this to stop. 

People must bear the consequences of their behaviour. However social tensions cannot be resolved, nor can justice be served if only a small segment of the population are held accountable for their actions. Even with the strength of grassroots-led mobilisation to rebuild the solidarity that has sadly been lost in many parts of the United Kingdom, we will never eradicate these problems unless society’s elites are held accountable too. 

Working class unity is essential to defeating the far-right uprising in our communities and as climate activists, we stress that this work is crucial to achieving climate justice. We must join the dots of our liberation struggles and join arm in arm with the trade union movement, local community centres, mosques, refugee centres, anti-racist movements, and other progressive collectives. We must do everything within our power to resist the nascent hate affecting broad sections of the United Kingdom.