GARVEY LIVES!!!
MOSIAH LIVES!!!
Race riots rocked parts of the UK in the early part of the month with mobs of white thugs attacking the public, the police, cars, mosques, cemeteries, businesses, hotels, homes, with a good measure of looting and random criminality thrown in for good measure. In recent days they have been repelled by counter protests that some have argued show another side to the UK. (1)
The catalyst for the orgy of violence was the murder of three girls at a dance class in Southport, north west England. The well-funded right-wing misinformation ecosystem fuelled by the likes of Reform Ltd. MP Nigel Farage, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson), Katie Hopkins and Andrew Tate went into overdrive suggesting the attacker was a muslim immigrant that arrived in the UK on a small boat. In reality, the person charged is a Welsh-born teen of Rwandan heritage. (2)
Nevethless, the rioters, spurred on by slogans like “stop the boats” and “enough is enough”, have been portrayed by a broadly sympathetic media and political class as having “legitimate concerns” about immigration, with standard white grievance fallacies about integration and “two-tier policing.” (3) They further whine about not being listened to and having nowhere to voice their concerns in spite of the existence of the BBC, Sky News, GB News, Talk TV, Talk Radio, LBC, The Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, The Spectator, Spiked, etc. to platform and even employ advocates of the white grievance echo chamber that have pushed this narrative for several decades. This is aside from major political party leaders and senior polititians that have deployed anything from dogwhistles to foghorns to amplify this sense of entitlement. (4)
In contrast, the brutal murder of 14-year-old Daniel Anjorin by a Spanish-Brazillian immigrant in April this year sparked no such outrage – exept for the way they disparaged the victim by referring to him as “sword lad.” (5) Even the 2023 triple killing by Valdo Calocane failed to generate any comparable sense of fury. (6)
Not much attention attention appears to have been given to what extent the riots were pre-planned, given the speed and scope of their proliferation. Perhaps it is just coincidence that they happened under a new Labour administration that, in spite of their best efforts, haven’t managed to court right-wing voters in any significant way (although they have managed to shed “almost a third of its Black and Asian support at election”). (7) Some have hinted that the anti-muslim sentiment is part of a larger Zionist project to quell widespread opposition to Israel’s war on Gaza. Indeed, both Hopkins and ‘Ten Names’ Robinson have been funded as Shillman Fellows at the “anti-muslim” David Horowitz Freedom Centre and are said to “package their anti-Islam and anti-immigrant messages with pro-Israel talking points.” The Anti-defamation League has countered that these claims, saying they “have no basis.” (8)
According to the BBC, with a typically euphemistic reference to the racist rioting thugs: “600 people have been arrested and more than 150 charged over the unrest, including both anti-immigrant protesters and those opposing them.” They add that average age of suspects is a fairly mature thirty-one. The youngest is aged twelve with the oldest being a sprightly sixty-nine years and include the forty-one year-old wife of a Conservative Party councillor. The average prison sentence length was just under two years. (9) Lee Anderson MP for Reform Ltd, suggested that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer “sit and talk to rioters instead of banging them away.,” which in in stark constrast to his response to the recent fight between Asian men and police at Manchester airport or the more general delight at the heavy-handed sentences dolled out to non-violent Just Stop Oil protesters. (10)
However, Birmingham University academic Professor Kehinde Andrews suggests that racist riots are part of UK history:
“We’ve had riots ever since there have been lots of Black and brown people in the country. In 1919 in Cardiff and Liverpool, when we first got here in bigger numbers, in 1958 Notting Hill, and through to the 70s and 80s, and 2001 in Bradford and Oldham. It’s always been the case.” (11)
He proceeds to skewer the notion that the riots are the result of some fringe, far-right thugs, while exposing the delusional psychosis white Britons have about their colonial history:
“These racists are a reflection of mainstream society. They’re not some fringe far-right element.” (12)
It’s ironic that most of the commentariat are grounding their analysis of the riots in the anti-immigration narrative, even though time and time again immigration has been shown to “grow the economy and has little or no effect on jobs and wages.” (13) Largely Absent from the analysis has been the impact of the neoliberal economic polices like austerity, evangelized for a decade and a half by the Conservative government (2010-2024) that led to the cost of living crisis and real economic hardship. (14) Meanwhile they railed against the “broken immigration system” that they presided over, even they are the ones that ‘broke’ it. Thus for some the logical conclusion is that this is less about immigration, or even economic hardship but white ethnonationalism. (15)
The riots have shown how quickly the white working class can be weaponized against Afrikan, Asians or any “others” they perceive (on sight) as non-British. The current conflict saw the muslim community primarlily in the crosshairs but we should be clear that it won’t take much for it to revert back to Afrikans. The Most Eminent Prophet and King, His Excellency Marcus Mosiah Garvey, planned for such an eventuality by establishing the Universal African Legion and the Universal Motor Corps. (16) These types of inititives must be included in the agenda of the newly launchly Pan-Afrikan People’s Parliament.
(1) AFP (07/08/24) ‘6,000 police at the ready to quell UK riots: Government. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/6000-police-at-the-ready-to-quell-uk-riots-government/articleshow/112315384.cms?from=mdr; Christian Edwards and Rob Picheta (08/08/24) ‘More of us than you’: Thousands of anti-racism protesters turn out to counter far-right rallies in UK. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/07/uk/uk-far-right-counter-protests-intl/index.html
(2) Daniel Trilling (06/08/24) This time it’s worse. https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2024/august/this-time-it-s-worse
(3) Ibid.; James Wright (11/08/24) Far right race riot agitator Matt Goodwin gets schooled on ‘two-tier policing’ trope. https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/08/11/two-tier-policing/
(4) Liam O’Dell (30/05/24) How many times has Nigel Farage appeared on Question Time? https://www.indy100.com/politics/nigel-farage-question-time-how-many; Politics.co.uk staff (03/05/24) ‘This is not dogwhistle politics. It is giant hard-right foghorn blasting out a poisonous ‘them-and-us’ narrative’. https://www.politics.co.uk/parliament/this-is-not-dogwhistle-politics-it-is-giant-hard-right-foghorn-blasting-out-a-poisonous-them-and-us-narrative/; Steve Topple (27/06/24) After Starmer’s latest racist dogwhistle, the resignations have already begun. https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2024/06/27/starmer-bangladesh-resignations/; Jane Haynes (05/08/24) Calls on Tamworth MP Sarah Edwards to resign over pre-riot ‘take back hotel’ plea. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/calls-tamworth-mp-sarah-edwards-29677582
(5) Richard Sudan (03/05/24) Daniel Anjorin deserves better . https://www.voice-online.co.uk/opinion/comment/2024/05/03/daniel-anjorin-deserves-better/
(6) Caroline Lowbridge (25/01/24) Valdo Calocane: What do we know about the Nottingham attacks killer? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-68080872
(7) Paul Rogers (12/03/24) Will abandoning left-wing voters backfire for Keir Starmer? https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/labour-keir-starmer-jeremy-corbyn-general-election-gaza/; Nadine White & Alicja Hagopian (29/07/24) Labour lost almost a third of its Black and Asian support at election, polling finds. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-party-black-asian-voters-b2584177.html
(8) Robert Inlakesh (08/08/24) Anti-Muslim Crimes – Israel’s Hand in Instigating the Racist UK Riots. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/anti-muslim-crimes-israels-hand-in-instigating-the-racist-uk-riots/; Hilary Aked (29/09/15) The undeniable overlap: right-wing Zionism and Islamophobia. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/undeniable-overlap-right-wing-zionism-and-islamophobia/; Bridge Initiative Team (12/09/24) Factsheet: David Horowitz & the Freedom Center. https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-david-horowitz-freedom-center/;ADL (07/08/24) Far-Right UK Riots Blamed on Israel by Conspiracy Theorists. https://www.adl.org/resources/blog/far-right-uk-riots-blamed-israel-conspiracy-theorists
(9) Visual Journalism Team, BBC Verify and the England Data Unit (19/07/22) Who are the rioters and what jail sentences have they received? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm23y7l01v8o; Connor Stringer (09/08/24) Watch: 69-year-old rioter shouts ‘I’m English’ as police arrest him. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/09/jailed-rioter-yells-i-am-english-police-arrest/; Salma Ouaguira, Joe Middleton & Athena Stavrou (12/08/24) UK riots latest: Boy, 12, admits throwing missile at police as Tory councillor’s wife Lucy Connolly in court. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/uk-riots-jail-sentencing-counter-protest-far-right-southport-b2594938.html
(10) Ben Chapman (06/08/24) ‘Get to the nub of the issue’: Lee Anderson tells Keir Starmer to ‘sit and talk’ to rioters instead of ‘banging them away.’’https://www.gbnews.com/news/lee-anderson-keir-starmer-uk-riots-protest; Lee Anderson MP (27/07/24) This is sick. These animals need locking up. I stand by what I said. https://x.com/LeeAndersonMP_/status/1817257056518254916; Frank Furedi (25/07/24) I’m delighted a judge jailed the Just Stop Oil zealots – and even more pleased it’s incensed Steve Coogan, Rowan Williams & Co so much. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-13669059/Im-delighted-judge-jailed-Just-Stop-Oil-zealots-pleased-incensed-Steve-Coogan-Rowan-Williams-writes-FRANK-FUREDI.html; Andrew Tettenborn (19/07/24) Just Stop Oil fanatics deserve their lengthy jail terms. https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/just-stop-oil-fanatics-deserve-their-lengthy-jail-terms/
(11) Richard Sudan (09/08/24) ‘UK must confront its racism, not just crack down on riots’ says Professor Kehinde Andrews. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2024/08/09/uk-must-confront-its-racism-not-just-crack-down-on-riots-says-professor-kehinde-andrews/
(12) Ibid.
(13) Peter Foster and Amy Borrett (09/08/24) UK immigration: why public opinion is at odds with reality. https://www.ft.com/content/5a00c171-8194-4c54-9ac6-63ca292522e2; Christian Dustmann and Tommaso Frattini (05//1/14) Yes, EU immigrants do have a positive impact on public finances. https://theconversation.com/yes-eu-immigrants-do-have-a-positive-impact-on-public-finances-33815
(14) Sudan (09/08/24) Op. cit.
(15) Mike Small (01/08/24) The Violence of Far Right Ethnonationalism. https://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2024/08/01/the-violence-of-far-right-ethnonationalism/; Oliver Browning (31/10/22) ‘Broken’ immigration system an ‘invasion on southern coast’, Suella Braverman claims. https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/immigration-uk-suella-braverman-migrants-b2214584.html; European Council on Refugees and Exiles (11/11/22) UK: Government Has Broken its Own Asylum System to Deflect Governance Failures, Asylum Seekers Speak of “grim” “wretched” conditions at Reception Facilities, UK-France Reportedly About to Close a Deal to Curb “illegal” Migration. https://ecre.org/uk-government-has-broken-its-own-asylum-system-to-deflect-governance-failures-asylum-seekers-speak-of-grim-wretched-conditions-at-reception-facilities-uk-france/
(16) Robin Dearmon Muhammad (21/04/12) Garveyism Looks Toward the Pacific: The UNIA and Black Workers in the American West. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/garveyism-looks-toward-pacific-unia-and-black-workers-american-west/
UK Riots: Why now?
1) Do the rioters really have “legitimate concerns” and no voice?
2) Does the funding of key protagonists indicate wider links?
3) Are the riots are a reflection of mainstream society?
4) Do we need to re-establish the Universal African Legion and the Universal Motor Corps?
Our Special Guests:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of over 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.
*******
Support the T21 Alchemy campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/f/t21-alchemy-raising-consciousness-around-around-disability
Help Moyo Solidarity Centre ship & repair their Exhibition!: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-us-ship-preserve-and-repair-our-exhibition?qid=94d05b5ab9123a974d3d1f85b1b3f0e4