In February this year a “School Wars” meme circulated on social media, purporting to divide local schools into red and blue teams and exhorting violence against their rivals on the proverbial field of battle brandishing rulers, compasses, protractors and metal combs as weapons of choice. Schools were on high alert, letters were sent to parents and police were deployed. In the end it passed “without a single reported police incident,” save for a 13 year-old from Rotherham arrested on suspicion of malicious communications, encouraging or assisting crime, and an alleged public order offence. (1) Maybe it was a trial run, harbinger even, of what was to come.

In late March there were reports of a “popular London high street” being “terrorised by rampaging youths,” “like something out of the film The Purge.” The numbers were estimated as hundreds to up to a thousand, fuelled by a call to “link up,” i.e. “The social media fad involves large groups of people posting on social media, urging as many people as possible to descend on a specific location at the same time.” Locals are said to “fear the worst is yet to come” during the holiday period. (2)

In spite of the reported chaos there were just six arrests – all teenage girls, on charges of suspicion of assaulting an emergency worker and suspicion of theft and assault – albeit with a threat of more to come. Interestingly, the targets were quite specific. As one shop owner revealed: “It is very strange, the shops they go to. It is not trainer shops or anything, it’s food,” an account corroborated by another local business. Yet no reports so far have made a connection with the cost of living crisis in spite of anti-poverty charities claiming that the rise of shoplifting is a consequence of the cost-of-living crisis, not a breakdown in the social order. Indeed, this situation has already seen a “massive rise in pensioner shoplifting” who “just can’t afford food.” (3)

In response the police have urged parents to “take responsibility,” while Mayor Sadiq Khan, condemned the scenes “appalling”, adding that “those responsible will face the full force of the law.” Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch labelled the chaos as “a total collapse of consequences,” writing on social media: “Here, we have created a culture where too many young people believe they can do what they like and nothing will happen. That is the problem.” (4)

Most accounts do not specifically identify the participants, rather letting the pictures featuring mainly Afrikan young people speaking for them. Most accounts but not all, The Spectator magazine, that has delivered more than two centuries of white nationalism, unsurprisingly jumped in with both feet. After naming “the Afro-Caribbean community is one of the best integrated of all migrant groups in Britian” they went on to blame single parenthood and even calls for reparations on the disorder:

“It seems noteworthy that the area’s local MP, Bell Rebeiro-Addy, recently declared that ‘to truly tackle racism, we need reparations.’ Whilst there is unlikely to be a direct link between her statement and this week’s disorder, this kind of grievance culture can lead to young people becoming hostile to the rest of society.” (5)

The proffered solution covered familiar themes: “enforcement of law and order – and a well-managed approach to immigration and integration.” (6)

This and most political responses recall the “moral panic” articulated around Black youths and mugging in the 1970s that Stuart Hall and others highlighted in the book Policing the Crisis: Mugging, the State, and Law and Order, arguing that it was a confected agenda put forward by the police, media and judiciary. The relatively few arrests following reports of such pandemonium lends weight to this position. (7)

So far there has been little focus so far on how and why these things are originating on social media even at a time when banning smart phones in schools are being debated due to concerns about young people’s well-being. (8) Social media generated mass hysteria has been well documented among adults, let alone impressionable young people. It has even been referred to as the “New MK-Ultra,” referencing the CIA’s notorious mind control programme. Adding to this Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) and YouTube have just been found to be liable for designing their platforms to be addictive, which harmed a 20-year-old’s mental health in a USA court. (9)

One factor is the adultification of Afrikan children routinely places them outside of narratives of concern. It is this lack of concern for example that can lead to an Afrikan child getting their knee fractured during a 2025 stop and search conducted by six police officers, five of whom are now being criminally investigated. This is certainly the kind of thing that could make a young person “hostile to the rest of society.”(10)

Also unexplored is whether social media is being weaponised against Afrikan people. The right wing roots of Silicon Valley are well documented. Figures like Elon Musk (X/Twitter, Tesla) and Peter Thiel (PayPal, Palantir) have roots in apartheid South Afrika. Them are many of their fellow “tech bro” oligarchs are firmly aligned with white nationalism so one has to wonder to what extent does their professed ideology influence the platforms they own. (11)

In the final analysis, the Afrikan community has little control over whether social media platforms are benign or malevolent. Perhaps a more pertinent question whether can control access to it or provide meaningful alternatives.

(1) Jim Waterson, Sophie Wilkinson and Polly Smythe (03/03/26) How the London school wars meme spread from TikTok to mass panic – without a single reported police incident https://www.londoncentric.media/p/school-wars-london-red-vs-blue-moral-panic-real-threat; Antony Clay (13/03/26) Arrest made in ‘School Wars’ online craze investigation after Rotherham fears. https://www.rotherhamadvertiser.co.uk/news/people/arrest-made-in-school-wars-online-craze-investigation-after-rotherham-fears-5706458

(2) Will Godley (01/04/26) As the dust settles on a night of chaos in Clapham – locals fear the worst is yet to come. https://www.gbnews.com/news/clapham-six-teenagers-arrested-mob-london-youths-riot; Dan McDonald (02/04/26) Six teenagers now arrested after mob of unruly London youths run riot. https://www.gbnews.com/news/clapham-six-teenagers-arrested-mob-london-youths-riot

(3) Jess Warren (01/04/26) Girls arrested as ‘online trends’ fuel disturbance. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm25yv7z3jko; Sean Bell (26/09/25) Britain’s Shoplifting Epidemic. https://tribunemag.co.uk/2025/09/britains-shoplifting-epidemic; Sarah Butler (12/05/25) UK food shops report ‘massive’ rise in pensioner shoplifting. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/12/uk-food-shops-report-massive-rise-in-pensioner-shoplifting

(4) Matthew Weaver (01/04/26) Parents told to ‘take responsibility’ after two days of social media-fuelled London disorder. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/apr/01/police-disorder-arrests-clapham-london?CMP=share_btn_url; McDonald. Op. cit.

(5) James Graham (02/04/26) How to stop the Clapham rioting. https://spectator.com/article/how-to-stop-the-clapham-rioting/

(6) Ibid.

(7) Judy Cox (29/08/25) Moral panics—how do the elite exploit public fear? https://socialistworker.co.uk/teach-yourself-marxism/moral-panics-how-do-the-elite-exploit-public-fear/; Matt Foot (30/10/24) Defund, dismantle, disband: challenging racist policing after the Black Lives Matter movement. https://isj.org.uk/defund-dismantle-disband/

(8) Elaine McGee and Gerry Bradley (04/04/26) ‘The most serious issue for schools’: What’s being done about smartphones in class? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3lnld4lpzo https://www.brattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Report-on-Reparations-for-Transatlantic-Chattel-Slavery-in-the-Americas-and-the-Caribbean.pdf

(9) Gary W. Small (07/12/21) Stopping the spread of mass hysteria by Facebook, other social media platforms. https://www.statnews.com/2021/12/07/stopping-spread-mass-hysteria-facebook-social-media/; Fatih Akkaya (05/11/25) How Social Media Became the New MK-Ultra (And What You Can Do About It). https://medium.com/@fatih.akkaya/how-social-media-became-the-new-mk-ultra-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-88f700733483; Lily Jamali (28/03/26) We’re having a moment’ – fear and denial in Silicon Valley over social media addiction trial. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c86e3eglv2go

(10) Sinai Fleary (02/04/26) Met officers face probe after Black teen suffers fractured knee in stop and search. https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/uk-news/2026/04/02/iopc-investigates-six-met-officers-over-stop-and-search-of-black-child-in-tottenham/

(11) Julian Blum (07/10/25) Trump, The Tech Right and Christian Nationalists: an Unnatural Coalition. https://www.institutmontaigne.org/en/expressions/trump-tech-right-and-christian-nationalists-unnatural-coalition; Roberto J. González (03/02/26) The Rise of the Techno-Tyrants: Silicon Valley’s right-wing past, present and future. https://www.tni.org/en/article/the-rise-of-the-techno-tyrants; Becca Lewis (29/01/25) ‘Headed for technofascism’: the rightwing roots of Silicon Valley. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/jan/29/silicon-valley-rightwing-technofascism

Clapham “Link Up”: Moral Panic or Societal Breakdown?

1) Who or what is behind the “school wars” and “link ups”?

2) Do parents just need to “take responsibility”?

3) Do the “riots” usually have so few arrests ?

4) Can we control access to harmful social media or provide meaningful alternatives?

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.

Sis. Donna Murray-Turner: is an Equity Consultant with a decades worth experience working with institutions within the criminal justice system. She is also a credible VAWG/DASV practitioner and is currently a student at London Metropolitan University where she is studying an MA in Women & Child Abuse Studies. Sis. Donna is a noted public speaker and host and delivered her first TEDx Talk in 2021 during lockdown. She is a mother of three young adult children and lives in Croydon.

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