In recent weeks we have seen rioting, with racist and Islamophobic violence in communities across the UK. Black people, People of Colour, Muslims, and asylum-seekers in the UK have been directly targeted. These attacks have been even more harmful as they target and terrorise people who have already experienced long-standing discrimination and abuse in our society.
This violence hasn’t come out of nowhere, but has been fuelled and stoked by deep economic inequalities, and the political weaponisation of the distress caused by these realities. Division has been sown over decades. Racialised communities have been demonised and scapegoated, both by far right actors and in mainstream political rhetoric.
At Involve, we join those who have spoken out to condemn this violence and stand in support of everyone who has been affected.
It is also unsettling and frightening for everyone in the UK who recognises discrimination and violence, and the extreme and polarised views which attempt to excuse these things, as a threat to our democracy.
We are grateful to, and inspired by, the many different communities who have worked together to condemn, stop, and rebuild in response to this violence.
We lend our whole-hearted support to those leading anti-racist work in response to these events, and encourage everyone to work in solidarity with organisations leading the anti-racist response. We are proud of the clear, direct rejection of this violence that so many communities and organisations helped mobilise last week.
Here are just a few of the organisations that deserve recognition for organising the anti-racist response. We encourage all to engage with them, donate money, and show up in support in whichever way works best for them:
- Stand up to Racism, who helped lead demonstrations against the far right last week in towns and cities across the UK.
- Hope not Hate, who have continued to monitor far-right organising, and launched a new campaign to Hold Onto Hope.
- Red Flare, who helped warn so many that far-right groups had access to lists of immigration and asylum services.
- New Economy Organisers Network, who published an anti-far-right messaging guide.
- Migrant’s Rights Network, who ran safeguarding and collective care forums last week.
- Runnymede Trust, who worked with 80+ anti-racist and migrants rights organisations to ask the PM to recall parliament, and warned of the harm racist political rhetoric could cause in recent reports.
- The Centre for Countering Digital Hate, who led investigations showing that some social media algorithms privilege incendiary content.
These are just a few — there are many more that deserve recognition. In particular, local groups have mobilised through and within their communities, making huge efforts. We encourage all to go and seek out those that led the response last week, to recognise and celebrate the work they did in extremely difficult circumstances.