The Lie at the Heart of Britain's "Far-Right" Problem

“The riots in the UK are being perpetrated by a far-right minority.”

This is the common sentiment arising from various British media outlets. It is interesting to note the stress placed on “far-right minority”, even from the newly-minted PM Kier Starmer.

It seems that for protestors labelled as “far-right”, state-backed violence committed against them is socially acceptable and even justified. Undue force and indiscriminate arrests are only a problem if enacted against?those labelled as?peaceful liberal protestors fighting for justice?and democracy, no?

As reprehensible as the rioters’ actions are, it seems that the media is demonstrating a?long-standing and?real bias against the deeper dissatisfactions of this group of people, who may even be representatives of the majority.

Agree with them or not, they have motivations that need to be understood and engaged with. Stamping them down will only lead to further social strife.

Yet this does not seem to be the mission of British media?or Western media as a whole when it comes to reporting on social unrest within their borders. After all, media outlets have played a key role in whipping up violence in the first place,?with right-wing media spouting anti-Muslim / anti-immigrant rhetoric for many years, with left-leaning media burnishing their ultra-liberal credentials by rejecting any arguments from the many citizens concerned about immigration. Pretending it is a non-issue and readily labelling it as racist is similar to calling anyone who is opposed to Zionism as an antisemite.

Couple this with economic hardships — falling living standards, crumbling public services, escalating housing crisis, etc. — experienced by the poorer segments of British society, and media companies have helped sow fertile ground for such violence.

One also has to wonder if the rioters really are a “minority”. When I was a student in the UK,??it was often the case at?football matches?to?see fans throwing banana peels at Black players. These, too, were a minority. But?what remains unsaid is?that?these individuals had the implicit or complicit support of many people around them, even the majority. Otherwise, they would have been stopped.

There is a resemblance to these riots. That the trigger event led to such widespread violence so quickly belies the barely-contained tension beneath the surface of polite British society, much of it racist. The rioters are simply the tip of the iceberg, a manifestation of the conversations held behind closed doors?and even in posh cricket clubs.

Yet the media will not talk about this. Why?

One has to look at the international image of Britain. The nation’s political elites want to maintain its veneer as a high-brow, non-racist nation. One which is accepting of diversity and has therefore earned its place on the highest rung of the civilisational ladder, as if to say: “Not only are we economically developed, technologically advanced, and culturally complex, we are also morally superior”.

Either through tacit agreement or alignment of beliefs, the media support the elite in this facade.

The joint attempt of the state and media to safeguard Britain’s moral high ground is imperative because it helps the political elite preserve their self-imposed license to judge other nations and maintain their legitimacy as a world leader.

But essentially, this is a lie.

And the speed and scale of these riots give voice to this lie. Cracks are appearing?in?Britain’s social fabric as it struggles to reconcile its glossy image with the reality that many of its people are unhappy with how the globalisation project has come to bear in their nation.?First it was the West Indians and “Pakis” and now it is all those Muslims and even Chinese.

Like the people of every other nation, Britons are afraid of change. Yes, they have racial prejudice. Yes, they believe their country is better than others. Yes, they don’t want to share their resources. But its communities are worried about their futures just like any other. And by simply dismissing the actions of these rioters as a “far-right minority”, Britain’s media and political elites continue to perpetuate a self-gratifying lie instead of opening an honest conversation on how to reconcile with change in a globalised world where plurality is becoming the norm.