This is the third consecutive year we have witnessed an escalation of racist violence, intimidation and hatred. We’ve seen racialised people being attacked on the street, homes burned to the ground, children forced to flee in the middle of the night, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship vandalised, violent gatherings outside of residences believed to house people seeking asylum and much more. Levels of racist violence and intimidation that were once considered extreme are now becoming weekly occurrences across the UK – and the response of successive UK governments has been woefully inadequate.
The racist intimidation and hostility seen this weekend all over the UK – primarily targeting those seeking asylum – is where the UK government must draw a line. It is clear that those organising and spearheading these attacks, riots and gatherings are deliberately seeking to create a threatening and intimidating atmosphere for racialised and minoritised communities. We are now at a point where people are fearful to take public transport, send their children to school, pray or just generally go about their daily lives. It should never have been allowed to get to this point.
These events – as with those we’ve seen previously – are not isolated incidents. As the Runnymede Trust highlighted in their recent open letter to the Prime Minister, they reflect the consequences of years of growing inequality, underinvestment in communities and public services, and political and media narratives that have normalised racism, anti-migrant sentiment and Islamophobia, including the weaponisation of violence against women and girls to stigmatise entire communities rather than address the root causes of gender-based violence. Too many people now feel less safe and less confident in our shared future.
It is time for the UK government to listen to the concerns of racialised and minoritised communities. It is time for the UK government and national authorities to do more to hold individuals and companies who play a role in spreading misinformation, inciting hatred and promoting violence to account.
We call on the UK government to act with the urgency that is required and take concrete steps to put a stop to escalating racist violence and intimidation. The UK government must tackle the dangerous cycle of political narratives that are repeated through megaphones by those emboldened to enact violence on our streets. Our political leaders must work with impacted people and communities to ensure their rights are protected and no one is forced to live in fear due to their religion, ethnicity, immigration status or skin colour.
It is time for the UK government to draw a line and take action.
Signed by organisations including:
ActionAid UK
Aegis the Union
African Rainbow Family
Alliance for Police Accountability
Amos Trust
Artists’ Union England
ASAP
Ashaadibi Centre
ASLEF Waterloo Nine Elms Branch
Association of Filipino Domestic Workers
Aziziye Mosque
Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union
BARAC UK
Bengali East End Heritage Society
Better Story
Beyond Skin
Black Equity Organisation
Body & Soul
Bridging Change
Bridport Refugee Support Campaign
Business Declares
Campaign against Climate Change
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
CARAS
Care4Calais
Caribbean Solidarity
Centre for Media Monitoring
Cheadle Masjid
Choose Love
Chorley TUC
City of Sanctuary UK
Connections Network Eastbourne
Day-Mer
Debt Justice
Doctors of the World UK
Dorset Red Choir
Eastbourne Solidarity
Education 4 All
Engels in Eastbourne
Equality Trust
European Network on Religion and Belief
Everyday Racism
Find a Protest
Finsbury Park Mosque
Fire Brigades Union
Forth Valley Welcome
Forum of Muslim Organisations (Greater Manchester)
Friends of the Earth
General Federation of Trade Unions
George Lansbury Memorial Trust
Global Justice Now
Glossop Labour Club
Glossopdale Together Alliance
Greener Jobs Alliance
Haringey Welcome
Hay, Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees
Health Poverty Action (HPA)
Helen Bamber Foundation group
Herts for Refugees
Hindus for Human Rights UK (HfHR UK)
Hoylake4All
Humans for Rights Network
Imkaan
Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB)
Indivisible London
Islamic Society of Britain
Jewish Socialists’ Group
Just Transition Wakefield
Kanlungan Migrant Centre
Kent Refugee Action Network (KRAN)
Lancaster and Morecambe Trades Union Council
Local Independents For Tiverton
Manchester Migrant Solidarity
Maryhill Integration Network
Medact
Mendip Trades Council
Merseyside Alliance for Racial Equality
Migrant Worker’s Union NI
Migrante UK
Mind
Muslim Council of Britain
Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND)
Muslim LGBT Network
Na’amod
NACCOM
New School of the Anthropocene
Newham Muslim Forum
No Sweat
North East Kent TUC
North Oxfordshire Socialist Alliance
Norwich & District Trades Union Council
Our Second Home
Oxfam GB
Pan-humanity
PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union)
Peace & Justice Project
POA
Portsmouth Stand Up To Racism
Portsmouth Friends of the Earth
Praxis
Prevent Watch
Psychotherapy and Counselling Union
Punk Against Poverty
Rainbow Migration
Reach Volunteering
Red Letter Christians UK
Refugee Action
Refugee Employment Network
Reset Communities for Refugees
Runnymede Trust
Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN)
Settled
Society of Union Employees
South West Lancashire NEU
Southampton and Winchester Visitors Group (SWVG)
Southwark Law Centre
Stand up to Racism
Stop the War Coalition
Students’ Federation of India – United Kingdom (SFI-UK)
Sustainable Hackney
Tax Justice UK
Teaching for Solidarity
Tesla Takedown UK
The Bike Project
The Circle
The Cordoba Foundation
The Launchpad Collective CIO
The Rainbow Stores
The Sheila McKechnie Foundation
The Working Class Climate Alliance
the3million
Thread Ahead
Through the Cracks
Time for Inclusive Education (TIE)
Together Alliance
UK Stop Trump Coalition
United East End
United Reformed Church Wessex Synod
VOICES ADFOCAD
Voices in Exile
Warwickshire NEU
West Devon Art Workshops
West London Welcome
Women Against the Far Right
Women for Refugee Women
Women in Prison
Woodcraft Folk
WOW – Women of the World
Writers’ Guild of Great Britain
Source: Amnesty International