The right-wing, anti-immigrant riots that spread across the UK in early August have revealed how years of austerity and normalisation of anti-migration rhetoric can escalate, fuelled by misinformation on social media. The crowds that turned out in counter protests, standing against racism, xenophobia and islamophobia may offer hope to some. Globally, civic actors and protestors, many of them young, have taken on right-wing, misogynist, and authoritarian-populist leaders, while sharing tactics across countries.
Immediate triggers
The killing of three young girls and wounding of several others in Southport on 29 July triggered racist violence and anti-immigrant protests in numerous cities and towns in the UK, involving attacks on mosques and hotels hosting asylum seekers. The incredibly tragic event was soon hijacked by right-wing actors that spread misinformation via social media about the perpetrator being a Muslim asylum seeker who entered the UK on a boat crossing the English Channel. In fact, the attacker was born in Wales in a Christian family.
Posts by prominent social media influencers, including Elon Musk, Andrew Tate, the right-wing politician Nigel Farage, and English Defence League founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) instigated the spread of the violence. Two weeks on, hundreds have been brought to trial, their ages varying between 12 to their late 60s.
Structural causes
The violence that erupted after 29 July had structural causes. The riots and violence occurred in seven out of ten of the most deprived areas in the UK. The deprivation of these communities, resulting from years of austerity and neglect under successive governments, have created a fertile breeding ground for right-wing narratives. Narratives that blame migrant populations for lack of jobs, affordable housing and services. Wealth inequality is particularly affecting the younger generation.
These structural conditions cannot be resolved by closing the borders. Moreover, anti-migrant rhetoric has been normalised and become part of mainstream discourse – a trend also observed in other European countries where support for right-wing parties have been on the rise.
Government and politicians have failed to halt and often exacerbated the normalisation of anti-migrant and Islamophobic sentiments, for instance by repeatedly referring to ‘floods’ of immigrants. They have not denounced or countered anti-migrant rhetoric. Their attempts to adopt restrictive migration policies have only served the interests of the more radical right-wing parties.
The polarising rhetoric that has spread via social media and some of the mainstream media over the years had paved the way for the riots targeting minority communities that occurred. If these conditions do not change, the ‘blitz’ of court cases and convictions may not deter further violence in the longer-term.
Global dynamics of polarisation and threats against democracy
The riots and violence against mosques, services and accommodation centres for asylum-seekers as well the racist slogans that circulated online and were heard on the streets, all constitute attacks against democratic norms and values. They are also attacks on the rights of minorities, witnessed in contexts of ‘closing civic space’ and ‘gender backlash’. There are parallels but also differences between the events in the UK, the dynamics of violence as well as the anti-racism protests, and other parts of the world.
While right-wing parties did not win the recent elections in France and the UK, support for right-wing leaders has increased. Societal actors are building transnational alliances, with for instance Yaxley-Lennon engaging with Hindu nationalist groups in India, as well as in the UK, supporting each other in constructing Muslim men as aggressive in their online posts. Further, research on gender backlash conducted by IDS and research partners has demonstrated international collaboration between groups that seek to erode gender equality policies and progress in women’s rights.
The role of young people
The UK riots were seemingly dominated by middle-aged and older men, which draws attention to debates on feelings of uncertainty among this group that political actors can tap into. This is not to say there were no youth involved, as some of the first perpetrators convicted were in their early teens. By contrast, younger generations have played a major role in anti-racist protests in the UK and in anti-government protests around the world, offering hope to those upholding democratic values.
This year, young people have been at the forefront of protests that challenge corruption and lack of accountable governance, which they see as the cause of their lack of prospects. In Bangladesh, student protests led to the end of Sheikh Hasina’s government that had been in power for 20 years, during which the country became increasingly dictatorial.
A new tax bill that would increase the prices of commodities sparked youth protests in Kenya, with protestors claiming Gen Z as a political identity to denounce older generations of politicians. In both cases, protestors sought to overcome ethnic and religious divisions that politicians had tried to exploit. And in these instances, social media played a role in mobilisation as well as in sharing of protest tactics across countries.
Disillusioned about democracy
However, last year, the Open Society Democracy Index showed that young people in the 18-24 year old age group, many of them first-time voters, show least faith in democracy and are open to other forms of governance. But rather than accusing young people of being less democratic, it is important to understand the reasons why young people are disillusioned about democracy not delivering for them. They connect persistent unemployment and poverty as well as rising costs of living to the failures of their governments. The recent wave of protests shows they want better democracies.
That said, the debate on the role of youth needs nuance as they are a highly diverse group. Young people have also joined radical right-wing groups and movements that support autocratic leaders in various contexts. For instance, the Hindutva nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in India successfully appeals to young people through social media. Research in more entrenched authoritarian settings shows that one may not need that many active ‘young autocrats’ to reproduce authoritarian systems of governance.
More needs to be done to understand how different groups of young people respond to (online) polarisation and mobilisation: from countering to supporting and promoting polarised debate and/or the political actors representing different sides.
Countering polarisation and anti-democratic backlash
Some of these critical issues will be examined in a new project by IDS and research partners, entitled ‘Youth, affective polarisation and trust: a transnational perspective’ (YAPT). YAPT will focus on young people in South Africa, India and Brazil and their respective diaspora communities in the UK.
Considering the importance of social media as facilitators of mobilisation by both pro- and anti-democracy groups, as well as divisive leaders who polarise, YAPT will explore the extent to which young people’s social media engagement, with online manifestations of party polarisation, influences their political behaviours. Ranging from supporting to countering polarising discourse. It is through in-depth analysis of Gen Z’s diverse interactions with complex social media feeds that we may find out more about what’s next for democracy.
