It’s a great time to be in the business of making St George’s flags right now, as this weekend once again saw the heart of the nation turn into a sea of white and red (and beer, racism and alleged disorderly behaviour) with yet another far right march spreading hate and intimidation on our streets.
The Tommy Robinson headlined rally was named ‘Unite the Kingdom’. But I didn’t feel much unity on the tube with my two children on Saturday afternoon among flag-draped men shouting about the effing foreigners and sexually harassing any woman dressed in anything less than a hijab.
This feeling of bracing myself whenever the latest round of far right marches kick off has, unfortunately, become all too familiar. Since the racist riots of recent years, it has become depressingly expected to see our major cities turn into sites of hatred every few weeks.
For people like me, a visibly Muslim woman, those warnings and worried text messages to stay inside, to avoid such-and-such an area have become second nature. The footage afterwards of people treating an event advocating for the deportation of people like me and my family as some sort of hilarious lads’ day out has become so routine that they barely warrant a response anymore.
But this weekend’s events felt viscerally different; noticeably more sinister. Take a look at the footage of attendees, at the speakers allowed – chosen, even – to be on stage at this march. To be, along with Tommy Robinson himself, the face of the event.
Bacon and Burqas: The Mask Slips
Someone who calls himself the Scottish Korean appeared on stage for a cello performance wearing bacon on his shoulders to ward off the Muslims (because, clearly, like vampires and garlic, we self-implode at the mere sight of a dead pig). This was an Islamophobia rally – and the organisers didn’t make any secret of that.
So-called feminist group Collectif Nemesis wore niqabs on stage before stripping them off as the crowd laughed, jeered and chanted ‘take it off’ (I don’t know about you, but nothing screams feminism like the idea of thousands of drunk men shouting at women to undress!). Kellie-Jay Keen, best known for her anti-trans activism, stood on the stage demanding that Islam be taken out of every ‘area of authority’ in the UK, whatever that means.
When questioned on video by pro-Israel speaker Weronika Rogowska about what he’d do as Prime Minister, Tommy Robinson’s first answer was, ‘I’d stop Islam’.
The Real Agenda: Anti-Muslim Hatred
Having spent one too many hours watching video interviews from recent rallies, including yesterday’s, it is painfully clear that the views of many attendees who hide their reasoning behind innocuous phrases like I’m against illegal immigration or I want the old Britain back all actually boil down to one thing and one thing only. That is a hatred for Muslims and Islam. And on Saturday, it felt like the mask was truly off.
The way rallies like these have long been presented by sections of the media and some politicians is either as outpourings of harmless patriotism at best or the valid concerns of overlooked citizens at worst. We have been coached to see them as healthy, if perhaps mildly controversial, instances of democracy in action.
We’ve seen the odd attempt to present a Nakba Day protest held on the same day (commemorating the anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel and subsequent displacement of Palestinians) as some sort of opposition to the far right rally; as though these are groups with opposing sides of the same argument.
What we saw this weekend wasn’t an exercise in unity or patriotism – and it wasn’t a mere disagreement between ‘rival’ groups. This was an Islamophobia rally – and the organisers didn’t make any secret of that.
A Tipping Point for Visible Muslims
It feels like the veneer has slipped away entirely, and the quiet parts aren’t just being said out loud – they’re now being shouted through a mega phone in the country’s capital city. It feels like what visible Muslims like me have been living, and saying, for years has reached a tipping point. These days, even expressing an anti-Muslim opinion about as boring and uncreative as ‘ban the burqa’ is enough to revive the political career of even the most irrelevant politician. A conveniently-worded dog whistle comment about people bringing their way of life to the UK or sheer misinformation like churches being turned en masse into mosques is enough to establish the most forgettable minister as Saint George reincarnate.
None of this is surprising for anyone who has been paying attention. It’s no wonder that mass gatherings of anti-Muslim hate like this weekend’s are brushed off as mere ‘division’ when they are the logical end result of years – decades, even – of the manufacturing, embedding and then normalisation of Islamophobia in public life.
The fact is, this weekend should be a wake up call. This was always about Islamophobia. This level of widespread, overt, uncontainable hatred is no freak accident. It comes from years of Muslims being the ultimate scapegoat by structural inequality enabled by a generation of white men in suits. On Saturday, those suits were replaced by crusader costumes and Union Jack tuxedos. But the message was the same. And it was terrifying.
