Ranveer Singh
August 10, 2024 | 7 min. read | Opinion
Many will have seen the violence that erupted across the UK this past week following the tragic events in Southport in which three young girls were stabbed to death. As a father, my heart goes out to the parents and families, and I hope the killer is dealt with swiftly.
Soon after the news broke, rumours began to circulate claiming the murderer was a Muslim asylum seeker. Whilst this was incorrect, he was later identified in the media as a 17-year-old born to Christian parents in Cardiff, we saw an immediate eruption of brutality from right-wing English racists who organised English Defence League (EDL) marches across cities to attack Muslims.
Much like during the racist marches of the British National Party (BNP) and the National Front (NF) from years gone by, folk were attacked on the streets, acid was thrown, businesses were targeted, looting took place, mosques were attacked, and a hotel entrance housing asylum seekers, including families and children, was set on fire when a contingent of hundreds of racist protestors hurled bricks and other missiles. Emergency services were denied access, and as videos continued to surface, we saw how their targets soon became all people of colour. At the same time, right-wing influencers such as Katie Hopkins, Jordan Peterson, and the Tate brothers took to social media and propagated their misinformation campaigns which only served to embolden the racists.
A few days later, a list was circulated amongst a 13,000 members group chat which outlined where they planned further attacks, targeting immigration service clinics, law firms and refugee centres. Screenshots were shared of members expressing racist slogans, Islamophobic rhetoric, and calls to send “all ragheads home.”
In response to this, many Muslims got together to challenge the racism. Some did so by gathering at their mosques, others chose to patrol the streets where the EDL had planned to march – the clashes that followed were inevitable. Huge anti-racist marches were held in opposition to the EDL, and they sent out a strong message. Sikhs also gathered at Gurdwaras to ensure their presence was felt by any racist.
Speaking with family and friends, there have been those who have been horrified by the actions of the EDL, something which they believed was a thing of the past, something their parents and grandparents put up with. They seem generally shocked by what they’ve witnessed on social media.
Others are sitting on the fence, claiming we have no allegiance to either set of groups – neither the EDL nor the Muslims – despite the fact these racist riots were sparked by a calculated misinformation campaign.
They claim both groups are as bad as each other and we, the Sikhs, shouldn’t get involved.
Is that right?
Firstly, the protests of the EDL are different in nature from those of Muslims and generally anti-racist campaigners, and it’s important to acknowledge this. The former raise their voice and use violence to assert, or reassert, power and control, which their right-wing counterparts in public office have been saying they’ve lost due to an alleged issue with immigration. They place the blame on immigrants for taking British jobs, directly creating division and hatred for all immigrants. Politicians have pushed this agenda for decades, backed by powerful media moguls who finance their political campaigns, and consistently push narratives that demonise immigrants, specifically Muslim asylum seekers. It has created a situation in which the unemployed and largely white working class have internalised the fear and hate, mixed it with racism and white supremacy, and taken to the streets to take their country, and presumably their jobs, back.
There is also the added concoction of the grooming issue. The entire Muslim community is continuously made the scapegoat for the actions of Pakistani grooming gangs that largely operate in the north of England. Despite Home Office reports that have shown the leading offenders of sexual grooming in the UK are white men. Notwithstanding this reality and the condemnation from The Muslim Council of Britain, the Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board and the Islamic Society of Britain, these narrow-minded people instantly synonymise sexual grooming with Muslim men.
Do they have a problem? Yes.
Is anyone denying the very real threat and, indeed, crimes committed by Pakistani grooming gangs? No.
Are members of their own community condemning them? Yes.
So why are EDL members not targeting white neighbourhoods, or churches? Are they oblivious to the crimes of the Church? Now that we know the killer of the Southport murders was raised by Christian parents, do EDL intend on smashing churches and kicking all Christians out of the UK?
It is clear that whilst the rhetoric of immigration and the grooming issue is stoking the fire, the main fuel is hate for Muslims and generally non-whites. It is the white supremacist racist ideology that engulfs this country which has caused this past week’s rampages. It’s clear how that sense of superiority has never truly left “great Britain,” sprouting its ugly head, for decades.
On the topic of immigration, the EDL, and its sympathisers, most of whom hold Islamophobic views, fail to mention why so many refugees are seeking asylum in the UK. There seems to be a two-fold case of collective amnesia over how firstly, the UK and its allies have bombarded the homes of these people, who are forced to flee in hopes of finding a safe haven, and secondly, the policies of austerity that have plunged UK’s public services into near submission. Schools, hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, emergency services and other public sector organisations across the UK are reported to be under-resourced and overworked, not due to the rise of immigration but because of government cuts. Coupled with the very real cost of the living crisis, manufactured by those who run the country, the UK has become a fertile breeding ground for fascism, and with individuals such as Tommy Robinson, backed by powerful players, given free reigns to spew his hatred, the conditions are primed for it to continue and rise.
The instant vilification of an entire religion, of all peoples of colour, as having some kind of underlying tendency to commit murder or rape is hugely problematic. This is the very same logic used by the British Empire to annihilate indigenous peoples the world over and create settler colonial countries across the perceived Western world. The reference to grooming and immigration in a murder case in which the killer was born to Christian parents in Cardiff exemplifies the anxieties that have been embedded by right-wing politicians and media moguls.
As Sikhs, we must understand the nuances at play here and not fall for right-wing propaganda. As a people, we have a duty to stand with the oppressed and challenge those who terrorise ordinary folk. We, too, have experienced the onslaught of a fascist ideology that seeks to destroy our very existence, and we have felt the wrath of lies and disinformation fabricated by the media moguls. We know how it feels to stand alone. It is not becoming of a Sikh to point the finger at the silence of others, even if they belong to the same community as the oppressed.
Our job is to take heed of the Guru’s instruction, to follow their example and honour the precedent they set.
On the one hand, Guru Nanak Sahib called Babar a jabar and pointed to the hypocrisy of the Mullah and Qazi, and yet it was Bhai Mardana, a Muslim, who accompanied him throughout his travels, and Rai Bular, another Muslim, who gifted land to the Guru. Elsewhere Guru Angad Sahib called out Emperor Hamayun for his falsehood, and yet Guru Amar Das shared bread with his successor, Emperor Akhbar. Guru Arjan Sahib includes the writings of Baba Farid in Adi Granth but is executed by Emperor Jahangir. Guru Hargobind Sahib goes to war with the Mughal regime, is imprisoned and yet builds a mosque under his reign at Sri Hargobindpur. Guru Har Rai disowns his son for appeasing Emperor Aurangzeb, and Guru Tegh Bahadur is beheaded under Aurangzeb’s orders, yet Guru Gobind Singh enlists Muslims such Peer Buddhu Shah in his army. Later when the young Sahibzade are killed by Wazir Khan, the Guru still assists Bahadur Shah during the Battle of Jajau. The Guru fought more battles with the power-hungry devious Hindu Hill Kings than with governors and emperors of the Mughal regime, yet people like Tommy Robinson target uninformed, naïve and quite frankly lazy Sikhs with constant reference to our alleged fight against Islam as a means of firing up hate and division.
We’ve got to do better.
There are so many examples of how the Gurus not only spoke out against tyranny, falsehood, and hypocrisy but mobilised against it, and yet they encouraged and built an inclusive society. They guided Sikhs to stand against those who sought to suppress and destroy life, irrespective of their religious or cultural background. The various manifestations of Sikh Raj that followed are a testament to how the Sikhs embodied this in their political rule, perhaps most evident in the accounts of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Raj. The Sikh standpoint demands recognition of how the light of akaal resides within all to forge an alliance based not on labels but on character, deeds and intent.
To tarnish an entire people for the actions of a few is madness. That is the work of the EDL and fascism, not of Sikhs.
We’re built differently.
source : baaznews