The 2024 riots, the far right and racism

19 March 2025, 4pm-5:30pm (GMT), online

Between ‘pure violence’ and ‘legitimate concerns’: Racism, Riots and the Mainstreaming of the Far Right

Dr Aaron Winter (Sociology, Lancaster University)

In August 2024, far-right riots erupted across England, as well as in Northern Ireland and Wales. They followed the murder of three young girls in Southport on 29th July in an attack falsely attributed to a Muslim asylum seeker. Amongst those involved were followers of Tommy Robinson and members of Patriotic Alternative, Britain First, the British Movement and football hooligan firms, as well as members of the public. They intimidated, harassed and attacked racialised communities and individuals, as well as their businesses, mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. One of the dominant reactions from the mainstream media and political establishment was to individualise, exceptionalise and delegitimise the riots and those involved in them. They were described as “pure violence”, “lawlessness”, “criminality”, “extremism” and “terrorism”, and were widely attributed to far right agitators, “mobs”, “morons”, “madness”, “misinformation” and “disinformation” on social media. As such, this response logically necessitated state, law enforcement and security countermeasures, rather than reflection. The other dominant response did make connections to something larger, structural and political, by claiming that these were “protests”, expressions of “legitimate concerns” of the “white working-class”, “left behind” or “ordinary people”, and “pro-British”. This talk will examine these responses and the wider resurgence of the far right. It will argue that despite appearing contradictory, these responses actually represent two approaches that have played a role in the mainstreaming and emboldening of the far right and wider racism in the past decade in ways that led to this moment, exacerbate the problem, and make understanding and addressing the root causes and extent of it difficult.