Riots across the UK, how to solve the dilemma?
2024-08-14
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(one)
Recently, the UK has been plunged into large-scale riots, with arson, looting, smashing and fighting sweeping the country, and each scene is shocking.
The riot was triggered by a knife attack in Southport, England on July 29. A 17-year-old man broke into a children's dance class with a knife and attacked, killing three children and injuring eight. After the tragedy, the immigrant background of the attacker quickly ignited hatred on the Internet and triggered large-scale public protests. The government's mishandling of the situation caused the chaos to continue to ferment, and then evolved into violent conflicts and social unrest in many parts of the country, forming a three-way melee between local right-wing forces, immigrant forces and government police.
Faced with the serious situation, the British government criticized the far-right forces for secretly inciting the escalation of the situation. At the same time, it accused platforms represented by "X" of spreading extreme hatred ideas. It demanded that Musk continue to ban the accounts of British far-right politicians and not provide them with a platform to speak out. At the same time, it arrested people who shared videos of riots or posted different opinions on the Internet on the charge of cybercrime.
(two)
From a broader perspective, the reason why individual cases have caused disorder across the UK lies in the long-standing and difficult to resolve "immigration problem".
First, the UK's immigration policy has planted serious political risks. The British government has not formed an effective immigration governance policy. The asylum clause of the European Convention on Human Rights requires the British government to spend huge amounts of money every year to resettle illegal immigrants, which has led to long-standing public resentment. Britain, which is unable to build a consensus on immigration governance, chose to find a resettlement site that can accept immigrants. In 2022, the Johnson government signed an agreement with Rwanda, and the UK funded the construction of immigrant resettlement facilities. The European Court of Human Rights urgently stopped the plan and requested a review, resulting in the plane to repatriate immigrants not being able to take off until Johnson stepped down. Under the repeated intervention of the opposition and the European Court of Human Rights, the cost of the "Rwanda Plan" tripled two years later, with a total budget of more than 10 billion pounds, which was completely beyond the capabilities of the British government.
Previously, the Sunak government wanted to resist the pressure and give the project another push, but nothing was accomplished until he stepped down. Now the newly elected Labour government has decisively stopped the project, which has already invested 700 million pounds but has not produced any results, dealing the final blow to the British immigration policy that was on the verge of failure. The funds invested in the early stage have gone down the drain, and right-wing voters have criticized the government for its incompetence in managing illegal immigration, and have taken to the path of violence to express their demands.
Second, Brexit has plunged the UK into multiple economic difficulties. For decades, immigration has been a hot topic in the UK. In the eyes of some middle and lower-class people in British society, immigrants and refugees have brought impacts on British employment, welfare, community structure and even social security. This sentiment has also been amplified and exaggerated by some right-wing politicians, and has also become an important driving factor in the 2016 Brexit referendum. However, after Brexit, immigration coordination between the UK and the EU has become more difficult, and the two sides often fall into mutual accusations and buck-passing. As a result, the UK has lost the economic benefits brought by EU capital and trade, and has failed to effectively curb the influx of foreign immigrants. The problem of illegal immigration has become more serious after Brexit.
Since the Ukrainian crisis, the UK has actively played the role of a pioneer in supporting Ukraine and opposing Russia, investing a large amount of political and military resources in the battlefield, while neglecting support for the national economy, exacerbating the domestic economic crisis. The UK's economic growth has almost stagnated. Currently, 12 local governments have declared bankruptcy. Recently, the British Prime Minister directly declared the country bankrupt and became "fragmented." The people's livelihood and well-being in the UK have been deeply impacted by the energy crisis and the wave of rising food prices. The overall income of British families has generally decreased, making it difficult to pay for the increasingly high living expenses. Therefore, those who joined the protest this time are not only anti-immigrants, but also more people who are dissatisfied with the status quo.
Third, the unbalanced population structure has led to deep social divisions. With the influx of a large number of illegal immigrants after Brexit, the population of immigrants and native residents has increased and decreased, while the degree of immigrant integration is very low, resulting in serious social divisions. The surge in terrorist incidents and social security cases caused by illegal immigrants has seriously impacted the normal life of the British people. British political parties are also increasingly inclined to relaxed immigration policies, which has led to a surge in immigrants arriving in the UK through illegal channels, further exacerbating the imbalance of the population structure.
In addition, since the Ukrainian crisis, the influx of immigrants from Ukraine into the UK has also exacerbated the complexity of social problems. The local people's recognition and acceptance of immigrants is not high, not to mention in a period of economic downturn and job scarcity. The immigrant group is also dissatisfied with the status quo and is extremely sensitive to the rejection of local extremist forces. Therefore, they adopt a group strategy and actively fight for the rights of survival and development.
(three)
In Europe, the "immigration dilemma" is not unique to the UK.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukrainian crisis, and the energy crisis have made the EU economy difficult. Faced with downward pressure on the domestic economy and problems such as high inflation and high unemployment, EU member states are unable to provide the financial support needed for the resettlement of illegal immigrants and refugees. The refugee problem caused by the escalation of regional conflicts such as the new round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has put the pressure on the EU and its member states close to the limit. At the end of last year, many European countries, including Germany and Italy, have gradually tightened their immigration policies and strengthened control to cope with a possible new wave of refugees.
At the same time, the conflict between diverse immigrant cultures and traditional values continues to exacerbate Europe’s “schizophrenia.” The Western pluralist public opinion environment has shaped the new immigrants’ sense of identity as masters, but Western white traditional society is not ready to accept them. The new generation of immigrants often suffer discrimination and exclusion, causing further confrontation at the social level.
It remains to be seen when the riots in the UK will subside, but the refugee crisis, structural economic problems, cost of living crisis and employment issues are more of a headache for the British government. The already broken British society can no longer bear the weight of the riots. In the 1970s, the Labour government stepped down due to the general strike known as the "Winter of Discontent". Today's "Summer of Discontent" is just the beginning of the test for the Starmer government.
