As rioting continues throughout the UK, Australia has issued a travel warning to its citizens, however the xenophobic, Islamophobic, and anti-immigration rioting is something South Asians in Australia and across the world have grown up with and understand intimately.
The current rioting started after the lives of three young girls, who were at a Taylor Swift themed dance class, were violently taken by a 17-year-old male. Almost immediately, the misinformation campaign started with posts online and through messaging apps such as Telegram stating that the male was a muslim asylum seeker. He wasn’t, and he was born in Wales, however the strength with which this misinformation spread was such that the English Courts made the extraordinary decision to release the name of the male despite him still being a minor. The hope that this would calm the anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant sentiment in the community did not last long as the riots continued. Mosques were targeted and hotels housing asylum seekers were burned along with community libraries.
Rioters from far-right groups chanted “Stop the boats”, a phrase Australian politicians have long chanted with pride. Met with counter-protesters, streets have become battlegrounds with multiple injured, and scores arrested.
The fear that having a South Asian appearance could lead to physical harm for an imagined offence is something that South Asian Australians have lived through and still experience. From the 1990s when Pauline Hanson railed against immigration, to the Cronulla Riots where having brown skin automatically equalled being different and therefore fair game for rioters, there’s a sense that by now things should be different.
The UK shows this isn’t the case, but we don’t even have to look back too far in our own history to see that this xenophobia and far right sentiment is raising its head here on local shores. Just in January, Neo-Nazis were stopped in North Sydney when they tried to have a gathering in response to Australia Day. Last year news emerged of Neo-Nazis rallies in Victoria.
What we can take away from the riots in the UK and what this could mean for Australia in the future, is the response. Earlier this week, Jordan Parlour was convicted for attempting to stir up racial hatred during the UK riots, and the director of public prosecutions has stated that he is willing to consider charging some rioters with terrorism offences. As has happened in the past, this is a knee jerk reaction, and once the rioting stops, nothing may realistically change for the South Asian community and especially the Islamic community. While politicians still brag about stopping the boats and the spread of online misinformation is not targeted but instead boosted by those in power, the cycle is doomed to repeat itself.
Amidst all of this, and arguably most importantly, we cannot forget three young girls have lost their lives.