The rioting that took place in Belfast and other UK cities earlier this month was primarily fuelled by xenophobia, ignorance and an epidemic of misinformation on social media about immigrants, Muslims and other minority communities.
One toxic consequence of this situation is that, for some people, ethnic minority groups have become almost completely dehumanised. Each and every one is presented as a potential rapist, child abuser and knife wielder.
It is for this reason that attacking mosques, immigrant-owned businesses and hotels housing asylum seekers are – in the warped view of a minority – somehow understood as heroic acts.
The extent of this problem is revealed by recent polling, which suggested that as many as 36% of people believe that xenophobic acts of violence are defensible if such acts result in fewer refugees being settled nearby.
When a group of people are dehumanised to such a degree, violence against them becomes not only justifiable, but encouraged. We need only look to the Middle East, and the ongoing atrocities committed against the Palestinian people, to see where this kind of dehumanization can lead.
In this climate, it is critical to find ways of pushing back against the lies that continue to be amplified by the English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, the former academic turned YouTuber Matthew Goodwin, and legions of other would-be demagogues online.
One way of doing this is to remind people that the situation is always more complicated than the kind of populist narratives that attract clicks and likes on social media.
For example, how many people know that there have been Muslims in Belfast for over a hundred years, and that among the faithful in the city today are many converts from the Catholic and Protestant faiths?
Similarly, a huge amount of attention is devoted to the fact that asylum seekers in Ireland and the UK are often housed in hotels while their claims are being processed. The focus is on the cost of doing this to the taxpayer, with the implication being that foreign nationals are being given preferential, even luxurious treatment to natives who struggle to obtain decent housing.
The reality is altogether different. While hotels are often used, the conditions are far from luxurious. Often, families consisting of two or more children are forced to reside in a single room. The days are long, because under Home Office rules, asylum seekers are not allowed to work until they receive leave to remain in the UK.
Adults are thus forced to survive on a government allowance of just £40 per week. And because of a long backlog of asylum claims still to be processed – caused in part by the failure of expensive gimmicks such as the Conservative Party’s Rwanda scheme – the wait can take many months, and sometimes even years.
Another way of countering the stereotypes about minority groups is to make the space for their stories to be heard. If a section of society is in the process of being dehumanised, it is all the more important to hear about their background, experiences, and hopes for the future.
A few years ago, I conducted dozens of interviews with newly arrived asylum seekers in Belfast for a podcast I made with the BBC. They had arrived in the city from some of the most dangerous places in the world – from Syria, where over 500,000 people have been killed in the ongoing civil war, from Eritrea, where 480,000 people have been displaced from the brutal dictatorship of President Isaias Afwerki, and from far beyond.
Having been parted from their loved ones in extreme circumstances, the journeys made by asylum seekers are often extraordinarily dangerous. For every migrant who gets to Europe, there are others who tragically lose their lives in their attempts to find a place of sanctuary.
The people I spoke to had attempted to cross massive rivers in inflatable chairs – the kind intended for use on holiday for a relaxing afternoon in the pool. They had paid people smugglers vast sums to get them to Europe, only for the smugglers to take the money and run. They had been bundled into the boot of a car with another grown man and driven for many hours at a time, across countries and time zones.
All this happens before they arrive in a country, like the UK or Ireland, where they are finally able to claim asylum. It is then that they encounter the xenophobes and bigots, who protest outside their hotel and profess a desire to send them back from where they have come.
In these divisive times, disinformation has become a dangerous weapon. But dialogue and the exchange of stories are also powerful. We cannot allow hate to triumph over humanity.
Dr Kieran Connell is a Reader in Modern History at Queen’s University Belfast. His 2022 podcast, The Crisis Files, is available on BBC Sounds. His latest book, Multicultural Britain: A People’s History (Hurst) is out now.
