The Right's Summer of Discontent: Fearmongering or Fueling the Fire?
📷 Image source: i.guim.co.uk
A Familiar Script
How the Right Predicts Chaos—Again
Every summer, like clockwork, certain voices on the British right start whispering—then shouting—about riots. This year, the warnings are louder than ever. Figures like Nigel Farage and Tory backbenchers are painting a picture of streets aflame, blaming everything from Labour policies to immigration. But here’s the twist: the same people sounding the alarm are often the ones holding the matches.
John Harris, in his Guardian piece, cuts through the noise. He points out the irony of rightwingers stoking fears of civil unrest while their rhetoric—anti-immigrant, anti-woke, anti-establishment—fuels the very divisions they claim to fear. It’s a playbook as old as time: create a boogeyman, then position yourself as the only one who can slay it.
The Ghosts of 2011
Why This Summer Feels Different
The specter of the 2011 riots still haunts British politics. Back then, it was austerity, police brutality, and a sense of hopelessness that lit the fuse. Today, the conditions are eerily similar: a cost-of-living crisis, crumbling public services, and a government that feels out of touch.
But there’s a key difference. In 2011, the riots were a spontaneous explosion of anger. Now, some on the right seem to be preemptively scripting the narrative, almost willing it into existence. Harris notes how Farage and his ilk are already framing any potential unrest as a failure of Labour, even though the Tories have been in power for over a decade. It’s a neat trick: blame your opponents for problems you helped create.
The Players and the Game
Who Stands to Gain?
This isn’t just about political point-scoring. There’s real power at stake. The right’s warnings of chaos serve a dual purpose: they rally their base and justify harsher policing and stricter immigration controls. It’s a feedback loop of fear and control.
Take Suella Braverman’s recent comments about 'mob rule' and the need for tougher laws. Or Farage’s relentless focus on 'cultural Marxism' as a threat to British values. These aren’t just offhand remarks—they’re calculated moves to shape public opinion and policy. Harris argues that by framing dissent as dangerous, the right is laying the groundwork for a more authoritarian state, all while pretending to defend democracy.
The Other Side of the Story
What’s Missing from the Narrative
Lost in all the fearmongering are the voices of those actually struggling. The families choosing between rent and food. The young people with no faith in the future. The communities tired of being scapegoated for political gain.
Harris reminds us that the real threat isn’t some imagined summer of riots—it’s the systemic neglect and division that make unrest possible in the first place. He quotes a community organizer in Birmingham who says, 'They talk about riots like they’re a natural disaster. But they’re not. They’re what happens when people feel they have no other way to be heard.'
That’s the story the right doesn’t want told. Because if the problem isn’t lawlessness or immigration, but decades of inequality and broken promises, then their solutions start to look like part of the problem.
What Comes Next
A Summer of Smoke—or Fire?
So will this summer explode like 2011? Maybe. But the more pressing question is whether we’ll let the right control the narrative when it does.
Harris ends on a note of cautious hope. He points to grassroots movements and local leaders who are working to address the root causes of unrest, not just the symptoms. But he also warns that without a broader shift in how we talk about inequality and justice, the cycle of fear and division will only continue.
In the end, the real riot might be the one happening in our politics—and the arsonists aren’t who you think.
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