“This is racist violence spurred on by far-right hatred.”
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Reports and footage rolling out of the United Kingdom show disturbing scenes of rocks being hurled at mosques and groups of men checking vehicles for non-white passengers.
Exploiting the tragic stabbing deaths of three young girls, the far-right have formed mobs targeting immigrant populations and racialized people. Riots started on July 30 in Southport and spread to multiple towns and cities across England. By the weekend, violence had extended as far as Belfast, Northern Ireland, where vehicles were set alight.
In Southport, on the day of the knife attack, police surrounding a local mosque were pelted with stones and bricks as an angry crowd surrounded the building. Over the weekend, in Rotherham, angry crowds broke through the doors of hotels used to house asylum seekers and attempted to set the building on fire. Elsewhere in the country, in Hull, a man was attacked in his car by a crowd, his windows smashed as members of the mob shouted “kill.”
Hope Not Hate, a UK-based organization dedicated to monitoring and reporting on the British far-right, called the attacks “possibly the most widespread outbreak of far-right violence in the post-war period.”
Their reporting details arsons, brawls, and rioting raging out of control.
Inaccurate news stories allege that the accused perpetrator, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, is Muslim, despite police saying otherwise. Hoping to stop the spread of disinformation, Judge Andrew Menary KC lifted restrictions that would have prevented Rudakubana from being named until he turns 18 next week. He is alleged to have stabbed Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, during a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
“There are many who have sought to frame this week of far-right riots as outpourings of legitimate anger. They are not,” Dr. Joe Mulhall, a senior researcher with Hope Not Hate said in a release. “This is racist violence spurred on by far-right hatred.”
Police blame much of the rioting on supporters of the English Defence League (EDL), a defunct anti-Islam organization founded in 2009, by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson. While there may be individuals who were former associates of the group involved in the crowd, the EDL has not existed for several years.
The far-right in other countries have been justifying or cheering on the violence, including statements on social media by several notable figures in Europe, Australia, and North America — Canada is no exception.
Yaxley-Lennon’s former employer, Rebel News, accused the media of “disregarding violence from Muslim gangs” and claimed the riots are “protests pushing back against mass immigration.”
More fringe elements of Canada’s far-right have also taken note, as Nationalist 13, a neo-Nazi network of individuals predominantly based in Hamilton, Ontario, posted a statement to their social media channels stating their “community stands in solidarity with all true British Nationalists who are engaged in the struggle for their Nation.”
“The British people have suffered enough brutality and humiliation at the hands of both invaders and Anti-White thugs in police uniforms,” they wrote on the encrypted social media application Telegram. “Those who seek to create a better future will always be persecuted by those who benefit from an intolerable present. Keep up the struggle to reclaim your home, and know that on the other side of struggle lies victory.”
Nationalist 13 includes several former members of the Steel City Proud Boys, the Hamilton-based chapter of Canada’s branch of the Proud Boys. While the Government of Canada designated the entire organization as a terrorist entity in 2021, the Hamilton branch was ejected from the group beforehand, allegedly for their overt adherence to neo-Nazism.
Members of the same network were also found to contribute to a large Telegram channel titled the Western Chauvinist. In multiple posts showing support for the riots, there was also footage shared of an allegedly “Arab-owned” business in Belfast that was lit on fire during the riots.
In messages to its followers, the channel stated the only way “Our People” will effectively react to the murder of the three children is by “organizing into something more long term and effective than a temporary protest mob.” The message goes on to give links to several far-right organizations in the UK, including Youth Alliance, a far-right, anti-immigration protest group that has used its social media to share a list of 39 immigration offices, refugee centres, and more in multiple cities across the country.
Screen capture of footage shared via the app Telegram. Source: Telegram
In an online space dedicated to the American Banderite Network, a neo-Nazi collective dedicated to pro-Ukrainian white nationalism founded by two 16-year-olds, has made statements in support of the riots. One of the administrators of the group’s online chat is former Ontario resident in his late 30s, Andrew Benson, also known as Kievan Rus.
Benson has been involved with far-right groups since the 2000s and has also appeared during protests with the Ontario chapter of White Lives Matter. He uses the ABN chat room to post numerous pieces of neo-Nazi propaganda since the riots began along with racist and Islamophobic messages and footage.
Image shared by an account belonging to Andrew Benson to American Banderite Network group chats. Source: Telegram
The white nationalist network Diagolon, only recently finishing a cross-country tour, has also taken notice of the unrest in the UK, and has been using the events to promote their narrative of a coming clash between the races.
“The "don't be racist!" and "I'm not an extremist" crowd now trying to jump on the bandwagon have permitted the conditions for things to get this bad by backing down and making excuses year after year, attack after attack,” Diagolon de facto leader Jeremy MacKenzie wrote online. “Now there is no ground left to concede, and there is blood in the street.”
Amid multiple videos of violence taking place in the street, he also declared that “Muslim gangs are attacking British protestors in the streets with edged weapons” and that “The police will not stop them.”
“Civil war has arrived,” he wrote on Telegram.
“The British people have unlimited say in how they live in their own country. That includes not being stabbed by invaders and not having your children murdered.”
Other members of Diagolon, including Alex Vriend, a content creator with Diagolon who has recently made efforts to interview and network with members of the international far-right, including with members of the Active Club movement—a collective of regional white only workout groups founded by an American neo-Nazi.
“It should surprise no one that the media and police are bending over backwards to stay on the good side of the invaders... The only hope they have left is that the invaders win,” Vriend wrote on Telegram.
“Imagine what we would do with the journalists and cops if we won after what they've done to us.”
Other messages of support were voiced for Active Club England, which had its channel banned by Telegram. With servers based in Russia, Telegram is owned and operated by a non-governmental organization and is attractive to the far-right due to its fairly light moderation practices. Exceptions are often made to its laissez-faire content policy for terrorist and child sexual exploitation material. It is not clear what led to the Active Club England channel being removed.
When reached for comment by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), Telegram said that “moderators are actively monitoring the situation” and “removing channels and posts containing calls to violence.”
“Calls to violence are explicitly forbidden by Telegram's terms of service.”
Much of Canada’s current far-right activity can be traced to around 2016 when Canadians began copying racist and Islamophobic groups in Europe such as PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) and the Soldiers of Odin. It was further bolstered by Trump’s comments about Muslims and immigrants during his first campaign.
Groups like PEGIDA, the Soldiers of Odin, and the Proud Boys began attending regular anti-Muslim protests and some members assaulted anti-racist protestors.
That coalition of anti-Muslim groups and the far-right ecosystem in which they existed would later rebrand as Yellow Vests Canada. That movement would claim to be about several issues, including oil and gas and western separation, but its social media pages were full of examples of anti-Muslim hatred and calls for violence.
Yellow Vests Canada culminated in the United We Roll convoy in 2019. While its numbers were disappointing, some of the same organizers would go on to lead the 2022 “Freedom Convoy” blockade protests that occupied Ottawa and blocked multiple border crossings.
Similarly, Islamophobic rhetoric has been a longstanding feature in Canada’s media ecosystem. Outlets like Rebel News create anti-Muslim narratives and content for its audience. Their 2017 anti-M103 conference, opposing a motion broadly condemning Islamophobia, happened right around the time that anti-Muslim demonstrations became a regular occurrence in Toronto.
“Under Levant, The Rebel has become a global platform for an extreme anti-Muslim ideology known as counter-jihad,” Richard Warnica wrote in the National Post in 2018. “It’s a far-right fringe theory founded on the belief that Muslims are deliberately invading the West, biding their time, then overtaking communities and imposing Shariah Law.”
The problem of Islamophobia is pervasive in Canada, as an Angus-Reid study found that two out of five Canadians outside of Quebec (39%) hold an “unfavourable view of Islam.” Inside of Quebec, that number reaches over half (52%).
All countries are susceptible to racist and far-right violence and Canada is no exception. In 2021, Nathaniel Veltman deliberately drove his pickup truck into a Muslim family walking home on a London, Ontario sidewalk. During his 12-week trial, the court heard that Veltman identified as a white nationalist and had planned the gruesome act in advance. There was the killing of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis outside of a Toronto mosque in 2020, and the numerous recent reports of women wearing hijabs having their head-covering pulled back. The 2017 Quebec City Mosque Attack left six people dead after a lone gunman walked into a place of worship and opened fire.
Anti-Muslim faux-biker clubs like the Soldiers of Odin, Northern Guard and others previously held “patrols” under the auspices of keeping streets safe. Two of these groups, called the Canadian Infidels and the Clann, staked out the Al-Rashid Mosque in Edmonton, arguing with congregants and even entering the building at one point in a clear act of intimidation.
Since Fall 2023, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) has also reported a severe uptick in reported incidents of Islamophobia.
Despite this troubling and continuing history of discrimination, several factors differentiate the UK and Canada. Canada’s size and geography also work against large protest mobilizations, as transportation between major city centres is more difficult, time consuming, and costly.
While both the UK and Canada have a long history of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant demonstrations, the leaders in Canada’s far-right movements are less recognizable than figures like Tommy Robinson, who has been blamed by much of the UK for inciting the riots.
Canada has seen mainstream politicians and media promote simplistic and racist narratives about Muslims. However, the political environment in the UK is arguably more hostile today, with press and pundits openly casting blame on Islam and immigrant communities. The right-wing, populist Reform UK Party recently made significant gains, winning 14 per cent in the 2024 federal election. Party leader Nigel Farage dubbed the recent vote as “the immigration election.” Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak vowed to “Stop the Boats” while a former home secretary, Suella Braverman, described the country as being the victim of an “invasion.”
None of this is to say that large, disruptive, and violent scenes seen in the UK could not occur in Canada, given the right circumstances. Canada has a significantly large far-right with experience mobilizing their supporters, and influential figures and media promoting racist narratives.
Tonight has been a hugely impressive and largely peaceful demonstration of anti-racist solidarity in many towns - triggered by one anonymous hit list that was clearly a provocation ... 1/ But we haven't won yet... pic.twitter.com/6m44lfYpjP
— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) August 7, 2024
People can and should demand action from political leaders and law enforcement against anti-democratic and racist movements. Across the UK, political leaders across the spectrum have denounced the riots and identified them as motivated by racism, islamophobia, and hate.
We can call on politicians to endorse and fund programs to build trust and neighbourliness between and inside communities - and do that work personally too. So when racists spread lies about one group or the other, nobody is listening to them. Condemning hate is a good first step, but it will never be enough without action behind it.
Beyond political pressure, people concerned about the rising far-right need to become active in their community to push back and ensure that the far-right knows they are not welcome
We are seeing the effectiveness of mass mobilization and taking to the streets in the UK, where the racists have been outnumbered and, in some cases, prevented from further terror and violence.
While those who can, should, not everybody is able to show up in person. People who are unable to take to the streets can engage in antifascist research to warn their allies of offline threats. They can organize and participate in letter writing and phone campaigns. They can care for the children and elders of activists who are counter-protesting. These are important roles too.
CAHN has recently published 40 Ways to Fight the Far-Right: Tactics for Community Activists in Canada in collaboration with author Spencer Sunshine. If you are looking for ways to help stamp out racism, discrimination and the far-right, start here.
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