The 2024 riots following the Southport stabbing were a sign of things to come. At the time, we said that the situation in post-industrial, post-Brexit, run-down Britain was like "a tinderbox which only takes a spark to set it on fire". In 2025 we saw sporadic protests continue, particularly outside hotels housing asylum seekers, like the one in Epping. In June 2026, the murder of Henry Nowak, the misguided response of the police, and a sustained far-right media campaign to capitalise on it, led to clashes in Southampton. That same month, a brutal stabbing in Belfast triggered arguably the most serious outburst of violence yet. What followed was essentially a pogrom, lasting days, during which any homes, cars and businesses suspected of belonging to migrants were being smashed and set on fire.

Historical Context: Sectarianism in Northern Ireland

There are some historical reasons why this happened in Belfast of all places. Several times over the past few centuries, neighbours from one part of Belfast have entered neighbourhoods close by, sometimes less than a mile away, and burnt down houses to force families living there out, leaving them as refugees living in tents. The last time it happened on a mass scale was the 1970s. So pogroms are in a way nothing new, and it's little surprise that Loyalist paramilitaries are suspected of having played some role in coordinating them this time around. What is however new is that the violence didn't take place along the old Protestant vs. Catholic dividing line, but instead targeted recent migrants — from Sudan, Romania, Ukraine, etc.

The Real Motive: Drive Down Workers’ Conditions While Blaming the "Other"

There is no shortage of stabbings and rapes also being committed by white British men. But these don't produce the same kind of response. At the end of the day, it is young men, regardless of nationality or ethnicity, who are disproportionately more likely to commit violent crimes. There are various social reasons which help to explain this. But these riots and the politicians who stoke them have no interest in addressing the root cause of such horrific everyday violence. They’re only interested when “foreigners” are held responsible.

These race riots are a classic case of divide and rule. Especially at times of crisis and war, politicians, bosses and the rich all try to fool workers into fighting for scraps amongst each other. It is why even billionaires are now funding the parties of the far-right and helping to spread their poison. From the point of view of the ruling class, it is better that workers blame their workmates or neighbours who happen to have been born somewhere else than direct their anger at those actually in power. Millions of pounds each year are pumped into producing propaganda — previously distributed by tabloids and now increasingly also through social media — which blames migrants for all manner of social problems affecting the working class.

What’s happening in the UK is not unique. Whether it’s street violence in South Africa targeting migrants from Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, mass protests against Indian migrants in Australia, or attacks on Ukrainian refugees in Poland, the rhetoric everywhere is the same, and everywhere it points to a false enemy.

Low wages, housing shortages, strained health services, and of course crime: these are very real issues, but getting rid of migrants won't resolve them. Only by organising together as one class — beyond the artificially imposed divisions of race, gender or even union membership — can we hope to improve our common lot.

Class Unity: The Starting Point for Defending Workers' Interests

Migration is not going away. It has characterised humanity from the very beginning of our history as a species, when the first homo sapiens left Africa. Today, the capitalist system — with its economic crises, imperialist wars and climate catastrophes — is destroying large sections of the planet and forcing more and more people to flee, looking for a better life elsewhere, whether they want to or not. Ultimately, the only way to put an end to this forced migration is by creating a worldwide society fit for our needs, not one run in the interests of profit. And only a mass global movement of the working class can make that happen. This process starts at work, at school, in our neighbourhoods, when we stand together and defend our common interests as workers. Wages, housing, and health are issues that affect us all, whether we are "foreign" or "local". So let's fight together.

The above article is taken from the current edition (No. 76) of Aurora, bulletin of the Communist Workers’ Organisation.