🎧 Audio Discussion Included
September 20th saw the largest gathering of the far right in the UK for many decades, with up to 150k people marching in Central London.
The Unite the Kingdom march was organized by Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley Lennon. This march followed race riots in the summer of 2024, after 3 young girls were stabbed to death. The far right spread misinformation that the killer was a Muslim immigrant and immigrant centres, mosques were attacked over a two week period across the country. The killer was neither an immigrant nor Muslim.
Shortly before the recent big march there were much smaller local protests across the country at so-called migrant centres demanding the hotels be shut and migrants moved out due to community safety fears – common slogans, protect our young girls. While these protests were small, less than 100 people, they have been widely publicized in the mainstream media. The far right have also exploited the protests by projecting them via SM accounts to friends, family and on far right forums.
Thus in the run up to the big Unite the Kingdom London march there was an orchestrated campaign by the far right to bring this issue to a head. You can call it a countdown to rally support at local level for a national match in London.
The mainstream media and right wing commentators like Trevor Phillips have also been at pains to present the protestors as ordinary people and not far right agitators so as to move the debate away from far right extremism to legitimate community concerns about immigration, particularly young Muslim men of fighting age being a threat to young white girls. This is a common narrative of the far right at the extremes of political discourse but now very much at the center of political discourse.
A Divided Right
The right is very divided, with many different camps but with some commonalities.
- Stop the boats
- Multiculturalism has gone too far
- Curtail Muslim migration
- Expel illegal refugees
- End mass immigration
Differences among the right are based on far right ideologies
- Islam doesn’t belong in Britain and Europe
- There must be mass deportations
- Stop all immigration
- Europe and Britain is only for white Christian Angelo Saxons
- Method for change: ballot box versus agitation and civil war
Ethno-nationalist or white supremists believe in a white Britain and would send all non-Angelo Saxons back i.e. reverse mass migration of the post war era.
Their stance is ideological based on the belief that the white race is under threat and will be displaced by immigration and a faster reproducing immigrant population. If immigration is not stopped and reversed there will be race wars and blood on the streets of Britain because different races cannot co-exist with the white race being superior.
However, nationalists do not believe in a white only Britain but insist that everyone legally here adopts a strong British identity, assimilation, not just integration, of immigrants. The experiment of multiculturalism must end. Mass immigration must end and the British people should be given priority in housing and public services.
These are the ideological far right. Their method for change is protest, agitation, race riots, civil strife and even internal civil war as opposed to change via the ballot box. They are authoritarian and would ultimately force mass deportations to bring their nation into being. They see the left ideology as the main obstacle to their goal rather than migrants themselves.
The political far right is characterised by the way they want to achieve right wing change, via the ballot box. They reluctantly accept some immigration as a necessary evil. There should be quotas, limits and restrictions on immigration however and foreigners only allowed in if they serve an economic benefit. They are against affirmative action, D&I. These are more capitalist than nationalists. Reform and many of its previous offshoots like UKIP fall into this category.
The founders and funders of these political parties are:
Arron Fraser Andrew Banks is a British businessman, political donor, and Reform politician. He was the co-founder of the Leave EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped Nigel Farage’s campaign for Britain to leave the EU. Russian second wife.
Ben Habib – Habib served as a co-deputy leader of Reform from October 2023 to July 2024. Prior to his involvement with Reform UK, Habib was a donor to the Conservative Party. He supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum . Habib made his wealth from property after starting his career at the failed Lehmans Bank. Born in Karachi he came to Britain as an immigrant in the late 70s.
Nigel Farage – Privately educated, metals trader and Eurosceptic who founded UKIP. Failed to get elected to parliament in 2010 and 2015 yet was pivotal in getting David Cameron to call for a referendum on EU membership. The 2016 referendum led to the UK leaving the EU in 2020 under Boris Johnson and the Conservatives. In 2024 Farage became leader of Reform and MP for Clacton.
Zia Yusuf – Son of Pakistani migrants and former executive director of Goldman Sachs, Reform spokesman. Yusuf has expressed support for the re-election of Donald Trump and attended
Trump’s 2nd inauguration in Washington DC in 2025. Yusuf declared that he supports a ban on wearing the burqa and other face coverings in public spaces citing security concerns and cultural integration.
These individuals are also Atlanticsist. They are in the US orbit of influence. They don’t believe in the European project, big government, left wing bureaucracy. They are aligned to the capitalist ideology more than they are to the far right ideology and are exploiting the latter because it diverts from the underlying failures of capitalism and the huge and growing wealth and income inequality.
The migrant problem coupled with the so-called Islamic threat has been manipulated and exploited to cover over huge cracks in Western societies from the huge concentration of wealth and income. Austerity has punished the people for the failures of capitalism by taking away investment in and renewal of public services. The cost of living crisis brought on by COVID, Brexit and the war in Ukraine has further exacerbated economic worries while hope in a new Labour government bringing relief to people’s lives has pretty much evaporated as they’ve continued where the Conservatives left off.
The capitalist right have stepped into the vacuum distracting the general public from the underlying failures of their system and politics and shifting the debate on to immigration, the boats and Islam.
Anti-Islam, a useful distraction
The capitalist right have natural allies in the far right. Much of the recent refugee migration is from the Muslim countries – Afghanistan, Iraq, Albania. Muslims are very visibly different and Islamic practices can easily be said to be against Western values. All these issues have been simply conflated for simple minds and projected as Islam being the biggest threat to the west.
The argument goes:
- Immigrants have high birth rates and they will displace native white identity
- Women covering and segregation of the sexes is a front to Western civilization
- Sharia courts is the islamisation of Western societies
The argument then goes that this is all facilitated by the left and its ideology of open borders and multiculturalism. Their argument is based on fundamental differences between Islam and western civilization and so it is wider than stopping immigration and specifically halting immigration from the Muslim world.
The political left then try to recapture the populist vote by moving to the right. The centre ground moves to the right and right moves to the far right. The far right isn’t then seen as extreme as it was previously. Islam is therefore a very convenient scapegoat for both the populist political right and the far right to exploit for their own ends.
The anti-Islam and anti-Muslim western including the likes of Douglas Murray, Tommy Robinson, Kaity Hopkins and think tanks like the Policy Exchange have seen the developing far right movement as fertile ground to peddle their hate of Islam from an ideological perspective. Their ideology has no place for Islam in Europe and they see Muslim immigration has the main problem. Their tropes come from the Christian right in the US, who have aligned with Zionists and have been the main backers of Maga, although the Zionists have strong ties with the Democrats too.
These individuals and groups have made anti-Islam or the take over of Islam as their main trope highlighting half truths as facts:
- Sharia law is taking over European cities
- Muslim migrants have overrun Europe
- Muslim mayors are running UK cities
- Europe’s left is attacking free speech, especially the right to criticise islam. JD Vance in his first European trip made such a speech in Germany.
EDL
Tommy Robinson and the EDL are agitator racists, hiding behind the facade that free speech is under attack to attack Islam. They are riding on the coattails of the political move to the right. They are exploiting and gaslighting the populist sentiment against migrants and boats to divert public opinion from Palestine and Israel’s isolation to a debate on flags. Consequently palestinian flags have been replaced by Union Jacks and St George’s flags.
EDL and their violence is actually a threat to Reform as it undermines their political ambition, which is to be in government. TR has had public spats with Nigel Farage, who knows too close an association with EDL will put many ordinary people from voting for Reform. At the same time active agitation of the white working class by EDL is useful in keeping the debate on immigration at the top of the political agenda.
Reform
Reform is what was the Brexit party, and before that UKIP. It’s been politically very successful without entering government in any meaningful way.
In the last general election Reform only won 5 seats but with a big percentage of the vote. This is because they came second in over 90 seats. Interestingly, Reform came second to mainly the Conservatives with Conservative majorities being significantly reduced. The blue wall reversed back to being red but with very thin majorities.
The disaffection among white working class with the way Labour has handled government is growing as evidenced by opinion polls. Due to the thin majorities the government has and the large numbers of seats where Reform came second a swing of around 5% could be enough to bring Reform into government with a slim majority next election or as part of a coalition. Some opinion polls have Reform winning the next general election by a thin margin, if you believe these polls.
Reform, unlike the two main parties, doesn’t have the funding or boots on the ground to guarantee victory, however. Far right Union Jacks and St George’s flags on the streets of Britain have helped to shift public opinion in the political right’s favour.
Still they’ll do well to get 650 serious candidates ready for election. In government they are likely to be a disaster without the depth of policy expertise or experience as the two main parties. In government or as a strong opposition they’re likely to achieve their objective of shifting the political agenda, policy and laws to the right.
In fact Fariage has a dismal record standing in general and local elections never winning a seat until being parachuted into Clacton in 2024.
Why the shift to the far right and why now
The two year Gaza genocide has shifted public opinion against Israel across the globe. Weekend protests and marches across the western capitals attracting hundreds of thousands for Palestine and against Israel have been a big part of the shift in public opinion.
Anti- Zionist opinion has entered popular culture in music, sport, comedy and among prominent celebrities. This means that not only the politically aware, who would be expected to attend protests, but youth, students and most importantly future generations are turning against the state of Israel.
Opinion against Israel is also shifting among prominent personalities in the Christian right. Some of these individuals are not friends of Muslims or Islam but are frustrated by Israel’s hold on American politics. Right leaning Christian personalities include the likes of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens. These individuals have huge social media following and what they say has resonated with many on the Christian right.
These personalities and who they influence will be your future political and business leaders, and will fundamentally challenge the unconditional support for Israel in mainstream American politics.
The zonists have been seeing this shift in public opinion not only on the left but also among the right. The zonists increased their political backing and financial support for the likes of EDL and the anti-Islam to counter the shifting public opinion against Israel. The rise of the right is therefore directly connected to countering the anti-Israel and anti-Zionist opinion.
Palestinian flags have been replaced by the Union Jack and St George’s flags.The aim is to discredit the anti genocide partests as hate and anti-Semitic marches.
How should the community respond
The rise of the far right has many faces and manifestations. They have similarities but also significant differences. Fundamentally though there is a shift to the far right whether or not a far right party comes to power.
Being more British than the British
The aged old debate of integration has moved on to one of assimilation. To the far right the only useful Muslims are the likes of Ben Habib and Zia Yusuf – flag waving, anti-migrant nationalist. The community detest these personalities yet due to fear and for material gains may begin to adopt their narrative.
We are a people who Allah has honoured with Islam, so whenever we seek to be honoured through other than it, Allah will bring us humiliation
Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb
We’ve recently seen incidents of mosques hanging British flags as the union Jacks sweep parts of the country. Interestingly, MCBs press release after the Unite the Kingdom march rightly raised concerns but highlighted the Britishness of the community.
Aligning with the left
The left are under attack like the Muslims and feel as though they are being persecuted by the rise of the far right.
Many left leaning opinion formers, less so mainstream politicians on the left, can see the scapegoating of migrants and Muslims for the failures of capitalism. Owen Jones has been amongst the most vocal. Trade unions have also supported the Palestinian cause as well as the usual suspects like movements like the stop the war coalition.
Muslims feel safer in opposing the government in alliance with the left, and so this has been the most prominent response from the community.
Don’t reduce engagement to the ballot box
Muslims become politically active during elections. Secular democratic politics is very adversarial, putting Muslims in Labour against Muslim in the Green party, as an example. This was very evident in the 2024 general election with personal attacks, heated debate and acrimony between candidates on election night.
Developing our own narrative
Allah says in the Quran:
Invite ˹all˺ to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and kind advice, and only debate with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord ˹alone˺ knows best who has strayed from His Way and who is ˹rightly˺ guided
Most people are misinformed and we need to differentiate the misinformed from the Islamaphobes. The ordinary people of this country are being manipulated by Islamophobes with an agenda.
The handful of Islamaphobes on the platform at the Unite the Kingdom march were preaching hate and ripping flags to recruit the masses to their racist and anti-islam ideology. The community will fall into their trap if they react and the far right will exploit the situation by accusing Muslims of violence.
For the majority of British people we need to win the battle for hearts and minds.
This is not about just giving out samosas and pokaras at a mosque open day but opening up a discussion on their understanding and criticism of Islam. From an ideological perspective discussing ideas like:
- Sharia law
- Role of men and women in society
- The role of the state in Islam,
- Government, rule of law in Islam
- Rights of minorities
- Palestine past, present and future
Discussion on these points will inform and educate. Islamophobes use misinformation to sow seeds of hate and mistrust. Active and constant engagement via mosques, in workplaces, on LinkedIn in and other social media platforms will help to overcome the negative propaganda. This has to be a whole community effort.
As well as informing non Muslims we need to educate our own communities with the correct perspective on these issues. This will open up opportunities for a wider debate on the role of Muslims in the west.
We need to make Muslims in the west ideologically aware and politically astute to guard them from falling to prey to the prevailing narratives.
AWARE MUSLIM | Empowering Bold Minds
