Quakers support migrants as riots spread
Quakers across Britain reached out to local mosques to show solidarity and support during riots
As racist, anti-migrant and Islamophobic violence erupted in parts of the UK, Quakers across the country reached out to local mosques to show solidarity, and to support those affected. With riots in many UK towns and cities, and mosques and Muslim businesses attacked, Friends worked with migrant support groups to sow seeds of peace. Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) said it was ‘shocked and saddened’ by the violence: ‘We hold in the Light everyone feeling scared right now. We can all reach out to one another and particularly those being targeted by hate, strengthening existing connections and forging new ones… We know that hate doesn’t just erupt and that its seeds are often sown in advance. We know that there will be no quick and easy solutions, this requires long-term work and commitment.’
BYM also called on the government ‘to protect those being attacked by the far right, to stop scapegoating Muslim and migrant communities, and to focus on fixing the deep problems in our economy and society’.
The Quaker Asylum and Refugee Network (QARN) also responded to the events by posting safety-planning guidance on its website for people in affected areas or feeling unsafe. ‘If you want to stand up against the hate-speak of the far right on the streets, join a group that knows how to manage the situation, don’t go it alone,’ it said.
‘Hate doesn’t just erupt… its seeds are often sown in advance.’
BYM on riots earlier this month.
In light of the violence, Northern Friends Peace Board (NFPB) and BYM staff held an impromptu online space on 7 August, where Friends considered the roots of ‘hurt and alienation… and building bridges of understanding’. NFPB supported BYM’s new Quaker Peacebuilding Network, which includes online meetings for Friends to share ‘experiences, difficulties and dilemmas’ and develop ideas. Many of NFPB’s members had been ‘very shaken by recent events’, said Philip Austin, convenor of NFPB. ‘Many of the towns and cities where there has been the worst violent and racist unrest in the past ten days have been in the north of England.’
He also urged Friends engaged in witness in areas of conflict to ‘pay attention to their own safety as well as compassion for all affected’. NFPB would be stepping back from using the social media platform ‘X’, formerly Twitter, he added. This was due to ‘its role – through its users and owner – in promulgating hateful messages and misinformation’.
Friends also joined thousands of people in anti-racist counter demonstrations, from Newcastle to London to Bristol, in response to the riots.
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