Posted on: 8 August, 2024

It is devastating that so many people don’t feel safe to leave their house alone right now due to fear of racist, Islamophobic and anti-migrant hatred in our streets. This is a shameful moment for our country, and an important reckoning for every individual, workplace and leader to consider what we can do to create a safer society for everyone around us.

As a social justice organisation that values compassion, we stand firmly against all hate-filled attacks, from wherever they come as we believe that violence can never be justified. We are grateful to the emergency services and people in communities who are working in extremely difficult circumstances to deescalate these tensions.

We also extend our sympathy and care to the families who are grieving and traumatised in Southport, whose trauma has been compounded by more violence and abuse.

This behaviour doesn’t come from nowhere. Large parts of our media and many political leaders have allowed anti-migrant sentiment to lead the national conversation, and for too long online spaces have been used unchecked to radicalise and mobilise violent behaviour.

We urge all those with a platform, including our government and police, to explicitly name the racism and Islamophobia that is driving these attacks across the country, and to act quickly to challenge the conditions that have emboldened these violent acts. We call for a joined-up approach to understanding domestic terrorism, exploring and acting upon the well-known links between domestic abuse, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia and other forms of hatred and racist radicalisation. And we see the communities stepping up to show that we are stronger together than those who seek to divide us – we stand with you.