Far-right, anti-immigration demonstrations stoked by conspiracy theories and AI-generated images spread on social media spilled over into violence in cities across the nation.

The United Kingdom woke up Sunday morning to city streets covered in debris and smoldering rubbish as a weekend of far-right, anti-immigration demonstrations — stoked by conspiracy theories spread on social media — erupted into violence in seven cities across the nation.

Police arrested at least 100 people, and riot police wearing helmets and holding shields came out in force as Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to take action against “extremists.”

On Saturday, groups in Leeds waving St. George’s Cross flags, England’s national flag regularly flown by far-right groups, shouted “Muslims off our streets,” pairing it with a slur suggesting they were criminal child abusers. In the city of Hull, rioters threw bottles and smashed a window at a hotel housing asylum-seekers as demonstrators clashed with police.

What started as targeted anti-immigration demonstrations quickly descended into directionless disorder. A library in Liverpool, reopened in 2023 as an “education to employment” service for people of all abilities, was set ablaze.

  • dactylotheca@suppo.fiEnglish
    117·
    5 months ago

    Just goes to show that conservatives are the single biggest threat to civilised societies everywhere.

    How do we deal with them? It should be obvious by now that something needs to be done, but the rest of us can’t just go full conservative and shove them in extermination camps like they’d do to us

    • credo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      5 months ago

      Perhaps we shove them into “education” camps instead?

      (Like high school / secondary school)

      • dactylotheca@suppo.fiEnglish
        11·
        5 months ago

        They’ve been to the same schools and have access to the same information we all have, though.

          • dactylotheca@suppo.fiEnglish
            19·
            5 months ago

            The question is do they even have the capacity for taking schooling “seriously”.

            Some do. A lot of them don’t – there’s are multiple empirical scientific studies that show conservatives are more likely to be… well, in a word, stupid. Here’s a study I saw someone quote on Lemmy earlier:

            • Does Lower Cognitive Ability Predict Greater Prejudice? [T]here exists a solid empirical paper trail demonstrating that lower cognitive abilities (e.g., abstract-reasoning skills and verbal, nonverbal, and general intelligence) predict greater prejudice. We discuss how the effects of lower cognitive ability on prejudice are explained (i.e., mediated) by greater endorsement of right-wing socially conservative attitude. […]

            Right-wing ideologies offer well-structured and ordered views about society that preserve traditional societal conventions and norms (e.g., Jost, Glaser, Kruglanski, & Sulloway, 2003). Such ideological belief systems are particularly attractive to individuals who are strongly motivated to avoid uncertainty and ambiguity in preference for simplicity and predictability (Jost et al., 2003; Roets & Van Hiel, 2011). Theoretically, individuals with lower mental abilities should be attracted by right-wing social-cultural ideologies because they minimize complexity and increase perceived control (Heaven, Ciarrochi, & Leeson, 2011; Stankov, 2009). Conversely, individuals with greater cognitive skills are better positioned to understand changing and dynamic societal contexts, which should facilitate open-minded, relatively left-leaning attitudes (Deary et al., 2008a; Heaven et al., 2011; McCourt, Bouchard, Lykken, Tellegen, & Keyes, 1999). Lower cognitive abilities therefore draw people to strategies and ideologies that emphasize what is presently known and considered acceptable to make sense and impose order over their environment. Resistance to social change and the preservation of the status quo regarding societal traditions—key principles underpinning right-wing social-cultural ideologies—should be particularly appealing to those wishing to avoid uncertainty and threat.

            Indeed, the empirical literature reveals negative relations between cognitive abilities and right-wing social-cultural attitudes, including right-wing authoritarian (e.g., Keiller, 2010; McCourt et al., 1999), socially conservative (e.g., Stankov, 2009; Van Hiel et al., 2010), and religious attitudes (e.g., Zuckerman, Silberman, & Hall, 2013).

    • Commiunism@lemmy.wtfEnglish
      9·
      5 months ago

      Realistically, the only real way to deal with them is counter-protest, but that’s difficult since the right has completely taken over the direct action/protest field in the past 10 years, so it’s a question whether or not the left can organize anymore (unless things get really bad, like how Antifa was very active during Trump).

      We can try to combat misinformation and propaganda on the media to try and prevent this from even happening or telling people that it’s all bullshit, but it’s not effective since many popular sources directly benefit from this misinformation (be it in clicks or political goals) and either turn a blind eye or purposefully spread it (notable instance being Twitter).

      Unless some sort of magical fairy-tale leftist revolution happens where most people get rallied under class issues and inequality rather than race and shared bigotry, this will probably continue happening more and more.