Thoughts on Southport

The importance of narrative control

The events of the last 72 hours are a prime example of the importance of narrative formation in framing the terms of conversation, and thereby effecting political change. What should have been a discussion about the consequences of mass immigration following the horrific stabbing of children by a Rwandan in Southport has now turned into a panic about the threat posed by the far-right due to the narrative weaved by the media, 'influencers', and politicians. This has culminated in Keir Starmer announcing a far-reaching mass surveillance and crackdown scheme on Labour’s political enemies.

Unfortunately, as so often happens, in this instance the right did not do themselves any favours. In the clamour for information about the attacks, much false information was spread on social media—that the attacker was a Palestinian illegal immigrant who had come by dinghy across the Channel last year, that he was a Muslim, and so on.

This has only served to make the right-wing look, frankly, ridiculous. To be clear, Axel Rudakubana is Rwandan, born in Cardiff, and is not believed to be Muslim (Rwanda's Muslim population is incredibly low, making this unlikely).

On the point of false information being shared, the fact that people did not wait for confirmation that the attack had anything to do with Muslims and instead marched to protest outside a mosque is absolutely dreadful optically. Without waiting for the actual facts, just think how easy it is for enemies to purposely propogate falsities in order to discredit such protests.

The protests—and the fighting with police—have provided the left, Labour, and the media with exactly what they needed to divert the aftermath from a much-needed conversation about the folly of the multicultural project to, instead, a crackdown on those expressing their justifiable outrage at the slaughter of little girls.

Protests are needed, yes, but, with the eye of Sauron ever watching, the fact is that such protests simply must remain peaceful. Yes, the police goad right-wing protesters into fighting them; yes, there is a two-tiered system of policing. But remaining peaceful is an absolute must. No protest would be preferable to protest which serves only to hand our enemies the ammunition they need to overshadow the conversation around the justifiable resentment which spurred such protest in the first place.

As it stands, the cards are stacked against us and if any meaningful change is to be effected, it will require a very, very high level of restraint and smart action. Passions are naturally inflamed when such crimes are committed against us (especially our children), but counter-productive action is... well, counter-productive. The heckler who asked "how many more children have to die, Prime Minister?" as Starmer arrived in Southport for a photo op was far more effective on his own.

With the new measures being brought in by Labour, I can only recommend against protest for the near-future. Aside from the fact that the right does not currently possess the tools of narrative creation and control—it cannot be overstated how important these are—the fact is that any form of right-wing protest will be cracked down upon for the foreseeable future. Heavily. You will be tracked using facial recognition technology, you will be beaten up and arrested by the police, and you will be dragged through the mud in the media. It's just not worth it. For now, anyway.

There will be more senseless murders, there can be absolutely no doubt about that. It seems that less than a month into Labour’s government, things are already deterioriating at an alarming rate. My advice would be to give your condolences to the families of the victims (if you think you're upset, imagine how they're feeling), wait for confirmed, official reports, and then start piling pressure on the media and governing classes to explain themselves. And look after yourselves; it’s going to be a rough four years.