How Vance and Harris Change Things: They Don't. Let's Talk About the UK Riots

What it says on the tin. Scuttle is that folks are already disappointed with Vance, so it's possible he becomes a quieter presence than even Pence was under Trump's first term. At most, Vance actually pressures Trump to be more open about his fascistic policies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. His brashness, and the Dems attention to Project 2025, has actually gotten the conservative hydra to tuck away some of its heads. The director of the project has stepped down, and both parties have distanced themselves from each other. Now, I won't say this lasts–because I doubt it will. But catching Trump out at his act and watching him flinch bodes well.

As for VP Harris turning into P Harris, well, she has already resurrected plans to pass Biden's out-GOP-the-GOP immigration bill, which would severely limit asylum seekers, and capping entry to the US after a "quota" has been met. Between that and speaking out of both sides of her mouth about Israel, calling for a ceasefire while supporting Israel's potentially expanding war (see the attack on Beirut), Harris is not about to blow your mind with progressive policies. Make no mistake: a vote for her is a vote for the genocide in Gaza, the same as with Biden.

All of this to say, I am of the opinion that we can dismiss Vance and Harris as movers and shakers for the time being, and assume that, even though Harris is performing better than expected in the polls, our political future is not likely to change anytime soon. Let's move on.

The UK Riots

Last week there was a mass-stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, England, which ended in the deaths of three young attendees. The stabbing was perpetrated by a 17 year old, who was initially suspected of being an immigrant. This question of his immigration status was enough to set off a number of anti-immigration riots across the country. The violence of these riots, the speed of their spread, and their origins, are extremely worrying.

A campaign of misinformation and anti-immigrant sentiment spread following the stabbing on Monday. This came to a head over the weekend, with anti-immigrant protests turning quickly into outright riots and attacks. Most notably, two separate hotels, thought to be housing asylum-seekers, were attacked and set on fire. Rioters clashed with the police, burned vehicles, and fought counter-protestors across the country. In Middlesbrough, "race checkpoints" were set up at intersections, with anti-immigrant protestors screening drivers. There have been hundreds of arrests and many injured.

Anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK has been on the rise for years. Conservative leaders have done precious little to stop this, and the worst of the bunch, like Nigel Farage, outright blame all of their woes on immigration. If this doesn't sound familiar, you're not paying attention. Other than calls from the Twittersphere–from the likes of Elon Musk himself, predicting civil war–I'm not sure anyone expected outright countrywide rioting.

Countries of Austerity

Britain has faced waves of poor leadership from conservatives for over a decade. And, much like in the United States, when the going gets tough in the UK, the racist pricks blame everyone but themselves. This has led to a series of austerity measures that hampered upward mobility for the impoverished in Britain, and its apotheosis came in the form of Brexit, which, after much hemming and hawing, was passed under Boris Johnson's administration. Brexit was meant to free the UK from the red tape of the European Union, to allow the UK to flex its economic muscle, and to bolster English nationalism in the face of consumption by the EU. It did very little of that. This has left the country, until recently, faced with round after round of spending cuts and calls for austerity. The NHS, England's nationalized healthcare system, has been hobbled by funding cuts, and what should be a metaphorical crown jewel for the UK has seen residents travel overseas for their care (see Last Week Tonight's UK Election episode).

The similarities between the UK and US are not immaterial. We are both fading capitalist, colonial empires. We both capitulate to the racist common denominator. Political unrest, both against citizens and public figures, is not unheard of. We both blame an other while calling for savings to come from the poorest among us, all the while cutting funding for the very basic things that keep us alive and moving. Your knee-jerk reaction may be to look at these riots and say they'll happen here, but I don't actually think that's true. The basic–very basic–facts about our two different countries prevent this. The US is huge, too big for riots like those seen in the UK to gain ground across the country the way they did in the UK. You might point to the George Floyd uprisings as a strong counterargument, as this movement lit the fuse on a a long-burning anger at injustice–but I think that is actually why it succeeded in spreading where racist riots might not, in the US.

Strange as it may seem, the ubiquity of violence in America would, I think, inure the country to some extent against the kind of mindless rage necessary to replicate the UK riots. There are pockets of racists, for sure–the Blood Tribe, Patriot Front, etc.,–that would and have tried to start such conflicts, but they have thus far failed. The injustice, the righteous anger, behind the George Floyd uprising doesn't actually exist for these people–they know their cause isn't just false, it's entirely hollow.

And, lastly, so much of our anger against immigrants, and People of Color on the whole, is brought on by the system itself. I wonder if our response wouldn't also take the form of engaging the system rather than taking to the streets. This is by no means a good thing–it's just how the energy is directed.

Signs of the Times

Whether or not the exact conditions that precipitated the riots in the UK were to occur here and yield the same results isn't what's important. What's important is that around the world people appear to be reaching their boiling points. There was an assassination attempt on a presidential candidate just a few weeks ago. Protests in Bangladesh have forced the Prime Minister to resign. Israel appears to be pushing, and hard, for a broader conflict–goading Iran into attacking so that Israel can take a greater counterattack–all the while still killing Palestinians, still targeting schools, and journalists, and hospitals. Things are getting heated everywhere, and it's not just climate change.

Should I be wrong about the riots–it's certainly possible–you will want to have plans in place for escaping your home or neighborhood, or for getting to your home from work or wherever else you may be. You'll want to think about how you're going to travel, whether major intersections may be blocked and whether or not you can get through them or avoid them. You'll want a small bag of supplies in your vehicle or on your person for whatever trip you may have to make. Pack a little food, a little water, a little medicine, at minimum. Ideally you'll have room for an N95 or two, a bottle of saline, and maybe some pepper spray of your own. But most importantly, you will want to reach out to friends and neighbors who might be targeted by racists. If something like the UK riots were to occur here, we would need people on the front lines defending homes, churches, and aid organizations. There are most likely groups in your city already doing this kind of work. Reach out to them, get vetted, lend a hand. Elon Musk is wrong about literally everything, including, probably, this, but that doesn't mean more hard times are out of the question.