Far right: close to home
Written by Emily West
Illustrations by @georgiabrownillustraion
Aldershot is a town in the county of Hampshire in the UK, about 30 miles southwest of London. It’s famous for being the home of the British Army, as well as being listed as one of the most budget-friendly commuter towns due to its proximity and convenient train links to London. However, Aldershot hasn't been in the public eye recently for its merits, but instead for the anti-immigration riots that took place in summer 2024.
I have always considered Aldershot to be a fairly multicultural and welcoming place, with the Rushmoor district having a 71.1% White British population versus the Hampshire county as a whole having 87.9%. While this is, granted, not as multicultural as big cities like London, Aldershot’s link to the British Army has seen the town open its arms to new cultures, particularly the Nepalese Ghurka community, of which there are over 6000 people inhabiting the town today. Despite Aldershot having a more multicultural face than other surrounding areas in Hampshire and Surrey, this diversity has been met with mixed reactions, creating an underlying tension. While I was shocked at the violence and rhetoric of the summer riots, they also felt like an inevitable consequence of the widespread global misinformation, rhetoric and xenophobia peddled by both influencers and politicians.
When I first heard about the riots, I was not overly surprised, as the town has always been on the right-wing, despite the century-long stint as a Conservative constituency being ended by Labour earlier in the same year. Despite Labour’s victory, the Reform Party was in third place, with a staggering 16.9% share – comparatively higher than neighbouring areas such as Surrey Heath (13.7%), Farnham (11.7%) and Guildford (9.1%).
Aldershot’s political history, with its deep ties to conservative values shaped by its military identity, has often been a reflection of its desire for tradition and order.
“Labour’s recent victory may have signalled change, but the growing share of votes for Reform UK suggests a population grappling with a changing identity and fearful of the loss of control.”
However, I had assumed that the majority of people who held these anti-immigrant views were older, and were simply holding onto old-fashioned and traditional views of what their town should look like, based on the significantly whiter community they grew up around versus now. It shocked me to realise this was not the case, with a girl as young as 13 years old being arrested at one of the Aldershot riots for violent disorder. How could this be happening in my hometown with such young people?
My happy memories of living in this area include playing hand in hand with children of different ethnicities at primary school, tutoring immigrant children who had English as a second language, and being treated by medical professionals in the area who had emigrated for work and family. Despite some of the older people’s views on immigration in my hometown, I had only ever had positive experiences and wrongly assumed that everyone in my generation would not get involved in these, in my opinion, shameful riots.
Just as many of the older people in this community remember a different Aldershot to now, one that was nearly 100% White British, I remember a different Aldershot too. One that, while having never been perfect and completely free of conflict in relation to immigration, was peaceful, and respected new multicultural businesses in the area. Not one with organised, violent riots, many of which were targeting asylum seekers – people turned into scapegoats for the town’s issues, as opposed to the councils and governments that bear ultimate responsiblity.
Many in Aldershot have pointed to rising homelessness, overcrowded housing and strained public services as issues caused by immigration.
“Rather than addressing systemic failures like inadequate funding or local mismanagement, immigrants have become the easiest group to point fingers at.”
This blame-shifting taps into economic anxieties, as people believe that newcomers are competing for already scarce resources, even when evidence suggests otherwise. For example, a major study back in 2018 debunked the myth that migrants are a drain on the NHS, as they tend to be healthier and contribute to the NHS and the economy. 37% of UK doctors were trained abroad, and migrants accounted for a disproportionate amount of the care workforce that has seen a major staffing crisis over recent years since Brexit.
Many anti-immigration rioters believe that asylum seekers are handed free accommodation on a plate, and given priority over British people who are struggling to afford a roof over their heads. However, the fact of the matter is that asylum seekers are given no choice about the housing accommodation they are provided, and most also do not have the right to work and earn a living. The housing crisis in London and the southeast has led to the vast majority of asylum seekers being sent to places where the housing is cheaper and often poorer quality. They also are not offered free accommodation forever; once they obtain ‘refugee status’, they can choose where they live but have to pay their own rent or ask the government for help, in the same way that a UK citizen can. A refugee is then assessed against the exact same criteria as other British nationals, and are not automatically prioritised.
Comparing an asylum seeker’s temporary free accommodation to that of a British national is unfair. British nationals have the right to work to support their income, can apply for government support and choose which location they live in. The same is not true for asylum seekers until they are processed as refugees. The housing crisis is due to a lack of new homes being built, not due to rising migration.
Although migration does add to the housing demand, the gap between housing supply and demand is so large that even if migration stopped completely, new house building would still fall well short of what is required. And unlike what a lot of anti-immigration protesters believe, the reason why new homes are not being built at a fast enough rate is not due to the fact we are a ‘tiny island and running out of space’, as currently only 5.9% of the UK is actually built on.
So, if there is clear evidence to the contrary of these misguided anti-immigration beliefs, why do people think like this? Well, social media platforms have become fertile ground for the spread of misinformation, with baseless claims about immigrants ‘stealing jobs’ or ‘draining public funds’ gaining traction.
“Shockingly, even younger people are being pulled into this web of fear and division, often consuming these narratives without the critical skills to question their validity.”
Despite growing up in a more diverse world, the younger generation is just as vulnerable to the anti-immigrant rhetoric online, which offers simple explanations for often complex problems. It’s disheartening to see how quickly they can be radicalised by this toxic echo chamber, especially if they have parents who also encourage this ideology.
The biggest piece of misinformation regarding this wave of anti-immigration riots pertains to the event that triggered it: the tragic attack on a children’s dance group in Southport, which led to the murder of three children. Not only was a fake name of the perpetrator distributed on X, but unfounded claims of him being a Muslim and a refugee were spread and promoted by X’s algorithm. While the real perpetrator was actually born in Cardiff, posts with the unfounded claims were viewed by millions.
This is not the first instance of misinformation contributing to hostile views in the UK towards other nationalities and cultures. For example, infamous right-wing ‘activist’ and criminal, Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, spread hateful misinformation about a Syrian schoolboy online, claiming he attacked young British girls.
The claims were also viewed by millions of people. Eventually, Robinson was forced to pay £100 000 in libel to the boy. Another example is Katie Hopkins, who has posted a series of misleading posts and videos explaining all of the benefits Asylum seekers supposedly get.
“Her controversial tweets led to her account being banned, although it has since been reinstated.”
It is ironic that figures like Hopkins and Robinson spew rhetoric online that encourages violence such as the right-wing riots, as they typically do not have to deal with the consequences on their own doorsteps, with no reports of violence in Barnstaple or Luton, respectively. They do not have to worry that they will walk into the town centre and see shop windows broken and communities fighting against each other. In my view, it is figures like Hopkins and Robinson that are destabilising local British communities, like the town I live in, not immigrants.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, was also critiqued by some as being partially responsible for inciting violence and spreading misinformation about the Southport murder. Seeing these supposedly ‘legitimate’ political figures echoing phrases popularised by ultra right-wing social media bots may have fed into the online frenzy that eventually wrecked Aldershot.
The psychological concept of moral disengagement also helps to explain how individuals justify their actions or attitudes. Many rioters in Aldershot may have rationalised their behaviour by dehumanising immigrants or seeing themselves as ‘defenders’ of the town’s traditional values.
There are four ways morally disengaged people justify their actions. I have seen local people who are anti-immigration justifying their actions using all of them.
Firstly, moral justification, which spins the immoral action into something for the greater good, e.g. ‘Spending money on immigrants means there will be more British homeless people on the streets’ or ‘Not letting immigrants in will reduce violent attacks like what happened in Southport’.
Secondly, diffusing responsibility by blaming their actions on authority or ‘just the way of the world’, such as ‘My parents do not believe in supporting immigration, so I don’t either’.
Thirdly, minimising consequences, such as ‘I am just executing my right to protest, it won’t actually cause harm to the immigrants because I’m not physically hurting them, and they can just settle in a different country closer to home if they really need to escape’. This one is particularly close-minded to me, as although many of the riots were violent, the so-called ‘peaceful’ protests are still harmful, as they were staged outside the asylum seekers’ accommodation in a confrontational and frightening manner rather than outside the council or government buildings.
Lastly, dehumanising the victim and seeing them as too separate or different to deserve empathy, such as ‘they don’t live like us and so they don’t belong here’.
These forms of reasoning are not unique to Aldershot or even the UK – they are seen all over the world in relation to all kinds of matters – racism, sexism, homophobia and ableism, to name a few. There are many reasons as to why so many people can fall into the trap of moral disengagement; one of the most popular reasons being that it can offer a reason for why they suffer or experience hardship.
It can be easier to blame immigrants for a lack of opportunity, rather than admit personal shortcomings or the decline of local industries. It can be easier to blame immigrants for the current economy than it is to recognise that decisions made by political elites have likely contributed to the rise in inflation and lack of economic prosperity (I’m looking at you, Brexit). It can be easier to blame immigrants for a lack of British businesses on the high street, rather than taking a massive financial gamble and opting to open your own in these turbulent economic times. Rather than be inspired by asylum seekers, who often take risks to improve their lives and safety, it can be simpler to project scorn and ignore the many commonalities that exist between ‘us and them’.
“Despite the intensity of the riots and the repulsively violent and confrontational behaviour witnessed in Aldershot, it’s also crucial to remember that the majority of Aldershot’s population have not engaged in violent or hateful behaviour, or hate speech.”
Most people in my town still wish to live peacefully alongside neighbours, regardless of their background. In fact, Stand Up to Racism organised a counter protest in August 2024, and there was a battle between two groups, one group of 20 shouting ‘Refugees are welcome here’, and another group of around 70 shouting ‘Stop the boats!’. The fact there were less anti-racist protesters on this occasion than anti-immigration protesters, while shameful, does not completely indicate the split of opinion in Aldershot. Many of us were advised to stay in our homes for safety reasons, and many businesses were boarded up in preparation for the riots.
In comparison to places like Brighton, where anti-fascist voices have been more organised and much larger in numbers, Aldershot lacks such a large vocal opposition to extremism. However, the absence of such groups does not mean they do not exist, rather that they need to amplify those voices before more damage is done. Finding a way to champion these voices through less dangerous means, such as raising awareness through education, petitioning and proactive community engagement, is likely to be more successful in a small and quiet town. It would be a great shame if the violent and hateful actions of the anti-immigration rioters in Aldershot give the town’s people a bad name. I feel embarrassed to think that because I am white and come from Aldershot, people may think I hold these same views.
The anti-immigration riots felt like a betrayal of the Aldershot I grew up in - a place where diversity quietly thrived alongside a strong community spirit. It’s difficult to reconcile the town of my childhood with the hateful rhetoric and violence that has recently come to define it in the public eye.
However, rather than allowing these events to permanently tarnish its reputation, Aldershot has an opportunity to reconcile with its own history. The town’s deep connections to immigrant communities, whether in schools, healthcare, military or everyday life, must be remembered as part of the town’s strong foundations, not as a source of division. Moving forward, we as a community must confront the underlying issues driving unrest – misinformation, economic anxiety and moral disengagement.
Rebuilding Aldershot’s image will require community and council-driven efforts to bridge divides and address misconceptions. This healing process should be supported by nationwide policies to tackle economic challenges and housing shortages, but it is ultimately the local community’s commitment to unity that will allow Aldershot to rise above this dark chapter and reclaim its spirit of inclusion and solidarity.