The riots that broke out following the appalling murder of children in Southport did not come out of nowhere — they were the reflections of a global far-right surge whose loud footsteps were already being heard across the world.

In Britain, anti-migrant ideology and sentiment was confronted by leftist, pro-migrant counterdemonstrations, which the progressive wings of the Turkish and Kurdish communities joined en masse.

Watching footage of migrant communities being attacked across northern England and the Six Counties of Ireland, it was only natural to fall into despair. Not least for many Turkish and Kurdish people in Britain, who are all too aware of the similar nationalist tensions brewing in their lands of origin.

Day by day, anti-migrant sentiment has grown stronger and more prominent in the Turkish mainstream. A coalition of ultra-nationalist political parties and media outlets, claiming to be dissidents of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, have constantly pointed the finger at refugees — redirecting public anger towards them instead of the government. Meanwhile, the government has continued to use refugees as a bargaining chip against Europe.

The majority of the 4 million-plus migrants and refugees in Turkey were forced to flee due to war and conflict. Among them are 3.3 million registered Syrian refugees who escaped their country’s devastating civil war, worsened by the Turkish government’s neo-Ottoman interventions. Due to both an inconsistent, opaque border policy and the ‘EU-Turkey deal’, which allows the European Union to outsource waves of migration, the situation in Turkey has become increasingly ungovernable.

As a result, people who were forced out of their homes have been scapegoated, exploited as cheap labour, accused of ‘demographic invasion’, and subjected to various other misconceptions and misinformation in the place where they sought refuge. Amid an economic crisis, with an ‘official’ inflation rate exceeding 70 percent, the rhetoric of ‘they are taking away our jobs’ is a convenient line to parrot for politicians of various stripes.

But the issue is not a question of who is taking whose job; it is about which groups capitalists deem suitable for more intense exploitation. The common complaints of asylum seekers and refugees include informal employment, low wages, and language barriers — all of which are exacerbated by administrative obstacles and deportation fears that are reminiscent of the experiences of Turkish migrant workers in Britain. Migrant women have limited access to the labour market and face serious gender-based violence, while child labour is prevalent in agricultural and textile sectors.

The most alarming consequence of this anti-migrant rhetoric occurred in late June when a wave of online misinformation spread about a Syrian man allegedly harassing a Turkish girl. As a result, racist groups attempted a pogrom against Syrian refugees in the city of Kayseri, setting properties on fire, destroying cars, and demanding that all Syrians be deported immediately.

Similar to what happened after the Southport attacker’s identity was wrongfully circulated online, far-right politicians in Turkey capitalised on the situation, inciting hatred and fascist impulses to advance their ideologies. These provocations culminated in a 15-year-old Syrian boy being stabbed to death in Antalya.

Another incident on 12 August in Eskisehir involved an 18-year-old boy stabbing five older Turkish men in broad daylight. At first glance, this might seem unrelated to ongoing tensions, as all victims were Turkish, and authorities were quick to blame the influence of violent video games.

However, the boy left behind a neo-Nazi manifesto — a ‘Mass Cleaner Handbook’, in his own words — expressing his desire to target refugees, Syrian kids, LGBTQ+ individuals, and leftists. The manifesto also saluted four mass murderers who specifically targeted leftists and minorities in different countries, including Anders Breivik. Far from an isolated event related to video games, the shooter himself demonstrated the international far-right’s successes in radicalising vulnerable individuals and leading them to embrace homicidal hatred.

On top of these murders, a ‘massacre law’ which aims to eradicate the presence of stray dogs on the streets, a pregnant woman being beaten by a man in broad daylight, and a leftist MP being assaulted in the parliament have also dominated the news in Turkey, as the full extent of widespread fascist rhetoric translates into action. These violent acts and sentiments are not isolated but are interconnected manifestations of a system designed to marginalise, oppress, and control. Abandoned by capitalist policies and manipulated by the rhetoric of neo-fascists, people’s misdirected anger is perpetuating a cycle of violence that targets the vulnerable and benefits those who stir division and fear.

Dickens’ phrase ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’, which opens A Tale of Two Cities, promises a state of coexistence. It can reassure us that resistance can thrive in times of oppression and hope can prevail over despair. Curiously, a similar paradox is echoed almost 150 years later in Polish sociologist Zygmunt Bauman’s 2000 work Liquid Modernity — ‘Never have we been so free. Never have we felt so powerless.’

A Tale of Two Cities takes place in the late 18th century, just before the French Revolution. Bauman, on the other hand, refers to life under information capitalism in the 21st century. Considering the pervasive forms of capitalism, fascism, and exploitation around the world today, one cannot help but wonder whether we are at a similar crossroads. It is with this understanding that leftist-internationalists should continue to develop anti-racist and anti-fascist movements — not only in Britain, but wherever they may be.