Syrian refugees scattered across the world are often among the most marginalized populations in their adopted countries, a position that leaves many of them vulnerable to xenophobic violence and occasionally leads some down the path of becoming radicalized.
Riots from Turkey to the United Kingdom and Ireland have targeted Syrians as well as refugees from elsewhere and Muslims in general, depending on the country. The last ten months have seen a sharp uptick in anti-Syrian and anti-immigrant violence across the world, after years of being scapegoated for worsening economic conditions and demonized as subhuman terrorists. All of this is exacerbated by online echo chambers distributing hate speech and incitement to violence on a mass-scale.
Meanwhile the slow but steady resurgence of ISIS activity across the world also puts Syrians at grave risk, both due to attacks by the terrorist organization as well as being held guilty by association in the eyes of ignorant bigots simply due to their religion or country of origin.
A Case Study in Disinformation
The racist riots which unfolded across the United Kingdom, beginning on 30 July 2024 and lasting for approximately a week, must be carefully examined as a case study on the threat of online disinformation.
On 29 July 2024, three children in Southport were horrifically murdered in a knife attack, with many more injured. Far-right groups and online personalities–many of whom enjoy a large following on Twitter–were quick to circulate falsehoods that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. One washed-up professional boxer, Anthony Fowler, made the unevidenced claim that the perpetrator was, “a fellow from Syria,” in a since-deleted video.
The attacker turned out to be a 17-year-old British citizen, a Christian born in Cardiff to an immigrant family from Rwanda.
What followed were the largest, most widespread series of riots seen in the UK since 2011, beginning in Southport and spreading across the rest of the country, where racists targeted mosques, homes, and businesses, and even tried to burn down hotels housing asylum seekers. Syrian-born entrepreneurs and workers were among the people singled out for harassment, physical assault, and allegedly at least one attempted stabbing.
Some people may be inclined to point to the very real issues of income inequality and skyrocketing cost of living in the UK as root causes of the riots–worsening economic conditions around the world have almost certainly played a role in making numerous countries less safe for Syrians and other refugees. But this suffering is no excuse to take out one’s anger on the most marginalized members of their society, as opposed to directing it at the politicians and corporate executives who ruined their lives. This can be seen not only in the United Kingdom but in every country where foreigners are scapegoated for issues that long predate the arrival of any immigrants or refugees.
Over a thousand arrests have been made in connection to the UK riots and more than a hundred people have been brought before courts and imprisoned, with some facing charges of inciting violence online. The riots have exposed the increasing prevalence of Islamophobic, anti-immigrant, and racist attitudes, as well as the role successive governments in fostering them.
However, what must not be forgotten in these recurring events is the role of social media companies. Since acquiring Twitter, Elon Musk’s changes have created an environment where disinformation thrives under the pretense of “protecting free speech,” disinformation that Musk often shares on his own account. He claims to be a centrist while openly amplifying far-right personalities and their narratives about the riots.
Elon Musk would do well to remember that he is not a child operating in a world without consequences. Less than a decade has passed since the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar and Facebook’s role in the tragedy.
Moreover, governments must consider serious reforms to the way social media companies are regulated, before it is too late.
The Solingen Stabbings
German police arrested on Saturday August 24 the suspect believed to be behind the knife attack that resulted in the death of three people and the serious injury of four others at a local festival in the city of Solingen–the attack took place the previous Friday evening.
In a statement on Telegram, ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that the perpetrator was a "soldier of the Islamic State" and that the attack was "revenge for Muslims in Palestine and everywhere." The latter part was a clear reference to the ongoing Israeli war in Gaza since October 7, 2023. What role, if any, that ISIS played has yet to be determined by investigators.
During her visit to the site of the attack, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for "maintaining the unity of the country," condemning "those who seek to incite hatred," and emphasized the need to avoid any division.
The far-right AfD party blamed the incident on alleged security policy failures at both the regional and federal levels. They will exploit this incident to advance its electoral campaign, capitalizing on growing popularity by using rhetoric of hate, Islamophobia, and anti-refugee sentiments.
According to press reports, the suspect is believed to be a 26-year-old Syrian national who arrived in Germany in December 2022 and was granted refugee protection status. He was not known to the security authorities as an extremist before the attack.
Peace be upon the victims' souls, with hopes that justice will be served in this incident without generalizing against the broader community of Syrians and Muslims in Germany.
Syrians are frequently stereotyped as terrorists, but the number of Syrians victimized by ISIS and other extremist groups outnumbers those who joined them. Refugees are far more likely to be fleeing from the likes of ISIS than to be sympathizers or sleeper cells attempting to infiltrate into Western countries. A bloodthirsty, head-chopping terrorist is more likely to stay in places where they can continue to operate with virtual impunity–Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, just to name a few examples–than to travel abroad and face scrutiny from counterterrorism agencies.
Although their so-called caliphate was successfully crushed and they were cleared out of all but the remotest places in the world, ISIS has been making a slow but consistent resurgence in the sparsely populated Syrian desert. This is especially the case in territory controlled by the Assad regime as well as allied Iranian and Russian forces, who largely ignored the intermittent ambushes and massacres committed by ISIS until they became too deadly and frequent. Efforts to root out the extremists have largely devolved to driving around the desert and committing war crimes against anyone they find.
These unchecked and increasingly severe rampages by ISIS are just one of several reasons why Syria is not yet a safe country for refugees to return, despite the claims of so many politicians and online influencers. Refugees fled primarily due to the indiscriminate violence perpetrated by the Assad regime–ISIS meanwhile came in second place for the number of Syrians they murdered, tortured, and otherwise brutalized. Attacks by ISIS have increased in Syria and elsewhere each passing year and currently show no signs of abating, especially with Russia bogged down in Ukraine, Iran concentrating on Israel, and the US concentrating on Iran.
Put simply–anyone who says “Syria is safe, now,” and that all refugees should be sent back is either ignorant or a liar. Stigmatizing Syrians and assuming they are all extremists only benefits ISIS and other extremist groups–unjustly labeling people “terrorists,” sometimes has the unintended consequence of radicalizing people and motivating them to become terrorists.
A recent example of how unsafe Syria remains happened last weekend, when eleven regime soldiers were ambushed and kidnapped by ISIS while patrolling the outskirts of Palmyra. Their corpses were found days later with their hands tied behind their backs–some were shot execution-style while others were decapitated.
Dublin to Istanbul
Syrian refugees are no strangers to being targeted for mob violence on the basis of their religion, nationality, skin color, or immigration status. Ireland’s capital city saw riots last November after an Algerian immigrant stabbed a five-year-old girl almost to death, seriously wounded a woman in her thirties, and injured two other children in a random act of violence. The assailant was eventually subdued by three witnesses, two of whom were also immigrants, and the victims were saved by urgent medical care–the first girl remains hospitalized at the time of this writing while the other victims have been released. This horrific crime was immediately followed by a wave of protests and online hate speech that eventually escalated into vandalism, arson, and hate crimes committed by rioters chanting far-right, anti-immigrant slogans.
Syrians residing in Dublin were among those targeted for being non-Irish, some refugees had traumatic memories of bombings and other violence triggered during the unrest.
This was followed shortly by even more shocking scenes across Turkey in July 2024, when news of a Syrian man’s arrest for sexually abusing his niece in the city of Kayseri devolved into exaggerated fear mongering about gangs of Syrians attacking Turkish girls. Crowds of Turkish men took out their anger and hysteria by attacking every Syrian they found as well as everyone they mistook for Syrians. Refugees were beaten in the streets while Syrian-owned businesses were vandalized and looted, and buildings housing refugees had their windows smashed–cars and sometimes buildings were also set on fire during the chaos.
Syrians are increasingly under threat from random mob violence, which is often incited by demagogues online hiding behind anonymous social media accounts. This is a clear and present danger in the short-term–there is also the long-term threat of governments deciding to normalize relations with the Assad regime and begin deporting refugees simply to placate the rioters.
It is time to reiterate that the Syrian Revolution began as a rejection of both authoritarianism and sectarian extremism. The intention was for all Syrians from all walks of life to come together and stand united against the Assad regime. Most revolutionaries remained non-violent and chose to flee the country when non-violence was no longer an option, although some riots did break out in response to security forces shooting protesters in the streets.
Xenophobic rhetoric by fascists who fetishize Assad and want all Syrians deported from their countries has become an existential threat to the idea of Free Syria–it targets the dissident diaspora who fled abroad and kept the dream alive after the regime tried to murder it.
Comentarios