The streets of Britain took a 180-degree turn from leftists protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza to far-right fascists rioting in favor of the expulsion of migrants and Muslims from the country. On this week’s episode of ‘Mehdi Unfiltered,’ Mehdi speaks to British Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana, the youngest Muslim woman ever elected to the House of Commons, on what’s happening on the ground and what’s driving this shocking wave of right-wing political violence.
“These racist, Islamophobic, far right riots haven't come from nowhere, they are a culmination of racist headlines and racist framing by our media and our political class,” she tells Mehdi. And it isn’t just newspaper headlines or political rhetoric that has helped exacerbate these riots, Sultana explains.
“You've got people like Elon Musk who are also perpetuating this conspiracy… we see how he has used Twitter to amplify anti-migrant rhetoric, anti-trans rhetoric,” she says.
Watch their full discussion above, unpacking the horrifying riots that have led to more than 500 arrests and are still keeping people on high alert. This week, thousands of anti-racist counter-protestors gathered in public, to take a stand against the far-right, amid a heightened police presence.
Also on the show, Mehdi speaks with liberal YouTube star Brian Tyler Cohen about the state of the Harris v Trump U.S. presidential race and the ongoing radicalization of the Republican Party. With his new book ‘Shameless: Republicans' Deliberate Dysfunction and the Battle to Preserve Democracy,’ releasing soon, Brian doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the modern MAGA-led GOP.
“The case is that Republicans are not who they have claimed to be in terms of their historical branding… and I think exposing the reality of the situation that we're living in… will kind of pry them [Americans] away from the spell that Republicans have put on them,” says Brian.
That spell Brian talks about is one that is rarely broken by mainstream media, but rather protected through ‘both sides’ normalizing coverage of Trump’s insane rhetoric. “They [the mainstream media] feel this obligation somehow to continue on as these neutral observers that have no skin in the game,” Brian tells Mehdi, who he also interviewed for his new book.
Do watch the full show above and, for paid subscribers, be sure to let us know in the comments below what you think of the show and who we should have on next!
‘The Fish Rots from the Head’: British Muslim MP Blames Politicians and the Press for the Shocking Far-Right Riots in the UK