Racial tension in Dover, exacerbated by New Labour's "get tough on asylum" policy, Tory bigotry and media racism, erupted into violence on 14 August when local youths clashed with asylum seekers.
Dover has suffered social and economic decline in recent years. Unemployment has soared, particularly since the closure of Kent's last coalfields in 1989. Now, real resentment about the lack of jobs and housing has found a target in asylum seekers housed in local bed and breakfast accommodation.
But as politicians like Jack Straw line up to defend ever-more inhumane immigration controls, we should remember that it is the Labour Government's failure to tackle unemployment and poverty that feeds racism.
The tabloid press is stepping up its racist coverage of asylum seekers in Dover and across Britain. Encouraged by Tories like Ann Widdecombe, and backed up by New Labour's "tough" stance against immigration, we see story after story packed with bigotry, misinformation and indeed outright lies.
"All hell is breaking loose as hordes of illegal Albanian immigrants drive the locals to despair," writes Dawn Neesom in the Daily Star. "Every scrounger for miles homes in for a meal ticket for life."
Not a description of the New Deal many claimants would recognise, but that's not the point.
"11 teenagers were slashed by a gang of razor-wielding immigrants," reports the Sun, inaccurately, in an article headlined "We are on our way to sponge off you British" and featuring "bogus" asylum-seekers and the "latest wave" of illegal Albanian immigrants.
According to the Sun, "more than 5,000" asylum seekers are living in the Dover area. Official figures from Dover Council tell a rather different story: 442 in Dover itself and 1,500 in Kent as a whole.
Such trivialities as facts don't stop the outright racism of the Dover Express. Its editor Nick Hudson was threatened with prosecution under the Race Relations Act last October, when he described refugees as "human sewage".
Editorials in the Express and its sister publication the Folkestone Herald have described asylum seekers as welfare spongers, thieves and brothel keepers. Now Hudson talks of an "intolerable situation" in Dover, and demands that "something drastic must be done to halt this influx of illegal immigrants".
Compare this with a recent fax from the fascist National Front, declaring, "It is time to stop this tidal wave of illegal immigrants at the point of entry".
Even that supposed bastion of liberal values, the Guardian, has joined in the media scrum, publishing an article by Audrey Gillan which cites comments from Margate police that they "have had a lot of complaints of indecency" without a single piece of substantiating evidence.
This is not merely silly-season media hype. The language of the press differs little from that of the Government and local politicians. A Sunday Times leader emphasises the paper's agreement with Mark Watts, Labour MEP for Kent East, who "said criminal gangs were behind the cross-channel trade in illegal immigrants to Britain and this had to be stopped".
Jack Straw's reaction to the violence in Dover was to give himself emergency powers to move asylum seekers around the country. His actions have fuelled the popular impression that immigration is a massive problem. The Refugee Council rightly commented that his actions "further vilify asylum seekers".
The clearest expression of politicians' attitudes towards the refugees comes from Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, the Tory council leader in Dover. He wrote (in a letter that, though formally "private", still found its way to the press) that "local people feel increasingly 'swamped and resentful' and this is leading to increasing confrontation and incidents, some of which are violent and probably racially motivated..."
In other words, if only the refugees would go away, then the racists wouldn't have anyone to attack and everyone could live happily together.
Ann Widdecombe, deputy Tory leader, has joined in the fray, accusing Labour of being a "soft touch" (in fact, their new Asylum and Immigration laws are tougher than the Tories').
Meanwhile, "soft touch" Jack Straw has been on West Midlands radio describing travellers as "burgling, thieving, breaking into vehicles and getting away with it", not to mention "defecating in doorways".
His comments have been reported by travellers' groups to the Commission for Racial Equality. The attitude of Straw and his fellow New Labour politicians will fuel tensions in Dover.
If they were serious about dealing with the town's problems, they would spend money on creating jobs and ensuring plenty of good quality housing for all in the area. Instead they encourage the belief that the problem lies with the number of asylum seekers.
