Today is a horrible day in London
- Simone Pinto
- Sep 27
- 1 min read
On the 13th September 2025, tens of thousands gathered under the banner of nationalism, while a smaller group stood against them under the banner of anti-racism.
The headlines frame it as a face-off. Social media is full of outrage, division, and fear.
When you zoom out, it’s not just two groups shouting at each other.
It’s a system at work:
• Politicians, media, and algorithms amplifying conflict.
• Protesters on both sides acting as symbols of deeper societal fractures.
• A government and police force trying to “manage order” but inevitably shaping the story.
As a child of immigrants, I can’t pretend neutrality.
The anti-racists are standing for something essential: the belief that all of us belong.
But sympathy doesn’t mean ignoring the wider system.
If we only see this as “good vs evil,” we miss the drivers underneath — economic insecurity, cultural dislocation, distrust in institutions — that allow these moments to swell.
The challenge for all of us is not just to condemn what’s ugly, but to build what’s missing: spaces for belonging, narratives of shared identity, and leadership that reduces division instead of feeding it.