The Johannesburg Riots in South Africa were a time of great fear for many immigrants. The media made several anti-immigrant statements, including lies about immigrants taking all the jobs and scamming people, instigating the riots. Soon, South Africans began to attack immigrant neighborhoods, which resulted in the deaths of 337 people . The Johannesburg and Zoot Suit Riots have many similarities like the media and police siding with the rioters, the victims’ neighborhoods being attacked, and both riots being racially motivated. However, the two riots also have some key differences; for instance, there was no war in South Africa at the time, and there were many casualties there, unlike LA, where there weren’t any deaths. To conclude, the Johannesburg Riots had an immense impact on the immigrant population of South Africa.

This shows the aftermath of the Delhi Riots of 2020, which led to the deaths of 50+ people. 

This image depicts the destruction that the violent anti-immigrant Johannesburg riots in South Africa caused.

The Delhi Riots were a devastating event that took place in India in 2020, which began because of religious differences. For many years, there has been tension between Hindus and Muslims, which caused some minor conflicts. After a group of Muslims protested a citizenship law that didn’t allow Muslims from Pakistan to come into India, the tension grew into a riot, and 11 people died on the first day. In both the Zoot Suit and Delhi Riots, the police did nothing to stop the attacks and sometimes even encouraged them. On the other hand, they were different from the Zoot Suit Riots because the Delhi Riots were due to religion, instead of race, and people actually died during the riots. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims still continue to this day, even though the Delhi Riots have ended.

The protests in Switzerland began with a law that banned face coverings called burqas. However, liberals and women’s groups have been pushing back against it, calling it racist, Islamophobic, and sexist. There are around 400,000 Muslims in Switzerland, which is 5.5% of the population, yet the Swiss People’s Party claimed they were “defending Switzerland from the Islamization of Europe.” This was similar to the Zoot Suit Riots because the ban was directed at a certain group of people, like the ban on zoot suits. The differences between the ban and Zoot Suit Riots, included that the ban was toward a certain religion and not race. While more of a protest than a riot, the events that took place in Switzerland are still unresolved, and a prominent issue today. 

This image depicts the Venezuelan Anti-Government Protests, where a group of people walked 5,000 kilometers to get to the riots.

Because of the economic crisis and hazardous living conditions in Venezuela, Venezuelans fled their country and immigrated to Chile. They walked 5,000 kilometers to the border of Chile, and then moved on to Iquique, where the riots happened. They started when a video was released of police being beaten up by supposed Venezuelan drug dealers. The protestors marched through the city of Iquique, waving Chilean flags, demanding that Venezuelans be removed from their country. It escalated to the point that people were tearing and burning the tents immigrants lived in. Some ways these riots are similar to the Zoot Suit riots is that the police didn’t help for both and possessions were burned. The anti-Venezuelan riots were different from the zoot suit riots as well, because they had less violence. To conclude, the Venezuelan riots in Chile were very devastating and impactful.

    El Ejido, an area in Spain, is a sea of plastic greenhouses, where workers get low wages, a place to sleep and an escape from their past difficult lifes. The El Ejido Riots began when a Moroccan immigrant threw rocks at a dog attacking him, and the Spanish owner of the property nearby attacked the man in return. This altercation brought light to many anti-immigrant groups and opinions, and over the next three days, hundreds of people burned homes, cars, and businesses. The El Ejido Riots had many similarities to the Zoot Suit Riots; they were both race based, the authorities didn’t make an attempt to prevent the violence, and a murder instigated the riots. The two also had some differences such as that the riots in LA were about American born Mexicans, but in El Ejido, the violence was against immigrants.