Sunday, November 13, 2016
Trump and Brexit, the racist backlash
Many people have already drawn comparisons between the victory of Donald Trump in the USA and the vote to leave the EU here. Common themes include an alienated and disillusioned middle class voting against the establishment and a strong desire for change.
Trump's victory was achieved on the back of a racist and misogynist narrative. In the former case that also has parallels with Brexit. And just as the number of incidents of racial abuse increased after our referendum, so they appear to have also multiplied in the USA.
The Independent reports that more than 200 incidents of harassment have been reported since Donald Trump won the presidency.
The paper says that as communities of colour, and others frightened by Tuesday’s result, reel from the election of Trump, reports suggest there have been a flood of incidents of harassment and abuse since Tuesday:
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a watchdog group that tracks and monitors extremism in the US, said it had collated more than 200 such incidents in the three days since Mr Trump was elected. It said there also reports of misogynist incidents and abuse.
“Pulling from news reports, social media, and direct submissions at the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s website, [we] counted 201 incidents of election-related harassment and intimidation across the country as of Friday 11 November at 5pm,” the group said.
“These range from anti-Black to anti-woman to anti-LGBT incidents. There were many examples of vandalism and epithets directed at individuals.
“Often, types of harassment overlapped and many incidents, though not all, involved direct references to the Trump campaign. Every incident could not be immediately independently verified.”
The group said that one of the locations where such incidents were most commonly reported were in schools for pupils up to the age of 12. At one school, in Maple Grove, Minnesota, racist and pro-Trump graffiti was found in the school lavatories.
A report from Colorado detailed how the words “Death to Diversity” was written on a banner displayed on a school library. The report said that white male students were going up to women saying it was now “legal to grab them by the pussy”.
It is deeply disturbing that not only is the world a much more dangerous place since Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, but it is also a far less tolerant place as well.
Trump's victory was achieved on the back of a racist and misogynist narrative. In the former case that also has parallels with Brexit. And just as the number of incidents of racial abuse increased after our referendum, so they appear to have also multiplied in the USA.
The Independent reports that more than 200 incidents of harassment have been reported since Donald Trump won the presidency.
The paper says that as communities of colour, and others frightened by Tuesday’s result, reel from the election of Trump, reports suggest there have been a flood of incidents of harassment and abuse since Tuesday:
The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a watchdog group that tracks and monitors extremism in the US, said it had collated more than 200 such incidents in the three days since Mr Trump was elected. It said there also reports of misogynist incidents and abuse.
“Pulling from news reports, social media, and direct submissions at the Southern Poverty Law Centre’s website, [we] counted 201 incidents of election-related harassment and intimidation across the country as of Friday 11 November at 5pm,” the group said.
“These range from anti-Black to anti-woman to anti-LGBT incidents. There were many examples of vandalism and epithets directed at individuals.
“Often, types of harassment overlapped and many incidents, though not all, involved direct references to the Trump campaign. Every incident could not be immediately independently verified.”
The group said that one of the locations where such incidents were most commonly reported were in schools for pupils up to the age of 12. At one school, in Maple Grove, Minnesota, racist and pro-Trump graffiti was found in the school lavatories.
A report from Colorado detailed how the words “Death to Diversity” was written on a banner displayed on a school library. The report said that white male students were going up to women saying it was now “legal to grab them by the pussy”.
It is deeply disturbing that not only is the world a much more dangerous place since Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, but it is also a far less tolerant place as well.
Comments:
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Not sure it's a disillusioned middle class. I think it is a disillusioned working class.
# posted by 
: 11:47 PM
: 11:47 PM
"... the world a much more dangerous place since Brexit and the election of Donald Trump"; actually it is a LOT safer. For starters Russia wants full relations restored with the USA; Canada and Mexico have already agreed to renegotiate NAFTA - Syria says it wants peace with the USA. Israel has said it wants the damaged relationship with the USA REPAIRED!
6.56 AM
I think you are right. It has always puzzled me the way people in the US are almost frightened to use the phrase working class and call nearly every one middle class. We are moving towards that with the " squeased middle" that is now being used. But there is a difference and hearing a friend discussing the aftermath of the referendum in his school recently highlighted it. We (the teachers) went in to work the next day and in shocked tones mourned the result. It soon became clear that that all the non teachers had a very different view and had voted to leave. A very marked divide, but what was also interesting was that non of the teachers had a clue how their colleagues felt before the vote.
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I think you are right. It has always puzzled me the way people in the US are almost frightened to use the phrase working class and call nearly every one middle class. We are moving towards that with the " squeased middle" that is now being used. But there is a difference and hearing a friend discussing the aftermath of the referendum in his school recently highlighted it. We (the teachers) went in to work the next day and in shocked tones mourned the result. It soon became clear that that all the non teachers had a very different view and had voted to leave. A very marked divide, but what was also interesting was that non of the teachers had a clue how their colleagues felt before the vote.
# posted by : 7:07 AM
: 7:07 AM<< Home
