Monday, August 17, 2020
British far right ‘becoming more racist’
She may want to introduce a stricter immigration policy, but it is the Home Secretary who is bandying around comments about other countries being racist. As the Guardian reports, Priti Patel has told Tory MPs that many asylum seekers are making the perilous journey across the Channel because they believe France is racist.
Meanwhile, there are claims that the Black Lives Matter movement has generated a backlash, leading to far right groups becoming more openly racist. The Independent says that a report by Hope Not Hate, has concluded that years of dominance by Tommy Robinson and other figures focused on Muslims is giving way to rising white nationalism:
It found that the growth of the new Patriotic Alternative group, which openly calls for non-whites to be ejected from the UK, suggests a “shift towards more openly racial politics”.
Author Simon Murdoch said far-right activists were becoming “much more extreme ideologically”.
He said the increase in migrant boat crossings over the English Channel and anger over so-called “cancel culture” had an impact.
“The biggest backlash has been to the Black Lives Matter movement,” the researcher added. “There is more willingness to discuss race generally across the far right now.”
Large protests following the police killing of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis in May sparked a deluge of racism and anger on far-right social media networks.
Claims that demonstrators were to target the statue of Winston Churchill and other monuments in London, after a slave trader’s figure was torn down in Bristol, culminated in a violent protest by groups claiming to “defend” them.
Police and journalists were attacked and some protesters appeared to perform Nazi salutes, following smaller clashes elsewhere in the UK where demonstrators were filmed making “white power” gestures and shouting: “Why don’t you go back to Africa?”
Mr Murdoch said that dominant groups and activists in the British far right, such as Robinson, have focused on Islam in recent years and left overt racism to the “extreme fascists” like banned terrorist group National Action.
But the rise of the Europe-wide Identitarian movement and spread of a conspiracy theory claiming that white people are being “replaced” by non-whites has influenced extremists in the UK.
“There’s this move from people previously focused on other topics like Islam, and alongside that is a contingent of the young British far right who have been embracing more extreme and traditionally fascist, white nationalist and anti-semitic ideas,” Mr Murdoch said.
He warned that the younger group are active in online networks that have greater reach than the “old guard” of National Front and British National Party (BNP) supporters.
The hardline being taken by the UK government on immigration and asylum is feeding this renewed racist sentiment. Maybe the Home Secretary should look to her own policies when criticising others.
Meanwhile, there are claims that the Black Lives Matter movement has generated a backlash, leading to far right groups becoming more openly racist. The Independent says that a report by Hope Not Hate, has concluded that years of dominance by Tommy Robinson and other figures focused on Muslims is giving way to rising white nationalism:
It found that the growth of the new Patriotic Alternative group, which openly calls for non-whites to be ejected from the UK, suggests a “shift towards more openly racial politics”.
Author Simon Murdoch said far-right activists were becoming “much more extreme ideologically”.
He said the increase in migrant boat crossings over the English Channel and anger over so-called “cancel culture” had an impact.
“The biggest backlash has been to the Black Lives Matter movement,” the researcher added. “There is more willingness to discuss race generally across the far right now.”
Large protests following the police killing of George Floyd in the US city of Minneapolis in May sparked a deluge of racism and anger on far-right social media networks.
Claims that demonstrators were to target the statue of Winston Churchill and other monuments in London, after a slave trader’s figure was torn down in Bristol, culminated in a violent protest by groups claiming to “defend” them.
Police and journalists were attacked and some protesters appeared to perform Nazi salutes, following smaller clashes elsewhere in the UK where demonstrators were filmed making “white power” gestures and shouting: “Why don’t you go back to Africa?”
Mr Murdoch said that dominant groups and activists in the British far right, such as Robinson, have focused on Islam in recent years and left overt racism to the “extreme fascists” like banned terrorist group National Action.
But the rise of the Europe-wide Identitarian movement and spread of a conspiracy theory claiming that white people are being “replaced” by non-whites has influenced extremists in the UK.
“There’s this move from people previously focused on other topics like Islam, and alongside that is a contingent of the young British far right who have been embracing more extreme and traditionally fascist, white nationalist and anti-semitic ideas,” Mr Murdoch said.
He warned that the younger group are active in online networks that have greater reach than the “old guard” of National Front and British National Party (BNP) supporters.
The hardline being taken by the UK government on immigration and asylum is feeding this renewed racist sentiment. Maybe the Home Secretary should look to her own policies when criticising others.
