<
https://theconversation.com/racism-never-went-away-it-simply-changed-shape-270325>
"Prime Minister Keir Starmer thinks that racism is returning to British
society. He has accused Nigel Farage’s Reform UK of sowing “toxic division”
with its “racist rhetoric”.
Starmer’s comments follow a trend that has seen senior Labour party officials
portray their political opponents on the far-right as sowing division with
racist rhetoric.
Recently, Wes Streeting, the Labour health secretary, warned that an “ugly”
racism is on the rise again, pointing to worrying figures showing an increase
of race-based abuse of NHS staff.
And in October, senior Labour officials attacked Farage’s plans to strip
millions of legal migrants of their Indefinite Leave to Remain status as a
racist policy. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said that Farage’s plans sounded
like a “very loud dog whistle to every racist in the country”.
Labour officials portray the rise in racist incidents and rhetoric as the
return of attitudes that had all but disappeared from British society.
Streeting expressed his worry that “1970s, 1980s-style racism has apparently
become permissible again in this country”. Starmer similarly stated that
“frankly I thought we had dealt with” the problem of racist abuse “decades
ago”.
This is an appealing story because it conveys a neat and simple message: racism
was defeated decades ago and it is now being revived by racist agitators. But
in truth, the history of post-war racism is much more complex.
In my new book, I investigate how ideas of race and racism have changed since
the second world war. History shows that racism never disappeared from public
life. Rather, it assumed different shapes, some of which are harder to discern
than others."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
