LENIN'S TOMB

Thursday, July 08, 2010

A case for expropriation in a nutshell posted by Richard Seymour

This is today's Daily Express front page:

People joke about such mega-combo-bigotry headlines from the Mail and the Express. But this, utterly vile, combination of racism and incitement to homophobic hatred is real. The Express has to be made to pay a price for this. The owners and editors of the Daily Express are scumbags, and the newspaper should be taken over and turned into a public utility.

Labels: asylum seekers, gay rights, homophobia, immigration, media, racism, scum

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Narrowing Tory poll lead doesn't mean a 'hung parliament' is likely posted by Richard Seymour

Polls are now consistently showing a reduction in the poll lead enjoyed by the Tories from double digits to single digits, now at about 7%. That's still a big lead, but the assumption of the newspaper headline writers is that the Tories need a bigger swing to win an outright majority. Thus, the spectre of a 'hung parliament' has been raised. Martin Wolf of the FT would be happy to see a coalition government, perhaps styled on Germany's recent experience with the 'Grand Alliance'. One can certainly see why: it would enable the political class to consolidate their minority consensus in favour of some form of fiscal contraction, thus edging out all signs of popular dissensus on the question. But it isn't going to happen, and here's why.

Labour's recovery is based substantially on the germinal economic recovery, which is the number one issue concerning voters - 56% say it's one of their top three issues (see figures). But issue number two is - disgracefully, and entirely New Labour's fault - asylum and immigration, with 43% saying it's a top three issue. That issue will almost certaily be prominently pushed in the marginals, where it might actually trump the economy with some middle class voters. And the marginal constituencies are where the Tories need to make gains, not in Labour 'heartlands' where its support is slightly hardening in response to the naked class aggression in Tory policies. The reactionary think-tank MigrationWatch UK got Yougov to carry out a push-poll in the key marginals for Labour and Liberals in the coming election, and it basically found that most of those voters are hysterical over the issue of immigration, trust the Tories most to handle the issue, and would be more likely to vote for any party that promised severe crackdowns. We will undoubtedly see cack-handed attempts by Liberals and Labour to pander to such bigotry, but only the right-wing parties can benefit from this game, and in the marginals the beneficiaries will be the Tories.

Of course, a lot can happen between now and election day. The Greek general strikes may presage a broader European labour insurgency against austerity measures being pushed through by mainstream parties, as the Indie claims today. Anything that pushes the economy and public opposition to spending cuts to the top of the agenda can damage the Tories - unless, of course, that 'thing' is a speculative attack or a new lurch into negative growth. But at the moment, the figures still point to a Tory majority come 6 May.

Labels: asylum seekers, economy, elections, immigration, new labour, public sector pay, public spending, racism, recession, tories

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Guess who's not coming to dinner? posted by Richard Seymour

Behold. The Daily Mail would like you to be irrationally terrified. Of refugees. More specifically, of refugees who, pleading for "shelter", "protection" and "peace", want to come to Britain. The bastards, coming over here with their hate-filled ideology of peace - don't they know anything about British values? What is even more sickening is that they come from Iraq and Afghanistan, where said values are being introduced to the locals on a daily basis. Obviously the pedagogy has had no effect on this uncivilized, peace-seeking horde.

Labels: afghanistan, asylum seekers, daily mail, immigration, iraq, racism

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

BNP threat posted by Richard Seymour

Peter Hain rightly challenges Guardian readers and fellow Labour members to take the threat of the BNP seriously. They are on the verge of winning seats on the European parliament, and thus acquiring up to £2m in funds. It is a pity that Peter Hain had to be the one to say it. For one thing, it could be seen as an attempt to shore up Labour's vote, which is on the precipice of a sudden deadly plunge. This was quite obviously the case with Harriet Harman's appeal earlier this month (though I note that at least Peter Hain doesn't just say 'vote Labour', as Harman did). Secondly, as much of the comment on the thread suggests, few people really want to take their lead from a former New Labour minister who backed the 'war on terror' (unfortunately, the thread is also crawling with fascists and demented complaints that Labour "sold out to Islam" - you might want to pop over there and bash the fash if you have a minute). This is a party that has vilified asylum seekers, bullied Muslims and promoted people like Hazel Blears to blither about political correctness. You might wonder who needs lessons in anti-fascism from such people. The hostility to New Labour is bracing. I for one am completely uninterested in rewarding Gordon Brown's crawling to the City, his 'British Jobs for British Workers' schtick, or his proposed austerity programme. And it is tragic that we don't have the kind of unified left-wing alternative that France and Germany both have, although there will still be left-of-Labour alternatives out there. Still, that doesn't change the fact that Hain is right about the BNP, and that complacency is not an option.

After all, the BNP are not just a racist, violent and authoritarian party. They are that. Their call for the 'repatriation' of black and Asian Britons - whom they deem "racial foreigners" - is a call for ethnic cleansing, sure to be backed up with the "well-directed fists and boots" that Nick Griffin used to drool about. It isn't just that their hardcore bully-boys, often integrated into the terrorist Combat-18 group that was formed to act as stewards for BNP rallies, are often violent criminals and sociopaths. The BNP is a party whose leadership and core members are marinated in the ideology of the Third Reich. It is a Nazi party. If this germinal junta gets European representation and funding, then it is a step toward barbarism in a continent where the far right is making atrocious headway. One comment on the CiF thread suggests that the far right can be relied on to disintegrate due to its often violent internal schisms. The BNP is not exactly short of factional ructions, as the 2007 split and a recent leaked document illustrates, but that hasn't really stopped them making worrying inroads in local elections. It doesn't stop them having 56 council seats and a seat on the London assembly. In the last European parliament elections in 2004, the BNP gained over 800,000 votes, just short of 5% of the total vote. This time round, they may get Nick Griffin elected to that body, and would need only 8% - easily within reach, I would have thought. That would shift the centre of gravity to the right and benefit every racist and reactionary current in the UK.

This means that a priority of the Left should be backing the campaign by Unite Against Fascism during the upcoming elections.

Labels: asylum seekers, bnp, fascism, islamophobia, new labour, racism, uaf, unite against fascism