Tuesday, April 26, 2005
The truth about immigration
I cannot recommend too highly this blog posting on asylum and immigration (with thanks to the 2005 UK General Election blog round-up for the tip).
The policies of the Tories, the cowardice of Labour, the lies of the tabloids and the stupidity of the Great British Public are all taken apart thoroughly.
And there is this compelling analysis of the basic political motive behind the attacks on immigrants:
I believe this is all done quite deliberately. Right-wing political forces represent the views and interests of the wealthy and powerful. But, in a democracy, they have to gain the support of a large number - maybe not a majority, but a large minority - of those who are neither. And race is a key tool for achieving this. Convincing people that they are poor not because of injustice and exploitation, but because of the feared "other", coming here and taking our jobs and our benefits and our housing and our health services and so forth. The classic "divide and rule" strategy, setting different groups of people at the bottom against each other. It is no longer possible to directly blame "the blacks" (or the Jews, or whoever else), so the scapegoating is now transferred to the less racially-specific concept of asylum seekers. Thus, solidarity and sense of common humanity are discouraged in favour of fear and defensiveness. Because solidarity and a sense of common humanity do not serve the interests of the rich and powerful.One of the best things written so far in this election and compulsory reading.
# posted by Simon Titley @ 10:58 pm 
