The Guardian has suddenly decided that Reform MP Sarah Pochin's comments about Black and Asian people on television lets them describe what she said as racist.
Zoe Williamson has written about it.
So has Jason Okundaye.
Sketch writer John Crace has noted that Farage thought her comments were ugly and unpleasant, but he did not condemn them because he did not think they were racist. Of course, he didn't. As Crace pointed out, he agrees with them.
Even Keir Starmer called them racist.
My question in response to this is simple. Why has it taken them so long to come out and say so? I have been doing so here for a long time. Reform is racist. It is blatantly so. You cannot address it until you describe it as it is.
But that leads to the other essential point, still not being addressed by the media and politicians alike, which is that the far right in this country is fascist in its intentions, and this issue can also not be avoided if it is to be tackled. Again, I have said so for some time. My question is, when will the media also acknowledge this, because until we talk in plain language about the threat that we face, we cannot address it.
Quakers are much taken by plain language. It is time we used it in society. The time when being a racist caused less offence than the accusation that someone of that opinion was a racist has to be over. The same is true with fascism. We are in a political fight with far-right politicians who are both racist and fascist by conviction. Unless we say so and spell out what that means, we're in trouble.
And, to ensure that this description is understood, these are some of the characteristics I am describing as fascist, which are all too easy to see in the behaviour of Reform and many other politicians:
The characteristics of fascism
Political Power and Control
- Authoritarian: Power is concentrated in a leader or ruling elite who demand unquestioning obedience.
- Anti democratic: Elections, rights and checks on power are dismantled or manipulated.
- Totalitarian: The regime seeks to control all aspects of life, including politics, culture and belief.
- Suppressive of dissent: Opposition is criminalised, silenced or violently removed.
- Censorious: Free expression is restricted to ensure only the regime's narrative prevails.
- Obedience demanding: Citizens are expected to comply without criticism or independent thought.
- Cult of personality-driven: The leader is presented as a heroic, infallible figure above accountability.
- Propagandist: Truth is replaced with state-endorsed lies used to manipulate perception.
- Conspiratorial: Imagined enemies and hidden plots are used to justify repression.
Identity, Exclusion and Violence
- Racist: Certain ethnic groups are deemed superior, and others are treated as threats or even subhuman.
- Xenophobic: Outsiders and migrants are portrayed as enemies of the nation.
- Colonialist: Subjugation of territories and peoples is justified as national destiny.
- Homophobic: LGBTQ+ people are targeted and denied equal rights and social protection.
- Misogynistic: Women are subordinated, confined to gendered roles and denied equality.
- Eugenicist: Purity and selective breeding are promoted to “improve” the population.
- Ableist/hostile to neurodivergence: People whose minds work differently are labelled defective or dangerous, facing forced conformity or institutional exclusion.
- Eliminationist: Unwanted groups are not just excluded but threatened with removal or extinction.
- Violence glorifying: Brutality is celebrated as a tool to maintain dominance.
- Scapegoating: Social and economic problems are blamed on minority groups to deflect responsibility.
Nation, Myth and Culture
- Divisively nationalist: The nation is elevated as a sacred entity superior to all others.
- Hyper-patriotic: Displays of loyalty are exaggerated and compulsory as proof of belonging.
- Nostalgic for a mythical past: A fictional golden age is invoked to justify present-day oppression.
- Revisionist: History is rewritten to erase crimes and glorify national greatness.
- Anti-intellectual: Independent thought, science and critical scholarship are treated as threats.
- Anti-pluralist: Cultural diversity and differing identities are rejected as signs of weakness.
- Religiously intolerant: Anything but the supposed national religion is condemned as heretical.
Economic Structure and Social Hierarchy
- Exploitative: Workers are stripped of rights and treated as instruments of the state or profit.
- Belief in economic inequality: Hierarchy and privilege are seen as natural and necessary.
- Corporate-aligned (crony capitalism): The state and favoured corporations collude for mutual enrichment.
Psychological and Social Manipulation
- Conspiratorial: Fear of hidden enemies keeps the population compliant.
- Propagandist: Repetition of untruths creates a distorted sense of reality that benefits the regime (Note: These items intentionally appear in two sections, reflecting their dual function.)
I suspect there is something I have missed: that list will do for starters. Suggestions for revision are welcome.
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Unfortunately, the media and politicians will often only speak about the truth when there is a gain to be made or if it becomes too obviously exposed. The sad aspect is that this language is making many people feel unwelcome and fearful in the UK. Leading to more division and a lack of community by design.
to add to the list, slightly tongue in cheek, marching about with lots of flags.
Agreed
We’re now seeing far right pro-Reform demonstrators in Scotland using the Saltire – the flag of Scotland and its people – in demos, which really irks me. When I was youngster growing up in the 1950s and 60s the Saltire was rarely seen. Public buildings flew the Union Flag all year except St Andrews Day. That was the only day I can recall seeing it.
At international sports events the only flag I remember being sold for fans was the Lion Rampant, which is the flag of the monarchy in Scotland. In retrospect this feels like contempt for the Scots people: we had to support our side by waving a flag of a distant monarch who rarely visited our land other than summer holidays.
The Saltire really only became highly visible when the Independence movement began to gather pace, which is entirely understandable given it’s the flag of our nation and people and had been effectively suppressed for so long. To see it now as a symbol of a pro-Union, pro-Fascism movement is galling and I suspect the English and Welsh feel the same about their flags too.
Agreed
The more this sort of stuff is said, the more normalised it will be. It’s dripping the poison in, one drip at a time.
The road to the moral bankruptcy of fascism is like road to any bankruptcy – first, it happens very slowly and then very fast and it is upon you before you know it.
It’s disturbing how many of the fascist traits you list are now visible, at least in part, in recent UK governments. Propaganda has replaced honest communication about public spending and taxation, misleading people into believing the state’s finances work like a household’s. Power has become increasingly centralised, Parliament sidelined, and dissenting voices within the civil service, media and charities have been attacked or silenced. Nationalist and exclusionary rhetoric has been normalised, while corporate interests are privileged over public welfare.
We’re not yet living under fascism. But several of its warning signs are already present. If these trends continue unchecked, the line between democratic government and authoritarian manipulation could be crossed without people even noticing.
BBC still tend to cut across anyone using the word genocide despite it being verified by genocide scholars worldwide and a UN panel . They don’t like ‘famine’ either – despite that been verified by WHO, WFP, UNICEF etc.
And they certainly don’t like ‘fascist’ – even not only Farage and co. but also Labour is saying doing quite a lot of the items on your list.
Is the BBC and indeed Labour and Tories consciously or unconsciously part of the trend towards – what might become some kind of proto fascist authoritarian state? The endless wittering about the non-event ‘China spy ‘ court case which never happened, but next to no interest in the already proven Russian bribery of Reform colleague of Farage. This could go right back to Russian interference in Brexit . So Farage and co could be accused of treason – but why the lack of interest, while they spend hours talking about one Chelmsford prisoner?
One omission from your list is that fascists are contemptuous of the rule of law. We have seen that very evident in the US under Trump and I was apalled to read just now of Danny Kruger, a recent defection from the Tories to Reform, saying that Reform would rewrite the ministerial code so that ministers were not obliged to conform with international law. I find that quite chilling. These people are really dangerous. There is no other political priority more urgent than keeping Reform out of power.
Noted