The Telegraph has been pushing this article out:
It begins with this comment:
If there is a more shameful and disturbing moment in modern British politics, I'm struggling to think of one today. After a campaign that weaponised troubling sectarianism and open bigotry, the smug and gurning Greens have taken the Gorton and Denton by-election at the expense of our democracy.
And then it continues with this racist analysis:
This was effectively a straight fight between the working-class population of Denton – 83 per cent white, mostly in low-paid jobs, and supporting Reform – and the communities of Gorton, who are 60 per cent non-white, 40 per cent Muslim, and voting Green.
And the Greens' big crime? They did this:
Understandably, Reform focused on the Denton vote. But they were no match for the Greens, who cynically sold two different messages to the different groups, speaking of the cost of living from one corner of their mouths and Gaza from the other, and producing “anti-Zionist” videos in Urdu.
In other words, what they did was talk to voters about what mattered to them, in language they understood, whilst never once misleading anyone as to their overall message, which reflects universal concerns about:
- Climate change
- Inequality
- Economic injustice
- Failing public services
- Genocide
- The rise of fascism
- Increasing racism
- Growing fear, for a multitude of reasons
- The need for the recognition of diversity whilst embracing equity and inclusion.
They did, in other words, talk about a politics of care. And it is that which is, apparently, heading us for an abyss.
I am not surprised by this. We know the far right are very bad losers, not least because they think they have a natural right to be winners, which democracy does not recognise, which is why they hate it so much.
I am also not surprised, because just as Labour is scared stiff by the Greens, because it removes the age-old assumption that the left has no choice but to vote Labour, come what may, so too are the far right frightened of them, precisely because they expose the fact that the politics of hate and the economics of failure are not necessary, but that the poltucs and economics of hope are possible.
In that case, we must expect many more of these attacks. That they make no sense does not matter. Just compare these two paragraphs. First, this is the claim:
[N]ot since the Sixties, when Conservative candidate Peter Griffiths campaigned on an openly racist message, or the Seventies, with the rise of the National Front, or the BNP's heyday early this century, have we seen an election so dominated by group hatred.
This is the apparent reason:
What did our elites expect after decades of importing communities from non-democratic cultures into our country and neglecting their assimilation? This by-election result has been a long time in coming. Without determined defensive action, and the regrettable rethinking of the limits of liberalism in the face of exploitation, it could be the beginning of the end.
That is an openly racist message, although I am sure that would be denied.
So, where are we? There are three things to note.
First, the attacks on the Greens are going to be staggeringly vitriolic, hostile, and abusive and most likely racist, whilst also potentially inciting violence. Reform and Restore will bith do this, but you can be sure the Tories and Labour will join in. The right wing now has a common foe in the Greens in England, Plaid Cymru in Wales and the SNP in Scotland, and they are going to let us know about it in the most profoundly unpleasant ways.
Second, the means Greens and independence parties are going to need support to withstand the attacks being made on them. This is not just electoral support. It is expressions of real human concern that will matter to show that there is real community solidarity for those who are standing up for people, decency, hope and the chance of a future, which all those parties collectively seek to deny us through their policies of denial on our shared humanity, and our shared need to live together in harmony on this planet. We need to collectively show our support for decency when it's very likely to be absent from the rhetoric of many in politics from hereon.
Third, there is pressure on all these parties to get their ducks in a row now. They cannot be at the mercy of fortune, and that means sound economic policy is, above all else, necessary. As I show in this morning's video, we already live in an economy whose workings can only be explained using modern monetary theory. It's time for them all to get their heads around this fact and robustly defend the possibility that opens up. Nothing else can do that.
We hav e to deal with a new world of toxic politics. But if we do not, things will get very much worse.
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What was it Tom Lehrer said in his introduction to the song ‘Folk Song Army’
It takes a certain amount of courage to get up in a coffee house or a college auditorium and come out in favor of the things that everybody else in the audience is against, like peace and justice and brotherhood and so on.
Yes he was being sarcastic but it now is starting to apply for real to The Greens and others
One party you didn’t mention are the Lib Dems. Will they line up with Conservatives and Labour?
They seem stuck in neo-liberalism lite as it were but some of the people in local parties are open to MMT.
In a time when old certainties are collapsing a new alignment is possible, if not probable.
But I share your view we are going to see a lot of the politics of the gutter.
There are good LibDems
But the core is neoliberal
I suspect many ‘good’ Lib-Dems will, like me, be looking for a new home in the Greens.
Good to meet you today
Yes -or more often perhaps, just don’t know how the system works.
Mr Simons edited the Jewish Chronicle, from 2021-2025, so the bar is low with regard to journalistic standards, (as judged objectively, by upheld press regulatory complants).
Ah – that fits. My wife, who is Jewish, describes the Jewish Chronicle as “vile” and “unsupportable”.
Paul
Simons is a fanatical Zionist/Israel lobbyist and one of many on the right who have turned the oppression of the Palestinians into a defence of western values from radical Islam.
I’m sure he’s cheering on the US/Israel assault on Iran.
You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.
But, seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there’s
no occasion to.
Humbert Wolfe
🙂
Perhaps the Daily Telegraph should ask people why they voted Green rather than surmising. I’m planning to vote Green and so are a number of my friends. We are all white, non Muslim and sick of the racist rhetoric being peddled by the other parties. We also want a better country where public services work and failing private services are put back into public ownership. None of the traditional parties are going to do this.
We saw all of this before with Jeremy Corbyn after 2019. It worked then, but I’m not sure it will work this time.
First, they can’t throw anti-semitism at Zak. Looks like it’s going to be he’s too pro-Muslim, but as a gay Jewish man who wants to decriminalise drugs, it’s a hard sell to label him as pro sharia law.
Second, unlike Corbyn, he won’t have a significant section of his own party trying to undermine him (I hope).
Third, everyone has seen this before and I think people are more aware of what is happening.
And finally, although they did tarnish Corbyn, even with everything they threw at him he maintained more appeal than Starmer ever did.
But, we all need to do our bit to counter the upcoming press offensive. They attack because they are seriously worried, remember that!
Thanks
Then is the Telegraph suggesting that a group of intolerant, anti-democratic, Muslim men mysteriously chose to order their oppressed wives to vote for a young, independent, unmarried, female candidate, who represents a party with an openly gay Jewish leader, and that’s how the Greens cheated their way to success?
Life can be very confusing, sometimes, can’t it?
Daily Mail front page Wednesday, ‘Beware of the Green Menace’.
Daily Mail front page today, Saturday, ‘Rise of the Green Menace’
The Mail supported the Nazis
The Daily Telegraph (along with the Daily Mail) is the tory’s daily “newspaper”. But what is this I see, the tories lost their deposit – apparently the worst result in a very very long time. I wonder why that could be? The reaction of the MSM is predictable. Accusations of fraud (family voting) with the implication that it was lots of muslim families collectively voting Green. Hmm, let’s see: Green’s led by a gay jewish chap, whose MP is a white, single female plumber & the party wants to legalise some drugs. Yes, I can see how muslims would vote for such a party (leaving out all the other policies – which would give them a reason for doing so). The MSM never wonders how they know how muslims vote. It is pathetic to see the MSM trying to generate a narrative with respect to an event that they did not expect. Doubtless, the Greens will soon be accused of wanting to intro sharia law or some such.
Your last sentence is very true.
The new world of toxic politics.
Tommy Robinson tours the State Department, as an honoured guest of the Trump administration.
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/trumps-embrace-tommy-robinson-extreme-become-4260270?ico=most-popular
I we are truly moving from a two party system to a five party system (where each party gets between 15% and 25% of the vote) a Reform/Conservative coalition might not have enough seats to form a government, but the Greens, Lib Dems and the rump of Labour MPs (hopefully all members of the Campaign Group) who survive the inevitable cull in 2029 may be able to cobble together a progressive majority with Zack in pole position to be PM.
What might help to guide them all in the right (sorry, left) direction would be if you could bring together a meeting of minds with other academics you respect you form a think tank to rival James Meadway’s ‘Verdant’ group to promote the economics of care more widely?
Discussions will happen
I am afraid the Telegraph is doing what it has always done. They will be joined by the rest of the press and media and the Tories and yes Labour too (more coffin nails). They are reverting to type and they will use every dirty trick in the book to sow fear and distrust. They will lie and cheat and sink to the lowest depths imaginable. They have no other choice because they cannot win a debate based on truth and factual analysis. We saw a little of the vitriol during the lead up to the bi election vote and resulting autopsy, but that will be nothing to what is to come. We have to be ready to counter all the lies and inuendo’s. For the Tories and Labour is a struggle for their very existence – Interesting Times, so much so I wonder how many left leaning Labour members will leave the party?