{"id":87075,"date":"2025-10-28T07:40:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T07:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=87075"},"modified":"2025-10-28T07:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T07:40:15","slug":"racism-is-now-being-called-out-calling-out-fascism-must-be-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/10\/28\/racism-is-now-being-called-out-calling-out-fascism-must-be-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Racism is now being called out: calling out fascism must be next"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Guardian has suddenly decided that Reform MP Sarah Pochin\u2019s comments about Black and Asian people on television lets them describe what she said as racist.<\/p>\n

Zoe Williamson has written about it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So has Jason Okundaye<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sketch writer John Crace has noted<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Even Keir Starmer called them racist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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:<\/p>\n

\n

The characteristics of fascism<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Political Power and Control<\/b><\/p>\n