A white and red rose on Jo Cox's empty seat in the House of Commons, London, as MPs gathered to pay tribute to her.July 20,2016. Press Association Wire. All rights reserved.We are witnessing a profound authoritarian shift in long-established liberal democracies around the world. The recent result of the US election is only the most dramatic illustration of this. But while we have reason to worry about Trump, grave developments are also afoot in Britain.
Since 23 June, this country has experienced one of the greatest upsurges in racism that has happened in our lifetimes. This has affected EU migrants: Poles have been attacked as “vermin”, a Czech and a Polish man were even murdered, while mothers with infants are being assaulted on the street. This October a Polish shop in Coventry, just over five miles away from Warwick’s Campus, was the victim of an arson attack that many suspect to be racially motivated. The attacks also target Black and Minority Ethnic British citizens – a painful reminder that when certain forms of racism become legitimised, its targets diversify. And since bigotry loves company, we should not be surprised that homophobic attacks have increased by 147%.
The mainstream media has colluded in the myth of immigration as the source of all the nation’s ills, with demurring voices increasingly squeezed out of the public sphere. The mainstream media has colluded in the myth of immigration as the source of all the nation’s ills, with demurring voices increasingly squeezed out of the public sphere. We see the language of the most xenophobic and far right sections of British society becoming mainstream, and statements that would have been unthinkable earlier cascading from the mouths of the political establishment.
