Many women in this country are so fed up with far right narratives, which act to promote fake news about immigrants for the sake of making British women feel safe, that they have formed a new action group. The launch meeting of the new campaign, Women against the far-right, aired a number of very interesting, relevant threads and exposed the paradox for what it is.
Racist narratives are toxic and dangerous. They embolden the far right to be yet more racist and violent under the guise of their ‘mission’ to make the UK safer for women.
It is simply unjustifiable to categorise all immigrants as bad, just because one individual commits a crime.
Enough is enough. If women do not call out this racism now, the worse it will get.
Far too many politicians act upon these narratives in terms of official discourse and policies.
Far right groups are not officially in office, but their noises are misdirecting official policy with the examples in recent months of labour leadership parroting Farage.
Dangers of fake news and fictions
Dianne Abbott, MP, pointed out just how dangerous these lies are. Granted Britain is not in such a dangerous position as the US, which allows gun ownership. In the US, narratives spurred extremists to shoot dead an innocent black.
The paradox of the right’s relationship to women should be made clear
The far right tends to be hostile to women, who they believe should not be given control over their fertility, do not deserve equal pay and many go so far as favouring forms of sexual harassment including male banter.
Racist violence and domestic abuse often go hand in hand. 40% of men arrested in violent riots by the MET police in London had a record of convictions for domestic violence!
Bell Ribeiro Addy, MP, pointed out that right wing men did not march in protest when a MET police officer was convicted of the murder of Sarah Everard. It seems to be a different matter if the man who commits a crime is an immigrant.
Women’s football
When women try to muscle in on male dominated areas of influence, trouble starts.
Britain is very proud of the achievements of the Lionesses, who continue to inspire younger women to take up a sport that was once denied to them. A group of Chinese girls playing football minding their own business faced abusive attacks by a group of teenage boys in Islington, who interfered with their game, hurled balls and assaulted one young woman.
“I’ve never, never experienced something like that,” said Lele, who has lived in the UK for three years.
“They tried to keep attacking us because we were the only women there and we were obviously non-locals by our appearance. It was really upsetting,” she said, adding that other men’s teams playing on neighbouring pitches did nothing to help..
“It’s what happens on the pitch and in real life too[…] They keep hassling and making your space smaller.”
Other women’s teams have reported similar incidents.
The irony of it all and the dangers of rage
Apsana Begun, MP, discussed the female asylum seekers fleeing to Britain and elsewhere who are more often than not victims of domestic violence. Some also escape the trauma of female genital mutilation carried out as a cultural practice.
Traumatising innocent women anywhere won’t solve the cost of living crisis, fix the problems in the NHS and social care.
Grace Blakely, economist, pointed out we live in a society in which men and boys are being angered by the far right and it is very important to see this within the context of the rise of fascism, both in the present and in history.
“It smells a bit like the 1930s” (Shami Chakrabarti)
The economic stagnation from lack of investment, the Covid crisis and unstable economy has left 26% of people struggling to live on their current incomes. The current status quo is weighted towards an economy that supports the rich. Thatcherism destroyed both service provision and the feeling of solidarity people once had. People feel powerless and often react in one of two ways – disengagement where they switch off from politics, or enragement, where they turn to violence.
They draw strength from a powerful leader figure who makes promises and funnels their anger towards certain ‘undesirable’ groups. The far right turn those who are the subjects of their scorn into a threat, using rage felt by ordinary people against them. ‘Take back control’ and flag waving signals helps the fascist groups, the elites, to gain power. Hitler used this strategy during the holocaust.
The antidote is truth, particularly providing evidence that there is a better solution for problems than violent discrimination.
Drumming up rage for political purposes does nothing to make women in the UK feel safe.
Racist narratives led to the murder of MP, Jo Cox
School education opportunities, drastically reduced by a lack of resources, mean that schools don’t have enough time to teach children critical thinking. Financial cuts deprive children of more positive activities like sport, dance and music. Instead, they spend time on the internet.
Many young boys turn to violence and misogyny inspired by online influencers, such as Andrew Tait and others. There is a drive online to ‘steal’ children’s imaginations. These groups aim to convince young men that their opportunities for success and being stolen by immigrants.
A healthy more balanced environment with opportunities for children going forward is vital.
The anti-human rights rhetoric
This thread is particularly dangerous and is one which the far right exploits to the max. The anti-human rights rhetoric has even spread to the government. Yet human rights are vital for us to be safe on the streets, in our homes and even in a police station.
Women have massively benefitted from regulations of the ECHR where they are unfortunate victims of domestic violence and other crimes. Pulling the plug on that would be ludicrous.
Freedom of speech
Far right groups have appropriated the right to free speech for themselves and their own purposes.
True freedom of speech is a two – way street. Far right figures fail to defend the free speech and rights to protest of climate change activists. The right to protest is enshrined in the ECHR.
The far right is very quick to dismiss any socialist policy or comment as ‘woke’.
Claiming history (or even re-writing it) for your own purposes is another patriarchal narrative strategy.
Women need to show the far right that their rhetoric and acts of violence will not be tolerated, preferably in large numbers. Members of the government are not calling out the lies loudly enough. It is up to women in Britain to take on that task, isolate the fascists and push the divisive discourse out of the mainstream.
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