Fascism doesn't arrive in fancy dress...

[Batmanisaplaceinturkey]

"I sometimes fear that
people think that fascism arrives in fancy dress
worn by grotesques and monsters
as played out in endless re-runs of the Nazis.

Fascism arrives as your friend.
It will restore your honour,
make you feel proud,
protect your house,
give you a job,
clean up the neighbourhood,
remind you of how great you once were,
clear out the venal and the corrupt,
remove anything you feel is unlike you...

It doesn't walk in saying,
"Our programme means militias, mass imprisonments, transportations, war and persecution."

By Michael Rosen

michaelrosenblog.blogspot.com/2014/05/fascism-i-sometimes-fear.html?m=1

I acknowledge the Rotherham grooming gang with mainly Pakistani male perpetrators.
But sexual abuse of children is NOT linked to any faith or ethnicity. It happens where perpetrators can get away with it.

You might find this useful.

Data is only just beginning to be collected so it is very early days and the picture may change as more data is collected. But here is some initial data on the ethnicity of group offenders and their victims. Lots of caveats apply, so it is important to read the report in the link.

https://www.hydrantprogramme.co.uk/publications/hydrant-publications#LatestNews

Not just Rotherham though, was it?

Rotherham
Bradford
Derbyshire
Huddersfield
Oxford
Telford
Bristol
Birmingham

Not sure if there’s more, that’s not an exhaustive list.

Data schmata.

The rise of the far right very clearly began under the Tories, exacerbated by the lasting damage to our economy done by Brexit, the shameful breakdown of our public services under Tory austerity, and the mounting negative rhetoric around immigration without any actual action to control it. The re-emergence of Trump in the US has no doubt given Farage an additional boost.

Whether you like it or not, Labour hasn't been in power long enough for the blame to be placed at their door just yet. These issues are unquestionably the Tory legacy.

However, the Labour Party is in charge now and they will absolutely need to be held accountable at the next election for whatever actions that they have taken and for whatever outcomes they have achieved. The real question for me is whether they actually have any long term vision and plan - and that remains to be seen. I'm not too worried about them making themselves unpopular in the short term if they eventually prove themselves capable of actually turning things around over the next few years - they have a huge majority after all - but it's hard to see what the strategy is right now. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt right now because there isn't a better alternative. But I'm not very optimistic about any of them to be honest, and with the geopolitical situation as it is, I fear for what the future holds.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves it's not about if I 'like it or not' the jump is clearly there.

From 14% at GE to 27% now

It's a fast rise but still within those 7 months.

If anyone asks why such a quick rise? I think it's easy to guess what it is about Labour's policies that people are reacting to.

If only more people, in particular the politicians, realised this.

?

What do you think would happen exactly if more people did realise this?

What do you think they would do differently?

The way I see it is we can’t have quality services anymore because our level of need now outstrips what can be financially provided. Half the public are overweight or obese, a quarter of working age people don’t work, a fifth of school pupils have special educational needs, and we are spending £285 billion a year on the welfare state (half of this is pensions). We now spend more on disability benefits than our total military expenditure, and evidence suggests this isn’t even linked to NHS waiting lists.

I think we need to be realistic about what we can afford, because the above indicates we are very far up shit creek financially.

Ultimately there is no magic wand that can be waved to make this all go away. We can’t just keep taxing the ever dwindling pool of working people to support everyone else. Most people are good people and are happy for some of their taxes to go toward supporting others, but not the lions share, and this isn’t selfish.

I think ‘the right’ in general will continue to flourish as what they advocate for - a smaller state, lower taxes, greater individual responsibility - will be wildly attractive to your average earning person who is feeling quite taken advantage of right now.

Entirely true and well put. Some of the solutions to these problems as you rightly say aren't going to be popular. The obesity issue especially. Quite how we teach some people who neither they nor their parents learned that home cooked food is more economical and healthier, I don't know.

The other 'elephant in the room' is to what degree we support beyond our own population. When net migration is high and people are seeing hotels with non working migrants, you can understand frustration. This is why Trumps America first approach has the support it does. Thinking like this should be the rule rather than the exception it has become.

I would hope the politicians would make some changes to keep themselves employed! As in make the changes that the people want.

Not likely to happen, as politicians are only interested in ling their own pockets.

Research is generally no longer carried out to try try work out what is true. It is commissioned to legitimise policies that have already been decided upon. It can no longer be relied on to settle disputes.

We need to properly acknowledge that none of the parties have a magic wand, and that there will always be compromises that have to be made. Once we have properly digested that fact, and once politicians on all sides start being brave enough to be honest about it, we might actually start being able to make some informed choices about which compromises are acceptable to us and which are unpalatable.
Unfortunately it's become quite clear that people are not able to understand that. They hear that there are choices to be made but they don't believe it, they have an alternative reality where everything is possible. To be elected you need to appeal to people's inner chimp... Honestly, we never learn. The lessons from the 30s have been completely lost. This "enemy within" shit has given me such a chill. Utterly depressing.

The fact that many posters have descended into the "oH but tRaNs" and "oH bUt wHaT about the pAKiStaNi rApe GaNgs" prove my point really, that Fascism has already made great headway by weaponising lack of critical thinking. I'm GC and a feminist but certain threats have been hugely inflated in order to create a big distraction. The far right DO NOT care about prevention of sexual assault or protecting women's spaces. Its a masquerade.

This reiterates my earlier point, that posters such as you think only left wing beliefs can be sincerely held - right wing views are always an ‘agenda/masquerade’.

It’s a neat way of the left wing side stepping concerns, by saying ‘well they’re not true concerns so I won’t validate them by addressing it..’

I also think the left have an inflated sense of how many people agree with them, partly due to social media, partly due to the culture they created of people being unable to speak about concerns regarding immigration/gender identity/etc in public, for fear of being branded a bigot. All the views stewed underground for years and have morphed into the three headed monster that is Trump, Musk and Reform.

Such a shame, if immigration and woke identity politics had been addressed properly 20 years ago, we would never have reached this point today.

Oh, please say how you've been victimised and oppressed by people who are against bigotry towards LGBTQ.

I could do with a laugh.

Also - maybe put your copy of the Daily Mail down and do a bit of reading about what fascism is. (hint - it doesn't generally involve support for minorities)

Are you blaming the left for fascism?

If the left had blamed immigrants and transgender people more for everything that's shit about this country, we wouldn't have Reform/Trump/Musk?

The thing is - the left isn't going to put the blame on immigrants and transgender people if they don't think they're responsible for the UK's problems, are they?

@ARealitycheck

"When net migration is high and people are seeing hotels with non working migrants"

I live half a mile away from two migrant hostels.

But unlike Reform idiots, I know that asylum applicants aren't actually allowed to work while they're having their claims processed.

I also know that the majority of people who are claiming asylum come from countries that I'd rather saw my own feet off than live in, namely Afghanistan, Iran and Syria. I know that most of these people are coming from countries where there is terrible oppression and whose economies have been destroyed by decades of conflict.

So I can acknowledge that migration is a thorny problem, and is for most countries in the west, but it doesn't make me hate and resent asylum seekers. Because I'm not a stupid, nasty arsehole.

Maybe I'd be more full of hate for these people l if I spent all day reading articles and comments in the right wing media and on social media which frame all of these migrants as dangerous, lazy, scrounging sex offenders. Because that's what your average right wing voter is doing.

It doesn’t matter what the left thinks, it matters what the electorate thinks. If you neglect their concerns, then you end up with undesirable election results.

It's like the snake that eats its own tail. The electorate voted for Labour, they got over 400 seats, Reform got 5.

It does wear silly red baseball caps though.
It does come as a cult.
It does come with a straight arm salute.

Some recent observations.

Currently the largest group of migrants seeking asylum come from either Vietnam, Moldova, Romania & Albania. None of these have anything like the issues the Countries you mention have.

I very much want to be able to help those genuinely fleeing terror like Syria, Afghanistan etc because it is the right thing to do.

The above nationals I mention are economic migrants and not a positive for the UK. If anything they take funds and services from the people from real war torn countries that truly deserve our help.

Labour - 9.7 million votes
Reform - 4.1 million votes

Reform didn’t exist until 2018. If you want to put your fingers in your ears and mutter ‘Labour won the election’ to yourself, then that’s the kind of denialism that has lead to the mess we’re in today.

The facts remain the same whether you want them to or not. Labour has over 400 seats and Reform do not represent the electorate.

Start another petition.