Flag bearers, marchers- these are your (white) people…

[Dannydevitoiloveyourart]

AIBU to think that if you attended the Unite the Kingdom rally and/or displayed English flags because Tommy Robinson told you to- the racists in the linked video are your people and you are either a racist or complicit with racism.

A black YouTuber went in disguise to the rally and had no difficulties finding racists happy to openly air their views:

My husband often hears similar comments to those in the video from ordinary local white people who feel comfortable and mistake him as one of them, but don’t realise he’s married to a brown person.

Just because you agree with the views of a racist organisation or cause on a single issue, does not make it ok to join that racist organisation or cause. In the same way believing in a free Palestine does not make it ok to join Hamas.’ Dissatisfaction with post WW1 reparations and sanctions did not make it ok for Germans to endorse the Nazi party. Anger about economic policies does not make it ok for Americans to vote Trump. If you want to join those causes over a single issue, you should admit that you are in fact a terrorist/ racist/ xenophobic.

YABU- it’s unfair to call someone racist just because they have marched with Tommy Robinson or hung flags in support of his movement

YANBU- you cannot support a racist/xenophobic movement without actually being racist/ xenophobic

You know as well as I do that many people on that march were there to tell Starmer and his nasty bunch of cronies where to get off.

What the fuck does Starmer have to do with the rise in undocumented migrants? That's down to the Tories and all the dickheads who voted for them and voted for brexit. Protest against them. I get that for most people in that fascist riot, it would mean protesting against themselves. So, do that. Let them protest against their own fucking stupidity and leave the rest of us alone. Sick to the back teeth of the useless bovine lot of them.

Including chants like ‘get your tits out for the lads!’ as I seem to remember seeing a recording of at one of these rallies, which I think was unite the kingdom actually. Yes, they sure care about women and girls 😂😂

Yes, it's strange how many people knocking Remain for 'Project Fear' are now agitating against the consequences of Brexit.

Those nasty, all powerful Furriners!

They've literally got what they asked for. Turns out it isn't solving all their life problems. Who knew?

Tommy Robinson is not a racist.

EU countries are having the same issues too (rapid immigration and a push- back against it), as are non-EU countries. It's not due to Brexit.

@Lonelycrab thank you

I actually saw that kick off from a different angle on the day. This is Northumberland Avenue is it? It looked much worse from the video I was watching. But the one you've linked to, that is nowhere near 1000s of people being violent.

happy to agree to disagree but your comment jumped out at me because I could not imagine thousands of people being violent at this protest in particular and it not being commented on - it would have been absolutely all over the press if it was thousands of people.

I have no agenda here, by the way

I watched that protest in quite a fearful way because I had no idea what might happen

As it stands, I'm relieved that it wasn't what I thought it might be

I'm obviously aware that there are actual full on racist ethno nationalists around who want me out of the country purely because of the colour of my skin. Or who might even kill me.

But from what I can gauge without actually being there, this is not the majority of people who were at this event.

isn't this just another way of saying "racism is more acceptable if people are polite and calm when they do it" though?

Sorry but as a second generation (brown) immigrant who has worked here all my life and paid taxes, you’re wrong.

Everyone in my family, including the older generation who moved here, are university educated and have jobs that reflect this. I would say I’m extremely integrated, although I find it hard to respond to this in a meaningful way because who decides what it means? What do you mean it?

Regardless, I’ve been told so many times to go back where I came from. Some people may feel the way you do but it’s disingenuous to pretend everyone does. Especially when those people are attending a march that was held by a known far-right racist. It seems unlikely that the average person who is worried about immigration isn’t going to decide to go support Tommy Robinson at his march, given his very public views (and yes- if you go to his march, you’re supporting him).

I didn't say it was on par - just pointing out that it happens.

Using the nazi/race comments as slurs is incredibly dangerous.
When I read these types of comments, I think of the famous quote that the devil's greatest trick is to make you believe he doesn't exist. But if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck...

I saw this video. Shocking that someone with a father from Mauritius can hold these views. For me, YANBU. I know Tommy Robinson is a racist and I don’t want to be or know anyone who is associated with him, his marches or his views. Even a broken clock is right twice a day but if you hold the same views as someone like that, you should probably do some reflection.

Bringing up something that happened centuries ago is irrelevant. We are in the current times and using slurs is being seen for what it is. Stop using them to incite violence.

Brexit has virtually nothing to do with the increase in migration. No, we didn’t return people under the Dublin agreement (took more in than the tiny numbers who were ever turned under it).
Brexit has at least stoped the ‘marry a random European’ scam.

When did the people of the UK vote for massive inward immigration?

OP. Can you agree that non racist people can have concerns about mass immigration and the small boats nonsense?
Can you agree that people can join a march without agreeing with everyone else on the march?

If it makes me racist to want border control then so be it,we can’t go to Muslim countries and build churches yet there are over 2000 here,illegal migration is bleeding this country dry,fyi I don’t like Tommy Robinson,how does he get his money?

It was the predicted result of Brexit, surely?

I can think that sometimes people join in things they don’t fully agree with for a bigger unifying cause. I can’t imagine marching alongside a known violent, racist thug ever, for anything, as such an association is a step too far for any decent person.
If you have issues with immigration form your own non racist lobbies, marches etc, though do those for Parliament and not outside hotels. Standing outside hotels telling those inside to go home and slinging racist slurs is abhorrent, and only reiterates the opinion you are actually racist.
The people I saw on the March in London and at a hotel last week were people Seig Heiling, telling us they hoped us (or our children) got raped and throwing stuff, unreasonably right wing and racist imo. If I had been the quiet one at the back of those protests, that apparently everyone was (odd) I’d have been disgusted and gone home to review more reasonable options than following this gang of grifting racists.
You sit down with rats and get up with fleas is very true. Disassociate from these known racists and maybe your ‘concerns’ will be taken more seriously.

I find this very odd, because I (a white British person), and most of my white British friends I speak to about the issue, have concerns about population numbers on our smallish island, but all of us do what we can by volunteering and working and even going on protests to support sustainability, alleviate poverty, save the NHS, increase social housing, etc..
Not one of us has considered rallying in support of the founder of EDL to listen to racist conspiracy theories as a solution. Why on earth would we, if we're not racist conspiracy theorists?

No, I don’t agree that you can join a march organised by a known extremist, racist and criminal without it saying something about your own views.

Feel free to endorse or rally with whoever you choose. But I will equally feel free to interpret your endorsement of Tommy Robinson and his kind in the most obviously sensible way. The simplest explanation is often the truth. You and others on this thread are tying yourself in knots trying to separate your support of Tommy Robinson’s movements from what he stands for.

Would you join a march about immigration if was organised by a Neo-Nazi party? If so, why? If not, why?

Yet again calling a large group of people Nazis and racists 🙄 Don’t you realise this is what is driving people to hate the current government?

You could have googled before posting. Many Muslim counties have churches -‘some, such as Egypt, Syria and Turkey, have thousands of them. Others, such as Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE, have historically and architecturally signifiant churches.

When you say Muslim counties, do you mean Saudi Arabia?

Who called anyone a Nazi?

A lot of black and Asian people are racist as fuck. That’s a fact no one wants to talk about.