Westminster: Brexit is the hard right's weapon of mass distraction

[BigChocFrenzy]

The fervour and divisions over Brexit have suspended normal party politics.

The staggering incompetence & unsuitability of Corbyn as a leader, together with the resulting impotence of Labour has removed the normal checks & balances in UK politics.
There is a vaccum where the Official Opposition should be, so Theresa May is under pressure only from her right.

I fear Thereas May and the Tory rightwing are taking advantage of Brexit to complete the destruction of the post-WW2 social contract and the welfare state.

Meanwhile, the constraints of civilised discourse have been loosened and those with racist or social Darwinist views now feel free to spout their poison openly.

Putin is pouring petrol on all the fires and Arron Banks is lurking < sinister emoticons required >

Zoe Williams:
"Behind a smokescreen of bogus patriotism, ideologically driven cuts to the NHS and all our public services are unpicking the bonds of nationhood"

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/05/brexit-theresa-may-falklands-war-nhs-cuts

"We should be marching against the crisis in adult social care, the closure of care homes, the systematic exploitation of carers, the £4.6bn cut from social care budgets this decade.
We should be .... asking:

“What exactly is the plan, if we’ve decided we can no longer afford to care for the elderly and the disabled?
What do we do with them instead?”

"We should be marching against cuts in education funding"

"Every morning we wake up to someone on the radio explaining, despairingly, that you can’t fix the hospital bed crisis until social care is fixed, and you can’t fix that until council tax brings in more, and it can’t bring in more because wages are too low."

"But when everything breaks at the same time, that is not a coincidence: it is a plan.

As surely as Margaret Thatcher had an economic plan on employment, rights, industry and wages,
this century’s Conservatives have a plan on public services, which is to smash them beyond all recognition."

The script has already been given this morning, so I'll go back to not validating those anymore.

can you hear the drums
Jo Maugham's latest take.

I would like to add the far left to that

No I have regularly disagreed with redpoll

I don't know if you wre a racist, but I know for damn fucking certain that you are a colossal hypocrite.

Bigchoc.... see what I mean?

I think the fact that you wish to use her disgusting and brutal murder as a political weapon, shows just how morally bankrupt you are.

Actually I remember at the time of her murder there was actually very little connection made between the 2 here outwardly. What I do remember was the influx of posters who were soon to depart (to start up their Trump desks?) coming on and making it very clear that to attempt to link the 2 would be "morally bankrupt" etc and shutting down any potential discussion.

So no comment at all is permitted about the murder of Jo Cox apart perhaps from inane remarks about gun control or crazy loners, and we must imagine her murderer was living in a personal and political vacuum, had no material on any right wing fringe groups in his possession, did not believe mainstream media, the left, or liberals were responsible for the world's problems, and did not choose his victim because of any particular political context at all. Remarks on the murder of Jo Cox and questions on how it could be compartmentalised by Leave voters are 'disgusting' because it was perhaps an uncomfortable reminder of an underbelly many people would prefer not to think about.

How do Leavers square wanting what is best for Britain with dismissal of the considered opinions of the derided experts about what is best for Britain?

Oh fgs... I am not going to waste any more time on this.

Bigchoc it has been nice meeting you.

Thegruffalowswife Wed 08-Mar-17 09:54:34
If a crazy eu fanatic had (god forbid) done in someone like DC. Would it have changed your mind on the future of britain in the eu? I doubt it.

It absolutely would, but the fact is, that would have been a really, really unlikely event. The EU was after all accused of being dull, tedious, uninspiring, completely failing to engender even the smallest glint in anyone's eye. Voting to Remain was portrayed as a question of very dry calculation. It was actually derided as such.

The Leave idea otoh, lit something of a fire. Unfortunately.

Oh fgs... I am not going to waste any more time on this.

Of course you're not gruffalow. What's the next name to be?

True banana and math. Not to mention it was a political murder. Though a judge said that, and they're experts so...

We must keep saying that Jo Cox was murdered by a fascist, who received the same kind of incitement from far right sites as Islamic terrorists receive from IS sites.

These terrorists share similar apocalyptic visions and fear all those who are different.

There are psychological similarities between such terrorists that there don't seem to be from nationalist terrorists with limited, non-racist & non-religious aims, like the IRA or ETA.

Absolutely bigchoc

totally agree bigchoc.

Jo Cox was murdered by a right wing terrorist. Yes, a right wing terrorist with mental health issues - but still one considered to have capacity to stand trial.

You can either classify all terrorists with mental health issues as sick people not representative of their political or religious groups, or none of them; you don't get to pick and choose (well, you can pick and choose, but you'll get called out for it).

Realistically it is probably better to call these people what they are - terrorists - while acknowledging that some vulnerable people are attracted to and exploited by other extremists.

Hashi that article is zooming in one thing I have noticed TM doing.
She is rarely stating clearly what is her aim or wished outcome. Instead she is putting little things in place wo much fuss. She is making small comments that as such aren't that important.
But when the time is right, everything is in place to do whatever she has decided.

All the comments lighlogyted in that article point towards that. It is scary IMO.

gruffalo I agree with you that a lot of Leave voters are not xenophobic. That's shown by the number of people that do NOT want eu citizens to be deported in masses.
However, I think it's worth remembering that, until recently, there was NO opposition to whatever TMhas been doing, incl from (more moderate??) Leave voters and politicians and have never wanted a WTO agreement or the extremely strict immigration control that TM wants to introduce. Very few voices have been heard during and after the referendum about how Nigel ideas were completely unacceptable.
There hasn't even been much talk about simply applying the law against racism etc... when some politicians have done some talks.
I believe this is why some people have been putting everyone in the same bag - the one that says that more or less all Leave voters are xenophobic. Because they didn't stand against that iyswim??

Having said that, i fully agree with BigChoc. What we need now is to pull together in the same direction. I wish more people would wake up to what is happening and all the dangers signs flashing around us.
For me this is the SAHM than we talk about EU citizens in the uk or Brits in the EU. Now is the time to show we are here and to say that sending everyone back home is not acceptable. Not when the rules will have been set by TM and the EU countries and there will be no going back.
In the same way, now is the time to do something about how Brexit is handled instead of giving full power to TM. Doing something when agreement will be more or less signed will be too late.
Just as the March of 25th march to 'stay in Europe' is coming really really too late. Attaché,net to Europe and how important it is should have been shown months and months ago. Not now when it is actually more an hindrance as we are ready to start negociations with the EU.

Gruffalow

Ahh it seems I have been too long typing to catch gruffalo

red yes indeed. Very insidious work from TM.

Don't worry peppers, s/he'll be back

Lol at the 'low' in Gruffalow

Thank you for the thread BigChoc. Have nc, apologies to add to the constant stream of new nn on these threads.

"The majority agreed with nigel that we needed to leave the eu."

We don't need to 'leave' the EU at all.

We need to stay in the European Union, strengthen the EU and vote for intelligent, capable and committed MEPs.

We need British politicians to engage competently with the EU and lead not leave the EU so that we can influence future strategies and policies to promote our national interests.

We need to campaign for businesses to cease advertising in hate sheets such as Fail, Sun, Express etc. Because it is the emotive shit stirring by the tabloid press that is disseminating misinformation and dividing our country and sustaining the myth of 'them' and 'us'. According to studies readers of The Sun, Express, and Daily Mail voted for Brexit fell for their lies.

We need outstanding education for all children.
Sadly the Tories are going to divide the country further, no doubt aided by the British tabloid, significantly cutting funding for 90% of schools in England and reintroducing GS. Obviously the rhetoric of "the superior white Brit with a 21st century empire (Empire 2.0) to look forward to" will never become reality however that doesn't stop many people from lapping up such supremacist ideology as, sadly, they have little else to value and be proud of.

Gruffolow We don't need to leave the EU, no, that's really the very last thing this country needs to be 'great' again.

Fascism has always worked by bigging up ordinary people and telling them that their nationality and race are the distinguishing factors that 'make them great' or lead meaningful lives. What a silly and simplistic but popular an powerful myth. Uneducated people who have little knowledge of history keep lapping this up. What would infinitely improve the British population's lives and well-being is a functioning NHS and an excellent education system. Not bigotry and believing in the fascist fairy.

HashiAsLarry The Brexiteers can bang their drums. But Parliament need not dance to their beat

Good piece, thanks. If this wasn't so serious it would be fascinating.
Hope our grand kids get to read these posts! Including the breitbart boys and girls.

Our constitution, prized for its flexibility could or could not be the winner here.

The 'today' programme flagged up that Hesseltine could lead the revolt.

Cheers everyone, and thanks again BigChoc.

We must keep saying that Jo Cox was murdered by a fascist, who received the same kind of incitement from far right sites

and funding.
These creatures piss in the same pot.

Rumours, and I emphasise rumours here, abounding that TM wants the whip removed for Tory rebels voting against her over Brexit.

If true, I find myself torn at how she's trying to tie MPs hands against doing what's best for the country and thinking this could be the easy way for the moderate Tories to split now. She must be fairly confident they're all too chicken though, as she'd massively lose her majority.

Wow Hashi

BCF I agree, we need to focus on:

^Build bridges and try to make common cause between Remainers and moderate Leavers, to lobby for an EEAA / EFTA Brexit, which would be the least damaging.
To campaign jointly for the rights of E27 expats in the UK
And against the cuts to the nhs, schools, benefits and welfare services that May is making while Brexit is distracting everyone^.

At least the first two of these elements are now supported by:

SF, SNP, Lib Dems, Greens, Remain Labour ( check out Chuka in you inbox) and now Heseltine's Tories, as well as the MEPs who are battling our corner in Dublin and Europe

Quite a group.

Thanks for the delicious feminist chocolate, BCF !