If the Left is to rise again, it must lift the official silence on race and culture

[Hopeless Romantic]

The EDL are using a language of libertarianism, modernity and fake inclusiveness. They know what they are doing

Today a bunch of racist hooligans will march in Luton. They are simply stupid men in casual sportswear, and nothing to do with anyone who reads this paper. The English Defence League is just a revamped version of the BNP. Right, is that good enough? Have I passed Baroness Warsi's "dinner table test"? Have I shown that I am not an "Islamophobe" with these sentiments? I fear not. Indeed, I fear the slow response to a fast-growing movement requires more sophistication.

The EDL did not arise out of some political vacuum. They are themselves a clever, post-modern response to our muddled discourse about race, culture, identity and religion. For me to use the word "clever" about the EDL will mean I am automatically branded some kind of fascist. So batten down the hatches. I saw this week the amount of "lefty" self-congratulation floating around after the EDL leader Tommy Robinson (the man has several different aliases) appeared on Newsnight. Jeremy Paxman is back to his sneering best, even using Naughties's four-letter word about cuts. Maybe it was thought that Paxman versus a clueless thug would be the best way to destroy this organisation's credibility. But it wasn't. No one was there to stop the flow.

The man may be inarticulate (ie, working–class) but he made several sharp points that are often found in the mainstream media: about sharia law, "Muslim paedophile gangs" and the treatment of women. This was a coup for the EDL, while the chattering classes mostly amused themselves by commenting on his chavdom.


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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/feb/05/suzanne-moore-english-defence-league?INTCMP=SRCH

[T_i_B]

1. Garbled rubbish from Suzanne Moore

If the left is to rise again, we need to focus on opposing the main thrust of the current government, which is attacking the poorest and most vulnerable in society.

All too often the politics of culture and identity have come to define the left, which has had the effect of making left wing politics less relevant. The issues that are going to affect people the most at the moment arise from government spending cuts and the rise in VAT.

We need to keep opposing the EDL, who don't have anything positive to offer the working class, only hate. However, the left needs to offer something positive to the working classes itself, regardless of race or religion.

[LeftishBrit]

2. Some good points, mixed with a lot of rather self-indulgent blah-ing

'The failure of successive governments to deal with what is euphemistically called "social cohesion" is precisely what leads to extremism.'

To some extent - but even more, the failure of successive governments to find a way to deal with poverty and inequality is what leads to extremism. Plus the failure to address the right-wing propaganda of much of the media.

'Far-right movements will, of course, thrive during a recession.'

And therefore the vicious cuts programme of Osborne and the current government will lead to an increase in the dangers of the Far Right - as well as everything else that it will do.

One problem in recent politics in this country is the creation of an artificial separation between social and economic leftism/liberalism. Of course, individuals may be left on one and right on the other; but overall, IMO, we need both and they can't be fully separated. Social leftism without economic leftism is only socially left-wing for those who can afford it; the threat of severe poverty is just as coercive at that of the police state. Economic leftism without social leftism risk degenerating either into the quasi-theocratic authoritarianism of so-called communist countries, or into a xenophobic populism that tramples on minorities. The left-of-centre need to fight on *all* fronts against the Right, or risk the extension of the brutal practices of right-libertarianism on the one hand and EDL-style RW populism on the other.

Another issue is that much of the media in this country says pretty much the same things as the BNP and EDL, if sometimes in slightly prettier language. And the tabloids do have an influence. The EDL quotes quite a bit of 'mainstream' media hate on its site. While it is anti-democratic for the government to control the media, as happens in many countries, it is also anti-democratic for the media (especially media controlled by a few rich individuals who may not even live in this country) to have the influence on the government that they do here. I don't know what can be done about it - but it's a problem.



'Certainly, one of the things we need to do is to understand the new right. For the left to rise again in any meaningful way, we have to deal with the concept of Englishness, and stop the official silence around race and culture.'


I think that is a very small part of what's needed.

[T_i_B]

3. I think you've unwittingly stumbled onto the main problem

One problem in recent politics in this country is the creation of an artificial separation between social and economic leftism/liberalism. Of course, individuals may be left on one and right on the other; but overall, IMO, we need both and they can't be fully separated. Social leftism without economic leftism is only socially left-wing for those who can afford it; the threat of severe poverty is just as coercive at that of the police state. Economic leftism without social leftism risk degenerating either into the quasi-theocratic authoritarianism of so-called communist countries, or into a xenophobic populism that tramples on minorities.

All too often, we have social liberalism without economic leftism at the moment. Now that may keep borgouis Guardian writers happy but it's not really 100% relevent to most people if I'm honest. It also allows policians to drop economic justice in the belief that all they need to get away with is a bit of social liberalism here and there.

It's this state of affairs that has lead to both Tony Blair and Nick Clegg shitting on us all from a great height.

[LeftishBrit]

4. In the past...

the 'socially liberal but fiscal conservative' theme was mainly one of the centre-right: wet Tories and moderate Republicans. Who were at least very much preferable to those who were right-wing on everything! But they had an active, economically left-wing opposition. It used to be that the left and even the centre took it for granted that well-funded public services, a decent safety net, a living wage, and something approaching full employment were key principles of a good society.

In recent times, the 'fiscal conservative' theme has been taken over by a significant part of the supposed left to a greater extent than desirable. Possibly because of the decline in union influence in the Labour Party and in the country as a whole.

This is a bad thing in itself for many obvious reasons, and also because it may add to the attractions of right-wing 'populists' who, however falsely, give the impression that they can redress economic injustices, at least for white native British.

Not that social illiberalism isn't also a very big problem (both in terms of racism and xenophobia, and in terms of what in America is the religious-right and here is more a sort of moralistic bigotry personified by Melanie Phillips). But there have been times when we've seemed to have NO real economic-left opposition to Thatcherism. Maybe Miliband will reverse this.