Off Topic Politics Thread

Labour have suspended the councillor who called on the ‘anti racist protestors’ to slit the throats of the non existent far right protestors on the other side. Before immediately segueing into…you guessed it…free free Palestine.

 

Most of Finchley’s population is not Zionist, that’s absurd. And I can assure you with some confidence that at least a good few of the anti racist demonstrators last night were Jewish. The local Labour Party had several people there, and quite a few of them are Jewish.

 

@Saintjoey , perhaps you are referring to the presence of Palestinian flags at rallies as being anti Semantic. I’m not comfortable with those flags myself tbh, but I don’t think flying the flag of an oppressed nation constitutes anti Semitism

 

Yes including the MP, Sarah Sackman, who reported the materials to the police. It’s on her twitter and is very much a matter of fact, not something that is in dispute.

Finchley is home to the biggest synagogue in the country, has one of the biggest Jewish populations in the country and 94% of British Jews are Zionists. Calling for Zionists in the same breath as nazis is disgustingly inciteful given history. Calling for Zionists to be ridded from an area that is full of them is as hateful as any rhetoric I’ve seen on the other side.

It’s not hard to condemn both sides.

 

No I am most definitely not referring to that. I can assure you my threshold is very much higher than that!

 

Yeah, people feel strongly about Palestine. This does not segue automatically into anti Semitism

 

Okay, but statements like “there are bad actors on both sides” is false equivalence on a massive scale, frankly.

 

He literally said slit their throats before chanting free Palestine literally seconds after.

 

This is an example.

important to understand that this is a very Jewish area. And that attending an anti racist rally with very clearly racist intentions is pretty much not good.
If you think referring to Zionists and nazis in the same breath and calling for them to be turfed out of a Jewish area isn’t race filled hate, then I despair. I really do.

 

No. Racism and threats of violence on both sides is vile. All people of all races deserve to feel safe.

 

Agreed.

However, the false equivalence observation still stands imo, as there is a world of difference between a tiny handful of extremists infiltrating a peaceful demonstration, and a group of far right thugs assembling with only violence and destruction in mind.

It sounded very much to me as though you were likening peaceful anti racist demonstrators around the country, with the rampaging racist hooligans we’ve been witnessing this last week.

 

Anti social behaviour? I'd say lobbing stuff at police goes far beyond that tbh.

 

I’m saying there is a huge amount of antisemitism in the anti racism marches. That the same people who lament mosques closing down have protested outside synagogues on the sabbath.

Is the threat level the same? Perhaps not. But say that to children at Jewish schools who have 5 security guards at their gates for every school day or for every synagogue service.

Just because you don’t hear about that daily threat, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there and that it isn’t extremely serious and violent.

But it’s very easy to be critical of both without ifs and buts or pointless comparisons.

I abhor the far right and I stand in total solidarity with Muslims who want to pray in safety and send their kids to school in safety. Hopefully the same is true in the reverse.

 

Yeah, fair enough. I’ve noticed that synagogues have had security guards for years now, and find that very sad. There should be no place for anti Semitism, Islamophobia, or hatred of any minority in modern Britain.

 

"Lots of these anti racism counter marches" became a group called Finchley Against Fascism as reported in the local press. Not that it's any the less disturbing but using the phrase you did is implies countrywide antisemitism at these marches.

 

Well the slitting of the throats from the labour councillor is pretty much hate speech isn’t it? That was the Walthamstow one.

point taken though.

 

Fair play for that.

I have a problem with this whole sorry episode. IMO there is a serious concern across the country with regard to Muslims. If you don't want to hear that from me, read what LTL said a few days back. He covers it pretty well I think.
People have seen that the police and politicians are unwilling/afraid to confront this problem and a lot of non Muslims are frustrated, angry and in some cases frightened for their lives. The so called "two tier policing" is real and Starmer made a huge mistake in not mentioning the Leeds riots only two weeks previously. He would have been better off saying that any rioting from any group would feel the full force of the law. He said he would make sure the Muslim community would be kept safe but he hasn't given those assurances to the Jewish population. What he has done is just confirm the double standards at work.
With that in mind I'm not against full on protests so on one hand I would normally be happy to see people out on the streets protesting. But the problem I mentioned is that the people carrying the message are rioting and are racists. That of course is not their only message and genuine concerns are being lost in the hate.

Here is something you are unlikely to see on the BBC, a labour councillor no less. There are some who have chosen to defend Muslims out on the streets with machetes but advocating slitting peoples throats is a bit of a jump from protecting their property or mosques. Then there are the "peace protesters" around him cheering and clapping.



Finally, there are a number of posters here who have partners who are not white and of course one of our more popular posters in @thereisonlyoneno7. I would guess at this moment you are all feeling very uncomfortable and I'm sorry you are experiencing this. My hope for you is that this country will return to it's normally peaceful self soon.

 

Had a quick look at that. It appears to be directed at the violent rioters fascists and nazis, credit to the Labour for suspending him immediately and the police are investigating.

Seen from overseas police and local community action against the rioters was good in the face of the expected escalation. Can but hope it's an end to the current problem, time will tell.

 

I'm in a mixed marriage. living in the Netherlands. We don't feel inclined to visit family, to see some games and enjoy the best of Britain. The current level of racist rhetoric and rioting only one of the reasons.

 

I do think we need to remember that councillors are often idiots and not high ranked government officials. The number of Tory councillors who have said racist things is astronomical - and all the party can do is sack them at that point.

The throat cutting comment is just another lunatic emotional comment from someone rightly fired for it after - and the cheers are because people are taking it as a metaphor and a bit of hyperbole.

All it really tells us is this has all had its moment and people need to let it wither away.

We can have the immigration chat in a year or so when we see if the authorities are right and immigration will indeed go right back down again.