‘Donald Trump has shared a series of Islamophobic tweets from far-right extremist group Britain First, sparking condemnation for spreading its "deplorable" ideology to a global audience.’
‘His early-morning Twitter frenzy came days after Ms Fransen was arrested over a speech made at a rally in Belfast - the latest in a series of incidents over alleged hate speech, religious harrassment and incitement by Britain First members.’
‘Her account celebrated the shares, claiming that Mr Trump "himself" had retweeted the videos to almost 44 million followers around the world.’
That’s interesting company for a president of the United States to be keeping. Even Nigel Farage, the former UKIP leader and an ally of Trump, said: “I do think these videos are very bad taste and he showed poor judgment. Of that I have no doubt at all.” Speaking of the White House’s defence, he added: “I think that was a mistake. There are times when perhaps it’s better to put your hands up and say: ‘I got this wrong’ and frankly try to move on.”
'Bad taste' is putting it mildly. And the issue involves more than 'poor judgment.' There is a consistent theme in all of this, a deliberate purpose with a specific intent. The videos that Trump shared purportedly portray outrages committed by Muslim migrants in Europe. The fact that, in truth, these videos show nothing of the sort and that it doesn't matter to those spreading this message reveals what really lies behind this. In defence of Trump, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that "these are real threats that we have to talk about"."Whether it's a real video, the threat is real," she said. "Whether it's a real video ..." The facts of a case matter, otherwise truth is whatever our leaders tell us it is. And it matters when facts are being made-up to support a particular, vicious and hateful narrative that provokes tensions, whip up fear and animosity, and foster a collective hatred focused on particular groups of people.
The Netherlands Embassy in Washington DC made this statement:
"Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law."
I try hard not to comment on Trump. I’d really rather not feed the monster. His kind of politics thrives on divisive controversy, splitting complex and sensitive issues into a crude and simplistic black and white, us and them. And I loathe having to be one or the other, and thus be part of the game. This kind of politics works by simplification, caricature, reduction, distortion and vulgarization, it destroys all nuances, and goes straight for the appeal to bigotry and gut prejudice. And it works at that level. And is impossible to challenge at that level. So I try to address the issues involved at other, more constructive, levels. So to the people who deny that Trump and Trump supporters are Islamophobic, I simply ask what they make of Trump retweeting these videos from a group that, in the most neutral terms, could be described as ‘far-right?’ That’s a question for them. For the rest of us, we only need to decide whether this character is ignorant, uninformed and could care less about being informed, so long as he gets what he wants, or a clever manipulator who succeeds by division and distraction, or is precisely what his words and actions, taken as a whole, and revealing a systematic pattern reveal him to be. There is consistent prejudice here. And it is a consistent prejudice which, if unchecked, incites hatred and provokes people to do violence against other people. It’s a prejudice which fits Islamophobia like a glove. Make up your own mind whether you want to call it fascism, but it’s brutal and ugly and debases us all. It is the mirror image of the very extremism and fundamentalism they claim to oppose. And that is neither accidental nor innocent – both sides see the world in terms of an incipient conflict between Islam and the West as irrevocably opposed sides, and want to stoke it into a fully-fledged war. The fact that the overwhelming majority of people see no such division and take no such sides matters not at all to them. They see the world in terms of friends and enemies, and are concerned to force people to take sides in a conflict they do their level best to provoke and keep burning. They threaten to engulf the world in a universal conflagration, projecting their own self-hatred and bad faith upon others and the external environment. These people are ideologues who are only too quick to march us all into war – they love war, holy and unholy, and in their words and deeds, they do all that it is within their power to make their death-dealing delusions come true.
I’ve heard consistent denials from ‘America First’ supporters of Trump that they are Islamophobic in any way. But, anyone still suspending judgement, or, even, inclined to the benefit of the doubt, they need to take a thoroughly good look at themselves: the pattern is by now abundantly clear to all but the (wilfully) obscurantist. Here are people who purposely set out to turn people against one another and divide communities from within through the use hateful narratives based on lies, exaggerations, and prejudices. I said months ago that such people are fear-mongers and hate-mongers, and had to defend my views against those who denied racism and Islamophobia on their part (interestingly, I had never made such accusations, nor had other people involved ...). It is now plain enough what this character and the people who cheer him on are all about: they peddle lies, prey on fear, spread hate, and incite violence. Such people are loathsome, contemptible, and a menace to the peace of decent folk. In giving a platform to far right groups – dare we say fascist? – Trump is fomenting divisions and emboldening the worst elements in society. He is normalizing hatred, bigotry and prejudice. He and his ilk are not welcome in Britain, not in my neighbourhood.
Brendan Cox, the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox, said Mr Trump had “legitimised the far-right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours”. “Spreading hatred has consequences and the President should be ashamed of himself,” he added. That’s far too benign a view. Neither this man nor his supporters will feel shame in light of this, you just need to see Trump’s response to the mildest of rebukes from Theresa May. The issue is beyond the good manners of diplomacy – a line has clearly been crossed, and such people are threats to a decent and open society – bigotry, prejudice, and hatred cannot be given a free pass but must be checked wherever and whenever they rear their ugly heads.
Nick Ryan, of Hope Not Hate, told The Independent it was “pretty incredulous that the leader of the free world would stoop to sharing content from one of the most notorious far-right groups in the UK, which has had links to the past to Loyalists, the British National Party”.
I find it incredulous that there are people of intelligence and of religious faith who not only still refuse to condemn the man, and who refuse to see as plain a case of hate-mongering and fear-mongering as you will ever see, but actually support the man. Of course, incredulity is lost once we conclude that such people are not reasonable and not decent and not God-fearing, merely, well ... prejudiced, hate-filled, weak-minded, mean-spirited, psychologically damaged, bigoted poltroons. And such people have always been tempted by the illusion of strength and power projected by fascism. It’s pointless calling on such people to be ashamed of themselves – they take normal emotions to be a sign of weakness.
Unite Against Fascism's joint secretary, Weyman Bennett, said Mr Trump must be condemned for the “deplorable” shares. “It beggars belief that the most powerful person in the world is retweeting Ms Fransen's vile views,” he added. “Britain First rubbed shoulders with fascists in the large far-right demonstration in Warsaw, just weeks ago. They are a poisonous organisation.”
There is, of course, a need to keep some sense of perspective. The most worrying thing might not be that Trump openly flirts with the far right in politics, but that the man, president of America, is a profoundly ignorant man who is happy to play around with some dangerous ideas and forces. Under question, the White House has stated that Trump didn’t even know who Britain First activist Jayda Fransen was …
The White House defended Trump by claiming that whilst he didn’t know who Fransen was, he does know what the issues are. And so do the rest of us.
So, to those Trump supporters who denied Islamophobia on their part, and who may still deny Islamophobia, I say plainly – no dialogue is at all possible with you – you have openly identified yourselves, shown your political and ideological motivations, and no amount of appeal to fact, reason, logic and ethics is likely to shift your fear and hatred. Whether Trump knows who Britain First are, whether Trump actually knows anything, is not the issue – his willingness to believe anything and everything that conforms to his prejudices and stupidities, is all that we need to know. Here is the President of the United States using his office to normalize the vicious, divisive, hateful ideology of neo-fascism. This is bad enough coming from the lunatic fringe in the socio-economic and moral wastelands of capitalist modernity – and the failures of mainstream political parties to do anything about this is the real scandal that needs to be addressed, if we are to uproot divisions at source – but when it comes from the top, it is time to call a halt. Has Trump any decency? About as much as the people his words and actions are addressed to – maggots in the rotting flesh of capitalism. ‘But if we continue to accept these reckless, divisive outbursts as part of our normal political discourse, then we will have answered the question as to whether we have any decency left too. We will have failed yet another test.’
But the real question is one for us to answer – have we any decency? We will reply 'yes,' of course. But that begs the harder question: have we the nerve and the nous to see these characters off? Not by signing petitions and protesting, but by engaging in some radical social and political transformation so as to give people hope for the future, prospects, security, a sense of identity and belonging, a place in which difference is embraced rather than feared and resisted as a threat.
Which brings me to the words I wrote a year or so ago.
“And whilst we celebrate our diversity, the thing that surprises me time and time again … is that we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us.” (Jo Cox in parliament).
“Jo believed in a better world and she fought for it every day of her life with an energy and a zest for life that would exhaust most people. She would have wanted two things above all else to happen now – one, that our precious children are bathed in love and two, that we all unite to fight against the hatred that killed her. Hate doesn’t have a creed, race or religion, it is poisonous." (Brendan Cox, the widower of former Labour MP Jo Cox and co-founder of More In Common).
More on decency
Trump offends a decency that neither he nor his supporters can understand, a comment that should give those who believe in God, attend church and either support Trump or engage in apologetics for Trump cause for some deep soul-searching.
‘If this were a one-off, I might give President Trump the benefit of the doubt. But it’s not. Trump, from the beginning, throughout his campaign and since the election, has used hatred and bigotry to mobilise support.’
‘In short, what his track record shows is that this isn’t a mistake, it’s a strategy. The impact of this strategy is to legitimise those driven by hatred. It makes them think that their views are mainstream, when in fact they are not – and makes those already driven by hatred more likely to act on it. When the president of the United States promotes the deputy leader of a far-right organisation, it makes it easier for others to follow her example – and perhaps go further. We know from the evidence that the environment matters for how and whether extremists act on their hatred. In more permissive environments they are more likely to take their hatred further, and where hatred is seen as socially unacceptable, they are less likely to act.’
I remember well the instances when I had to defend my criticisms of fear-mongering and hate-mongering on the part of those who exploit each and every act of Islamic terror for their political advantage. I found it interesting that many would deny charges of Islamophobia, when, in fact, neither I nor anyone else in these engagements had made such a charge. When the Lady doth protest too much, we would do well to enquire why. But I remember well citing the Christian argument that we are enjoined to love our neighbour as ourselves – and pointing out that in its Anglo-Saxon origins, the word neighbour means those who ‘build nearby.’ And I pointed out the extent to which those who argue for ‘America First’ tellingly identify muslims as ‘out there,’ by definition, ‘outside’ and ‘alien.’ I pointed out the people who own the restaurant across the road where I live, my pharmacist, my physio, some of my nurses, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus – all of them my neighbours, all of them people who ‘build nearby’, and all of them decent people threatened by fear-mongers and hate-mongers. I care nothing for their denials of racism, fascism and Islamophobia, I know them for the consequences of their words and deeds. By the fruit, you shall know the tree. Whether or not they know what they are, we do. And we shouldn’t be afraid to tell them exactly what they are. The ones who remain on nodding terms with decency may be saved from being led astray.
‘We should use the fact that Trump has become the poster-child for bigotry to our advantage. He may try to mobilise for the haters. But in fact he’s the best recruiting sergeant for those of us who wish to build a consensus around British values of tolerance and decency,’ says Brendan Cox.
It says something when even the mild-mannered liberal Vince Cable calls Trump an ‘evil racist.’ I do know that Trump’s words and actions incite hatred, stoke tensions and foster divisions – and lead to verbal and physical assaults on people in vulnerable communities. That is an assault on my neighbours, an assault on my neighbourhood, and an assault on me. An unethical oaf in charge of an unedifying politics that diminishes all it comes into contact with.
Why does it matter?
Again, Donald Trump is using social media to intervene in contentious religious-tinged political issues in the UK, despite a patent lack of knowledge and a deficiency in understanding. His concerns are purely political, and he is prepared to exploit any issue for political advantage, regardless of the damaging consequences for others. He attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan for mishandling a militant attack just hours after it occurred, completely and deliberately taking Khan's words out of context, and he did so to justify his own political agenda.
After Trump’s tweet, a spokesperson for Khan said: “The mayor is busy working with the police, emergency services and the government to coordinate the response to this horrific and cowardly terrorist attack and provide leadership and reassurance to Londoners and visitors to our city. “He has more important things to do than respond to Donald Trump’s ill-informed tweet that deliberately takes out of context his remarks urging Londoners not to be alarmed when they saw more police – including armed officers – on the streets.”
He misattributed a rise in crime in England and Wales to the "spread of radical Islamic terror". Again, that claim bears no relation to reality, but serves Trump's own domestic agenda. And now he retweets a series of unverified videos posted by a far-right British nationalist group.
'For the president, directing attention toward the UK seems to serve a domestic political purpose. He cites events and opinions there as a warning to Americans of what could happen in the US if they do not heed his policy prescriptions on immigration and border security. The Muslim ban, the US-Mexico wall, increased deportations, the sharp reductions on refugee resettlement - it's all part of the president's "national security" package.
While most Americans probably haven't heard of Britain First and are unfamiliar with European radical nationalist movements, there are white supremacist groups in the US that follow the actions of these overseas operations quite closely. The president on Wednesday signalled that he watches them too.'
Are we in Britain supposed to let this oaf play fast and loose with the peace, stability and security of our communities? There's a question for the Americans too - you do realize that this man is, at best, a complete ignoramus with no respect for facts and values? Just be careful of wishful thinking in politics, it tends to do an awful lot of damage to reality, and to real people.
“So this is the 'Special Relationship' between US & UK? - involves promoting UK fascist hate groups, then telling UK PM where to go when she offers the mildest of rebukes?” (Baroness Hussein-Ece). We don’t need lectures from the very people who are the principal architects of this debacle of a world imploding into a universal antagonism, we just need to wake up to the reality of the US. And that, I suspect, is what people find most discomforting about Trump – he’s not a political operator, he is a man without political mask, and now that the mask has slipped, we see the ugly reality of American self-interest for what it is. And it is repugnant.
Political discourse has been degenerating for years. I'm pretty sick of the name-calling and point scoring and posturing, the exploiting of fears, the whipping up of hatreds, the pandering to pet prejudices. The recovery of the public realm starts with the recognition of some basic truths. The people on this planet had better get this message and get it quick, we need to put aside the narcissism of petty differences and inflation of lesser differences, and live in accordance with the things that unite us, be other-regarding and expansive, seek to extend our loyalties, ties and solidarities. And I recognise that that is not as simple as it sounds. Cooperation is not a virtue in itself. It matters a great deal who we cooperate with and to what end. Cooperative instincts can be easily hijacked and exploited by free riders. There’s a lot of that going on the planet. I have no idea of the motivations of the person who carried out this attack, and I am not speculating. It will come out in time. But this is what we know.
This article has some interesting things to say.
In 2011, Thomas Mair spoke of how he had volunteered to work as a groundsman at the nearby Oakwell Hall County Park, which had helped ease his mental health problems.
He told a local newspaper: "I can honestly say it has done me more good than all the psychotherapy and medication in the world. "Many people who suffer from mental illness are socially isolated and disconnected from society, feelings of worthlessness are also common mainly caused by long-term unemployment."All these problems are alleviated by doing voluntary work. Getting out of the house and meeting new people is a good thing, but more important in my view is doing physically demanding and useful labour."
For decades now, our governments, subject to economic forces with private priorities, dissolving public concerns via commercial imperatives, have been playing fast-and-loose with the social bonds that tie communities and confer identities, generate a sense of meaning, purpose and belonging. No wonder people become unmoored, and seek to re-create identity in all manner of ersatz and surrogate ways.
How do we constitute 'real community'? I'll leave that for another place and time. But I know this much, “we are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”.
I'm not sure if anyone remembers Kenneth Clark's Civilisation these days, it is considered patrician and old-fashioned, with a certain narrow focus. Maybe. But I liked it, as far as it went. And these words stuck with me.
“At this point I reveal myself in my true colours, as a stick-in-the-mud. I hold a number of beliefs that have been repudiated by the liveliest intellects of our time. I believe that order is better than chaos, creation better than destruction. I prefer gentleness to violence, forgiveness to vendetta. On the whole I think that knowledge is preferable to ignorance, and I am sure that human sympathy is more valuable than ideology. I believe that in spite of the recent triumphs of science, men haven't changed much in the last two thousand years; and in consequence we must still try to learn from history. History is ourselves. I also hold one or two beliefs that are more difficult to put shortly. For example, I believe in courtesy, the ritual by which we avoid hurting other people's feelings by satisfying our own egos. And I think we should remember that we are part of a great whole, which for convenience we call nature. All living things are our brothers and sisters.”
Call me a “stick-in-the-mud”. It saves me from being led astray by ideologues. And makes me cautious of name-calling. Which is why I led this piece with a positive statement of principle by Jo Cox rather than with criticism of Trump. The man and his politics need to be opposed vigorously, but we cannot defeat the man on his own terrain, that swamp of claim and counter-claim, where it takes much at least twice the time and effort to correct lies, half-truths and prejudices than it does to send them out in the first place. We need to go to the source of social and international divisions and uproot them with visions, values, transitions and transformations - mobilize people around a hopeful programme of practicable reformation.
'Are we there already?' George Monbiot asked a few years ago. I'd say no. But there are some very nasty attitudes being fostered by the prevailing climate of fear, division and hatred. Internationalism, humanitarianism, social sympathy, cooperation, solidarity, the warm, affective bonds that hold societies together, locally and globally. Without these, the human race divides to fall.
With his retweets of inflammatory anti-Muslim videos, Trump has shown again that he thrives off spreading dangerous bigotry. In the words of Brendan Cox, ‘Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours.’ ‘Spreading hatred has consequences and the President should be ashamed of himself.’
I added my name to the open letter below, and not just as a 'citizen of the world', but as someone who lives in a particular place alongside men and women of all races, colours and creeds, people who 'build nearby', people who are my neighbours, and I added my name in their defence: ---- Dear Mr. Trump, This is not what greatness looks like. The world rejects your fear, hate-mongering, and bigotry. We reject your support for torture, your calls for murdering civilians, and your general encouragement of violence. We reject your denigration of women, Muslims, Mexicans, and millions of others who don’t look like you, talk like you, or pray to the same god as you. Facing your fear we choose compassion. Hearing your despair we choose hope. Seeing your ignorance we choose understanding. As citizens of the world, we stand united against your brand of division. Sincerely, Peter Critchley
One month on, and people are 'shocked' by Trump's latest racist outrage. The only surprise is that people are surprised. I fear this is a backlash that has long been coming, with a certain hygienic view of the world being imposed on people, whose own voice has been concomitantly delegitimised, so that all have to parrot liberal pieties in public, or hold their peace. I can see the attraction of Trump 'telling it like it is,' and tire of reading the daily diet of liberal outrage in response to 'The Donald of the Day.' Where was this outrage when globalisation was being forced on countries, when disparities between rich and poor were widening, when entire communities were being thrown on the economic scrapheap, doors were being closed on the future for many? There were protests. But there were also pompous lectures on how this was all for the good of the economy, raising living standards, boosting the GNP. And white working class males were all sexist, racist, homophobic, feckless, uneducated, lazy, incapable of tying their own shoe laces (I gave a talk to the unemployed in Liverpool on this in 2010, some of whom were highly educated, degree level, engineers, computer specialists, solicitors - you'd be surprised at the resentment they felt with respect to immigrant labour - and these were educated people, not the uneducated. There are stresses and divisions out there that comfortable liberals have closed their ears to. Do people with political causes want to relate to people, listen to them, win their support, lead them, or just hector and lecture? Well here comes the backlash, and there is worse to come, so long as those ears remain closed. So I am neither surprised nor shocked by Trump's language and the appeal it has. But some things are just plain wrong - and this is one of them. Is it too much to ask for values that are in touch with the human roots that feed politics? Ensuring that those roots are healthy and capable of growth?
Dutch journalists peppered Hoekstra with questions on unsubstantiated claims he made in 2015 about chaos that the “Islamic movement” had allegedly brought to the Netherlands.
“There are cars being burned. There are politicians that are being burned,” he said then, at a conference hosted by a conservative group. “And yes, there are no-go zones in the Netherlands.”
The comments have widely been described as inaccurate, and seem to reflect certain conspiracy theories about sharia law that crop up in some circles of the far-right in the West. When pressed by the Dutch reporters, Hoekstra declined to retract the comments or give specific examples to back them up.
In fact, after saying that he would not be “revisiting the issue,” he simply refused to answer the question at all.
After at least one person had already asked the question, Geeraedts followed up to ask Hoekstra about a John Adams quote — Adams was America's first ambassador to Holland — that was mounted right behind the new ambassador.
Hoekstra said he had read the quote, which expresses Adams's hope that only “honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.”
“If you’re truly an honest and wise man, could you please take back the remark about burned politicians or name the politician that was burned in the Netherlands?” Geeraedts asked.
“We were all astonished that he didn’t want to take back the comment. It was simply untrue, so why not take it back?” Geeraedts said. “It was awkward, to be honest.”
More questions, more silence. And no wonder.
A CNN report published this week documented multiple times that Hoekstra has referred to “no-go zones” in European cities during appearances on conservative media, including talk radio and a print op-ed, and other instances in which he had fueled conspiracy theories about Muslims.
This is bigoted, hate-filled drivel, language that in Europe is to be heard on the very far right. Trump and his crowd are welcome to their alternative facts, and if the people of America let them ruin their country through political rule detached from realities, that’s their tragedy. The roots go deeper, and reach much further back than Trump. But these characters are making false claims with respect to Europe, inflaming the situation, stoking up fear and division, fostering hate and suspicion. Take your fear and (self)hatred home and keep it there, own it, face up to it, overcome it – don’t project it onto the rest of the world.
Further Additional:
The fact remains that the world of alternative facts will prove fatal.
'The Trump administration’s recent move to permit oil and gas drilling in 90 percent of the federal government’s offshore land presents an opportunity. With vast protected areas of the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic under threat, now is a good time to challenge some of the myths working against Americans’ willingness and ability to stem the ruinous warming of the planet that is resulting from humanity’s excessive burning of fossil fuels.'
'Trump and the rest of the climate-denial club betrayed their status as earth science know-nothings with such flippant comments. The long-term warming trend remains intact. As the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) reported in August, every single year since 1977 has been warmer than the 20th century average. Sixteen of the 17 hottest years on record have occurred in the present century.'
My view? It's pointless appealing to fact and value with respect to people who respect neither - they see the world as a power game. The challenge is to translate fact and value into the world of practical reason so as to win that power game for a purpose.