In the UK, a hate crime is understood as when someone commits a crime against someone because of their disability, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, religion, or any other perceived difference. This can be physical violence, offensive language, or harassment due to physical characteristics. Online, these can be the posting of abusive or offensive messages… Continue reading “Hate Crime – What is it?”
Placating radical right rhetoric will not stop the EDL, Pegida and the rest of the angry acronym brigade. If you want a definition of not being able to see the wood for the trees, look no further than those who are spending their time arguing over whether ‘no Brexit’ or ‘no deal’ would be the… Continue reading “Pandering To The Far Right Is No Way To Counter Them”
Last month, the Home Office published new data about Prevent. One part of the UK Government’s wider counter-terrorism strategy known as CONTEST, Prevent aims to safeguard all individuals from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. As well as appearing to be a direct response to concerns expressed about Prevent’s effectiveness and transparency, the new data also… Continue reading “How might the state’s response to radical right extremism challenge criticisms attributed to the Prevent strategy?”
Britain’s largest Holocaust memorial is to be built in Victoria Tower Gardens next to the Palace of Westminster. Scheduled to arrive in 2021, the winning design will consist of a learning centre as well as 23 bronze fin structures with spaces for people to move in between – reminiscent of Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered… Continue reading “The importance of Holocaust Memorial Day in 2019 for ‘Brexit Britain’”
As I sat down this morning and switched on my computer. I couldn’t help but notice the headline in the Spectator, ‘The Islamophobia’ problem. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that the author was Douglas Murray. In his latest tirade of anti-Muslim scaremongering, Murray was contemplating the roots of Islamophobia. For Murray, Islamophobia – in… Continue reading “Islamophobia is not Fiction or a Harry Potter Fantasy: It’s Racism and it’s time we accepted that”
Over the past ten years, the UK has seen significant shifts on the far right. As the prospect of parliamentary representation by the neo-fascist British National Party petered out in 2010, a new wave of anti-Islamic protests and direct action initiatives swept the country. Over the same period, we have seen the rise and fall… Continue reading “Local policy responses to anti-Islamic protest in the UK need to consider both exclusionary and inclusionary approaches”
In October 2018, the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA) took to the streets of London in their thousands to protest against issues such as “returning jihadists” and “rape gangs”. Keen to stress they are not racists but concerned members of the public, a grassroots movement who simply want to be heard, they claim the voice… Continue reading “Catalyst or Catharsis: Inside the DFLA Secret Facebook Groups”
Eighty years after the Kindertransport, politicization of the supposed threats to western ways of life represented by refugees have become commonplace. Eighty years ago, German Jewish parents sent their children to the UK on a scheme known as the Kindertransport. Some 10,000 children arrived in the framework of a programme of which the UK is… Continue reading “The Kindertransport was controversial too – it teaches us that hostility can be overcome”
The Britons are probably the most significant British racists you’ve never heard of. Through their publishing efforts, The Britons kept an English translation of infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion in print from their founding in 1919 to their final demise in 1975. Usually appearing as mere background characters in general texts on British… Continue reading “Book Review – Nick Toczek, Haters, Baiters and Would-Be Dictators: Anti-Semitism and the UK Far Right, Oxon: Routledge, 2016.”
Last month, For Britain – Anne Marie Waters’ post UKIP political party – held its conference in Liverpool. One of those speaking at the conference was the former reality TV contestant, Katie Hopkins. Speaking alongside Ingrid Carlqvist – a Swedish anti-Muslim writer who has previously denied the Holocaust – Hopkins told the gathered delegates, “I’m… Continue reading “Katie Hopkins: ‘celebrity’ extremist of the radical right?”