RW newspapers and race-baiting

[Anarcho-Socialist]

It's their front page from 8 March. I think this is bad, even for the right-wing Daily Express. It's something in the Daily Mail's league.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

1. It seems that gypsy-bashing is a common Daily Express theme

This is a headline from November 2004



I've been reading a site called http://www.mailwatch.co.uk/ that keeps an eye on the RW dirt-rag tabloids.

[tjwmason]

3. Thanks for the link

Mail Watch is hilarious.

My mother reads reads it occasionally (because the size makes it easier), but the constant stream of bile and vitriol makes my stomach queasy.

[non sociopath skin]

2. Gypsy-bashing has long been a last resort of British scoundrels.

When I served on the Local Council here, the (LibDem) opposition were forever playing the "gypsy" card to wind up Joe Public.

The Skin

[Anarcho-Socialist]

4. Apparently today's Sun frontpage is also bashing the Gypsies

This is what is says:

Sun War on Gipsy Free-for-all - Meet Your Neighbours ...Thanks to John Prescott EDIT: to add image

[Vladimir]

8. On the inside: STAMP ON THE CAMPS

page 5. I cannot put in wordss how fucking apoplectic this headline has got me, I can barely fucking write I am so angry. This is exactly why there should be limits to free speech. The entire goddamn editorial board of the Sun should be charged with incitement to racial hatered and violence, every last racist motherfucking one of them!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

9. Wow, thanks for the heads-up

I am thoroughly disgusted: "stamp on the camps". This is racism. The whole "taxpayer cost" rationality doesn't excuse incitement of racial hatred.

It seems that the smoldering, subtler racism of the '90s is giving way to the upfront racism of recent times. 9/11 has given courage for the far-right to jump back into British political discourse and intends to take it on a sinister path.

[RogueTrooper]

5. Looks like a co-ordinated media event

by the Conservative Party. What is the name of that race-baiting Aussie the Tories have hired for their election?

[Anarcho-Socialist]

6. Lytton Crosby, "the Australian Karl Rove"

I agree with you, it does seem like an organised Tory operation. It sounds more than coincidental that the Australian "Liberals" used immigration race-baiting to great effect in the last couple of Australian General Elections.

A blog with some tidbits on Crosby: http://politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2005/01/26/is-crosby-tories-cant-win-line-part-of-the-plan/

[RogueTrooper]

7. Thanks A-S

this definitly looks like his m.o.

[LeftishBrit]

10. The race-baiting by the tabloids..

is one of the nastiest aspects of British politics. It's frightening. There seem to be far more limits on lying and incitement to hatred on TV, but anything goes in the hate-tabloids.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

11. I agree; the print media shouldn't be immune to prosecution

for inciting religious and ethnic hatred.

[T_i_B]

12. This relates to Brentwood

Specifically it relates to an order from Whitehall to Brentwood Council to provide sites for travellers. Brentwood Council unsuprisingly object. I happen to work in Brentwood, and pass the "roman triangle" in Mountnessing every day on the way to work. Never seen too much bother with it personally but the locals hate, hate, HATE having the gypsy site anywhere near them.

This is a staunchly conservative area, and pikey-bashing is a favourite pastime of the local Tories. I dread to think what the general election campaign in Brentwood and Ongar is going to be like.

P.S IMHO the Express is if anything even more racist then the Daily Mail! Is Kilroy-Silk still a colummist there?

[Vladimir]

13. The Roma are one of the last groups which it

is acceptable to hate. And its not just a British phenomenon, its something that happens across Europe. People forget that the Roma blead and died with the Jews and Slavs and everyone else in WWII, but where is their lebensraum today? Where is their peace? Its the last socially acceptable racism, and it makes me want to puke.

[fedsron2us]

14. Hatred for the Roma may be rife across Europe

but many British gypsies are not of Romany origin. They are a mixture of Irish travellers, fair ground folk and the descendants of intinerant English rural labourers. One of the sad things I have found when investigating this subject is how the prejudices of the wider society are actually mirrored in the gypsy community. Thus, Romnichel groups tend to look down on non-Romany travellers who in their turn despise 'New Age' travellers. Anyone who is interested in the topic could do worse than to read Judith Okeley's book the 'Traveller-Gypsies' which gives a good insight into the many and varied reasons why different people have taken to the traveller lifestyle.

The visceral loathing that some people have for these communities is more than just racism. It seems to encompass the fear and envy that the sedentary have for the nomad and the conformist has for the non conformist. Gypsies represent a way of life that does not appear to comply with our capitalist, consumer culture. This is why nearly all the legislation relating to this group in the UK is designed to destroy their culture and to turn them into compliant wage slaves like the rest of the populace.

[Vladimir]

15. You make a good point

and are of course correct as to the origin of many British Roma/travellers (I prefer not to use the term Gypsy myself, if only out of habit since I wouldn't use it on the continent). My own country of origin (Yugoslavia) is so rife with this hatered that I tend to see red when the subject comes up - the clarification is appreciated. And of course my lebensraum comment in the previous post is flippant, the whole point is that the Roma do not seek a lebensraum, but that's the mood I was in...

[T_i_B]

20. Good post fedsron2us

You explain the situation very well. I remember one documentary on the subject where they used the rather long title of "Gypsies, travellers, call them what you will." Problem is, most people just call them pikeys, which is almost always meant as a derogatory term.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

16. More racism from The Sun

[Anarcho-Socialist]

17. Gypsy groups report the Sun to the police

Gypsy groups report the Sun to the police

Patrick Barkham
Thursday March 10, 2005
The Guardian

Gypsy groups reported the Sun to the police and the Press Complaints Commission yesterday, claiming that its new campaign against Traveller camps was an incitement to racial hatred.

Their leaders made formal complaints to the Hampshire and Sussex police, and communities spoke of the fear and intimidation caused by the tabloid declaring "war on gipsy free-for-all", under the headline "Stamp on the camps".

A woman living on a site in Kent was so worried by the Sun's attitude that she contacted the police yesterday and asked for their protection. Other Gypsies said their children were frightened when they read headlines apparently declaring "war" on them.

The Sun's campaign, which has had wide support from readers, warned of a "gipsy invasion". It responds to the government's instruction to local authorities to take account of resident Traveller populations when they draw up their housing plans, and identify land which Travellers can buy and develop.

More at:
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1434086,...

[non sociopath skin]

18. Good for them!!!!

I'm glad the traveller groups are starting to hit back.

The Skin

[Vladimir]

19. Good good! n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. The Daily Mail is joining in (of course)

Its subtitle on the front page today is something like "While Prescott goes perfume shopping in the South of France, law abiding citizens have to pay the price of traveller camps".

I think they've been at that automatic headline generator, haven't they? :-)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

22. lol, with those headline generators their sensationalist stories

write themselves.

[tjwmason]

23. I love the Mail

The way it pretends to be a real newspaper for a few months, but then just can't resist joining in the ultra-right-wing crap and mudslinging.

Let's all go off to kill a few gypsies - hurrah.

[Nihil]

24. Warning: Dissenting view being posted

I do not support any racist behaviour but the problem is not as simple
as many people here would like to pretend.

I realise that I'll get flamed for this but I have had first hand
experience with many of these "gypsies" and I assure you that I would
not want some protected prat of an MP imposing a camp within ten miles
of my house.

I would suggest that those gallant defenders of freedom who claim to
be upset about these protests prove their tolerance by inviting the
camps to their own street. If not, you are just another NIMBY.

I don't appreciate the gutter press language used by the Express & co
but they are playing to some genuine problems across the country.

I don't want to get into a slanging match with people here but
opposing a "gypsy" (/traveller/whatever-new-name-you-want) camp in
your area is not simply a racial prejudice issue and should not be
dismissed as such.

Nihil

[Wat_Tyler]

25. I also have had first hand experience of the gypsies

as I lived near the long-time gypsy camp outside of Lochgilphead in Argyll. They were perfectly normal, ordinary people. This is not a genuine problem, any more than the Jews were a genuine problem for Germany - this is merely a matter of right-wing ideologues finding a small powerless group to focus the otherwise incoherent insecurities of right-leaning rural voters on to in order to get them to vote Conservative in the election.
Nothing more, nothing less.

[non sociopath skin]

27. And guess what?

"Get Rid of the Travellers" suddenly becomes the new Tory election issue.

That was so coincidental it almost looked rehearsed.

OK, Tony and Charlie Cluck. How are you gonna out-Gypsy him???

The Skin

[Nihil]

29. Please see .28

I am not saying that all gypsies are good, bad or anything.
I understand that there are the same mixtures in attitudes that you
will find in any other group of humans regardless of nationality,
religion or any other arbitrary distinguishing feature.

Unfortunately, by your claims that this problem does not exist anywhere
in the country, that the gypsies/travellers/whatever are a homogenous
uniformly normal yet powerless group being victimised and that any
opposition is the product of "incoherent insecurities of right-leaning
rural voters" it is obvious that you fail to understand this point.

There is indeed more than simple political vote-trawling involved here.

[Wat_Tyler]

30. I understand the point. I also understand your need to justify your own

personal issues with the travellers.

[Nihil]

31. Really? OK

Your understanding of the point didn't come across in your words but
that could be a problem with my reading as easily as with your writing.

Your understanding of my "needs" is far less likely but it was kind of
you to consider it.

Pax.

[non sociopath skin]

26. Just a clarification, here,Nihil ...

... why do you refer to the camps being set up on peoples' streets?

Aren't most such camps away from residential areas? In my district, we had to move our existing designated area because new guidelines made it too close to a residential street.

The Skin

[Nihil]

28. Hopefully clarifying

> why do you refer to the camps being set up on peoples' streets?

My statement was
>> I would suggest that those gallant defenders of freedom who claim to
>> be upset about these protests prove their tolerance by inviting the
>> camps to their own street. If not, you are just another NIMBY.

(NIMBY = "Not In My Back Yard", i.e., "I don't want XYZ next to me
but it's perfectly fair to put XYZ next to you").

I hear that new official camps are only placed on the fringes of
residential areas but if you lived in that "fringe" you might not
appreciate the difference.

My comment was intended to point out that before people go waving the
"of course they have a right to camp" flag they should check out the
impact on the people who already live there. The best way to do that
is to invite the gypsies to your own street so you can get a nice clear
picture upon which to base your opinion rather than simply blaming the
people on who you'd rather dump the problem.

Some camps are fine (I'm glad the Lochgilphread one falls into that
category - nice part of the world too!) but being in an area that
experiences less disciplined, less tidy and less honest "visitors"
several times each year, I have a different view.

As I stated originally, I do not defend the right-wing language used
by the gutter press but I want to point out that there are genuine
issues that their rhetoric will simply inflame rather than solve.

Nihil

[Anarcho-Socialist]

32. More racism from The Sun

The Mail is getting in on it. (Although they seem to consciously avoid using the gypsy term)

[fedsron2us]

33. If I was Blair I would be happy with these headlines

particulary as Howard is very unwisely playing up to the racist gallery. It is just going to ensure that the ethnic minority vote will stay with Labour. The Tories would be far better advised to concentrate on policy matters such as local taxes where the government is quite vulnerable. I am pretty sure that reform of the Council Tax would win them more of the pensioner vote than a whole year of tabloid rantings about travellers. It just goes to show that the Conservatives can not resist being the nasty party.

[non sociopath skin]

34. A much more cynical man than I might add ...

... that the race card has limited purchase. The huntin', fishin' and gypsy-shootin' vote is the Tories' anyway (and welcome to it!) while visible manifestation of the immigrant/aslum seeker "problem" is concentrated in specific areas.

The election is likely, as always, to be won on the questions of health, welfare and the amount of the elusive spondoolicks likely to find its way into Joe Punter's pocket over the next four years, not on whether travelling folk with horse manure on their boots are likely to be trampling on your manicured lawn.

The Skin

[T_i_B]

35. That's correct

In my experience areas with issues relating to travellers sites tend to be Tory already (in Essex at least), and the Tories do spend a lot of time talking about the issue at constituency level.

Indeed the government order that sparked this current round of pikey bashing in the press has been blamed on the Government spiting Brentwood Borough Council out of sheer partisanship by some people round here.

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. Martin Rowson on Howard

[Vladimir]

36. That Sun front page sums up exactly why

freedom of the press is a madness gone too far...

[non sociopath skin]

37. So what is Respect's alternative to press freedom, then, Vlad?

The Skin

[Vladimir]

38. Hey, not everything I say is a party position, Skin.

I think that the gutter press (which is almost all of it, broadsheets included) should be much more tightly regulated, and that when it publishes overtly racist/classist drivel it should be curb-stomped...

[non sociopath skin]

39. Didn't say it was a party position, Vlad.

Just asked what your party would do about press freedom.

I'm sure that all of us gag on the excesses of the gutter press but regulation worries me. Just who would do the regulating and stomping? You want the Bliarites - and when the pendulum eventually swings, the Party of the Night - controlling the Press even more?

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

40. There are already laws against inciting racial hatred

I don't think that there should be new laws created to deal with the tabloids, but they should be expected to obey the existing ones. I have the right to freedom of speech, but it has limits. I would not be allowed to go around the streets screaming that people of other races should be deported. So why should the tabloids be able to do the equivalent - and especially why should they be allowed to call it news?

[non sociopath skin]

42. My thoughts exactly, LB.

The Gutter Press should be held accountable to the laws of the land. Unfortunately, there are too many people who want them in the tent.

The Skin

[Vladimir]

41. Sorry, I was in a tetchy mood

truth be told, its not an issue we discuss very much... canvassing starts this weekend and we are doing our best on being effective at the doorstep.

[LSdemocrat]

44. It's depressing to see a major western political party resort to this

This looks almost more inciteful than some of the Republicans Confederate Flag campaigns in the south during the 2002 campaign.

Almost reminds me of that Jesse Helms ad, quite possibly the most outrageous ad of recent memory, showing a white person who lost a job to a member of a minority.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

45. Hate campaigns in Australia and the U.S. seem to be a big influence

on the Conservative Party. The Tories employed an Australian spin doctor - Lynton Crosby who used race hate tactics to get John Howard elected in Australia. The Tories have also expressed interest in Karl Rove's tactics.

I didn't know about the Jesse Helms ad, that's very shocking.

[Nye Bevan]

46. I thought the word "Gypsies" was now considered offensive...

Slightly OT but I recently re-read a couple of the Enid Blyton Famous Five books for nostalgia's sake; I ordered them from Amazon UK and I was quite surprised that in "Five go to Mystery Moor" the word "gypsy" has been replaced throughout with "traveller"! Perhaps they are being ultra-PC, but I have not lived in the UK for a number of years-- can anyone tell me whether "gypsy" is considered offensive?

I also noticed in these books that "shilling", "half crown" etc. have now been replaced by "pound coin". Also interesting that in the Enchanted Wood series Dick has become Rick and Fanny has become Frannie, but in the Famous Five Dick is still Dick and Aunt Fanny is still Aunt Fanny! (Now completely OT, apologies)

[non sociopath skin]

47. If I recollect aright, "Barney" in the "Barney books" by Enid Blyton....

... aka as the "... of Adventure" books as in "The Island of Adventure" was a traveller/gypsy and something of a hero and role-model to the middle-class kids.

Perhaps old Enid was more radical than we think?

The Skin

[Nye Bevan]

48. I don't remember the Barney books

but Enid Blyton was definitely racist, and the Island of Adventure was a good example. In the original version of this (when I was a kid) the villain was a despicable character, the servant Jo-Jo who was (surprise) black-- the only black Enid Blyton character I can recall. I was very curious to see if the racism had been eliminated, so I bought the current version of this book a year or two ago, and Jo-Jo has been replaced by "Joe", no race specified, now described as a "handyman-helper".

I remember reading Five Fall into Adventure when Anne sees the face outside her bedroom window and she is so afraid, she says "it might even have been a black man!" (I am sure that this will have been removed from the current version).

I think you are right that even though Enid was undeniably racist to blacks, she did have a soft spot for gypsies. The recurring character Jo in several of the Famous Five books was a gypsy with a heart of gold.

[non sociopath skin]

49. Yes, some of Enid Blyton's books show what we'd see as racist attitudes ..

... but in that, I fear, she was a child of her times. Some of Hugh Lofting's "Dr. Doolittle" books are virtually unreadable nowadays.

But yes, Enid, definitely had a soft spot for gypsies and, again, wasn't unique in this. Prior to the recent hysteria, travelling people were certainly the Brits' favourite ethnic minority.

The Skin