Stop Blaming #Migrants
▻http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2016/11/29/rachel-shabi/stop-blaming-migrants
This is the challenge facing the progressive left. Now more than ever, it’s the job of the left to trust that the majority of the population is not racist, and move away from the notion that more immigration controls are necessary, possible or desirable. The progressive response to a populist right-wing surge is to take away their fuel – fight to alleviate the economic pain it thrives on, and reject the division it creates. When the new Ukip leader says he wants to replace Labour and make his party ‘the patriotic voice of working people’, the progressive line is to redirect the blame away from migrants and onto political decisions, to focus on fighting poverty and creating secure jobs, not to patronise people by suggesting everything can be made better with a bit of ‘patriotism’. It’s a hard line to take and will be met with ridicule and attack. But that’s to be expected. That’s what challenging a dominant political narrative looks like.
But if the left doesn’t hold a line, it enables the surge of nativist nationalism by conceding ground, allowing the debate to shift ever rightwards. Fo we really want to find out where it all ends? Do we really want to see how far right we can go?