Racist abuse on the rise in the UK

[Skanky Vamp]

Racial abuse is on the rise in post-Brexit Britain, a Conservative British MP has said, as police confirmed they were investigating two racially-motivated crimes.

Anti-immigrant leaflets saying "Leave the EU - no more Polish vermin" were put on cars near a school, local police said, the day after the country voted to leave the European Union. On Sunday, the Polish Social and Cultural Association in Hammersmith, west London, was allegedly vandalized with a racist slogan.

Conservative politician and lawyer Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who quit the "Leave" campaign shortly before the vote, told Sky News that organizations working with race crime victims had seen a rise in reports of abuse since the Brexit vote.

"I've spent most of the weekend talking to organizations, individuals and activists who work in the area of race hate crime, who monitor hate crime and they have shown some really disturbing early results from people being stopped in the street and saying look, we voted Leave, it's time for you to leave," she said "They're saying this to individuals and families who have been here for three, four, five generations. The atmosphere on the street is not good." Warsi had previously accused the "Leave" campaign of peddling "lies, xenophobia and the politics of hate" following her decision to quit before the vote.

Cards in both English and Polish, abusing Polish migrants were left on cars and at properties around Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, local police said. Resident Kathleen Gaynor said she had found one on her mother's doorstep, held down with a stone.

"We were really upset and angry, as she has some really nice Polish neighbors," she told CNN. "There were other cards near schools, in the communities with Polish people living in them and by the riverside in Huntingdon, so they had been put all over the place."

In London, the Polish and Social Cultural Association woke on Sunday morning to find their front doors sprayed with an abusive message.

Using the hashtag #postrefracism, social media has highlighted alleged incidents of migrants in the UK being verbally insulted and threatened since the final outcome was announced. Dozens of British social media users have taken to Twitter and Facebook to report incidents of racial abuse, both verbal and physical, across the country in the wake of the European Union referendum.

"We were very disturbed and upset this morning to find really unpleasant graffiti all across the front of our building when our staff came in," the Association's Chair Joanna Mludzinska said in a video on Twitter.

SOURCE

 

[Bluebird]

Well it's not surprising when one of the main arguments for leaving was reducing immigration. Racists love reducing immigration. No doubt there's been a rise in animosity towards Latinos in the US since Trump started badmouthing Mexicans. Pandering to racists is the easiest and laziest way to win a vote, especially if you have no other ideas.

 

[Priceless]

Anyone who condones any sort of racism is disgusting. I voted leave and I am not an uneducated racist bigot. I hope the Police catch whoever is doing this and they are severely punished. The UK is going through some major changes at the moment, the world is shifting under peoples feet but we cannot let neo nazis succeed 😡

 

[The Bronze]

Yeah it's a fantastic time to be English. This is the tip of the iceberg. Just wait until the penny drops that we won't be shipping Johnny Foreigner back home and that the hard right flag bearers of Vote Leave actually require more immigration so they can exploit cheap labour for profit.

 

[GwenRaiden]

Round the corner from me:





I can say with certainty that the people who put these posters up are unionists from the orange order. Legit fascists. The irony is that most immigrants in Glasgow work harder than these inbreds.

 

[Bluebird]

This is a Tory campaign poster from the 60s. Considering the hate-filled atmosphere those in charge have created, they could probably still run it today.

 

[Skanky Vamp]

These kind of things do not leave one to the assumption of a rosy future. Scary times we are in.
Post EU Referendum Racism Documented Online And It’s Really Scary

 

[Athena]

I'm honestly disgusted and ashamed to call myself British right now. I read a few tweets at the weekend, I had to stop reading them, because they were making me so angry. The racists are all coming out of the woodwork now and claiming a victory against anyone who's not white and/or British-born.

This is the sort of fascism and racism our great-grandparents fought against in WW2. The rise of a man who believed in the 'Aryan race' and wanted to rid the world of anyone who didn't conform to that standard. I'm sickened it's coming back to this.

 

[Priceless]

It is scary and it's horrible. I don not understand why people feel they are superior to someone else just because of where they were born. It makes no logical sense. Very upsetting, especially for those who have to put up with this bs every day of their lives

 

[Athena]

We all bleed the same colour blood. We are all the same.

These racists are so narrow-minded and uneducated, they genuinely believe they're better than a Polish person, or an Indian person? Why?

 

[vellavu]

This is inevitable.

Human beings form little groups and hate other groups by default. We love our family more than other people by default. The huge social experiment of making the small group larger failed. We need to find better way to form human society.

Maybe we should gradually split the world into billions of nations with the population of 100-200 each in the next few centuries. Maybe a forum, a facebook friend circle, or some twitter organizations could be nations as well.

Why should we force a huge amount of population to vote and bear the result of the vote altogether anyway?

 

[Ethan Reigns]

Thee were a lot of reasons for the Brexit vote, including unworthy ones linked to racism. Super small groups have been tried before (communes from the hippie era) and inevitably degenerate into the worst kind of autocratic one-man rule. The idea of free movement throughout the EU was a product of the 1960's and 1970's before terrorism became common. Once someone arrived in any country in the EU, he could go anywhere else - fine if there is no security concern but not so good nowadays.

Part of Brexit was the same thing we saw with various free trade agreements throughout the world. Canada did very well at the expense of the US with the Auto Pact of the 1950's and I am within commuting distance of GM, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda factories. But the US lost what we gained. NAFTA was touted as the greatest thing ever, but Canada and the US lost heavily on that one. Now we are looking at the Trans Pacific Partnership and we will be big losers there. The Brexit vote hopefully woke people up here to the fact that there is a political price to be paid for giving away sovereignty.

 

[Taake]

Just wait until the penny drops that we won't be shipping Johnny Foreigner back home

From the tweets I've read, this is what confuses me - was there some promise made that reduced immigration also meant forced deportations? Why do people think: "We Voted Leave = Go 'Home'" is a thing?

 

[Priceless]

From the tweets I've read, this is what confuses me - was there some promise made that reduced immigration also meant forced deportations? Why do people think: "We Voted Leave = Go 'Home'" is a thing?

There was never any mention in the campaign that anyone would be deported or sent home. Anyone already here and wanted to stay, then provisions would be made and they could stay. We are still in the EU for another two years it seems, so no-one would even have to consider doing anything until we actually leave.

It's the racitst minority who seem to belive they now have a right to be abusive towards people they consider are not British - which includes black and asian people who are British but are not white. They are disgusting and vile and hopefully the police will be doing something about them

 

[ILLYRIAN]

This white supremacy thing, are they folk who support the Icelandic football team. All that fighting in Glasgow used to be about religion Celtic was Catholic and Rangers was Protestant. Should England ever enter the situation then Celtic and Rangers supporters would join against them damned sassenaichs. Have any of the Neo Nazis ever worn a kilt?

 

[The Bronze]

From the tweets I've read, this is what confuses me - was there some promise made that reduced immigration also meant forced deportations? Why do people think: "We Voted Leave = Go 'Home'" is a thing?

Well the short answer is that some people have the IQ of a biscuit and as such have no idea what they were voting for.

Really it's a combination of things. Firstly the people running the Vote Leave campaign were in no position to promise anything to anyone. So they went about speculating what might happen or what could be done. Carefully avoiding saying what will be done or what the plan is. UKIP leader Nigel Farage was heavily involved in the campaign and he is the acceptable face of racism in England. He talks a lot about immigration and border control etc. Never says anything too bad himself but is happy to defend the various racists in his party. Then we have Britain First. A political party which has somehow managed to get an army of Facebook followers to share all sorts of poisonous crap for years. These are the people who have been banging on about "getting are ****ry bk" and "make Briton grate again". They've been pushing to leave the EU and it's absolutely no surprise that their brain dead followers assumed that also meant shipping off everyone they feel like.

 

[Nix]

I was chatting to a taxi driver recently (before the vote result) and he said if we voted out he would leave the country as he would feel unwanted and unaccepted. I think this is a sad state of affairs when we make people feel like this.

 

[GwenRaiden]

From what I can tell, it wasn't just the loud and proud racists who voted leave, a lot of the covert racists did too. Although now, there is probably no need for covert racism in this country since UKIP have gained such popularity and since this leave vote was successful. On the other hand, I know quite a few anarchists who voted leave to break down centralised power, for the rich to finally have a shot at losing some money. Anarchists are by all means anti-fascist which means they will have a lot if work on their hands now.

Since the 2014 independence referendum in Scotland (the day my baby was due!), after the results there was instant tension in Glasgow, and Scotland. The Yes voters decided to go ahead and hold a small rally the day after the results, at Glasgow city's George Square (a five minute walk from my flat). It was all very civilised, mostly just people trying to remain hopeful whilst consoling one another. The far right fascists showed up and used the guise of unionism to evoke violence and disorder.

George Square went from this:

To this:

Nazi saluting fascists (AKA Rangers supports/Orange Order members). They actually beat up two teenage girls who had a Scottish saltire and burned their flag.

I think a big reason as to why Scotland voted to remain is because of the ongoing hostility in this country since the last referendum. No one wants these fascists getting it their way anymore. These are the people who, as shown back in 2014, burned their own city and beat up their "own people". They're dangerous and now they think they've won. Again.

 

[Taake]

I was chatting to a taxi driver recently (before the vote result) and he said if we voted out he would leave the country as he would feel unwanted and unaccepted. I think this is a sad state of affairs when we make people feel like this.

I talked to a Spanish woman just yesterday who'd been living in the UK for 24 years, working as a psychiatrist and would now be leaving as soon as she could because "they've made it clear it's them and not an us", very sad indeed that people should have to feel that way. Will probably continue to get worse around Europe in general.
 
As this thread goes on, let's keep in mind that not all Leave voters and/or members of orders/Supporter Clubs can be painted with the same brush, and let's be careful not to generalize about the motives and thoughts of large groups of people who may share some affiliations, but not political opinions. Thank you.

 

[thrasherpix]

I don't know what to think of this, and I'm curious about the motivations behind voting to leave (or to remain for that matter). I'm sure not everyone who voted to leave did so for racist reasons, but I don't see how to tell which is a majority, and which is a vocal minority. And neurological studies have shown that politics is rarely rational...not only do people like in politics as a matter of course (anything to get power, however fleeting), but the brain actually lies to itself for some dumb reason, and it doesn't matter the ideology, just the passion and/or how strongly one identifies one's self with a party or ideology.

But my partner has said that since Trump (who seems to tap into racism and anti-immigrant sentiments, though European immigrants rarely cause concern on this side of the pond) has won the Republican nod in California in a landslide, some racists have become excited who who aren't as covert as they used to be (not to say everyone who supports Trump is a racist). People Trump (or at least some Trump supporters) target are becoming more bullied than before in school, at least in part because the kids feel their parents will wink at them for it (and in some cases they're right). More racist statements are used, and where kids would quickly cut that out when called out on it, now they're more defiant than they used to be, saying the same rhetoric about "not being politically correct." Even the kids of the targeted demographic who seem to be left alone (not bullied or anything as far as anyone can tell, and may even be popular) are doing a bit worse academically (and it's not just passive aggressive racist teachers "grading them harder" since some teachers are concerned about their poorer performance in their class), and it could just be that the stress and uncertainty of the parents are affecting their kids. Or maybe they're just demoralized.

Back when several states were amending their state constitutions to not allow gay marriage, the suicide rate of those gay would typically go up right after.

I recall my own reaction was to be upset as I figured it would only get worse (though ater 2008 it actually got a lot better), and a bunch passed right after me and my girlfriend received a death threat (to execute us "as God demands") that a deputy said we should take seriously. While I was ready to dismiss people like the one who made a death threat as crazy, the majority votes that were anti-gay right after both disturbed and even scared me. And as I shared that with a couple that I thought were decent people, they said they understood the votes as they thought gays (including lesbians) and such were mostly child molesters (I was supposed to feel better that they said they trusted me "as a rare exception"), and I'd have never thought they could be that ignorant, and that unpleasant shock made me wonder who else saw me and who I was in such a light. It was incredibly demoralizing, and while I didn't feel at all suicidal myself (more angry and resentful with more hostility), I can understand why others did...especially if their families and childhood friends supported the anti-gay measures and saw those gay in such a negative light. So that all makes me sympathetic to people who feel something similar in racial or ethnic terms today, be they in the US or UK.