Post Election Thoughts · 5:52pm Nov 9th, 2016
On May 5 this year, Sadiq Khan was elected Mayor of London. This was not a surprise as he was a popular candidate, well ahead in the polls, but it was still a relief as Mr Khan was an inclusive candidate, reaching out to other ethnic groups, while his opponent’s team had fought a nasty campaign, with hints of racism, seeking to portray him as connected with terrorists. This had come after Donald Trump’s comments calling for all Muslims to be banned from entering the US. And his stupid remark that parts of London were so radicalised that officers feared for their lives, which caused particular offence in the British capital.
It was therefore especially satisfying that voters rejected this message and elected the first Muslim mayor of a western megacity. Afterwards many Conservatives were quick to acknowledge that the campaign had been wrong. As Mohammed Armin put it: “If we want to avoid the likely fate of the US Republican Party, we have to appeal to Britons of all ethnicities and of all religions and none.”
But any feelings of smug British superiority only lasted until the Brexit referendum on June 23, where the Leave campaign used a similarly nasty mix of misinformation, lies, dog-whistle racism, and anti immigrant rhetoric. But this time it worked. The Leave campaign chose to campaign on these issues. Of course not everyone who voted Leave was a racist, but unfortunately, after the vote, the racist minority didn’t see that. The extreme right interpreted the result as implying that 52% of the population support their agenda. This emboldened them to make louder and nastier attacks on immigrants. The statistics are disturbing: a 41% rise in hate crimes, 147% increase in homophobic attacks. And there are been an even larger rise in minor unreported xenophobic incidents.
The similarities with the US presidential election are obvious. Trump painted a picture of a country under threat from Mexican rapists and Muslim immigrants. He tapped into a anti-establishment anger, while luring voters with his ‘Make America Great Again’ fantasy. We were all ready to congratulate the US on electing the first female president. Instead we are very afraid. What happens next? Will he deport 11 million migrants? At this point none of us know for sure. His campaign was full of lies. We have no more details of his planned policies than we have of Theresa May’s strategy for Brexit. It seems quite likely that he will get no further building his wall than his billion-dollar Scottish golf resort.
In the short term, it is a very real fear that Trump’s victory will embolden the American extreme right wing, and we could see a rise in race/religious hate crime, just as Brexit caused a spike in violence and hostility in the UK. And (as British journalists love to point out), Trump supporters have guns.
Take care of each other. I’ll write about something more light-hearted next week.
Yeah, this whole thing looks like Brexit 2.0 - Fuck Up Even Harder.
I follow a number of British Youtubers who've been saying the past few months that Brexit should have been a warning to America. Instead, it appears to have been a role model.
All we can do is hope he isn't as terrible as he has presented himself to be the past year.
That's much more eloquent than my post-election thoughts, which amounted to this:
Hang on, im pretty sure that is the case.
Minor note: Migrants are those who move from place to place, following jobs (usually agricultural, but some construction). Not all of the 11 million illegal immigrants in the US are migrants, and not all migrants are in the US illegally. The much-touted 'guest worker' program lets a certain number of migrant workers in legally.
The whole premise was always flawed, anyway. Since the start of the 2008-09 recession, between that and Obama's increased border security (which almost never gets reported on), the number of illegal/undocumented immigrants in the US has held steady, as the number incoming dropped and some were deported or left as their work dried up due to the economy.
I admit, I was quite surprised by the results. For me, though, the major parties was kinda like a choice between being punched in the gut or kicked in the crotch. I might prefer one by comparison, but I'd really rather neither happen. I wanted Sanders v. Cruz, personally, as both were open and honest about their differing ideologies. Well, hindsight is 20-20.
Put a gun to his head and pull the trigger. It's the only way to make sure.
Pic is dead. At least for me anyways.
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The Metropolitan Police would not agree with you
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Thanks. I'm guessing I picked up the usage from the BBC
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Fixed. I forgot that imgur has an allergy to fimfiction
4293857 Ah, so apparently the American usage isn't the technical OED definition. What I gave is uuuuusually what US politicians mean by the terms.
Now that I can see the image I didn't realize was supposed to be there... Bwahahaha. That's great. And I once again admire the human ability to find humor in nearly anything.
"first Muslim mayor of a major western city"
Is Calgary not major enough for you?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naheed_Nenshi
I'm glad Canada at least has it's head on straight for the most part.
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I did not mean to offend the residents of Calgary, or to diminish Mr Nenshi's achievement or Canada's commitment to equal opportunities. But London is definitely on another scale. I'll change that to western megacity. Of course, with the anticipated mass migration to Canada, I may have to revise it in the future.
At this point, I am very scared. I would like to NOT destroy the planet, thank you very much. I like living on earth and not getting massive doses of known-to-be-toxic chemicals (I guess I can't complain about something that just isn't known yet, but I still would prefer more research...), and I like having a beautiful nature to enjoy. I can't believe the guy who thinks climate change is a hoax got elected. There are a LOT of reasons not to like him--don't get me started listing them! I really hate Trump!--but one of the things that scares me the most is his disbelief in the reality of climate change. (One of the other things that scares me badly is his encouragement of hatred and fear, if I'm going to summarize it in a sentence. Oh man, I hope we don't destroy everything...)