French bureaucrat calls Brits racist

I am a Labour supporter. In fact, more than that, I'm a member of the Labour Party and I'm the Treasurer of my local Labour branch. I also fundamentally oppose UKIP, and I do believe there are a number of racists and lunatics in the party.

But that is not to say that UKIP is in any way inherently a racist party. There is nothing race-based or race-related in being euro-skeptical. In fact, in some ways it is the opposite, given they oppose a policy that gives unrestricted access to white Europeans, even unskilled ones, while restricting Africans, Indians etc, including those who are well-educated and highly-skilled

What are the grey bits, they're not on the key?

The only things UKIP and the BNP have in common are euroscepticism and social conservatism. And the leader of UKIP isn't even much of a social conservative (he supports drug legalisation, for instance). Other than that, the BNP is socialist while UKIP is economically right wing. The BNP supports deportation of non-whites (and its leader is a Holocaust denier). UKIP support neither of these things, to my knowledge, so I fail to see how they are the "polite version of the BNP".

I would say that the BNP have much more in common with working class Labour, than UKIP.

UKIP are a direct reaction against mass immigration and fear of culture being swamped. Same with any other far-right party in Europe. Trying to make a distinction is mere semantics.

Yes, that's a good point. By the way, I wasn't trying to say that Labour are anything like the BNP, I just think there is a better comparison among a certain subsection of Labour support between it and the BNP, than with UKIP.

It no longer expressly supports the systematic repatriation of legal immigrants, although it supports the deportation of illegal, criminal, and unemployed immigrants

Britain has UKIP, the polite version of the BNP projected to get about 20% of the votes.



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No worries, I knew what you were getting at.

I think the attitude of Labour supporters, or at least traditional Labour supporters, depends on where they are in the country.

I live about a mile from the Palace of Westminster, in an extremely working class area, very mixed from Nigerians to Iraqis to Chinese, and also traditional white working class. The members of my branch are predominantly white working class and elderly, and I've found they are, on the whole, quite open minded. Sometimes they are a bit prejudiced but always in a non-malicious way.

I think the generally tolerant attitude of the traditional working class people in my parish are probably influenced by their feeling fully enfranchised and listened to. Our MP is very attentive to their needs, she is very visible in the community and she regularly attends community events and is a noticeable presence. The grassroots know her and like her. Our local authority is also quite good on social housing issues and supporting the community. I think that's partly a function of just how strongly Labour the area is, and our MP, Harriet Harman, is very well known and respected in the constituency. She knows who her constituents are and serves them well, she's a canny politician but she knows how to mix smart politics with genuinely serving the community (hence she pretty much has a seat for life if she wants it), and our party machine is very strong.

By contrast, I think that in areas where working class people don't feel listened to, where they feel alienated from the seat of power and politicians, they would be much more cynical and resentful. And that's where you tend to see a degree of prejudice from people who were traditionally supporters of the Labour Party (many have also had their connection to the broader labour movement severed by the loss manufacturing jobs that connected them to the trade unions)

France is the most racist country in Europe. Britain is one of the least racist in the world.

What a pillock.

There are some interesting points there, but could it also be due to isolation? I don't think working class people are necessarily any more or less prejudiced than upper or middle class people, but if you live in a big metropolis like London you tend to be more open minded about different people due to their everyday presence.

Why is India so racist?

That is tantamount to political suicide in this day and age. No matter where you go except maybe a few far reach eastern european countries. Truth is UKIP would like to deport anyone not born here.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/nov/19/mark-reckless-immigration-row-rochester-byelection

Who knows. I was also wondering why Hong Kong is so racist. And it's interesting that Pakistan is relatively non-racist, while India is apparently extremely so.

Re Hong Kong, I think it probably looks quite racist because we have no data from China, but it's probably more a case that Hong Kong is similar in its views to China (which can be quite xenophobic; particularly in terms of the ideology of Han superiority)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_chauvinism

Having said that, my experience of Chinese racism is not one of a kind of hateful, vicious racism. It's more a misguided, prejudiced kind of racism (they just genuinely think they are superior to all other races, in a kind of matter-of-fact way)

You don't see any importance in the fact that the BNP have called for the deportation of non-whites, while UKIP haven't? That the BNP only allow white membership, while UKIP don't make any distinction?

I should probably point out that I don't myself support UKIP, but they are nowhere near as bad as the BNP.