“Fascism” should not be used lightly. It’s a very old political theory. Many of the complaints are that they’re lazy or non-working, they should be able to work, pay taxes and succeed in life. Instead of succumbing to the forever hellhole that’s hotels and unemployment.
I don’t really care if asylum seekers are able to work; the point of granting asylum is humanitarian, not self-interest. Regular migration is self-interested (from the point of view of the new country) though.
I think most complaints about asylum seekers are about crime, about being “swamped” or about how they arrive, none of which really makes sense, except that it is true that there has been a large rise in refugees arriving in the UK over the last decade. It still doesn’t really stand up to scrutiny though.
Most of the people who turned out at the anti-asylum demonstrations in my city would have been equally at home fighting a rival band of football hooligans. There were a few bitter oldies of the sort who loudly proclaim their fealty to whatever Farage’s current vanity-project party is called, but most of them are young men looking to threaten and hurt people.
It may not be diplomatic to call them fascists, but that’s what nearly all of them are, knowingly or not.
Hooligan or thug is not synonymous with fascist though? Or what are you saying?
There’s no magic slogan that will make the fascists go away in shame, and calling them names is never a substitute for saying something more substantial. But if they’re fascists, call them fascists.
I think you (we, people in general) need to do better than that.
- Being racist isn’t the same as being fascist. I don’t see how you can impute fascist values in people who turn up to protest asylum seekers being housed in hotels, because where are you getting a read on their attitudes to the role of the police, military and liberty?
- When people say that they’re protesting asylum seekers because they represent a danger, that is based on a xenophobic or racist understanding of crime. But firstly, it’s necessary to say that, because to someone who does actually believe that asylum seekers are more likely to commit crime, just replying with “that’s racist” (or worse, “you’re a fascist”) is a non-sequitur.
It’d be like if you said that immigrants contribute positively to society compared to the native population, and someone saying you “hate British people.” Obviously you don’t hate British people; you’re merely talking about a way in which (you believe) the immigrant population is “better” on average than British people (and no doubt you could explain the boring demographic reasons for this). This doesn’t actually change if, in fact, the statistics you’d read about immigrants and the economy were wrong! So put yourself in the shoes of someone protesting asylum seekers; you have this belief which, in your opinion, warrants protesting their presence. These beliefs are amplified by sources that are respected in your circles like the papers. Then someone calls you racist. Do you use this as an opportunity re-examine yourself, or do you reject what they’re saying because they never engaged with your actual beliefs?
Or from another angle: it’s not racist to think that different populations have different, specific likelihoods of, for example, being in work, doing well in education, or committing crimes. If a press captured by racists and the right wing amplifies stories about a certain population committing crimes, people are likely to believe that that population does so disproportionately, without ever harbouring an actual hatred of that population.
If your main message to them is that this is racist, that message will fall on deaf ears, because it’s not attacking the source of their beliefs.
You can’t be offended by being called a fascist if you don’t know what it means.
I think it’s the lack of repercussions fueling them. They seem to be wearing it as a badge of honour.
Before 2016, they didn’t dare show their true colours. But since Brexit & Trump, they’ve been slowly testing & eroding the limits for their disgusting behaviour.
I mean Elon Musk did an actual fucking Nazi salute and fuck all happened! The media actively played it down.
It’s not about offence, it’s about whether it’s something that anyone even believes.
if you’re whining about immigrants having shelter you ARE a fascist.
Telling this to the domestic population living under a regime where homeless is on the rise is tone deaf.
and yet they’ll vote for the people who caused it because it’s easier to blame minorities.
are we gonna put them into camps or what?
i mean the government is putting refugees and migrants into camps
The people who don’t vote how you like
Fascism is inherently nativist, but people who complain about immigrants being housed in hotels might be concerned about the cost. For those (many - I’m not downplaying this) that are simply anti-immigrant, fascism also is inherently opposed to democracy and in favour of the creation of a militarised police state. Where do you get that from “whining about immigrants having shelter”? I don’t think you can.
I think you’re identifying that fascists are anti-immigrant and that fascism has some currency as a negative term and so want to bash anti-immigrant people with the label even though it doesn’t apply.
