Originally written and published by the Whitechapel Anarchist Group (WAG) back in February 2011 as a piece in their paper, On the Streets. I am republishing this as a series of articles on subjects which the left has absolutely no spine to deal with. Hopefully it will open debate where it does not exist and widen debate where it does. An even better result would be that such a debate will lead to action. We do not have the luxury of time and squeaky cleanliness, we are dealing with harsh reality including some subjects which may make us initially uncomfortable. We need to tackle these issues because we are rapidly losing ground to the state, capital and their lackeys in the form of liberals and the right-wing.

Note: Whilst I agree with this article the only part I would disagree with is the “football casuals” part as for the EDL it was more of an aesthetic than anything tangible. Also grammar and spelling are written as originally published so mistakes are not my own.

“The Rise of Reaction

As the economic crisis deepens in this country we see a political swing further and further to the right. Frustrated at the circumstances, people retreat into identity politics as an outlet to articulate their feelings, fighting amongst ourselves literally over the crumbs while those exploiting use get away scot free.

Across the country we see groups like the English Defence League (EDL) being a vehicle for football casuals and closet fascists to focus their racism on supposed “Islamification” of Britain. Likewise amongst Bengali and Somali communities people retreat further into their religious identity, with manipulative minorities like Muslims Against Crusades (MAC) trying to recruit amongst frustrated youth for their own agenda. In Afro-Carribean and West Indian communities long gone is the radicalism of the past few decades as more turn to a Christian God and with it the rise of the preachers, Healers and Spiritualists cleaning up financially. The British National Party (BNP) also still poses a mainstream threat, despite losing its councilors in Barking and Dagenham last year and splintering over a challenge to Griffin’s leadership, their vote in fact increased, and they are still able to hold shared sentiments amongst disillusioned elements of the working class. This right wing sentiment is justified, not just by loony groups operating on the fringes, but pre-dominantly stirred-up by mainstream politicians and the media. Newspapers, television, Conservatives, Labour etc. all preach a line of supporting the country, whipping up fear over immigration and terrorism while telling us to love the Queen and respect the Police.

All sense of community has been destroyed so that we do not fight back against the powers that exploit us from the cradle until the grave. Armed with the liberal ideology of political correctness, the concept of multi-culturalism has been forced down upon every section of the massively diverse working class, shoe horning communities into a pre-conceived identity, and enforcing the age old adage of “divide and rule”. The working class has always been multi-ethnic – just look at the history of the East End with Irish, Chinese, Jewish, Bangladeshi, African, European all living side by side, creating new collective cultures and identities as a class, unlike the inbred upper classes. But there is a big difference between multi-ethnicity – where we naturally mix and mingle – and multi-culturalism which is a political ideology used to divide us over scarce social benefits such as housing, health care, jobs etc.

In the current crisis that we face it is no surprise we see a rise in right wing politics. All of these political and/or religious groups work to divide us, removing a sense of working class solidarity and filling the vacuum with a sense of “self” defined by “others”. This is also a feature of the left in Britain who have remain fractured [sic], manipulative, arrogant and irrelevant to the needs and concerns of every day life, therefore the concept of socialism is alien to the working class as a tangible alternative. Instead what we are witnessing is a rise in identity politics and a swing towards the right wing, the government will no doubt respond by becoming more authoritarian, more heavy handed and controlling of its “subjects”, as an excuse to get a grip on this crisis. Throughout, the ruling class will remain unscathed as we fight amongst ourselves.

What we need to see is a sense of solidarity that goes beyond religion and race, a united and strong working class that can stand up for it’s rights and fight back for a fair and equal society.”