5 hours ago
8
Regarding your article (A racist mob menacing refugee children and our town. Read this and see what lies ahead, unless we act now, 9 September), my town has a small hostel that houses people who are seeking asylum. Recently, around 70 people draped themselves in the flag of St George, festooned the streets in the night, and came from across the country for a march towards the hostel. The local people tried to defend these vulnerable few. We gathered with our own flags to signify solidarity and compassion. We held banners saying that our town did not want racists terrorising refugees. We tried not to engage with them directly.
In the seemingly interminable time before the police arrived, we were screamed at, pushed, called filthy child molesters and scum. Women were threatened with rape, and aerosols sprayed towards women with children to “wipe out their stink”. Posters were ripped from our hands, and young children wearing flags were encouraged to scream obscenities. They were spitting out that asylum seekers were scum, vermin, child molesters and that we were going to be knocked down and smashed.
These people have seen the change in the political narrative. They are drowning in disinformation and intended to terrify and hurt people. This is the free speech that they claim is being denied to them.
Every politician who engages in dog-whistle statements, scapegoating and myth-making is responsible for building their numbers. Has history really taught us absolutely nothing?
Name and address supplied
Faversham is a lovely town on the north coast of Kent. With a creek running through it, frequent markets and festivals, and Britain’s oldest brewery, it is a delightful place to visit. Yet we recently experienced a hate-filled protest against immigration and the use of a hostel to fulfil the county’s responsibility toward migrants.
This seeming contradiction can be explained in that whereas most of the people living in and around Faversham are middle class, it is also home to disadvantaged people left behind by the Conservatives and now by Labour. These people are understandably angry and have been swayed by the media to believe immigration is the problem rather than the inequality in our society.
It has not helped that individuals in the government have echoed Reform’s rhetoric instead of countering it with the truth about the value of immigration. It has also not helped that housing policy has badly affected our area. We now have a Reform council that combines inexperience with an inclination to sympathise with the protest. The result is that our streets are no longer safe.
So it is important that the needs of the “left behind” are looked after and the immigration myths are cleared out of people’s heads once and for all. Otherwise we can foresee Reform taking control throughout Britain, and, as we know in Faversham, this is not a prospect that bears thinking about.
Name and address supplied
In our village, many people are intimidated by the racists who have put flags on pretty much every lamp-post and there are vigilantes confronting anyone who tries to take them down. Many villagers are extremely angry with this overt racism and the threat of reprisals. Many are frightened and fearful.
Some have been openly abused and videos posted on social media – this appears to be in the far-right playbook. It’s clear evidence of criminality, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Sadly we don’t have the numbers prepared to stand up to what, here at least, appears to be a small minority. Individuals who have taken a stand have been assaulted, and accused of being traitors and unpatriotic. This is nothing to do with patriotism or freedom of speech. It’s all about intolerance, power and racists’ bully-boy tactics.
The police and councils are fully aware, but have only shrugged. If those who are supposed to represent and protect us will not speak out, somehow we have to do it for ourselves.
Name and address supplied
