Children left to drown in the Channel?

JVL Introduction

John Harris reports on the reaction to  Ben Habib, Reform UK’s “co-deputy leader”, saying on TalkTV that refugees should be let to drown.

Though he was disowned, the furore died down surprisingly quickly. So many seem not to have been particularly shocked by his remarks.

Why? asks Harris.

Decades of dehumanising rhetoric have blunted sensibilities, and the prospect of deportation flights to Rwanda is now the new Tory normal.

Reform UK with its policy prescription of no net immigration, while outside the Tory party and hostile to it, is in reality driving its political responses.

“What Habib said on TalkTV was surely a window into not just his party’s soul, but the warped mindset of a growing political faction that is tightening its grip on Conservatism.”

The defining feature of the new authoritarianism here as in Donald Trump, the Marine Le Pen, or Viktor Orbán is “the complete absence of common humanity”.

That is why reports that London protesters block transfer of asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm are so heartening.

Not everyone is prepared to capitulate to the new racism.

RK

This article was originally published by the Guardian on Sun 28 Apr 2024. Read the original here.