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The demonisation of the left as a dangerous, violent rabble is so dangerous because it deflects from the objective fact that the overwhelming threat comes from the right.
It's not just Tories, but many self-styled "moderates" who've spread this perverse fiction. https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1350794142142656512
It's not just Tories, but many self-styled "moderates" who've spread this perverse fiction. https://twitter.com/kateferguson4/status/1350794142142656512
A Labour MP, Jo Cox, was murdered by a far right terrorist.
Another far right terrorist tried to kill the Labour MP Rosie Cooper.
Another far right terrorist wanted to kill Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan.
30% of disrupted UK terror plots were far-right. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/14/uk/mi5-far-right-terror-plots-gbr-intl/index.html
Another far right terrorist tried to kill the Labour MP Rosie Cooper.
Another far right terrorist wanted to kill Jeremy Corbyn and Sadiq Khan.
30% of disrupted UK terror plots were far-right. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/14/uk/mi5-far-right-terror-plots-gbr-intl/index.html
In the 2019 general election, two Labour activists in their 70s were attacked; one woman had cracked ribs.
This received far less attention than an allegation that a Labour activist punched a Tory aide, which was *proven to be a complete lie* only when the video was released.
This received far less attention than an allegation that a Labour activist punched a Tory aide, which was *proven to be a complete lie* only when the video was released.
Far right activists repeatedly targeted people outside of Parliament, myself included. See the main guy in this video? He's a self-styled Tory voter. If he was a Corbyn supporter and I wasn't a left-wing journalist, this would have been newsworthy but alas
This thug went on to lead a far right mob against Jeremy Corbyn, and had a restraining order imposed against him for harassing a female journalist https://www.itv.com/news/2019-09-02/yellow-vest-protester-goddard-arrested-after-blocking-jeremy-corbyn-car
While some journalists complain about Twitter pile-ons - by which they generally mean "being criticised for expressing views in a public forum" - I've been literally piled on by a far right extremist who hated my left-wing views https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/24/chelsea-fan-jailed-for-attack-on-guardian-journalist-owen-jones
When Boris Johnson compared Muslim women to letterboxes and bank robbers, hate crimes against Muslims surged.
You don't have to be a genius to work out the likely political leanings of those who felt encouraged by him to abuse or threaten Muslims https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boris-johnson-muslim-women-letterboxes-burqa-islamphobia-rise-a9088476.html
You don't have to be a genius to work out the likely political leanings of those who felt encouraged by him to abuse or threaten Muslims https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/boris-johnson-muslim-women-letterboxes-burqa-islamphobia-rise-a9088476.html
Boris Johnson has been lauded by numerous far right thugs and extremists, an inconvenient fact which is widely deemed to be irrelevant.
In September 2019, far-right extremists outside Parliament alternated chants of "We love you Boris, yes we do" with yelling "We've got a lamppost just for you" at left-wing protesters
I remember that day well. Both me and @AyoCaesar had to be escorted by six men while, and I really must repeat, *supporters of Boris Johnson* tried to lunge at us https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1170365322135838721
We've not even mentioned the antics of Tommy Robinson and his violent followers https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/tommy-robinson-protest-london-far-right-police-arrest-geert-wilders-a8391596.html
Yet politicians and commentators alike whip up a moral panic about the left, often because someone called anniejc4pm from Bolton has been rude about them on Twitter.
At best, a "both sides" equivalence is drawn between anti-fascists and fascists, which is literally Trumpian.
At best, a "both sides" equivalence is drawn between anti-fascists and fascists, which is literally Trumpian.
This demonisation of the left is dangerous because it fuels the far right threat (those death threats claiming I'm a Hamas supporter - where's that nonsense coming from exactly, hmm?) and deflects from the overwhelming threat of political violence which comes from the right.
And that is how we end up in the perverse situation where Boris Johnson can deflect criticism about policies which drive people into poverty, by claiming a violent left-wing mob will be whipped up against poor old Tory MPs.
