I’ve been on a lot of Left Wing protests over the years, anti-war ones, anti-austerity, student protests, Palestine, Occupy adjacent ones. Crowds above a million, in the 100ks, even small ones bringing 1000s or 10ks. I have never known mainstream media and politicians to bend even an inch to most of them. Protestors are routinely dehumanised, othered, made criminal or just ignored. Compare that to the gleeful pandering to a few thousand Far Right nutters, the sudden call to hear ‘reasonable concerns’ and ‘engage with these ordinary people’… It’s absurd, it’s nonsensical and it can’t be taken as anything but intentional because to be so eager to hear some voices and completely ignore others can’t just be chance, or even myopic stupidity. Most people who were on the same protests as me probably know this but still, it’s a point we should always make. The racists aren’t legitimised because they represent a mass of people, they’re legitimised because a minority at the top is very comfortable with their hatred and couldn’t care less about their victims.
