SEAN O’NEIL: Perth asylum protests show terrifying reach of far-right rhetoric.

This is a well-funded, coordinated attack on some of our society’s most vulnerable citizens.” The continuous protests outside Perth hotels that house asylum seekers are both depressing and terrifying.

It is indication that the poisonous espousals of the emboldened far-right, as seen elsewhere in the UK, have arrived in our city.

A movement that demonises and villainizes people solely based on their immigration status. This is racist speech and deadly nationalist philosophy.

The organisers of the Perth rallies claim they are not far-right, but rather concerned people who are concerned about women and children.

The timing of their demonstrations is particularly bad, as they coincide with actual far-right events with very identical demands cropping up across Britain.

It is particularly terrible that it has received support from persons such as Gavin Sangster, who mocked the tragic drowning of asylum seeker Mohammad Akrami in the River Tay.

Sangster, who is currently under police investigation, told my colleague, “I will refer to migrants as vermin because they’re an infestation – if that’s hateful, fair enough.”

It’s also bad luck that the far-right outfit Great British National Protest claims to be supporting the demonstrations in Scotland.

A similar event outside an asylum hotel in Falkirk saw a protester display a Kill ‘Em All flag among the more prominent Union Jacks.

I have to presume that not everyone leading or attending the Perth protests agrees with Gavin Sangster and Kill ‘Em All’s language. But there is no denying that they are in partnership with those who do.

Anti-immigration rhetoric is not new

It is evident that these protests are not occurring independently of one another. This is a well-funded and coordinated onslaught on some of our society’s most vulnerable citizens, who have literally risked their lives to reach these shores.

So, what has triggered the sudden spike of anti-immigrant protests around the country? The simple answer, of course, is that Britain has a well-documented history of prejudice, blaming foreigners for its problems.

This is a country that has gone from having no blacks, dogs, or Irish, as well as the horrifying treatment of Pakistani communities, to Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech, in which he warned about the impact of immigration on Britain.

We’ve seen the emergence of the BNP over Islamophobia, as well as rhetoric of Poles and Lithuanians ‘coming to steal our jobs’. More recently, there has been the Windrush scandal and Brexit, with Europeans being blamed for all of life’s evils.

All of this is to argue that scapegoating immigrants is nothing new, but it does not tell the full narrative of this season’s protests.

Governments have failed people

Today’s demonstrations are the outcome of successive governments’ complete and utter inability to improve the lives of ordinary men and women in the UK over generations.

We’ve seen the divide between rich and poor widen at an alarming rate, leaving us with a country run by billionaires and supported by soup kitchens.

People are upset, and they should be furious. And amid that unrest, evil sees an opportunity, and those responsible seek diversion.

You’ll remember Nigel Farage, the billionaire stockbroker who led the Brexit charge against Europe.

He rose to fame by fanning the embers of xenophobia, inciting violence for his own political purposes. With Brexit complete and all of our problems still unresolved, Nigel shifted his attention to a different type of foreigner:

those arriving on small boats. It was a bogeyman thrown up by a failing and flailing Tory party, seeking to shift public attention away from the debacle they had caused in nearly every element of government service.

The terrible plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which has been proposed as official government policy, is based on a playbook that is indisputably from the far right.

In doing so, the administration consciously fuelled the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment, a demonisation of humans that was supported and legitimised by the media as it gained traction in politics.

It would have been easier to direct Rwanda’s focus towards processing refugee petitions more quickly, but where’s the shock value in that?

Unfortunately, and probably unforgivably, the next Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has made the determined decision to increase incitement in the face of his own flagging bid for Prime Minister.

Agitators and demagogues

And here we are: Tommy Robinson, a convicted far-right agitator, leading thousands of people on a nationalist march through London’s streets.

A flag-waving gathering was cut short by the anarchistic statements of tech-age demagogue Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man.

If money is power – and it undoubtedly is – shouldn’t one ask why the man with the most of it on the planet is taking the time to incite hatred against the world’s poorest? For males like Musk, this is about interference and control, not the safety of our streets, as he claims.

It is about sustaining the status quo, preventing the masses from challenging his billions, and pursuing opportunities to increase his fortune. It’s also the behaviour of a narcissist looking for attention and approval.

If you want to be upset, be angry at these people: the governments that have failed you, the millionaires who are exploiting you, and the billionaires who are having fun with it all.

They are the creators of divide, the masters of story. And yelling at hotels will not make them do anything.

Read more on Straightwinfortoday.com