dagblog - Comments for ""Black Lives Matter are pushing division, not unity""

The BLM movement in England

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 20:37:56 +0000

In reply to "Black Lives Matter are pushing division, not unity"

The BLM movement in England has become quite controversial the more people learn about its specifics there. Including that the BBC is stepping back from showing outright support:

Number of high-profile organisations are forced to distance themselves from Black Lives Matter as they say organisation has been "hijacked"https://t.co/qwETM5M2JU
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) July 1, 2020

Here's more on why

Controversial Black Lives Matter leader remains defiant as support ebbs away
Joshua Virasami's attacks on Israel and outspoken views on policing are turning supporters against the Black Lives Matter campaign in the UK

By Bill Gardner and Craig Simpson 1 July 2020 • 8:21pm

To be fair to Joshua Virasami, a key leader of the UK’s Black Lives Matter movement, he has never attempted to hide his politics.

For the past decade Mr Virasami has made little secret of his hatred for capitalism, the police, the media, greedy landlords, airports, and Tories.

But now the 30-year-old activist and his fellow BLM leaders face a hemorrhaging of support and accusations of hijacking George Floyd's death after they tweeted attacks on Israel, and calls to “defund the police”.

Mr Virasami is one of the only BLM UK leaders whose name has been made public. Most of the others fear “far-Right” reprisals if identified, the organisation has said.

After attending a Catholic comprehensive in London, and later briefly studying at the University of London, Mr Virasami made a name for himself in far-left circles as a fiery writer and speaker while working in restaurants [....]

It helps to add in the context that anti-Israel sentiment is a much touchier subject in the UK than in the U.S. because many still feel anti-Semitism is a major problem, that it still raises its head in the whole class structure there. This is a problem Corbyn had, too.

Also, after Corbyn, the masses may have had enough of the whole far lefty thing.

I'm think I'm going to stick

artappraiser — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 01:42:48 +0000

In reply to Favorable opinion of BLM

I'm think I'm going to stick with Prof. Benjamin's big picture interpretation of all this for the foreseeable future rather than rmrd at Dag.

I think it all depends on how the crime rate goes.

And if the economy sucks and people don't have food much less a job, it might get really bad, where nobody cares about anybody else's life except their own and their own family. Right now people have luxury of unemployment insurance checks and a long social isolation bubble to think calmly and be magnanimous about human rights and agree with the protesting kids, half of whom might be protesting because there are no social events to go to and no jobs and it gives them a sense of purpose. But when joblessness and homelessness threatens, and you've got to struggle to keep the little you've got, and those kids are told sorry, no tuition money this year. it might be a different story. We'll see.

Yes the original post is

artappraiser — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 22:40:48 +0000

In reply to Wanjiru Njoya is talking

Yes the original post is about the UK culture. And I was sharing it for exactly that reason, for contrast, because there's a whole world of racial relationships and commentary out there, not just the U.S. With different divisions.

And after reading a lot of other UK stuff I haven't shared, I don't think it's very useful at all to try to fit UK and other country commentators like pegs into U.S. political labels. It's more useful to use them to think about why we in the U.S. are so pushed into a two choice partisan divide, either with one or the other. FALSELY, I THINK to our own detriment.

I just decided to add similar later so as not to clog up the news menu with new posts.

The other thing that happens

rmrd0000 — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 22:27:27 +0000

In reply to Wanjiru Njoya is talking

The other thing that happens is that once someone like Heather MacDonald publishes an article, it is accepted as truth by those on the Right. The United States does not collect police shooting data in a regulated fashion, so we don't have accurate numbers. The best spin you can put on her flawed number is that police killing an unarmed black person every month is not worthy of attention. It also avoids the number of people harassed by police.

Wanjiru Njoya is talking

NCD — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 21:38:14 +0000

In reply to "Black Lives Matter are pushing division, not unity"

Wanjiru Njoya is talking mostly about the UK not the US, she pushes the "blacks are criminals and muderers, even in Africa, so it's only natural police abuse them" meme.

She is also pro-corporate, pro 1%, saying enormous pay ratios of CEO's salary, bonuses and golden parachutes, over the average workers pay is a "misplaced preoccupation" in looking at economic inequality:

"the preoccupation with distributive matters such as executive pay ratios is misplaced. I argue that the ideal of economic equality matters not for its own sake but only because it offers a means of achieving human flourishing..". link

Favorable opinion of BLM

rmrd0000 — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 21:02:58 +0000

In reply to If you're assuming the

Favorable opinion of BLM increased. The public is recognizing race based disparities in society. Williams is clueless.

Edit to add:

The protestors are ethnically diverse. They are gender diverse and age diverse.

If you're assuming the

artappraiser — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 20:40:40 +0000

In reply to "Black Lives Matter are pushing division, not unity"

If you're assuming the existence of the divisive category of race when fighting racism, victory is impossible.

The foundation of fighting against racism should be a unifying concept for understanding ourselves in relation to one another, that is, our shared humanity. https://t.co/N1LtjCCOQd
— Jeremiah Mitchell (@jeremiahjm) July 1, 2020

In the United States, the

rmrd0000 — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 12:00:54 +0000

In reply to "Black Lives Matter are pushing division, not unity"

In the United States, the protests include a rainbow of ethnic groups. Current polling indicates more unity on the issue of race than noted in the past. Support for BLM increased after the George Floyd video.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/10/upshot/black-lives-matter-attitudes.html

We will if the feeling holds up long term