Elections All but one Top Political Leader in the UK and Ireland are (part) South Asian or Black

[moreorless87]

Why can't people of color not be progressive? We are starting to see a huge influx of conservative leaning minorities in the US getting positions of power. They feel the progressives have stepped over them in favor of migrant votes. They also do not buy into to the rainbow agenda. I think when we see people of color getting positions of power that isn't heavy on one side of the political spectrum, you are seeing true representation.

If you mean the Democrat's or the UK Labour part today then those are hardly very progressive political parties, ones I'd argue that are significantly racist if not openly always then in their politics.

You look at politics as a whole and I think you see very significant underrepresentation of most minorities in the US and UK and you look at the situation with Diane Abbot and you see just how much racism there is at the highest level of UK politics.

Again I think whats really been picked up on very strongly post Obama in politics and indeed in the whole political/media establishment is the power of tokenism, were in the era were "representation" is pushed NOT whether the politician actually pushing politics which help their minority group.

 

[BigDeadFreak]

If you mean the Democrat's or the UK Labour part today then those are hardly very progressive political parties, ones I'd argue that are significantly racist if not openly always then in their politics.

You look at politics as a whole and I think you see very significant underrepresentation of most minorities in the US and UK and you look at the situation with Diane Abbot and you see just how much racism there is at the highest level of UK politics.

Again I think whats really been picked up on very strongly post Obama in politics and indeed in the whole political/media establishment is the power of tokenism, were in the era were "representation" is pushed NOT whether the politician actually pushing politics which help their minority group.

How are the Labour Party's politics racist?

 

[moreorless87]

How are the Labour Party's politics racist?

Well most obviously they've strongly backed Israel actions in Gaza and been happy to label those critical of them as "extremists" but your also dealing with a party under Starmer which has pushed significantly back to the right, is much more tolerant of islamphobia, anti black racism and is pushing politics which will carry on hurting such groups disproportionately, no commitment to increase NHS funding, very limited commitments to deal with poverty, very much business as usual economically, as close to the Tories as they can get.

 

[650lb Sumo]

The Government says net immigration is +672,000 a year. As D-Day was ~150,000, that's about four and a half D Days a year, or, roughly a new Sheffield or Leeds a year.

The peak size of the British Army in WW2 was 2,900,000, so we're receiving that about every four years and four months. However immigration keeps accelerating.

The highest estimate I've seen for how many Anglo-Saxons came to Britain was 300,000 (in total, not per year).

Edit: British nationals are supposedly net -9,000 per year.

 

[Leinster Rugby]

Dying countries, doing dying country things.

How are these countries 'dying' please?

 

[I Am Legion]

If you mean the Democrat's or the UK Labour part today then those are hardly very progressive political parties, ones I'd argue that are significantly racist if not openly always then in their politics.

You look at politics as a whole and I think you see very significant underrepresentation of most minorities in the US and UK and you look at the situation with Diane Abbot and you see just how much racism there is at the highest level of UK politics.

Again I think whats really been picked up on very strongly post Obama in politics and indeed in the whole political/media establishment is the power of tokenism, were in the era were "representation" is pushed NOT whether the politician actually pushing politics which help their minority group.

In the US, the House and Congress are predominately white. But the districts that are not predominately white, are represented by a racial minority 90% of the time. That makes sense, as population is still 60% white. It is the most diverse it has ever been and each election, it becomes more diverse. I don't think that is tokenism. I can't speak on the UK. But House and Congress have real power to make change. The loudest ones we have are not white. They are females of color. No matter how bad their politics are, they are heard and have a voice. Is it the opinion that these pols in the UK are just put in to shut people up, and have no real power?

 

[moreorless87]

In the US, the House and Congress are predominately white. But the districts that are not predominately white, are represented by a racial minority 90% of the time. That makes sense, as population is still 60% white. It is the most diverse it has ever been and each election, it becomes more diverse. I don't think that is tokenism. I can't speak on the UK. But House and Congress have real power to make change. The loudest ones we have are not white. They are females of color. No matter how bad their politics are, they are heard and have a voice. Is it the opinion that these pols in the UK are just put in to shut people up, and have no real power?

The original question was for a higher level of government than that in the UK, MP's would be roughly equivalent to house of representatives but the post was about leadership of political parties.

Again though I think its a mistake to believe that someone of the same race/gender/religion/sexuality/etc will automatically lookout for people the same, what tends to happen a lot of the time is that entry to politics is gatekept so that people who might genuinely do so are less likely to be be elected and even less likely than that to rise to power.

Its not like this is a new criticism, its one which would be made quite often if you go back say 30 years but recently I think theres been a massive amount of effort put in to defang the idea of tokenism across society as a whole because its become such a massive part of PR.

 

[avenue94]

But the districts that are not predominately white, are represented by a racial minority 90% of the time. That makes sense, as population is still 60% white

This is hugely influenced by gerrymandering as well.

 

[aunshi189]

Sunak is the first non-white UK prime minister. We've had three female PM's, I thought it was two, then I remembered Liz Truss was PM for about 2 weeks.

All Tories too. The left hates women clearly.

 

[Mack Yancy]

@CyberRubberDuck @nostradumbass @BigDeadFreak

Funny how this quote doesn't mean that much to you right now...

 

[Mack Yancy]

Who are the "these guys" you're quoting that told you they don't even notice dems playing identity politics?

None of these european leaders are part of the U.S. democratic party you window licker.

 

[Mack Yancy]

What percentage of these elected officials say that racism is a problem in Britain?

This is the article that @Kassitus didn't want you to see.

Rishi Sunak says he is ‘living proof’ the UK isn’t racist

PM seeks to take heat out of row after suspended MP, who is accused of Islamophobia, refuses to apologise for comments about London mayor Sadiq Khan

www.thetimes.co.uk

 

[PBAC]

yeah well, Obama is Irish

Came straight from Moneygall

 

[Siver!]

Prime Minister of the UK - Rishi Sunak - ethnic Indian and practising Hindu

First Minister of Scotland - Humza Yousaf - ethnic Pakistani and practising Muslim

Impending First Minister of Wales - Vaughan Gething - half Zambian

First Minister of Northern Ireland - Michelle O'Neill - many of her relatives are or were members of the PIRA

Mayor of London - Sadiq Khan - ethnic Pakistani and practising Muslim

Prime Minister of Ireland - Leo Varadkhar - half Indian and also gay

Vaughan Gething has just won the Welsh Labour Leadership election, and is expected to replace the ethnically Welsh Mark Drakeford on Wednesday. So technically the thread headline isn't correct until then but I kept it brief. He will be the first 'Black' leader of a European country (although Wales is not an independent country).


If you want to look at the UK Cabinet, here they are. They are mostly ethnically British, although the Home Secretary, which is a very senior position, is not, nor was his predecessor. The Home Secretary is James Cleverly, who is half Sierra-Leonian.

I also haven't included the King or the President of Ireland, Michael Higgins as those are basically ceremonial roles, unless you believe in conspiracy theories.

2021 England & Wales Census:

Indian: 3.1%
Pakistani: 2.7%
Mixed White/Black African: 0.4%

The ethnicity results from Scotland's last census, in 2022, are not out yet, but we have the data from 2011:

2.7% of Scotland's population identified as Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British.

Doing the numbers for O'Neill was a bit of a formality but here goes:

Not for long!

Here comes the Starmer Express!

Also, don't forget that the Conservative support base voted for the far, far, far less qualified white face when they actually had a choice - the great Liz Truss, everybody!

Very important to get behind the whiteness!

 

[CyberRubberDuck]

@CyberRubberDuck @nostradumbass @BigDeadFreak

Funny how this quote doesn't mean that much to you right now...

Trouble is, as offensive as you may say it is, skin colour has correlation with many many things.


But thanks for the mention.

 

[CyberRubberDuck]

I thought race didn't matter to you. Sunak was born and raised in Britain, isn't he British?

It doesn't matter to me. But we also can't ignore certain things.
Like the fact London will never have a non Muslim mayor ever again.

 

[BigDeadFreak]

Well most obviously they've strongly backed Israel actions in Gaza and been happy to label those critical of them as "extremists" but your also dealing with a party under Starmer which has pushed significantly back to the right, is much more tolerant of islamphobia, anti black racism and is pushing politics which will carry on hurting such groups disproportionately, no commitment to increase NHS funding, very limited commitments to deal with poverty, very much business as usual economically, as close to the Tories as they can get.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that not increasing NHS funding is racist. Do white people not use the NHS? Also, we are spending a higher percentage of our GDP on the NHS than at any point in our history. Funding isn't the issue, it's the fact that a lot of it is wasted.

Also, how is the Labour Party 'much more tolerant of... anti black racism'?

 

[BigDeadFreak]

@CyberRubberDuck @nostradumbass @BigDeadFreak

Funny how this quote doesn't mean that much to you right now...

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[AWilder]

Late stage colonialism?

 

[Possum Jenkins]

I don't know if I'd agree with this.

It might have been founded as a country of immigrants but it was also founded on some pretty heavy racism with the treatment of the Native population and was one of the latest Western countries to abolish slavery and kept up racial segregation laws until deep into the 20th century.

You think the American people would accept an ethnically Indian or Muslim President?

The country that starts BLM and defund the police movements because of how racist they feel American society is still today and that's less racist than Europe?

Yeah, when you look at the entire history it's a bit difficult to compare because both societies are so drastically different. White American society had direct contact with Native Americans and blacks from the beginning so they did all the terrible things they did. Meanwhile, what Europeans did to Africans, Asians, and Australian Aborigines in their own homeland was pretty atrocious as well. Very hard to say which is worse.

But if we start in the mid-late 20th century, it's a more fair comparison. Yeah, Britain has an Indian PM, it also decided to leave the European Union, knowing all the harm it would bring, largely because it couldn't handle the thought of the non-ethnic English making up a whopping *gasp* 10% of its population!

Europeans see their countries' immigrant population (not necessarily nonwhite) reach 5-10% and instantly far-right, neo-Nazi political parties spring up everywhere.

Entire stadiums make monkey chants and throw bananas at black players because they just cannot handle more than 1-2 black players on the field at one time.

Meanwhile, major American cities have been less than 50% white for a few decades now. A couple of years ago, nonwhite newborns outnumbered white ones. American right wingers are alarmed at this, of course, but as disgusting as Republicans are, their bigotry is nowhere near Europe's. Lots of dog whistles and underhanded comments.

Nothing like what Le Pen, Orban, and Farage openly say. The one openly racist legislator (Steve King from Iowa) got shunned, isolated by his own party, and ultimately voted out.