I have to say that the news that Nigel Farage is backing an extreme right-wing candidate in a Republican primary (mark that: it’s a party primary – not even a general election!) in Alabama, USA takes secure possession of a whole plethora of biscuits. Does this man stop at nothing to get some media coverage?
I was in Alabama this time last week, so I feel the urge to comment on this, if not having the qualification of detailed knowledge of the situation.
First of all, Farage is taking no risks here. Roy Moore, the candidate he is speaking for tonight, is going to win the Republican nomination for the US Senate seat which was vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became US Attorney General. So Farage is saddling up on a horse which is already going to win.
But Alabama, USA? It’s like Nick Clegg endorsing a candidate for Mayor of Bratislava. What the heck has it got to do with Farage what happens in Alabama?
And a racist, homphobic candidate?
What makes me particularly angry about this is that, from the African American people I spoke to Alabama, it is obvious that there is still a long way to go to healing the racial divisions in that state. The last thing they need is Nigel Farage poking his nose in.
You only have to look at Civil War statues. While many cities in the USA are removing Confederate statues, Alabama has passed a law to preserve them, and indeed a new one has recently been put up. That tells you all you need to know.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist. He is one of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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12 Comments
My extremely Liberal and Trump-despising friends in the USA are nevertheless NOT in favour of the Stalinesque revision of history marked by removal of statues of Robert E Lee.
This program of statue removal has just given a focus, sense of greivance and additional support to white supremacists. Sleeping dogs should have been left lying.
The problem is that the dogs aren’t sleeping or lying. Confederate Memorials are being used as a focus to stoke up hatred and intolerance.
But it is important to recognise that not all the Confederate Memorials are being removed. As I mention above, Alabama has passed a law to keep them. Also, bear in mind, that many of these statues or memorials are not being destroyed but simply moved to another place, often still in a public place.
You mention the word “programme” as if the whole thing is something dreamt up by the “Thought Police” or the Ministry of Political Correctness. But where memorials are being removed it is due to the decision of local elected officials often backed by very clear public support. This list makes that clear. It is hardly “Stalinesque”. Here is just one example that makes clear the strength of local opinion:
Nigel is a right wing populist. He is a poor man’s Donald Trump but much less successful. I’m afraid he will be with us for a lot longer because like it or not he’s the go to man for an outraged quote and the media love that.
Taking down statues is not a “Stalinesque revision of history”. It’s a changing public view of the past, which is quite normal. Nobody is writing these people out of the history books. The fact that racist state governments in the past decided to put up statues to venerate their heroes shouldn’t be considered to bind modern societies to maintain that veneration indefinitely.
Obnoxious man. But he’s no doubt being well paid for such appearances,
Paul
Madison, Wisconsin hardly a part of the old South.
“Firebrand jurist Roy Moore won the Alabama Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating an appointed incumbent backed by President Donald Trump and allies of Sen. Mitch McConnell.
In an upset likely to rock the GOP establishment, Moore clinched victory over Sen. Luther Strange to take the GOP nomination for the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election.
Throughout the campaign, Moore argued the election was an opportunity to send a message to the “elite Washington establishment” that he said was trying to influence the race. The Senate Leadership Fund, a group with ties to McConnell, had spent an estimated $9 million trying to secure the nomination for Strange.”
Nigel likes America because of the collapse of the pound. initiated by the incompetence of Brown/Blair and all but finished off by the EU exit – no doubt racking up lots of tax free dollar expenses when he speaks out there.
Manfarang
I don’t think anyone has said that the removal of Confederate memorials is confined to the South. There was a plaque honouring Confederate soldiers in Madison Wisconsin.
“elite Washington establishment”
otherwise known as people who know how the Federal government works, a skill Donald Trump is trying desperately to acquire, with indifferent success.
Given the vastly disparate parts of the USA (just compare Alabama with roughly half the GDP per capita of Massachusetts and social attitudes miles apart) it is a miracle the country stays together, and that staying together basically happens in Washington where there are compromises to move forward – E Pluribus Unum. People distrust the compromises but it’s the only way the country actually works as a unit.
Paul
It’s only the southerners I met who talk about the war.