Photo: CNN
Making Plans for Nigel: The Politician and TV Networks Stoking the UK’s Far-Right Riots
I joined the Chasing Shadows podcast of former US intelligence officer John Foley for a 47-minute deep-dive into the recent far-right riots in the UK.
I detail the course of the riots, tracking the white supremacist activists, politicians, and British channels excusing and stoking them. I offer the political, economic, and social context, and I ask if there is hope in the far larger demonstrations — and the effective action by the new Labour Government, the police, and the courts — that ended the rioting after just over a week.
What magnifies the far right is the media context in which any type of rumor, misinformation, or disinformation doesn’t take days to reach potential flashpoints — it can be there within seconds.
Then there’s the UK context of Brexit — disastrous economically but also disastrous socially because it fed in part on divisions whipped up in Britain, particuarly Brexit leaders saying, “We’re being swamped by immigrants.”
