"Ali recounted the incident as an example of how Reform UK and other rightwing activists have increasingly ramped up anti-minority rhetoric in recent months. Reform UK offers simple solutions' to extremely complex problems blame immigrants, blame black and brown people, blame Muslims, he said. The language is incredibly inflammatory. It's language that is designed to stir up hate. Ali said that Reform UK was a big threat to cohesion."
"The party was now led by a gay Jewish man, a straight practising Muslim with a big beard and from a northern working-class background, and a middle-class woman who's a feminist, said Ali. Between us, we can reach across country, class, race, religion and geography. It sends a message that Britain's a melting pot of all kinds of people. We just created a microcosm of the macro."
Mothin Ali, a Leeds councillor and newly elected Green deputy leader, and his family were attacked on a day out at Cromer beach when people threw beer bottles, hurled racist slurs such as 'Get out of our country' and 'Paki bastards', and one person exposed himself. The attack exemplifies a pattern of escalating rightwing anti-minority rhetoric that scapegoats immigrants, black and brown people, and Muslims for complex social problems and uses inflammatory language to stir hate. The Greens recently elected Zack Polanski as leader with joint deputies Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward. The leadership intentionally reflects diverse backgrounds to bridge class, race, religion, and geography and to present a radical alternative to divisive politics.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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