Social movements and the right

Social movements and the right

Left and right

Left• Socialist to liberal• Pro state intervention• Suspicious of or anti

capitalism• Strong human rights• Multi cultural• UK: Labour and Social

Democrats + some Liberals

Right• Liberal through conservative

to nationalist• Anti state intervention• Concerned about crime• Concerned about

immigration• Anti EU• UK: Conservatives + some

Liberals

Europe

• Taken into EEC by Ted Heath, Conservative• Under Thatcher Tories move to the right

pushed by think tank:– Privatisation– Big Bang– Sale of Council housing– Anti-Unions: Miners’ strikes– Suspicious of Europe: downfall of Thatcher after

Howe’s speech

Immigration

• Starts with Empire Windrush June 1948 Jamacia, 493

• Pakistani immigrants from 1950s– Slough– Bradford– Midlands

• Ugandan Asians 1972: 27,200

Social movements: Tilly

• “Sustained, organised, public effort, making collective claims on target authorities.”

• “Special-purpose associations and coalitions, public meetings, solemn processions, vigils, rallies, demonstrations, petition drives, statements to and in public media, and pamphleteering.”

National Front

• Formed 1967• Amalgamation of racist, nationalist and neo-Nazi

splinter parties• Small cells: policy directed from the centre• Support: White working class fearing immigration; neo

fascists• Policies:– Dan on immigration; forced repatriation– Anti-Semitic: Critical of accepted history of Holocaust

• Tactics: demos and ballots: no wins

Enoch Powell (1912-1998)

• 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech: response to Race Relations Act 1968 banning discrimination:– As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding. Like the Roman, I

seem to see 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood'. That tragic and intractable phenomenon which we watch with horror on the other side of the Atlantic but which there is interwoven with the history and existence of the States itself, is coming upon us here by our own volition and our own neglect. Indeed, it has all but come. In numerical terms, it will be of American proportions long before the end of the 20th century. Only resolute and urgent action will avert it even now.

Speech

• Quoted anonymous woman in Wolverhampton who was the only white in the street and refused to let to non-whites

• Mass demonstrations of support: London dockers, Smithfield market porters etc

• 1973 West Bromwich election• Lewisham and other demos

John Tyndall: 1934-2005

BNP

• Formed 1982 as amalgamation of splinters• Led by Tyndall to 1999 then Griffith• Voluntary emigration• Anti EEC/EU• Concern about rise of muslins• Cannot be members of the police or prison services• Argues with other nationalist parties about

nationalism: eg English Democrats

BNP: English Democrats not a nationalist party

2009 two seats in the European Parliament through proportional representation

Took over BNP from Tyndall in 1999

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iKfrY9l2kY

Easy and lazy labels for NF and BNP

• Nazis• Fascists• Racists• Responses to a confused and threatened

identity:– British, English– White– Nationalism

UKIP

• Founded 1993 in response to Maastricht treaty of the EU

• Conservative Party then in turmoil over Europe

• No MPs, 3 Peers, Ramsey Cambridgeshire, 12 MEPs

• Refuses membership to ex-BNP members

Rotherham and UKIP

• Labour-run Council• Care family 7 years experience• 3 children of East European background• Taken from them after 8 weeks because of

UKIP membership• Watch out for Rotherham by-election• Some Tories calling for election pact with UKIP

The Tea Party

• New York Times: "The Tea Party agenda is not well defined, though it is anti-government, anti-spending, anti-immigration and anti-compromise politics.“

• USA exceptional national organised around free enterprise, free play of markets and small government vs European-style statist policies

What is the Tea Party?

• Grass-roots, outsider, non-party, authentic, decentralised, leaderless movement that influenced the 2010 mid-term elections which the Republican Party was trying to co-opt

• or• False social movement manipulated by

wealthy individuals and organisations

Trio of issues

• Founding Fathers: what did they mean to do?• Constitutionalism: reign in government• Free markets• Then fears of– Debt– Socialism– Un-constitutionalism

DiMaggio

• “The central tenets driving local Tea Party meetings [in the Chicago area] were so uniformly consistent across all the levels I observed that it is difficult to conclude that they are manifestations of a bottom-up, decentralised, and diverse movement.”

• Claim of 5% turnover to Tea Party rallies exagerated: 0.0008%

FreedomWorks

• Third wave after Reagan and Contract with America

• Anti rent companies• Support for Ohio govenor• Train Tea Party activists• SuperPAC 2011: to empower the leaderless,

decentralized community of the tea party movement as it continues its hostile takeover of the GOP establishment.

Tea Party Nation

• Coordinator of local Tea Party groups• Founder supports property ownership as

requirement to vote• Limited success of first convention• Second abandoned as little support• Formed SuperPAC

Tea Party Patriots

• Proposes Second contract with America• Clashes with Tea Party Nation

Our Country Deserves Better

• PAC• Strong Palin supporter

Roles and impact of the Tea Party

• To de-toxify the Republican Party after GB Jr:– Iraq war– Deficit

• To raise the campaign against ObamaCare• To get out the vote for the mid terms• To push the Republicans into a non-compromise position

over taxes and spending so creating the fiscal deadlock• To push the 2012 Republican presidential candidates to

the right in the primaries• To get out the vote in 2012

De-toxify the Republicans

• The Bush positions forgotten• A new agenda emerges• Links to the success of Reagan and the failure

of Ginrich

Raise the campaign against ObamaCare

• A steady focus• Raises fear of socialism and European style of

government• Points to UK’s NHS: but other models such as

France• US life expectancy low: 42nd in world• Healthcare 18% of GDP in private hands: $2.5

trillion

Get out the vote for the mid terms

• Very successful• Tea Party caucus in Congress

Push the leadership into non compromise

• Very successful

Push Republican primaries right

Get out the vote in 2012

• Failure• Obama campaign focused on swing states:

uses masses of data to target specific demographics