Adolf H-sorry, I mean Donald Trump
Yes, that's right. Donald Trump has caused controversy this week. Again. This time it's probably one of the worst and most impractical proposals that Mr Trump has come forward with - he wants a ban on all Muslims entering the United States until, in his own words, we "figure out what the hell is going on!" We all know that this is quite frankly stupid and near on impossible but it raises important questions: why are so many people supportive of this man? Why are so many people, not only in the US but all across Europe, supportive of the Islamophobic or anti-immigrant rhetoric? And how can we halt the progress of the likes of Trump and convince large swathes of people to think differently?
Bigotry thrives on fear and the irrational thinking of those disillusioned with modern day society, much like religious extremism in a way. After horrifying terrorist attacks take place, like the one in Paris over a month ago, people start to question the motives of terrorists and ask themselves whether a faith of 1.6 billion people worldwide (Islam) is compatible with 'western values'. This is where people like Trump come in and gain support. They grab on to this questioning and underlying fear of a minority, escalate it to a much larger scale, distort facts so that they can fuel their agenda - in this case, an agenda against Muslims. Take the attacks that took place earlier this month in California, Trump tried blaming these attacks on the US government being too tolerant and "too politically correct with Muslims". This is a clear example of Trump distorting the facts in order to legitimise his Islamophobic ban. Consistent statistics show that gun crime in the US is hugely down to the large lack of gun control - it is estimated that over 25,000 people have died this year alone from gun related crimes in the USA. Crucially this highlights that one way we can convince people that the likes of Trump are wrong is through education. The US is home to 2.75 million Muslims, the vast majority of whom who want to live a normal life or as actor Ben Affleck eloquently put it - "[the vast majority of Muslims] just want to go to school, eat some sandwiches and pray five times a day". The extremists within Islam, just like any other religious faith, are a very small minority and it is vital to educate people and get that message across. If we show people the facts and establish that Trump is wrong, people will abandon his bigoted cause.
The rise of Donald Trump in the United States, UKIP and Britain First in the UK, and Marine Le Pen in France (leader of the French far-right party, Front National) is not really something that can be addressed directly. What we have to address is the cause of their rise. They are rather a symptom of mass disillusionment with mainstream politics. All across Europe and the USA, poverty and inequality is soaring. In Britain alone, we have seen the biggest fall in living standards since the Victorian era. This, combined with false promises and decreasing voter turnouts at general elections, has led to arguably the biggest mistrust of mainstream politicians and political parties. The vast majority of people do not see mainstream politicians as the answer to their problems, what do they see is a small number of powerful people who live in their own elitist bubbles without a care for ordinary people. As a result, people then lose hope and start to blame the reasons for their problems on each other. An example is of the huge rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric in the UK, as established by the rise of UKIP who got almost 4 million votes at the last election. The arguments against immigration typically consist of "immigrants are stealing our jobs...they're adding strain to our public services...we need to put our own people first" and all that malarkey. The reason why those disillusioned resort to these arguments and start dividing communities is because there is no element of hope for them. They are not inspired by politics and so their fears of immigration or Muslims, in Trump's case, are tapped into and exploited by bigots. What we then get are divided communities with increased social instability. In order to halt the rise of bigotry, hope needs to be offered where we can unite in our common interest to fight for change as opposed to resorting to division.
There is no real voice for those suffering from poverty or inequality. People need a reason again to vote, they need to have hope that a better world is possible, people need to be inspired again. Hope of a better future combined with education is how we can defeat bigotry. This is the failure of mainstream politicians and it is down to those of us who so desperately want to put an end to bigotry to be part of something, galvanise those around us, and offer hope.
Bigotry thrives on fear and the irrational thinking of those disillusioned with modern day society, much like religious extremism in a way. After horrifying terrorist attacks take place, like the one in Paris over a month ago, people start to question the motives of terrorists and ask themselves whether a faith of 1.6 billion people worldwide (Islam) is compatible with 'western values'. This is where people like Trump come in and gain support. They grab on to this questioning and underlying fear of a minority, escalate it to a much larger scale, distort facts so that they can fuel their agenda - in this case, an agenda against Muslims. Take the attacks that took place earlier this month in California, Trump tried blaming these attacks on the US government being too tolerant and "too politically correct with Muslims". This is a clear example of Trump distorting the facts in order to legitimise his Islamophobic ban. Consistent statistics show that gun crime in the US is hugely down to the large lack of gun control - it is estimated that over 25,000 people have died this year alone from gun related crimes in the USA. Crucially this highlights that one way we can convince people that the likes of Trump are wrong is through education. The US is home to 2.75 million Muslims, the vast majority of whom who want to live a normal life or as actor Ben Affleck eloquently put it - "[the vast majority of Muslims] just want to go to school, eat some sandwiches and pray five times a day". The extremists within Islam, just like any other religious faith, are a very small minority and it is vital to educate people and get that message across. If we show people the facts and establish that Trump is wrong, people will abandon his bigoted cause.
The rise of Donald Trump in the United States, UKIP and Britain First in the UK, and Marine Le Pen in France (leader of the French far-right party, Front National) is not really something that can be addressed directly. What we have to address is the cause of their rise. They are rather a symptom of mass disillusionment with mainstream politics. All across Europe and the USA, poverty and inequality is soaring. In Britain alone, we have seen the biggest fall in living standards since the Victorian era. This, combined with false promises and decreasing voter turnouts at general elections, has led to arguably the biggest mistrust of mainstream politicians and political parties. The vast majority of people do not see mainstream politicians as the answer to their problems, what do they see is a small number of powerful people who live in their own elitist bubbles without a care for ordinary people. As a result, people then lose hope and start to blame the reasons for their problems on each other. An example is of the huge rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric in the UK, as established by the rise of UKIP who got almost 4 million votes at the last election. The arguments against immigration typically consist of "immigrants are stealing our jobs...they're adding strain to our public services...we need to put our own people first" and all that malarkey. The reason why those disillusioned resort to these arguments and start dividing communities is because there is no element of hope for them. They are not inspired by politics and so their fears of immigration or Muslims, in Trump's case, are tapped into and exploited by bigots. What we then get are divided communities with increased social instability. In order to halt the rise of bigotry, hope needs to be offered where we can unite in our common interest to fight for change as opposed to resorting to division.
There is no real voice for those suffering from poverty or inequality. People need a reason again to vote, they need to have hope that a better world is possible, people need to be inspired again. Hope of a better future combined with education is how we can defeat bigotry. This is the failure of mainstream politicians and it is down to those of us who so desperately want to put an end to bigotry to be part of something, galvanise those around us, and offer hope.
