Anti-racists described recent comments by Conservative politician Craig Whittaker MP for Calder Valley as “dog whistle racism.” MPs and campaigners said his comments were a deliberate attempt to scapegoat communities and distract from the government’s repeated failures in response to Covid19. The UK has one of the worst per capita death tolls in the world, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, 34 per cent of which were people from BAME communities.
During an interview with LBC radio, Whittaker suggested that Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and Muslim communities were not taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously and alleged that Covid cases were increasing in areas with BAME communities. These outrageous, racist and Islamophobic comments have no factual basis.
The offensive comments were made as Muslims were celebrating Eid-Al-Adha. On the same day the government imposed a series of local lockdowns in Greater Manchester and parts of Lancashire and West Yorkshire and retreated from further easing the lockdown as planned, giving only three hours notice.
Similar comments were made by Bolton Conservative councillor Bob Allen who has been suspended by the Conservative Party. However no action has been taken against Whittaker. Allen stated on Facebook: “Don’t penalise me over the increase in Covid case in Greater Manchester. I’ve stuck to the rules for 4 long months. Blame the 48,000 illegal immigrants, the BAME community and the morons that never obey the rules.”
Whittaker’s interview with LBC received widespread condemnation which trended on Twitter.
Reports on hate crime suggest a link between racism from politicians and media coverage, and racist hate crime on the ground. Online Islamophobic abuse increased by 40 per cent during lockdown, from last year. Gorton MP Afzal Khan tweeted that he and other prominent Muslims in Manchester received Islamophobic and abusive mail. In Leicester, according to the police there were 208 racially aggravated incidents in July, up from 156 in 2019.
Following several weeks of decline, Covid cases are beginning to increase again and in some regions in England the R value could be above 1. According to data released on 7 August 2020, the R value is estimated to range between 0.8 and 1.1 for London, the North West and South West.
The government prematurely eased the lockdown in a series of measures announced from the middle of May through to July. The graph below shows that daily deaths would have reduced to zero by early June had the government simply waited a few weeks before easing the initial lockdown.
After the previous attempt at racist scapegoating backfired, the Tories have chosen a more vulnerable target for racist scapegoating: refugees making perilous journeys across the Mediterranean. We must stand up to racism whoever the target and say no to racist scapegoating.