Dear All
Hamira Khan has stuck up an excellent post on the Herald on why playing race politics is dangerous.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/bloggers/hamira-khan
She says:
“Those playing the race card argue that the stops are creating resentment between the authorities and the community, but I certainly find this a weak argument.
These perpetrators know exactly what they’re doing: they are deliberately creating fear and tension between communities and they understand all too well the divisions which they’re creating”.
In Scotland, there has been a rise in race politicians whose sole interest is not representing the whole community but their ethnic group.
Where is the evidence?
The rise of Muslim vote rigging in Glasgow and the surrounding area.
Prior to Holyrood 2011, some political parties saw an orchestrated campaign to sign up Muslims in particular areas in order to deliver Muslim candidates.
People that activists had never heard of suddenly appeared high on the Glasgow regional lists.
Muslims who never done a single day of activism within their branch.
That’s right, not a single day of activism on the street with members.
In some cases that stretched into years.
Political parties will soon be fighting another election; will Muslim vote rigging take place again?
Yes.
Particularly in the Southside of Glasgow!
The process is relatively simple; sign up members and pay for their membership and in that way ensure that a block vote delivers Muslim Candidates.
A relatively small number people are required to take over a political branch to rig the process.
And these “new” members who suddenly find themselves members of a political branch don’t attend branch meetings, branch social events or do activism in the community.
Hamira Khan added:
“I love this country where I was born, educated, and where I have the freedom of speech, but I am angry at our tolerance of religious and subversive factions within our society and our acceptance which allows individuals to divide our communities”.
And Hamira hits the nail on the head when she talks about certain people building up a sense of grievance and fear by playing the race card.
Political parties must stand up and act to ensure that the person who is elected to stand for election and represent an area does so by respecting the democratic process.
Not by rigging it so that persons from a particular ethnic group is the outcome.
If the practice is not stopped then political branches will divide along racial lines and any party will see their political vote in an area will crash through the floor.
People will not tolerate vote rigging and will simple refuse to support people who have benefited from it.
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University
1 comment:
George,
I found this on the Herald from Anthony Anderson, Bellshill Collapse.
He like you is against the regional list system.
Here is his post in full.
"Humza Yousaf has only been in office for a matter of weeks, yet he has managed to get himself into the papers quite a few times since then, always agitating for some 'Muslim cause'. He is a prime illustration of the perils that arise from the undemocratic nature of the Regional List system. Scotland does not need politicians who want to be ethnic agitators. We have seen this brand of politics in other countries. It is divisive and destructive.
I have no doubt that a politician who chose to act in this way would get short shrift from the electorate. But that doesn't bother Humza Yousaf. He was appointed to the Scottish Parliament, not elected to it. And Labour's Muslim MSP, Hanzala Malik, was likewise appointed rather than elected to his position. Both were given the number one slots on their respective parties' Glasgow regional lists. The people of Glasgow and the people of Scotland should be asking serious questions about the political ideology that has seen fit to introduce this ethnic divisiveness into our politics in an undemocratic way".
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