Sunday 20 October 2013

Progress...

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There's still quite a lot of racism out there - I see it every day often from people who would be shocked to believe they are racist. But there's no doubt that progress - by which I mean us getting away from our debilitating obsession with the idea of race - is being made. By way of example I give you this:

Mr Afriyie, the MP for Windsor, insisted that he had "no ambition" for Mr Cameron's role but warned that the Conservatives must deliver economic growth in order to stand a chance of winning the 2015 election outright.

However, he fuelled speculation about his leadership plans by saying he was working with a "large group" of Tory MPs on his own efforts to create a "Conservative Britain".

Mr Afriyie, a millionaire businessman, is reportedly being groomed to take over as party leader if the Conservatives fail to win a majority in 2015. 

Now I find this cheering. Not because I think Adam Afriyie would be a good leader of the Conservative Party but because, amidst all the silly speculation, I haven't once seen any one bothered by the fact that he's black.

Last night I went to a dinner in Bradford where Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon was the speaker. In his speech this government minister reminded us that the Conservative front bench included 'the son of a train guard, the daughter of a mill worker and the son of a bus driver'. The Party's long established working-class credentials were polished again. Of course the sub-plot (and this being Bradford an important sub-plot) was that those three working class Tories are all Muslims with a Pakistani heritage.

So we have a black man being discussed as Party leader, three Pakistanis as ministers and (just to add to the fun) a former miner as Transport Secretary.

Progress I think...

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3 comments:

singapore sling said...

Not in my eyes. I'm black, and a right-wing black or Asian is just another right-winger. They haven't brought about "progress" for me or my neighbours because no Tory ever has or will.

SadButMadLad said...

It's not racism that is out there but a distrust of people with different cultures. The "racism" that I've personally come across is aimed at Asians for their smelly cooking or that they stick together or that always seem to run corner shops. That's not hatred over skin colour, more hatred about a culture that the "racists" don't understand.

Too much multiculturism, especially forced multi-culturism doesn't work. A country can only have one culture. That's what defines a country. But that country can have many different types of people that make that culture.

And that culture can change over time - organically not by state dictat (or by the wishes of certain groups of people).

So curry is our national dish not fish & chips now. But we still drink beer and women don't walk behind their man.

Radical Rodent said...

So long as those mentioned are not in the running because they are black.

Singapore Sling, can you not see the irony that many of the upper echelons of the Conservative Party have been in “real” jobs, and lowly schools, yet those at the top of the Labour Party have never had jobs outside politics, few have been educated outside schools for the “privileged” – and its leader is a millionaire Marxist! Oh, and every Labour government to date has left the country in a considerably worse state than when they took over.

As for racism – why is the “MOBO” award function not regarded as such, as it is specifically NOT for white musicians? I am sure that if there were “MOWO” awards, it would be banned and pilloried in very short time.