The picture above this article tells several stories, none of them at all flattering to the British government. It might prove interesting were we to conduct a survey to find out which aspect of the image individuals first noticed, and whether their reaction was positive or negative. I suspect that the results of that survey would show as clear a divide between England and Scotland as can be seen in the map.
Here in Scotland and also in Wales, it's likely that the first thing to be noticed will be that divide, combined with the headline's reference to "UK race riots". It is plain to see from even the most cursory glance at the map that all of the incidents being reported are in England. They are not UK-wide as the Wales Online headline implies. As does almost all of the British media. Many (most?) of those whose attention is first drawn to this discrepancy will assume that it is a deliberate lie told to ensure the rest of us are tarred with England's racist brush. But this fails to recognise that there are those who will be quite oblivious to the disagreement twixt picture and words which they find so jarring. There are people who look at that map and see only one country. Such people will regard making a distinction between England and Scotland (or Wales) as nit-picking and hair-splitting. For them, the UK is England and England is the UK. Distinguishing between England and Scotland makes no more sense to them than distinguishing between English counties.
Technically, therefore, the headline is not a lie to these people. It is not purposeful dishonesty but simply another instance of the casual contempt with which the annexed territories are regarded by the British media, the British state and, as a consequence, by many people in England. There is a point at which propaganda ceases to be an active ongoing exercise and becomes an engrained attitude. It is hardly surprising if that point has been reached after 317 years of a political union which enshrines in law the subordinate status of those annexed territories relative to England-as-Britain.
The picture also tells stories about the nature of the riots and the reasons behind them. The first thing some people might notice is that there is no hint in that image of the violence that has been visited on numerous English towns and cities by racist thugs and the opportunists who attend not for any cause but for the 'fun' of wanton destruction and indiscriminate looting. The impression conveyed by that image is of a lone protester facing the relaxed-looking police lines armed with nothing more sinister than a couple of placards. No England or Union flags are in evidence anywhere in the picture. The demonstrator isn't a beer-bellied brute tattooed with swastikas and misspelt slogans proclaiming their luv of 'Great Brittian'. He's just about the most unthreatening figure one might imagine. Is this representative of the reality of the riots? If it isn't, is the misrepresentation intentional? If it is intentional, what is its purpose?
The impression of small-scale and entirely lawful protest is enhanced and supplemented by the words scrawled on the make-shift placards. In particular, the legend 'UK Border Farce'. Whether or not one agrees that the British state's efforts to seal borders are farcical, the punning accusation does not seem at all outrageous. Indeed, it seems almost reasonable - at least, until one sees the smaller print demanding 'Stop the boats' and 'Send them back'.
The other placard held aloft by the demonstrator featured in the picture is provocative, but not by any stretch of the imagination extreme. It echoes criticism of the police commonly found in other contexts. In that sense, it seems pretty innocuous. The portrayal of the rioters as the victims of police discrimination and brutality is subtle enough to escape attention at first glance. But the contrived sense of grievance and victimhood that motivates the rioters and rationalises the violence is yet another aspect of the story told by the image.
The reality of these "race riots" contrasts starkly with the impression given by the image chosen by Wales Online. The violence and destruction have been horrendous. Made all the worse by the fact that its ultimate target is not the UK government, or some particularly exploitative corporation, or the police, but brown people. Just that. The virulent, mindless hatred is directed at immigrants, asylum-seekers, Muslims, and foreigners in general. But an identifiable target is required, and brownish skin will do. It's just as base and atavistic as that. As individuals, the demonstrators may make more nuanced distinctions. But as a mob, it's brown people they are after. If that strikes you as crude, it's because it is. It is raw, vulgar, mindless hatred. And it is threatening to cross the border into Scotland.
The people responsible for the rioting in England are planning to hold a rally in Glasgow's George Square on Saturday 7 September. Can anyone doubt that they intend bringing to Scotland the malevolent mayhem they've been perpetrating across England?
My initial reaction was to agree with someone on Twitter/X who suggested we ignore the planned far-right rally. I found it pleasing to think of these would-be rioters corralled in George Square by Police Scotland and being totally disregarded by everybody going about their business in Glasgow city centre. I thought the counter-protest being organised by Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) would serve only to make the rally seem bigger than it was.
Others argued that violent racism on Scotland's streets had to be confronted and that Scottish communities had to be defended against racist thuggery imported from England.
On reflection, the latter arguments won me over. I detest the thought of the kind of disorder seen lately in England being replicated in Scotland. But I abhor even more the thought of Scotland being associated with the unreasoning, brutish malice towards other humans that blights England.
I see much of the blame for the violence being laid at the door of Nigel Farage, Tommy Robinson, and their ilk. But these creatures don't engender racist hatred. Rather, they latch on like parasites to an existing strain of dumb prejudice. They feed on ignorant bigotry while nurturing it with sly misinformation and spurious reason and viperous lies until it erupts as mob violence. They farm hate to harvest power because they cannot win power in an honourable contest of ideas and ideals. They manipulate the credulous, moulding them into instruments of their own political mischief. They licence the impulses of the lizard-brain in vulnerable minds.
I do not deceive myself that Scotland is free of the raw materials that can be used to manufacture overt racist hatred such as we have witnessed in scenes reaching us from England. I maintain only that we are marginally less susceptible to the blandishments of wannabe demagogues than our neighbours to the south. Slightly less inclined to give rein to racism. The difference may be small. But it is a difference we should cherish and defend. And demonstrate. As I now am persuaded, we must on Saturday 7 September in Glasgow. We must turn out in such numbers as to overwhelm the racist rally. We must make it plainly evident to all - not least ourselves - that we are not them. We are not that!
Reform has much less appeal in Scotland. It is the third party in England and Wales in vote share but the fifth in Scotland where its 7% share is less than half these countries'.
I think an anti-racist protest elsewhere in Scotland might have been appropriate, though no guarantee it would get publicity, especially with the agenda of the MSM.