Reform canvassers caught spouting bigotry is no surprise

Undercover reporters from Channel 4 News have exposed in Clacton the cesspit of bigotry festering inside the Reform Party ahead of the general election. Of course, practically no one was surprised by this.

However, the open bigotry itself from Nigel Farage flunkeys should not be the key take-away. In reality, it speaks to the hate-filled political environment that the two mainstream parties and the corporate media have fomented.

In short, Reform’s racist, homophobic canvassers are the thin end of the violent political landscape that makes up bigoted Britain.

Reform: Clacton canvassers caught out spouting hate

Channel 4 News have sent an undercover reporter on the campaign trail in Clacton, where Farage is standing for election.

In covertly captured footage, it caught out Reform canvassers spouting racist slurs and anti-LGBTQ+ hate. On top of this, the news outlet exposed them advocating disgusting violence against migrants:

🚨 BREAKING: Nigel Farage’s Clacton campaign has been exposed to have evidence of racism and homophobia

One canvasser about Rishi Sunak: “That f**king p*** we got in – what good is he?”

About small boats arrivals: “Just f**king shoot them” pic.twitter.com/WxaPY01ZEd

— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) June 27, 2024

People on X were shook and expressed their horror at the entirely unpredictable behaviour of Farage’s cult *ahem* canvassers:

Racists, bigots & homophobes representing Reform? Really? Who would have guessed? #Farage this is on you. As it is on anyone who votes for them #ReformRacists https://t.co/NlkLKcmR4y

— Toby 🏳️‍🌈 (@balhamyte) June 27, 2024

Props to @reformparty_uk for proving you can judge a book by its cover.

— Dough (@ASimpleDough) June 27, 2024

What?!

Someone fetch me my clutching pearls! Bring the collapsing settee and the good smelling salts (not the cheap ones for every day shocks, if you don’t mind).

You mean to tell me that @reformparty_uk Ltd is “secretly” supported by violent racists and ignorant homophobes?!… https://t.co/qbLXdY4ZuS

— The Bear – #GE24 Satirical Fact Checking (@i_iratus) June 27, 2024

Because, knock me over with a feather, Reform riddled with rabid racists? You don’t say! Needless to say, the ‘news’ was entirely unsurprising to everyone. As one person on X expressed, racists in a racist country is pretty par for the course:

Exposed to who? The reason anybody is voting for them is because they already think and talk like this. If nothing, this will recruit more people.

I don’t know why y’all get surprised when a country that is so openly racist does the openly racist thing. https://t.co/XTOfsEs5PH

— Sunny Randhawa (@SunnyRandhawa) June 27, 2024

Bad apples from the Reform tree rotten to its core

As a case in point – the replies were cesspool of revolting bigotry:

Some of the responses to this post are very scary. The deep rooted racism and hatred within these people we live beside. The hate they have for Muslims doesn’t even surprise me. What does surprise me is how they openly and happily agree with views to shoot refugees https://t.co/Ns1ugNBt1s

— Salmaan (@Sal_Mayat) June 27, 2024

So what came of Channel 4’s findings in Clacton? Predictably, Reform kicked its public relations face-saving machine into action. Campaign manager for Farage Peter Harris told the outlet that:

Any individuals who have been identified as making unacceptable comments and holding those views are not welcome in our campaign. We are running a campaign to represent all voters in Clacton.

And Farage said that:

I am dismayed by the reported comments of a handful of people associated with my local campaign, particularly those who are volunteers. They will no longer be with the campaign.

In other words, Reform is distancing itself from the bigots the media caught out. Here we go again, a few bad apples is it? One poster on X rubbished this deception:

If Farage ejected everyone with these sorts of views he would have to shut his entire Reform corporation down and pay back all of its profits (membership fees). This worldview is its very core. https://t.co/5n1Jv0BrHI

— Jamie Woodhouse (@JamieWoodhouse) June 27, 2024

Consequences for coconuts, but not actual bigots

People also compared this to the reaction of a brown woman using an established critique from Black intellectual thought of how white supremacism manifests through elite Black and brown politicians:

As long as he didn’t call him a coconut, he should be alright. https://t.co/9PL1dkEV7Z

— Fahad Ansari 🇵🇸 (Stop the Gaza genocide) (@fahadansari) June 27, 2024

Notably, the term coconut satirically criticises the idea that having diverse representation – in this case, in parliament – actually makes a difference for marginalised communities. As the Canary’s Maryam Jameela has articulated before, this is simply not the case, because:

Getting Black and brown faces into positions of power means very little if those same people don’t use their power to make life better for the most vulnerable people in society.

Crucially, she highlighted that their class identity, in other words, the fact they come from rich and privately educated backgrounds, means they don’t typically represent the most vulnerable in society. Instead, they act in the interests of power. That is, they uphold the white power structures in place – and their regressive, scapegoating policies reflect this.

This is what the term ‘coconut’ is all about, because as the Canary explained:

calling someone a “coconut” is a casual way to suggest that someone who is brown on the outside, is white on the inside. In other words, whilst being brown they are committed to whiteness above all else.

It’s hardly a new term, and documents a social reality that doesn’t often make it into the mainstream.

It’s a complex articulation of racial dynamics and hierarchies.

In short, it wasn’t a racial slur from Marieha, but actually a valid expression of her view that Sunak and Braverman do not speak for her or her community. Ridiculously then, she’s now in court for an entirely unwarranted public order offence.

On Wednesday 26 June, police also arrested protesters who turned out in support of Marieha – many sporting placards that detailed the satirical nature of the term.

Meanwhile, on shit-hole Island, Reform canvassers utter actual racial slurs on the campaign trail and will face no consequences for this.

Of course, as the Canary has consistently pointed out over recent Palestine protests, the cops are servile instruments of the state. Naturally then, they act to protect this power structure – invariably, this means the elite, patriarchal, white supremacist and heteronormative status quo. Unsurprisingly, racism, homophobia, and sexism is therefore deeply embedded in the police too.

Bigotry in ‘bad words’ only

All this is the inevitable end result of an establishment commentariat wedded to the corporate capitalist system. These canvassers are the supporters of a man the BBC and other outlets keep plastering onto our screens:

We need to talk about how #bbcqt is the reason this repugnant creature is now a serious influence on British politics. Entirely to our detriment. https://t.co/V2NGOd8Qge

— chiller ★ (@chiller) June 27, 2024

Far from de-platforming the political symbol of this vile hate, the mainstream media has consistently normalised him.

However, one poster on X articulated how the Clacton Channel 4 News investigation demonstrates another part of this. Specifically, the broadcaster’s piece is illustrative of a broader problem in the mainstream media. That is, how the press only recognises bigotry in its most blatant forms:

I honestly see this as more evidence that our media is more shocked by bad words than bad sentiments. Reform UK, Farage et al have been expressing most of these sentiments on the TV and in the newspapers for years, but the media only sees it as racist when they use ‘bad words’. https://t.co/v2HKlRBxGl

— Rob 🌈 (@rotster) June 27, 2024

And the poster was right. Bigotry isn’t simply the hate-filled words that people utter towards marginalised communities. This is just the visible and thin end of the wedge. Of course, it needs calling out, but so too do the systems that continue to oppress our communities.

Because the reality is, those words are simply the slurs the architects of discriminatory policies are usually too guarded, too politically savvy to say out loud.

Gormless Reform gammons regularly buck this trend, but be under no illusions. The bigot in a nice suit, with slick political gymnastics to justify punching down, is still a bigot. They’re just better at making their violence publicly palatable, and securing the billionaire backers and press to make it happen. In other words, the mainstream political class is actively complicit in this:

There is nothing shocking about any of this.

Why do we pretend these views aren’t totally commonplace?

What’s shocking is denial/tacit encouragement by a complicit political class, fostering these sentiments and appealing directly to them, rather than fighting back against. https://t.co/dJEsdHa2Ts

— Joel Samuels (@joeldoeswriting) June 27, 2024

Reform might be openly, brazenly fascist, but the creeping fascism of the Tory and Labour right is if anything, more insidious. If you’re wondering why Starmer is comfortable sitting in parliament with Farage, this is the reason.

In other words, Farage and Reform’s existence is almost convenient. Its transparent bigotry lays cover for the Tories and Labour, as they push legislation couched in the same violent hate. And the same corporate media that downplays Reform and Farage’s hate-mongering, also does this with the Tories and Labour to devastating effect too:

Another reminder that Reform is *not* far right apparently according to sensible pundits who choose to take Farage at his word rather than the far right discourse and politics of his parties

The Farage hype is a mainstream elite constructionhttps://t.co/0MKbne9suG https://t.co/fKzKJJ0hQG

— Aurelien Mondon (@aurelmondon) June 27, 2024

It’s the Overton window in its finest, most dangerous hour. At the end of this day, a poster on X summed up this political pantomime in one fell swoop: