“Dog whistle racism”? I’m not sure. That might be the case if it said “Johnson is Modi’s man”, or suggested Johnson was being puppeteered by a powerful “Indian lobby” in the UK, but as far as it goes, the actual content of the leaflet doesn’t seem objectionable to me.
https://twitter.com/jonlansman/status/1409499337995001856
What *can* be said is that it’s a late-in-the-day, opportunistic grab for votes. I want Labour to campaign about the issues on this leaflet all the time, not only when electorally expedient, and not only amongst voters assumed to already know/care about them.
There is a real conversation to be had about how the left navigates “communal” politics. There’s waaaay too much conceded to communalism (i.e., seeing “communities” as blocs with unitary interests that should be engaged with via “community leaders”) and not enough class politics.
And of course it’s possible for Labour/the left to pander to, or indeed simply share, reactionary prejudices (cf Roger Godsiff supporting the Birmingham anti-LGBT education protests). But that’s clearly not what’s going on with this leaflet.
As I say, it’s opportunistic, and indeed hypocritical, given the record, for Labour to issue a leaflet bigging up its pro-Kashmiri self-determination credentials, but the answer is to be consistent, not to not say anything. theclarionmag.org/2020/04/30/don…
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