Thread by @Helenreflects

Thread: In this new year, let's not forget that Brexit was ultimately won using a racist campaign that deliberately scapegoated immigrants (as @Andrew_Adonis correctly pointed out).
Whatever we do and whatever happens in 2018, we must never forget. 1/n

Whatever we say about that we should "listen to the people and the left behind" we need to face the reality that Brexit was won on a racist campaign. Remember this?
It is subtly Islamophobic. Note the marking of countries not set to join the EU (even Turkey was a stretch) 2/n

This is dog whistle tactics: Don't say openly "Muslims are going to overrun this country", but put Turkey and unstable Islamic countries on the map and point out their population 3/n

Remember this ad by the Vote Leave campaign? If you've got a medical emergency, better be outside of the EU 4/n

Notice how clever this video is. Not many words but implies that the waiting rooms will be less full if all those EU immigrants are made to leave. And there will be more money so we can have a white person next to the black person at reception tending to your needs 5/n

All of this is subtle. Quite a difference to the hostile media scapegoating immigrants openly. Vote Leave officials were unhappy with Farage's Breaking point poster because it was too explicit and looked too fascist

In this brilliant short video, Rachel Epstein explains how this racist narrative had been brewing already for a long time in the UK, in tabloids and mainstream media 7/n

She argues that the media portrayed immigrants as "bad neighbors", as being somehow less deserving than native-born Brits. Thus it was common to mention how much immigrants cost the NHS without mentioning how much they pay in or that they cost only 2% of the NHS total budget 8/n

This narrative has been brewing for many years. Mainly in Daily Express, Daily Mail, and Sun but even mainstream media (e.g., Telegraph) talking about immigrants "being allowed" to stay etc. 9/n

So it is unsurprising when Theresa May wrote her tepid letter to EU immigrants ("Dear bargaining chips, seems we can't do without your work so you're allowed to stay") the reactions on her FB page an tabloids weren't enthusiastic 10/n

For example this - classic us/them mentality 11/n

Or this - lots of comments like this on the Daily Mail following May's letter. You've unleashed a can of worms by trying to win the UKIP vote and stoking up anti-immigrant sentiment, Conservatives. 12/n

This video by Gurminder K Bhambra is also very instructive. She argues the "left-behind" narrative of Brexit does not hold up. 52% of Leave voters came from SE England
13/n

Post-election studies show there was *no association* between self-associating as working class and voting Leave, but an association with self-associating as middle class and voting Leave
“The typical Leave voter was propertied, pensioned, well-off” 14/n

67% of Asians voted to Remain
70% of Muslims voted to Remain
73% of Black/Carribeans voted to Remain
Vote Leave did manage to sway some London-based SE Asians who wanted to get more immigration from SE Asia, e.g., for curry chefs 15/n
buzzfeed.com/aishagani/thes…

Perhaps, just speculating, Asians and Blacks voted to Remain because they saw the Vote Leave campaign for the xenophobic and racist campaign it was? 16/n

So, I want to ask the likes of @OwenJones84 who think we need to respect the result, do we also need to respect the anti-immigrant stoked up sentiments of the white British-born population? Do you think this is a good direction Britain is going in? 17/n

While wariness of foreigners is something everyone has, to varying degrees outright racism and xenophobia is cultivated. We need to educate and counter the narrative. We need to @StopFundingHate stopfundinghate.org.uk/donate/ 18/n

As Betsy Paluck has shown in her research, "To change behavior, I suggest, it may be more fruitful to target citizens’ perceptions of typical or desirable behaviors (i.e. social norms) than their knowledge or beliefs." betsylevypaluck.com/research/ 19/n

What this means is that when people think it's societally not OK to be racist, they'll be more inclusive. But the reverse also holds true: when people think being racist and xenophobic is OK, they find it easier to scapegoat immigrants 20/n

This explains the spike in hate crime following Brexit. People thought that the vote to Leave also legitimized the xenophobic sentiment and rhetoric in its wake. 21/n

So many of my EU citizen friends have already left, after they were told to "Go back to frogland" and the like. blog.politicsmeanspolitics.com/exit-pursued-b…
And my non-EU immigrant friends, all hard-working and legal residents, are terrified of the Home Office 22/n

So, let's make 2018 a year where we reflect on what Britain is in danger of becoming, try to stop the flood of state-sanctioned xenophobia, and change societal norms to make racism and xenophobia not OK. /ends