Breaking Point?

13434961_10153504578771073_4865037663806994759_nVisual imagery is everything. This poster is what Jonathan Jones has called the visual equivalent of Enoch Powell’s river of blood speech. The slogan ‘the EU has failed us all” only makes sense if it relates to the refugees in the photograph. Sunny Hundal reports on fear and loathing fuelling Brexit.

A few weeks ago, I was still undecided on whether we leave the EU or not. But now I am angry… actually furious at the LIES peddled by those who want to leave the EU.

This morning, Nigel Farage unveiled this nasty poster saying Europe was at “breaking point”… it is a picture of Syrian refugees escaping ISIS reaching the Croatian border from Slovenia. We already have border control, but this is not a campaign that cares about the facts.

There are some good reasons to Leave the EU and better reasons to Remain, in my view. And I know plenty of well-meaning people who want to Leave the EU. But I want to make this point.

This is no longer about whether we ‘get our democracy back from unelected lawmakers’ – if you want that, campaign to abolish the House of Lords first.

This is no longer about the money we send – because we get far more return on investment back.

This has become about immigration and the fear of brown people. These posters are no different to what the Nazis said about Jewish refugees in the 40s, or what was said about Ugandan Asians in the 70s.

Leaving Europe wouldn’t shake up the system or calm people down. It would further legitimise this sort of bigotry and racism, the kind our parents faced and we thought was melting away.

If Nigel Farage and the other Tories win, then it would legitimise their scare-mongering for generations to come. When you vote next week – please don’t legitimise that.

I want this to be a great, powerful, happy, tolerant country, not one diminished by the kind of racism that Nigel Farage represents.

Comments (16)

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  1. Derek says:

    We’ve just passed that point, Sunny. Have you been listening to the news about Joe Cox, gunned down this afternoon by a madman shouting “Britain First”?
    I don’t want to listen to another week of political argument. The situation has now changed irrevocably. I’d like to see the Referendum cancelled.
    Why are we having this referendum? Because Cameron is fighting off his right-wingers, not because there’s a principled decision to be made regarding Europe. In my opinion, the conservative leadership now has blood on their hands.
    Meantime think of two young kids now orphaned and a family devastated. God, it’s horrible.

  2. tartanfever says:

    Seriously, what the heck is going on with Bella and the utter basket case you become when it comes to imagery.

    Racism occurs whether we are in the EU or not, it happens within both UKIP, the Tories and Labour and many other political and media organisations. One of these posters hardly equates to the day in day out headlines we see in the UK’s gutter press attacking the poor, sick disabled and vulnerable along with immigrants yet I can’t say I’ve seen such outrage directed towards them.

    The same mock outrage we saw over Emily Thornberry’s photo of a house draped in England flags during last year’s election with the caption, ‘image from Rochester’ that saw her resign her position. A simple, factual image of a public display with an equally factual message detailing were the image was taken and I remember Bella finding it so disgusting with accusations of ‘snobbery’ abound.

    You and the author of this piece should seriously get a grip. Otherwise who knows what we’ll see next, maybe the image of Hibs fans invading the pitch at Hampden a few weeks ago being equated with the carnage of the 1980 cup final.

    1. Glasgow Clincher says:

      Tartan Fever: Bella has directed plenty of outrage v the mainstream press. The point Sunni was making about this particular image is that it was misleading in that it did not depict migrants queuing up to enter Britain. It’s like the now infamous poster of a dole queue which was portrayed by actors in a past general election.

      1. Richard MacKinnon says:

        Glasgow Clincher,
        The poster cannot be misleading because it is a factual image. I have seen that same image on TV news programmes. If the people in the picture were actors and the photographer had directed them to stand in a line, and the producers of the image tried to present it as a genuine image of migrants then that would have been misleading.
        Also your claim “The point Sunni was making about this particular image is that it was misleading in that it did not depict migrants queuing up to enter Britain. ” is in itself misleading. The poster never makes the claim that the migrants are queing to get to the UK. It clearly states “Breaking Point. The EU has failed us all”.
        Please also note the author of the article is called Sunny not Suuni.

    2. Andimac says:

      So, Bella is a “basket case” when it comes to imagery? Nigel Farage and the repellent racist idiots he represents and cheerleads use deliberately inflammatory images to put across their message but when a Bella contributor uses an image of that image to criticise its purport, you tell the author and Bella to “get a grip” – maybe if you want to see a basket case you should consult your mirror. As to the Hampden pitch invasion being equated with the “carnage” of 1980, I wouldn’t have been at all surprised if that had happened but for swift action by the police (of whom, I am, generally, no big fan). Maybe you should stick to reading the gutter press, it’ll feed your “mock outrage.”

  3. joyce brand says:

    I find it less than comfortable to be in the same gang as some of the protagonists for Brexit but the arguments for leaving the EU remain powerful and they certainly do not include adopting a racist view of the world. In addition to the persuasive arguments I see the real possibility of seeing off this vile government which has managed to change the nature of our society and destroy so much that was good about it. I hope…Brexit … internecine war ++ in the Tory Party…. collapse of the Tory Party in Parliament…an election which would see us given the opportunity of getting rid of them; this alone would persuade it was worth getting out of Europe.

  4. Crubag says:

    Well Slovenia is in the EU and Croatia isn’t, so having border controls doesn’t seem to be a Brussels thing or not.

    Possibly the article is a reference to the German state’s farcical – and brief – stop/start no borders policy that was unilaterally imposed on its neighbours?

    I think that was an example of why the EU keeps misfiring, neither fish nor fowl, neither state nor alliance of states, it offers the worst of both.

    The Brussels elite hope the contradictions will lead to a single state but I think the opposite is more likely.

    1. Douglas says:

      “A single big State”….you mean a Federal State like America? Yes. That is what I want as a European.

      What is your problem with that? I am a federal European, and make no bones about it.

      1. Crubag says:

        A single language, culture, economy and people? A single seat if ultimate political authority

        That’s what America has, and how it can work as a continent sized country. Russia similarly.

        I’d favour a Europe of nation-states, including an independent Scotland, rather than a single unitary state, but we both get a chance vote for our preference on Thursday

    2. BILL A says:

      Croatia is in the EU.

      1. Crubag says:

        Thanks, I stand corrected (the days when I could recite all the members are evidently long past).

  5. john young says:

    Instead of de-stabilising the middle east/Africa maybe we could invest some of the billions in their infrastructure instead of arms,wait a minute wasn,t Colnel Gadaffi going to do this throughout Africa and we were instrumental in causing the ensuing chaos but British armament jobs need protecting.

  6. Crubag says:

    But defence of the Union makes for some strange allies.

    Sunny Hundal holds to the Carmichael view of politics – that the SNP wanted a Tory victory in 2015 to advance their independence cause.

    With that kind of Labour-centric analysis of the Westminster union, I’m not convinced he’s any more insightful on the Brussels union.

  7. Bill Chapman says:

    That’s a brillian final sentence. We must do all we can to ensure a Remain vote on Thursday.

  8. douglas clark says:

    Sunny,

    Good article.

  9. douglas clark says:

    Sunny?

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