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Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Riots, class politics and democracy: all is not as it seems
ANDREW MURRAY reviews studies on the motivations of last August's rioters and dwindling support for 'democracy' in its modern Western incarnation
Fascist goons throw objects towards police officer at the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, August 4, 2024

CLASS politics. Easy to invoke, sometimes challenging to apply.

No fewer than four separate opinion surveys in the last fortnight have brought this home.

The first, the work of the Children’s Commissioner, found that working-class youth involved in last summer’s anti-migrant riots were largely animated not by racism but by hatred of the police and frustration at lack of opportunities.

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