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NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
State racism and street racism are always connected
From Thatcher’s ‘swamped,’ to May’s ‘hostile environment,’ to Braverman’s ‘invasion,’ the Tories know what they are doing when they blow the dog whistle of racist rhetoric in their speeches, writes KEITH FLETT
Violent movements like the NF, pictured here in the 1980s, rely on racist sentiments being acceptable political talking points

THE disgraceful conditions at Manston in Kent provide a focus to 40 years of Tory racism. With Suella Braverman as home secretary and a terrorist-style attack on a Dover immigration centre by an individual with far-right links, the relationship between institutional racism and street racism becomes clearer. 

When Enoch Powell made his “rivers of blood” speech in 1968, he was a senior Tory MP who found himself with no future in the party. This was the tail end of a period when the government was welcoming migrants to fill mostly badly paid gaps in the labour force.

After the oil-focused economic crisis of 1973, matters began to change. The racism inherent in much Tory politics began to be more openly displayed. 

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