The Mail vs Diane Abbott

glasgowgril · **Joined:** Fri Jan 29, 2010 2:51 pm **Posts:** 1439

Seconded. I had never heard of him till I heard that and I was astonished at what he said.

smod · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:57 pm

Tin hats at the ready...

Diane Abbott faces calls to resign over 'racist' tweet that says 'white people love to play divide and rule'

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Black MP Diane Abbott is facing calls to quit over a remark on Twitter that has been deemed racist against white people.
The shadow minister for public health said during a conversation about the sentencing of Stephen Lawrence's murderers that 'white people love to play "divide and rule",' adding 'we should not play their game'.
The tweet came with a hashtag that spelt out 'tactic as old as colonialism'.
Her comment was made to freelance journalist Bim Adewunmi, another Twitter user who had been commenting about the sentencing of Gary Dobson and David Norris for Stephen's murder.

Shock horror, the right are taking a tweet out of context which refers to colonialism.

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She should be sacked. If this statement was made by a white MP saying this about Black people they would have been sacked by the end of the day. This will be a test of Red Ed's leadership and if he has the conviction to sack her!
- Francis Urquhart, London, 5/1/2012 10:54 2092

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How can i report this to the police?
- Mark Anthony, England, 5/1/2012 9:47 1843

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It's never anything to worry about when the remarks are directed towards white people. If this was the other way round there'd be an uproar. This country bleats on about equality but it's never equal, comments about white people are brushed under the carpet, the establishment goes into overdrive when it's the other way round. Racism is unacceptable regardless of who it's aimed at but the response to either needs to be equally robust. I bet nothing happens over this.
- Hedgemonkey, South West, 5/1/2012 10:54 1165

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1ialF3SXu

The best blog I've found on this is here:

http://33revolutionsperminute.wordpress ... was-right/

satnav · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:52 pm

Just before this story broke I was reading some of the comments under an article in the Mail about security being stepped up around the Stephen Lawrence memorial. It was clear from many of the comments that a number of readers were champing at the bit to get back to writing the kind of racist comments that were often seen in the Mail before the verdict was reached in the murder trial. Within a couple of hours of the Abbott story appearing on line over 700 Mail readers rushed to make comments so it looks like it's back to business as usual at the Mail.

I've no doubt that Littlejohn has already knocked out a 500 word article about the story and has now returned to drinking cocktails by his pool.

Abernathy · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 3:56 pm

http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/01/white-abbott-black-context

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Another day, another Twitterstorm - this time a "race row" involving Diane Abbott.

The Hackney MP tweeted "white people love playing "divide and rule". We should not play their game #tacticasoldascolonialism".

Conservative blogs have called for her resignation. Over at ConservativeHome, Paul Goodman writes:

Imagine how the Guardian or the BBC would react if a Conservative MP said that "black people love playing 'divide and rule' ".

They would be right to do so. Such an MP would be maligning their fellow citizens on a racist basis. This is exactly what Abbott has done.

I'm sorry, but this is disingenuous for a number of reasons.

Firstly, let's take the facts. As is standard practice in any good Twitterstorm, the comment in question has been completely divorced of its context. Abbott did not make a cup of tea, sit down at her computer, and think: "Do you know what? I think I'll malign white people now."

As the hashtag referencing colonialism shows, the comment was made in the context of a political discussion: namely, criticism of black community leaders. The use of the term "white people" here is distinguishing from "black people". She was responding to this tweet: "I find it frustrating that half the time, these leaders are out of touch with black people they purport to represent." Black people/white people.

Abbott's choice of words was clumsy , and as an MP she should be more careful. But in this discussion, she is clearly referring to "white people" as a political force in the context of colonialism, not making generalisations about the behaviour of individual white people. Her comments aren't equivalent to, for example, Lauryn Hill supposedly saying that she didn't want "white people" to buy her records.

The Red Arrow · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:14 pm

From the above article:-

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UPDATE: Abbott has apologised:

"I understand people have interpreted my comments as making generalisations about white people. I do not believe in doing that. I apologise for any offence caused."

She's also tweeted: "Tweet taken out of context. Refers to nature of 19th century European colonialism. Bit much to get into 140 characters."

Let's hope that is the end of that.

But it won't be, will it?

Daley Mayle · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:27 pm

Quote:

She's also tweeted: "Tweet taken out of context. Refers to nature of 19th century European colonialism. Bit much to get into 140 characters."

Note to Diane... in which case don't try and discuss complex subjects in a media that's best used for talking about what to make for dinner.

Fozzy · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 4:33 pm

Quote:

How can i report this to the police?
- Mark Anthony, England, 5/1/2012 9:47 1843

Well, Mark, there are these places called police stations, usually with blue lamps outside. You go in and tell the nice person at the desk that you want to report a crime, and take it from there. It might however be worth taking earmuffs to block out the sound of sniggering.

Dacre Bleugh · **Joined:** Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:28 pm **Posts:** 470

'Fraid I can see where her critics are coming from on this. There's no way a Tory MP would get away with similar sweeping statements towards blacks (as Boris found out a few years ago).

The most frustrating thing about this is that it's changed the whole "racism" focus away from the Lawrence ruling (i.e. Hateful racism) towards "thoughtless racist" comments from an MP who should know better.

Just when the screws were started to be turned on the likes of the EDL and BNP, and then Abbott goes and gives them an open goal to bolster their backlash.

oboogie · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:52 pm

I'm afraid I agree with Dacre (I mean Bleugh naturally).
At best Diane Abbott has been careless, at worst fucking irresponsible.
That's not to say that what she said isn't true, generally, the white establishment have played the divide and rule game where blacks are concerned.
But that's the problem, "generally, the white establishment" is not the same as "all white people".

Quote:

She's also tweeted: "Tweet taken out of context. Refers to nature of 19th century European colonialism. Bit much to get into 140 characters."

All she needed to add was the word "some" - was that a bit much?

She really should know better.

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:23 pm

"White establishment" would have been fine. She didn't say it, sadly. Maybe that comes from using Twitter, as Dayley Mayle says upthread.

She's not very bright, and has some previous. There was a reason that she got kind righties to help her stand for Labour leadership, when the excellent John McDonnell didn't.

The last thing we needed was a load of "what if you said that about blacks?" rubbish.

hel · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:25 pm

It would have been better to say, "the media love playing divide and rule."

Tubby Isaacs · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 9:33 pm

I noticed in the exchange before that she was rightly objecting to the silly phrase "the black community". On the other hand, she does come across as speaking on their behalf. Of course, all black people get stuck with that to some extent. But I get more of a sense of that from Abbott than I do from other politicians. Keith Vaz, for instance, isn't Mr Indian.

Maybe it's because Abbott, like Bernie Grant previously, talks about race more than other ethnic minority politicians?

Dacre Bleugh · **Joined:** Fri Aug 20, 2010 2:28 pm **Posts:** 470

hel wrote:

It would have been better to say, "the media love playing divide and rule."

Or indeed the Tories. Labour (bar a couple of backbenchers) are doing a pretty piss-poor job as the opposition at the moment imo.

Paul · **Posted:** Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:25 pm

Fozzy wrote:

Quote:

How can i report this to the police?
- Mark Anthony, England, 5/1/2012 9:47 1843

Well, Mark, there are these places called police stations, usually with blue lamps outside. You go in and tell the nice person at the desk that you want to report a crime, and take it from there. It might however be worth taking earmuffs to block out the sound of sniggering.

It's a fucking emergency, dial 999.

davidjay · **Joined:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:24 pm **Posts:** 3839

Quote:

How can i report this to the police?
- Mark Anthony, England, 5/1/2012 9:47 1843

By ringing the police, I would guess. But of course, Mark isn't really interested in reporting anything. He just wants the opportunity to appear persecuted.

The Mail vs Diane Abbott

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