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From: LP12
The Greens campaigned largely on two issues: lifting immigration controls and hostility to Israel. Why those issues? Because they unite what is left of the Greens' previous base, who regard the whole notion of discriminating between citizens and non-citizens as somehow racist, with its new, Muslim voters. 'We've tried to appeal to people from all kinds of backgrounds,' said the Greens' deputy leader, Mothin Ali, when asked about the Urdu video. 'That's about inclusivity.' An odd word to use for campaigning in a language 19 out of 20 British citizens don't understand. Not that the Greens started it. Jeevun Sandher, a Labour MP of Sikh heritage, complained about the 'dog-whistle' of a Green campaign video (pictured) in Urdu - but it evidently slipped his mind that, five years earlier, at another by-election, Labour did precisely the same thing Ali came to national attention when he marked his victory in the 2024 local elections in Leeds by shouting, 'We will raise the voice of Gaza! We will raise the voice of Palestine! Allahu Akbar!' On the day of the October 7 abomination, he recorded a clip in which he argued 'Palestinians have the right to resist occupying forces' and that everyone should 'support the right of indigenous people to fight back'. Does he realise, as a second-generation Brit, how dangerous it is to encourage 'indigenous people to fight back'? The backlash risks not being a return to civic liberalism and a renewed emphasis on individual rights. It could also be collectivist and self-pitying, but directed the other way around. Why are Leftists playing this game? Do Greens think that their new voters will buy into the rest of their policies? Do they imagine that Manchester Muslims are clamouring for puberty blockers, 'gender-affirming care' and the legalisation of all drugs? Of course not. This is a simple numbers game. The reason the Greens have lost interest in the environment is not just that they would find it hard to outflank Ed Miliband it is that it doesn't pull in as many votes as campaigning for immigration and against Israel. What the French call 'Islamo-gauchisme' – Islamo-leftism – is, by its nature, negative. All that unites the eco-loons with the Islamists is a dislike of the West in general and Israel in particular. Every such alliance has resulted in the first lot, the white Lefties, being swallowed up by the second. Is there an alternative? Yes. Respectable parties should appeal to British Muslims as precisely that: British. They should recognise that a lot of Green and Labour voters here support conservative parties in their countries of origin, where their sense of victimhood has not been encouraged. They should emphasise the values that encouraged millions of British Muslims to volunteer in the two wars. The best way to defeat a bad idea is with a better idea. And if there is a better idea out there than an open society based on property rights and personal liberty, I have yet to hear it. Lord Hannan of Kingsclere is President of the Institute for Free Trade. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-15596531/DANIEL-HANNAN-Toxic-Greens-divisive-dangerous-election-British-history.html

Current Thread	Author	Time
The Greens campaigned largely on two issues: lifting immigration controls and ... [more]	LP12	12:22:57
>> British Muslim is an oxymoron	Denc 🗡	13:12:34

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