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no platform on cork radio
Jim O'Connell writes about a recent radio piece
Jim O'Connell writes about a recent radio piece
Last weekend saw a fascist rally in Cork City and the counter protest called by Cork Says No to
Racism.
The following Monday a Cork local radio station devoted most of the morning airtime to discussion of those related events.
The majority of the speakers and text contributions seemed to favour the far-right point of view.
Was this because the actual majority of Cork people agreed with the far-right?
Was this because the majority of the listenership of that station are anti-immigrant and pro far-right ideology?
Of course not. Instead, many people opposed to fascism, racism and the far-right decided not to take part in the radio discussion.
Prominent members and supporters of Cork Says No to Racism did not engage with the radio program because their stated policy is one of 'No Platform' when it comes to Racists and Fascists.
They argue that there is a difference between a give and take discussion featuring people of differing political ideologies and a discussion that can give air to the ideology of people whose main purpose is the domination and subjugation of others.
The purpose of those people going on air and speaking in public is to use the guise of open and frank discussion to hijack people's legitimate concerns in order to build up an army of followers who will unquestioningly do the bidding of fascist demagogues. They have absolutely no interest in engaging in honest debate.
I listened to most of the radio program. In my opinion a lot of the callers were people who had very legitimate concerns mainly about the woeful situation around public housing and public services, health and welfare.
There is no doubt whatsoever that people's anger and concern on these issues has not only been seized on by the hate-mongers of the far-right but also has been a useful tool of the succession of neo-liberal governments in their subtle deflecting of blame for the travesties they have caused.
Then there were quite a few contributors who, without too much prompting, progressed from the misdirected blame game into the arena of outright hate speech with barely any challenge from the radio host.
They then proceeded to show their true colours and spread their outright lies about imagined erasure of Irish culture and 'plantation' with so-called 'unvetted' males of military age.
On top of that a caller from Sweden, an Irish person, a 'foreigner' who was apparently welcomed into that country talked of alleged attacks on Irish women and girls by foreign males.
This despite the abundance of information out there on the facts that the majority of cases where Irish girls and women are at risk involves risk from Irish males, in a lot of cases males known to them or are actually related to them.
Yet again, this type of dangerous bile received little or no challenge from the radio host.
Little wonder then that arguably the best policy in this instance is once again one of 'No Platform for Fascists'
The following Monday a Cork local radio station devoted most of the morning airtime to discussion of those related events.
The majority of the speakers and text contributions seemed to favour the far-right point of view.
Was this because the actual majority of Cork people agreed with the far-right?
Was this because the majority of the listenership of that station are anti-immigrant and pro far-right ideology?
Of course not. Instead, many people opposed to fascism, racism and the far-right decided not to take part in the radio discussion.
Prominent members and supporters of Cork Says No to Racism did not engage with the radio program because their stated policy is one of 'No Platform' when it comes to Racists and Fascists.
They argue that there is a difference between a give and take discussion featuring people of differing political ideologies and a discussion that can give air to the ideology of people whose main purpose is the domination and subjugation of others.
The purpose of those people going on air and speaking in public is to use the guise of open and frank discussion to hijack people's legitimate concerns in order to build up an army of followers who will unquestioningly do the bidding of fascist demagogues. They have absolutely no interest in engaging in honest debate.
I listened to most of the radio program. In my opinion a lot of the callers were people who had very legitimate concerns mainly about the woeful situation around public housing and public services, health and welfare.
There is no doubt whatsoever that people's anger and concern on these issues has not only been seized on by the hate-mongers of the far-right but also has been a useful tool of the succession of neo-liberal governments in their subtle deflecting of blame for the travesties they have caused.
Then there were quite a few contributors who, without too much prompting, progressed from the misdirected blame game into the arena of outright hate speech with barely any challenge from the radio host.
They then proceeded to show their true colours and spread their outright lies about imagined erasure of Irish culture and 'plantation' with so-called 'unvetted' males of military age.
On top of that a caller from Sweden, an Irish person, a 'foreigner' who was apparently welcomed into that country talked of alleged attacks on Irish women and girls by foreign males.
This despite the abundance of information out there on the facts that the majority of cases where Irish girls and women are at risk involves risk from Irish males, in a lot of cases males known to them or are actually related to them.
Yet again, this type of dangerous bile received little or no challenge from the radio host.
Little wonder then that arguably the best policy in this instance is once again one of 'No Platform for Fascists'
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