Roz Foyer: Reform is the symptom and not the cause |
Last week, there was a conclave – just not of the religious type.
The First Minister convened a vital summit aimed at forging unity against the rising tide of far-right extremism.
At a time when our communities are being tested, our values challenged and our politics polarised, this was a welcome show of leadership.
It wasn’t easy. Convening over 40 of Scotland’s political and civic organisations, all with different demands, wasn’t simple.
Ultimately did it provide a solution? No. But it’s the start of a process, not just a photo-op (or at least it should be). We welcome the First Minister’s resolve.
He is right to call on all of us – government, civil society, trade unions and beyond – to join forces in standing firm against the poison of hate and division that the far right seeks to inject into our communities.
Whilst commendable, it was a fine line to tread. Whilst it was billed as an anti-far right summit, it was framed by the media as an anti-Reform Party event.
Let us be absolutely clear: we consider Reform to be a party of the right. Their rhetoric, policies and public posture are soaked in division, scapegoating and dog-whistle populism.
But it would be a dangerous misstep to reduce our analysis to a single party. We cannot fall into the trap of treating Reform and Nigel Farage as a convenient political bogeyman.
Doing so allows others off the hook and allows deeper, structural problems to go unchallenged. Because Reform is not the cause – they are the symptom.
The real danger comes from what has created the space for the far right to grow. That space was carved out........