Join me every thursday on the alex salmond show and ill be speaking to guest of the world of politics or business im showbusiness ill see of. The low and welcome to cross talk where all things are considered im Peter Lavelle we are witnessing the rise of a new secular religion and its called the focus them at the moment in that short history its goal is to end racism why well everything is now considered racist the believers in this called demand obedience insult criticism but were really never told how racism is to be eradicated or how it helps serve the interests of working people of all colors. To discuss this and more im joined by my guest john de bar in bristol she is the deputy leader of the Workers Party of britain as well as author wrote the drive to war against russia and china her forthcoming book is identity politics and class and in budapest we have George Samuel he is author of bombs for peace natos humanitarian war and he was right across our girls in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it ok lets go to bristol jody what do you look you make of this new secular religion because that its kind of quasi christian you know a little bit composed as a little bit a bit eventually mentalists style. And you know it has on with this ritual walls. It has its humes it has its clergy it has its script sure. And its making everybody miserable and it has nothing to do with fighting racism go ahead well i think its the last point that i am really interested in x. Do we want to fight racism and of course the answer to most of us is yes but to fight racism you have to understand where does racism come from whats the cause of racism these symbols of an exploiting society do of course represent the fact that it is an exploitative society what that reminds us is this society is not our society its run it is made up of run by and for all a tiny exploiting class and of course they heroes are the ones who are celebrated in the culture that they call ours which is really less and of course for the mass of the workers and exploited around the world these people are not heroes ok but its a reminder of a material reality that we live in a world of exploiters and exploited and that is what is the cause of racism racism comes from the need to divide workers against one another it comes from the need of the imperialists in particular to justify their walls and their colonial conquest on the basis that these people cant take care of business theyre not grown up theyre not i mean the you know the the the way that it was and colonial exploits have been justified have subtly developed over the years but essentially come back to the same saying we have this white mans burden to take care of everybody else and it is its not really about white and black is it you dont have to be white to be racist you dont have to be black to be a victim of racism the europeans were being conducting pogroms against the jews before they ever saw a black person the british were conducting programs against the irish before they ever had a friend. African caribbean and indians you know to be racist against this law they had that even citizens to be racist against which has been our most recent and of course you know the arabs in between because were waging war over the middle east so so maybe this is somewhat of a diversion im happy to see the back of the statues but if it just is a question of looking at statues and taking them away whilst doing nothing about the roots this is limit is it ok what does it change exert george exactly after that action is needed well thats how i see it all ok that i offered to address social inequities absolutely ok but you know george theres this whole movement its a career in the present there is no any past is adulterated its dirty its toxic it must be wiped away i mean how can we address inequality inequities without knowing the structural process they created in the 1st place and thats all in history ok and as far as you know seeing the back of that is thats a totally different question and i think that we should talk about that i think we should talk about what statutes mean but this is this is the taliban and its a ship of western culture if you dont like it you dont understand it you just roy go ahead joe. Yes absolutely and of course the taking down all statues is a process thats only just begun it goes it isnt going to stop with roberts unique because you know next up of this league of the Founding Fathers washington and jefferson they were slave owners Woodrow Wilson retrograde views on blacks f. D. R. Japanese americans and with martin in Winston Churchills pearl in a box they can i do not go exactly so you know Winston Churchill who was a been an icon icon and it might show europe and United States for us since his death more than 50 years ago is now a reviled figure because hes an impure so Everything Else that he has done you know what im leader of that gets forgotten is just an impaired but one we know that this is a fraud is that if you really want to oppose imperialism if you really want to oppose. Powerful rich powerful countries excerpting their will on weak countries which are none european nonwhite than oppose what the United States the United Kingdom and france the imperial powers are doing to syria right now i mean there is their inflicting there was brutal horrific sanctions and causing the misery that oppose what they did in libya destroyed a perfectly well dublin state for god knows what reason and its and now they did this is a country in which they reintroduced slate so that theres a country where you actually after own going slave trade not the Transatlantic Slave Trade 400 years ago but not only going slave trade in libya again not silence about that or the pressure thats of the sanctions against them venezuela again latin American Country and you know the the you know nonwhite people say nothing about that so. Well then heres the purpose of refighting the battles from 150 i dont i think i know the answer to lets go back to bristol john d. I know the answer that in use what you alluded to is that no one in the elites here do not want to talk about class thats like kryptonite to these people they dont want to talk its all because of racism its not because of class and that way that is actually a very soothing and comforting thing because you know having this purity tests that you plight of people get on your knees take me and all these other things you dont you know address the structural problems of why there is racism in why there is and why there is growing desperation i mean look the phrase was attributed to george floyd but i think it is applied to it least half the United States i can read and its because of the structural inequalities that been built in and we have all these woke people that makes them bill privileged if you dont they dont have they dont know anything about history they dont understand exploitation theyre even know that theyre being exploited. I mean 100 percent or so many points there and what you said i could pick up on that symbol that resonated with people so much about George Floyds death it wasnt just that it was another policeman the way that it was filmed so we could see the cold blooded nature of his killer son come to need to the neck and the words of the dying man i cant read your lap for that to resonate with you that mismated across the world because that is the experience of the oppressed and exploited masses every match its all great they have that need in the neck from imperialism really ellies them and their children and you can raise and that really resonates and thats why it is as you say about close and the system and not about purely black and white and racism at least pilots in america although. Of course those things. Are many of the inequalities but really why has expanded now in such a way its not only the power of this particular merger its also the fact that its come on top of as you say a situation where the economic crash which is the biggest accomplishment has ever produced combined with the Health Crises are being disproportionately as always built by the poorest and of course the poorest in the imperius countries are more likely to be black if youre black youre more likely to be poor so that desperation is coming from people losing their jobs have no health care suffering from the crisis the most suffering most from the Health Epidemic and being in the middle of all of this and of course its very safe for a law to say this uprising and s. K. And what they dont want is us to get together and say this is this system is a problem and we must get rid of it so what they were very happy to do is jump on a narrative that encouraged sections of the working class to despise one another and spend their time in the end fighting one another and you know being made absolute pulls out of on both sides of this argument i mean we saw in london this week you know working class white guys doing literally fitness aleuts churchill steps you know you cant make it up you know in their attempt to defend what they see as their culture its not their culture on the other hand youve got you know theyve been pitted against you know angry working class black and asian people who are feeling like theyve had enough of the inequalities in the system all of the signs of bad all suffering from the inequalities inequities of the system and its inability to provide basic security in really simple things like jobs Housing HealthCare Education you know its the losers who benefit from all of this does. And this this this putting us down into silence of what color are you and christian hierarchy you know the better you are not the more oppressed you are the more kind of just you are to my knowledge iraq you know you know george one of the things i find really quite sickening is that you have the amazons and him Silicon Valley and you know put on their website black lives matter and you know what that is pure genuflection and its at no cost of them whatsoever it doesnt affect their bottom line its its an amazing cultural cover for them because if amazon actually tears about black lives then why does a treat its workers like certs ok no jeff bezos gets. A free card out free card out of jail because he can say you know he takes a knee but it doesnt affect his bottom line is better but hes become what youve been more obviously rich during this crisis. Exactly and so what has happened is that this whole black cloud Matter Movement has been coopted by these are. All these other. Silicon valley to whom this is you know your symbolism i mean if these those really cared about black lives it could well for one thing raise the wages of all the people who work for him it doesnt he got them in. Union organizing at his workplace it doesnt mean theres no same goes for jamie diamond same goes for all of the all of these. Silicon valley billionaires that you can organize so all of those things that will actually affect their bottom line they dont know and what do they do that they actually. Use this black lives true or show their sapir iorio to their work was because its their workforce that his race is not that you know. Well the c. E. O. s with billionaires we dont were not racist but you you miserable a blight says you know who barely can make you make your rent payment you are rates and i will show you how terribly retrograde you are and so this is the end of the game played so theres really nothing radical about it because we know whats right and we know what a radical movement is a radical movement is well look what you had with the bolsheviks you have. Masses of support they will direct appeal to the last directly a feeling youre not going to go to a break in at about a short break well continue our discussion mochas them. Some control for a middle class to who most of the night muslim are very hardworking people who want to get ahead that have either have some some Health Issues or have some of how destructive bad luck a full time job wont always pay for a place to live and missing just a months rent can get you with victim to gunpoint if anything bad happens to any thing that just throws your budget off slightly. Better catch up real quick or youre going to have a judgment of possession against you and get a ticket by anyone thats homeless is history like garbage people look at you like a monster or someone bad or you chose to be there most of the time its not the case see how it is to be pull in the worlds richest country. Well the match across town where all things are considered im Peter Labelle reminder were discussing. Ok let me go back to georgia right before the break you were making a point well what i think is really interesting in all this is that among conservatives and people that are more interested in class like our guest in bristol you know i hear their refrain in it really makes me worry say you know im not really interested in this but the problem is is that locus them is interested in you in their economy for you go ahead george yes absolutely because what happens. Workplaces at workplaces of jamie diamond and the workplaces of these laws is that white workers and black workers sent a gauge needle. How does that. You know that youre white and always be held to be racist and to be. Had all kinds of news on things so youre going to have this constant tussle between the point where it was a work supposedly racism rather than over the fact that both of. Almost no pay work hours palling work conditions and all of the money is being siphoned off to the people at the top i mean its no accident that these arses. Because they were wealthy you know what her im getting really and why not what. They did they argue about these statues and ive seen a lot of historical artifacts out of people that are a statue with abolition abolitionists ok and they dont even know who it is open it has a statue of apparently about a white guy who listens how insane it is just to let me go back you know one of the things i find really terrifying in this is it 1st of all this whole book is a movement it is detaches itself from the rule of law to detach itself. From merrit i would say it attaches itself from. Being reasonable you cant argue with these people like you know argument to plot earth are ok and the problem is as they see is this the visions that are artificially created to set us against each other is it where is the limits if you take the knee or you lay on your stomach and you put your hands behind your back and then they want more and more and more and when what this does is it creates an enormous amount of intimidation a Chilling Effect and then again it gets away from the very core basic ideas that were trying to get across on this program. Absolutely i mean if we want to understand where this work culture as you describe it identity politics where its come from its really something which has jumped into a space that was left by a retreating class conscious working Class Movement you know we my lifetime has been a lifetime of seeing that movement the working class in retreat you know the socialist countries were destroyed to my mind its all temporary but you know history goes up and down like in these last 40 years weve seen a retreat of working class forces and into the space these the working class demands equality for women. End of racism end of colonialism end of imperialism they were they were working class to much and they still are but whats happened is with the retreats other class cultures leadership for the working class you have the chasm is a vision of these struggles and theyve been transformed theyve been put into separate so you dont know longer recognise that womens liberation is a class question that anti racism is a class question that anti imperialism is about class its about the system of capitalism as well as imperialism you put them into separate silos and weve had this kind of bush was a fixation if you like of working class demands they become things that you study at University Womens studies and the enemy is men and black studies and the enemy is what people you know and its a wonderful safe narrative for imperatives and listed with the step she is as well what was was why is being pushed so hard by our media and then very much in support of the debate of a statue because we can all discuss history and imperialist crimes become something as george said something to the parts imperialism is in existence now and its crimes are worse than ever you know look at those the playstation was in congo that been fought in the last 15 years how many millions. Died so we can play our playstation while were not on the streets saying congolese lives matzoh well at home without play stations ignoring it you know. The salute. Even does it say about our rulers in this crisis to prove the white house cat everybody should have everyone in the street i mean if they could but then you know the debts it but thats theres such a vacuum of leadership i mean the we our leaders are now part of the worst in my lifetime bar no i mean its absolutely i mean because theyre all bought off ok theyre there they serve a purpose here you know george one of the things i think i find very. Disheartening is that if you really look at whats happened with the economy how it how it you know i could be exploded into the culture now into our politics here i mean this is a real boom for the studies people because every you know to fight racism black lives matter wolk ism you need an equity counselor you need a diversity counselor you need it your person the chief in this apartment and you know what all those worthless agrees that have been burned up dont last 30 years there is upward mobility there but it what they do is you taking this paradigm and theyre just reinforcing all the problems we have discussed here and it feels so great doesnt it if youre right if youre the one its there its pointing and you know if youre if youre a priest or a priest as in this church youre elevated ok i mean this reminds me of you know kids that were pot you know sit down and get on your knees you know you know and its terrifying and you know what people are sit maybe going to this is extraordinary moment go ahead george yes yes exactly so what youre now creating and i dont obviously didnt create it to some time is a fast administrative clou