Stop platforming those who seek to divide us

Charlie Kirk’s memorial service last Sunday galvanised a touchstone moment for far-right conservatism and American nationalism.

If you previously had no idea who the right-wing pundit was, you’d be forgiven for thinking the occasion was a state funeral that had morphed into a political rally. The service was held at the State Farm Stadium in Arizona and televised across American channels and disseminated globally.

The flagbearers for America’s lurch to the right were all in attendance, including Mr MAGA himself, US president Donald Trump, who delivered a speech that sung the praises of Charlie Kirk throughout, telling the audience that he was ‘our greatest evangelist for American liberty … None of us will ever forget Charlie Kirk, and neither now will history.’ Just in case you didn’t recognise the rebranding of a white supremacist to a figure akin to a saint, there it was happening in real time.

Trump further said, ‘Charlie would have been so proud to hear people today giving glory to God … We need to bring back religion to America, we want to bring God back into our beautiful USA like never before.’ This coming from a serial adulterer and multiple felon was beyond satire at this point but this is where we are now.

The fact that the Trump also used the occasion to flag an autism project that the administration was announcing in the coming days was particularly ‘on brand’ for this president. It wasn’t quite shouting out the release date for your mixtape at a funeral, but it was close.

Watching the speakers eulogise Kirk and essentially attempt to deify a man who at best could be described as ‘extremely polarising’ is a sign of the times we live in. Up is down. Down is sideways and facts are now somehow ‘a matter of opinion.’ The political and intellectual gas lighting is real.

SEEDS OF DIVISION

Perhaps you are asking where is the relevance to Britain, especially black Britain and those of African descent living in the diaspora? It’s a valid question, but there are so many points of intersectionality regarding the conversations taking place around both the killing of Kirk and how his death is being used as a focal point to entrench and amplify an ideology whose only function is to further oppress marginalised communities wherever they are in the world.

The UK is on the front line of not just a battle of ideas but a more urgent fight. Kirk’s narrative of anti-black, anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim, misogynistic rhetoric has already gained a foothold in the UK.

Kirk recognised that taking his Turning Point USA show on the road was key to helping to sow seeds of division and spotlight far-right voices. Japan, South Korea, the UK were all on his latest global tour. Kirk was not inventing far-right talking points, but he was deliberately and most definitely amplifying them, using his ‘debates’ as an excellent deflection tool.

It can’t be a coincidence that established racists in this country like Tommy ‘Ten Names’ Robinson and his hard-core supporters are big fans of many of the positions that Kirk and his ilk held. You only need to look back a matter of weeks to the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march that drew an estimated 150,000 attendees in central London to see where there was a clear meeting of the minds. In fact, several of the speakers mentioned the killing of Kirk during their addresses to the crowd.

Billionaire Elon Musk was perhaps the most vocal. The fact that an ally of Trump, of Kirk and the proponent of some of the worst aspects of American far right policies was given the ‘superstar slot’ at a rally of this nature tells you everything you need to know.

EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE NEEDED

Gone are the days when openly racist politicians were side-lined. They’d be forced to operate on the margins and in the shadows like political cockroaches. Now thanks to a fawning, ineffective media, they are platformed by mainstream outlets, allowed to spout their poison without pushback and paid handsomely for the privilege.

Conservatism of the Thatcher variety seems positively centre ground now. Today’s Tory party sees its leader Kemi Badenoch (and Labour prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, for that matter) competing with Nigel Farage’s Reform Party on who can table the most anti-immigrant policies to appeal to a particular kind of British voter. Labour firebrand Bernie Grant will be rolling in his grave.

Surely our politicians must know that one can never appease someone that bigoted and far gone. They will never agree with you no matter how far back you bend in this macabre game of political limbo. By participating in this race to see who can be the cruellest and implement the most brutal policies on the most vulnerable, we lose our humanity, and we lose the centre ground.

Political voices that provide an effective alternative to some of the bilge being heavily disseminated are needed more than ever. There is a genuine demand for speakers who challenge the narrative that the only way we prosper is by keeping our knees on the literal necks of those we oppose.

The right is heavily funded. Racism seems almost de rigueur. Conservative media houses are more interested in propaganda than advertising revenue, where the richest (or second richest man) uses his social media platform as a global megaphone to spread his gospel, it seems hatred pays. Let’s push back against that.

Perhaps Charlie Kirk’s death can be the galvanising force that is needed, but not in the way the far-right would’ve liked. Let’s stop platforming those who seek to divide us, let us call out mistruths, be bold and expose the liars, the grifters, the truly reprehensible among us and let us take this moment to remember that when it’s all said and done, we are all our brothers’ keepers. Yes. We are.

Amina Taylor is a journalist and broadcaster. She is the former editor of Pride magazine and works as producer, presenter and correspondent with Press TV in London.