Theo
Active Member
I read Love Music Hate Racism's most recent statement about the Morrissey controversy and, while they welcome Morrissey's support, they're not sounding like they're having a love-in with Morrissey.
First, they gush over the NME, strongly reiterating and underlining how fantastic the NME has been to their cause:
Then they turn to Morrissey, briefly and politely accepting his support:
Then, after stating they don't require a supporter to have a particular position on immigration, they attack Morrissey's alleged approach to the subject as reported by the NME (alleged because, as LMHR noted, there's pending litigation):
Morrissey allegedly used the words "flood" and "influx," which Love Music Hate Racism regard as loaded terms that are not helpful for healthy debate as the debate is being conducted in an atmosphere of hysteria with racist assumptions. It sounds like Love Music Hate Racism take the Billy Bragg view on Morrissey's comments using "inflammatory" language.
So, they aren't calling Morrissey a racist, but it's not exactly a mutual admiration society.
First, they gush over the NME, strongly reiterating and underlining how fantastic the NME has been to their cause:
NME
LMHR would like to reiterate and underline the fantastic and invaluable contribution that NME and it’s staff have made this year to the anti-racist cause and to LMHR in particular.
Their backing has hugely raised the profile of LMHR and the anti- racist movement in general. To date, in addition to 140,000 CD’s mounted on the NME’s cover on October 19th, around 450,000 of the NME/LMHR/NUT CD sleeves have been distributed across the UK in school, colleges, youth networks, at gigs and in workplaces. There has been a significant increase in the number of people actively involved in the campaign and in putting on LMHR shows all over the country. The Paddingtons and others’ excellent letter announcing the formation of Hull LMHR which appeared in the same issue of NME as the Morrissey interview - and which has received no media attention whatsoever - is a great example. The NME’s editor, Conor McNicholas, has gone further than any other national media figure in backing the campaign, particularly - in article after article - refusing to be squeamish about calling the British National Party (BNP) a fascist organisation which should have no part in a democratic society.
NME’s vocal support for LMHR has also provoked a very useful debate via it’s letters page and in the wider media on both organised racism as well as the wider racist ideas on which the likes of the BNP feed.
We are proud for our campaign to be associated with the NME and want to continue working together with them.
Then they turn to Morrissey, briefly and politely accepting his support:
Morrissey
Morrissey’s publicly stated commitment to anti-racism, and his offer of practical support to the LMHR campaign should be welcomed by everyone. LMHR is about fighting for an anti racist culture in music. We want every artist and musician to back the campaign, and to join us in fighting back against the rise of the fascist BNP against mainstream politicians playing the race card, and for the human rights of everyone to not face discrimination or attack on the basis of skin colour, race or religion.
Then, after stating they don't require a supporter to have a particular position on immigration, they attack Morrissey's alleged approach to the subject as reported by the NME (alleged because, as LMHR noted, there's pending litigation):
Immigration
We do not ask for people to have a particular position on immigration in order to accept their support for LMHR.
There are a range of positions that people can take on this question, from a belief that all immigration controls should be scrapped to the idea that the UK’s borders should be closed completely. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher said that “people rather fear being swamped by an alien culture”, and this remains the tone of much of what passes for “debate” in Britain today around the question of immigration. Loaded terms like ‘flood’, ‘influx’ and so on, are the norm. The anti-migrant press never talk about the large number of people leaving the UK, and rarely about the demographic time bomb in which falling birth rates and an ageing population mean that immigration is vital to the UK economy. Much less do the same commentators tell the British public that based on the last official figures available migrants actually contribute net benefit of 2% to the UK’s GDP - rather than being a drain on resources and services as we’re constantly told. Last year, asylum applications fell by 8% to just over 23,000. The same year over 73% of refugee applications were refused by the government. Thousands of genuine refugees are locked up in government detention centres. The ‘debate’ around immigration is not conducted in a vacuum, but in an atmosphere bordering on hysteria with racist assumptions and overtones. We very rarely hear scare stories about white American/Australian/South African/Northern or Western European immigrants to the UK for example.
Morrissey allegedly used the words "flood" and "influx," which Love Music Hate Racism regard as loaded terms that are not helpful for healthy debate as the debate is being conducted in an atmosphere of hysteria with racist assumptions. It sounds like Love Music Hate Racism take the Billy Bragg view on Morrissey's comments using "inflammatory" language.
So, they aren't calling Morrissey a racist, but it's not exactly a mutual admiration society.