Does Clarkson’s emergence as an unlikely symbol of the farmer protests reflect a worrying rise in far-right agrarian populism? Words by Alex Heffron. Illustration by Alex Brenchley.
I've read this twice now and struggle to find any actual solutions that you propose. There are the usual blandishments about workers rights and restricting migration. But these will push up the cost of food, and that will hurt the poorest in society and be hugely unpopular. And the more you equate fascism with "stuff I don't agree with' the more ridiculous your arguments look. We really need to stop yelling "fascist" at everyone who is even slightly right wing. It's a guaranteed way to alienate the majority, whilst happily gaining the endorsement of our ever diminishing echo chamber
Fascism is notoriously difficult to define, and is never static as a politics, but it's rooted in racial superiority, authoritarianism, eugenics, violent defence of capital, conspiracy theory, warmongering and borders, and a racial nationalist mythos where certain groups e.g. socialists and organised workers, LGBTQ+, certain designated ethnicities or religious groups are designated as enemies of the people and so on. I think I've demonstrated a large enough range of that in the piece. My position is unambiguously anti-fascist and I think the right have tried to obscure their politics for a long time by claiming the left calls everyone they disagree with fascist, which has become a tired trope. A few years ago it might have taken more work to persuade people of rising fascism but today it's worryingly quite easy.
As for solutions – it's not possible to do everything in one piece but I do have a lot of work published on both my substack and elsewhere that does tackle this.
Thank you for this, really insightful and well written. (I also did a PhD in LEC some years ago, wishing you all the best with it, a really important topic!)
Interesting. Don’t think Clarkson’s words are proof enough that he is indeed racist and purely self-interested in his calls to support farmers. Not sure what the point is - do we want more British farms in Britain or more overcommercialised agriculture and megafarms? The best point is about the Home Office turning a blind eye on farmworkers’ conditions - that also being in relation to corporate farms, who are the real concern here. Agree those voices need to be unified and heard in equal measure but you can’t argue that Clarkson hasn’t at least got a wider audience talking about some of these issues.
I think we can and have to expand beyond a narrow binary of "British farms" and corporate farms (are not British corporate farms British farms too?). Clarkson has definitely got more people talking about agricultural concerns - I've witnessed that myself and the programme does do a reasonably good job of covering aspects of the real difficulties of producing food in Britain. That said, it's also clear that he's looking to marshall those grievances towards racist conspiracy theory and the far right. Whilst not exhaustive, I think I documented plenty of concerning comments in his articles. The idea that we can only care about farming as if it's totally detached from the rest of society and politics is the kind of exceptionalism that concerns me from a large faction of farmers who at best are happy to turn a blind eye to far right politics so long as farmers are supported. I agree farming needs support - but that doesn't mean to hell with everything else.
I've read this twice now and struggle to find any actual solutions that you propose. There are the usual blandishments about workers rights and restricting migration. But these will push up the cost of food, and that will hurt the poorest in society and be hugely unpopular. And the more you equate fascism with "stuff I don't agree with' the more ridiculous your arguments look. We really need to stop yelling "fascist" at everyone who is even slightly right wing. It's a guaranteed way to alienate the majority, whilst happily gaining the endorsement of our ever diminishing echo chamber
Fascism is notoriously difficult to define, and is never static as a politics, but it's rooted in racial superiority, authoritarianism, eugenics, violent defence of capital, conspiracy theory, warmongering and borders, and a racial nationalist mythos where certain groups e.g. socialists and organised workers, LGBTQ+, certain designated ethnicities or religious groups are designated as enemies of the people and so on. I think I've demonstrated a large enough range of that in the piece. My position is unambiguously anti-fascist and I think the right have tried to obscure their politics for a long time by claiming the left calls everyone they disagree with fascist, which has become a tired trope. A few years ago it might have taken more work to persuade people of rising fascism but today it's worryingly quite easy.
As for solutions – it's not possible to do everything in one piece but I do have a lot of work published on both my substack and elsewhere that does tackle this.
Well said. Labels are counterintuitive enough in themselves let alone when they are forced. Tenuous links here
Thank you for this, really insightful and well written. (I also did a PhD in LEC some years ago, wishing you all the best with it, a really important topic!)
Thank you so much!
It’s popular. Cry about it.
Interesting. Don’t think Clarkson’s words are proof enough that he is indeed racist and purely self-interested in his calls to support farmers. Not sure what the point is - do we want more British farms in Britain or more overcommercialised agriculture and megafarms? The best point is about the Home Office turning a blind eye on farmworkers’ conditions - that also being in relation to corporate farms, who are the real concern here. Agree those voices need to be unified and heard in equal measure but you can’t argue that Clarkson hasn’t at least got a wider audience talking about some of these issues.
I think we can and have to expand beyond a narrow binary of "British farms" and corporate farms (are not British corporate farms British farms too?). Clarkson has definitely got more people talking about agricultural concerns - I've witnessed that myself and the programme does do a reasonably good job of covering aspects of the real difficulties of producing food in Britain. That said, it's also clear that he's looking to marshall those grievances towards racist conspiracy theory and the far right. Whilst not exhaustive, I think I documented plenty of concerning comments in his articles. The idea that we can only care about farming as if it's totally detached from the rest of society and politics is the kind of exceptionalism that concerns me from a large faction of farmers who at best are happy to turn a blind eye to far right politics so long as farmers are supported. I agree farming needs support - but that doesn't mean to hell with everything else.