Public speech
Kenan Malik spoke at the Wheeler centre last Thursday on the rise of protest movements and how right wing politics have influenced them.
Malik was invited by the Wheeler centre to speak on Identity politics then moved on to speak about protest movements and their influence.
Malik said “It’s not just the right that have promoted the idea of immigration as a problem,” the left has also “theorised” this as well.
Malik also said “Social Democratic parties have moved away from their old working class constituents,” when discussing the shift of politics on the left.
A crowd of around 100 people attended Malik’s speech in which he said “Racism has been re-branded as white identity politics,” when talking about right wing politics.
Kenan Malik said “The best thing that happened to the alt-right is the lefts politics of identity,” when explaining the growth of right wing politics.
Lois Newman ran for Corangamite as a Greens member in the elections of 2017 and 2018 and has studied right wing politics growth in the US.
I asked Newman a number of questions surrounding the rise of right wing politics and how many protest movements identify with the right.
Responding to Kenan Malik Newman said “without a solid movement, the right can move in,” when discussing the rise of workers protesting with the right.
Newman agreed with Malik’s argument that the left disparaged immigration but said “The left targeted more towards protecting the environment as opposed to being against religious beliefs.
Newman said “most political parties internationally skew to the right” and “The right gets most of the media coverage” when discussing the rise of the right.
Newman said “she found Malik’s arguments interesting,” but “disagrees with the right being the norm,” and that the left “don’t gravitate to the arguments of the right.”
Interviewee: Lois Newman former Greens candidate for Corangamite as well as Geelong
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Article would appear in The Age weekend edition, as it is not breaking news it does not need to appear the day after, it can appear in the weekend edition as it allows readers time to ponder the thoughts of both Malik and Newman and not rush through the ideas put forward by both.
