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﻿<title﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, Racism and the Attack on the Welfare State - Editorial﻿</title>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿Racism and the Attack on the Welfare State 

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﻿<i﻿>﻿New Socialist Magazine, May - June 1996﻿</i>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

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﻿<b﻿>﻿The attack on the welfare state has brought with it an alarming increase in government-sponsored racism in our society. Looking at the treatment of blacks by police and the courts, the recent report of the Commission on Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System finds "shocking" evidence of racism at all levels.

﻿</b>﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Commission's report also points to the economic context of racism. Noting that the number of blacks in the province jailed in 1994 was 204 percent higher than in 1986 (compared to a 23 percent increase for whites over the same period), the report asks: "How could a biological link between race and crime explain this? Surely the genetic makeup of black Ontarions did not suddenly change between the late 1980s and 1990s." 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Right-wing forces have indeed tried to suggest that certain groups in society -- most notably visible minorities -- have a genetic predisposition to "criminal activity." But, as the Commission notes, the genetic makeup of peoples does not change in a matter of years. The economic and social environment ﻿<i﻿>﻿has﻿</i>﻿ changed, however. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Since the late 1980s, in the wake of the deep economic recession that began in 1989, governments at all levels have intensified a war against social spending. They have targeted health care, education, unemployment insurance, social assistance, and old age pensions for massive cuts. And in the process, they have engaged in blatant racial scapegoating. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

Rather than accept that the capitalist economy is generating more and more unemployment and poverty, politicians and much of the media have suggested that the problem is cultural, that the poor have become entrapped in a "culture of dependency" in which, rather than relying on themselves, they look to the state to care for them. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

What governments must do, it is claimed, is to administer harsh doses of "tough love" by forcing these people to look after themselves. That this means more children in poverty, more people homeless, more domestic violence, more human suffering -- all of this is the price to be paid to get our society back on track. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

In diverting the argument from economics to culture, the Right can then smuggle in all kinds of racist assumptions. They can suggest that our social ills are the result of "foreign" or "unCanadian" cultural values. Indeed, precisely this line of argument is developed by William Gairdner in his best-selling book, The Trouble with Canada. According to Gairdner, whose book has been highly influential in Reform Party circles, Canada's troubles stem from the intrusion of foreign elements into the white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant culture upon which the country was built. Not surprisingly, his conclusions favour curtailing immigration and even setting limits on the number of immigrants who should be allowed to live in a given community. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

The Right wants to link reliance on welfare and other social programs to "non-Canadian" cultural values. In their rhetoric, welfare recipients are "alien," "foreign," "other." That perverse logic was at work two years ago when Ontario Liberal leader Lyn McLeod tried to raise fears of "welfare fraud" by Ontarians of Somali origin, fears that were ultimately revealed to be completely fanciful. But the message at work was clear: there are "foreign" elements out there taking advantage of "real," taxpaying Canadians. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

These tactics are being used to divide all those suffering from cuts to social programs. By stigmatizing one group -- in this case welfare recipients -- poor and working class people are pitted against one another. 

﻿<br﻿>﻿<br﻿>﻿

It's with this connection between racism and the attack on social programs that New Socialist is devoting much of this issue to questions of racism and nationalism. If we are to build an effective opposition to the war against the poor in our society, it is vital that we confront the racist discourse that accompanies it. 

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