Xenophobia

Overcast with light rain all morning after a cold damp night. It's quite unlike summer. I had a poor night's sleep in which it took longer to settle back into sleep due to the chill in the air after getting up hourly to empty my bladder. After breakfast I took my morning medications, returned to bed with my senses dulled, and slept until midday. Clare went out shopping and when she returned just before one, we made lunch together with frozen veg, couscous and cod.

Following a violent knife attack in North Belfast made by a Sudanese refugee, there have been two nights of racially motivated riots with the homes of ethnic minority people set alight and police officers injured. Behind the mob of angry masked men terrifying citizens, social media exchanges have turned complaints and protest toxic. People wind each other up into rage, due to media algorithms that highlight and spread negative views amplifying anxiety felt when violence occurs in their neighbourhood. Vigilante groups set themselves up to 'take action'. Trust and good will between those in authority, responsible for maintaining public security, stability and community health, and the majority of citizens, is being eroded by anxious often angry criticism from those who think they know better, but only know what social media feeds them. Mixed communities of Republicans and Unionists in Northern Ireland learned to organise themselves in self defence against each other during the Troubles. Now innocent black people and Ukrainian refugees are persecuted as if they were all foreigners, due to the ability of social media to track people.

There are always difficulties when people of different cultures and ethnicity live alongside each other, but resentment against immigrants and refugees is being politicised in Britain by those wanting to blame anyone but themselves for society's failings. Learning to live together with our differences is a moral and spiritual challenge of the highest order, especially if we don't have faith or culture in common.  Resistance to making an effort to be compassionate and hospitable neighbours to strangers leads to people to avoid each other under the pretence of  'live and let live'. The feeling that differences are threatening can easily be distorted into xenophobia with evil consequences. 

Social division for whatever reason, undermines the unity of Britain at a time when threats to security from Russia and Iran are of increasing concern. Trump's contempt for NATO allies  adds to European vulnerability. Government prevarication over defence spending is a bone of political contention in the context of rising costs of health and social care. Britain is failing to generate adequate wealth to match expenditure needs. It's a phenomenally complex situation during a period of radical change when there's a debilitating war going on in the Middle East. No wonder it's taking time to make sustainable decisions in the national interest. The Prime Minister's leadership is under challenge, but would a new leader really make that much of a difference? For the moment, the restoration of law and order at home must be a top priority, along with finding remedies that counter the toxicity of social media, and nurture good will. I just wish that Trump and his acolytes would keep their ill informed comments to themselves instead of making things worse for all who are victimised by the opinion of others.

Mid-afternoon I walked for an hour in the drizzle, choosing a route that would minimise gusts of wind driving rain from west to avoid getting completely soaked. Much needed fresh air and exercise didn't clear my head or sharpen my senses altogether so I went out and walked again after supper and ended up getting ready for bed early.