White supremacist Farage stokes racial tensions after murder

Bigot Nigel Farage has taken to social media to declare that the UK is a “two-tier culture” that privileges racial minorities, but “white lives matter”.

His vile statements follow the trial and life-sentencing of Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh man, for the murder of Henry Nowak. Digwa wrongfully claimed that he had been the victim of a racialised assault, and responding officers attempted to arrest Nowak as he lay dying.

Body-cam footage shows Nowak pleading with officers that he had been stabbed, and he couldn’t breathe. At one point, an officer replied “I don’t think you have, mate.”

Henry Nowak’s parents stated clearly that they didn’t want their son’s murder to be used to stir up hatred and division. Instead, they called for knife crime to be treated as a national emergency.

Nowak ‘did not die with dignity’

Henry’s father, Mark Nowak, said his son “did not die with dignity”. Nevertheless, and despite the “shocking actions” of the responding officers, Nowak’s family gave their “heartfelt gratitude” to the murder investigation team. Mark said:

They secured justice for our son and for that our family will be forever grateful.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) is currently investigating the police response to the incident. Donna Jones – the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) – stated that:

It was a stressful situation, but mistakes were made and that needs to be uncovered. My job is not to be here to defend the police, my job is to ensure the police are doing what they should be doing.

The police swore to act on any IOPC recommendations.

Farage goes against the family’s wishes

In a social media statement, Nowak’s parents stressed that:

We want to use Henry’s heartbreaking story to make change for the better. We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to help make our streets safer for everyone.

In spite of those clear wishes, the racist right has sought to capitalise on Henry’s tragic death. That’s true of no-one more so than Nigel Farage, leader of the far-right Reform UK party.

In a 2 June video statement released by his party, Farage said:

The most important thing that needs to change, that has to change, if our society is not to be ripped apart, where communities start to distrust each other and deeply distrust the police and all the other institutions of this country, is we need a change in culture.

Enough of anti-white prejudice, a promotion of the idea that white lives matter just as much as black lives.

The police, in Nowak’s case, were deeply and tragically mistaken. However, Henry’s family praised the response from the force following their son’s death. Likewise, the murder was reported as national news, and the court threw out Digwa’s argument that he was acting in self defence, and that he was a victim of racialised hatred.

Institutional racism remains a fact

That widespread attention to the case, and the timely delivery of justice, is also a far cry from the way the media and politicians often treat the murders of Black and brown people.

Meanwhile, police across the UK still have an extensive, well-documented, and ongoing history of racism. In fact, an Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB) report found that, 5 years after the implementation of the Police Race Action Plan (PRAP), progress on institutional racism had been patchy, slow, and easily reversed.

Those facts don’t go away simply because of one incident where the police made a grave and fatal error. They remain true however hard Reform and their ilk may wish it or claim it.

Attacking all minorities

However, reversing that miniscule progress on police racism is precisely what Farage seems hellbent on doing. In his video, he called for:

An end to DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and positive discrimination, but a country that treats everybody equally and fairly before the law.

This is serious. This is urgent. I fear for where our society will be in a few short years if we don’t grip this and do it very, very quickly.

Note how quickly Farage’s focus has slipped. He claimed Nowak’s murder as his motivation, but he attacked a law which was put in place to ensure equal opportunities in the workplace.

Via the 2010 Equality Act, DEI laws apply to all protected characteristics, e.g. sexuality, disability and marital status. Reform have long wanted to rip up the Equality Act, and they’re now trying desperately to exploit Henry Nowak’s tragic death to demonise brown people in the UK.

Of course, it goes without saying that this disgusting, utterly disrespectful behaviour is completely on-brand for a party of bigots and white supremacists like Reform UK.

Farage, in his video statement, drew a parallel with the murder of George Floyd. He decried the Black Lives Matter movement for vandalising a statue of Churchill, and the utterly fictional “silence” from the media and politicians that followed. He called this:

Proof, if ever there was any, that we’re living in a two-tier culture in this country, where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.

This is nothing less than a vicious, low-down lie. The UK’s laws protecting racialised minorities are painfully necessary precisely because of this country’s deep-seated racism and bigotry. There is a two-tier culture in this country, but it’s the exact opposite of Farage’s pitiful claim.

Farage’s desperation

Reform are cornered and desperate, but that makes then all the more dangerous. In the upcoming Makerfield by-election, they’re facing pressure from the far-right Restore UK. Meanwhile, the party have been referred to the equalities watchdog for their extreme Islamophobia.

Meanwhile, Farage himself is under investigation for an undeclared, untaxed £5m ‘gift’ from Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne. He could face losing his seat, triggering a by-election in Clacton-on-Sea.

Clearly, the far-right leader has now pivoted from avoiding media scrutiny to a frantic attempt to create a distraction. If he has to incite another race-riot to do so, then so be it.

This foul grifter does not give a shit about the murder of Henry Nowak. He doesn’t care at all for the family’s wishes not to see their son become a figurehead of race hate. At best, he won’t even blink at the spike in racial hatred facing the Sikh community.

Farage is a despicable bigot who deals in racialised hatred as his main political currency. As such, he sees Henry Nowak’s horrific death as nothing more or less than a meal ticket.

Featured image via Getty/Ryan Jenkinson