April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

the border with Mexico in Arizona. The response to the Dupnik’s comments
about the circumstances that led to the massacre in Tucson was the state’s
right wing media to brazenly denounce him and call for his resignation!
Response by the Media and the Democrats
The New York Times commented that while it would be “a mistake” to
attribute this Loughner’s actions to Republicans or the Tea Party members,
“it is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent
supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has
produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge.”
Commenting on the massacre, Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal wrote
in an editorial that Loughner was “mentally disturbed,” “confused” and he
targeted Giffords simply because she was “prominent.” Incredibly, another
part of Murdoch’s media empire, the right wing Fox News which has been
at the forefront of inciting demagogic, hateful and inflammatory rhetoric,
denied any responsibility for the massacre. Fox News even demanded that
Obama denounce those who want to blame anyone other than Loughner for
the violence, as if Loughner he had acted in a vacuum.
In their editorial the New York Times (January 9, 2011) wrote that
Loughner “is very much a part of a widespread squall of fear, anger and
intolerance that has produced violent threats against scores of politicians
and infected the political mainstream with violent imagery.”
This “squall of fear” has given rise to a populist right-wing phenomenon
within the Republican Party, as was shown in the gains they made in the
last midterm elections on the basis of demagogic attacks.. The right-wing
propaganda by Fox News, the Tea Party, candidates like Michele Bachman
and Sarah Palin against immigrants and unions became necessary as the
ruling class looked to deflect blame for the crisis, create scapegoats and
try to forestall united struggles of the working class.
While Obama and the Democrats call for unity and make appeals against
violence, they are sending drones to kill civilians in Afghanistan and
Pakistan. We are called on to salute the “bravery” of all politicians;
meanwhile, they slash education and child care for our children and
oversee a system that offers little hope for a decent future for people or
the environment. Corporate domination and their political puppets are all
to blame for a sick culture that creates isolation, alienation, violence and
fear. The media fills the airwaves with stories about why to be afraid of
your neighbors while Glenn Beck says repeatedly that “the Republic is
hanging by a thread.”
Far-Right Threat
According to the FBI, there was a 300% increase in threats against
members of Congress in 2010, and over a 1,000 death threats a month
against President Obama. In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security
warned that “right-wing extremism” was increasing because of the
economic downturn, the election of the first African American president,
and pointed to the recruitment of returning vets into right-wing extremist
organizations.
The bigoted, hysterical anti-Muslim attacks are now in the mainstream
media and the Republican establishment as could be seen just before
September 11 last year when there were several instances of arson,
bombings and vandalism against mosques in Tennessee, Texas and Florida
as well as the stabbing of a Muslim cabdriver in New York City.
The same could be said about the hysterical attacks against LGBT people