DON'T PANIC! All we need to do is talk about privilege.

So, I'm currently in Thailand, a country where a democratically elected government has yet to make it to a full term of office. Furthermore, it appears that a military coup here is considered part of the political landscape, for most people it's like a public holiday. With this in mind it's been a really weird experience observing the recent elections in the UK from an outside perspective. For a few weeks, a huge part of UK media has resembled this...

UKIP! PANIC! BNP! RACIST! SCUM!

For what it's worth...

DON'T PANIC!

Seriously, don't panic. Not everyone living beyond the M25 is a swastika-branded moron. In fact, it's worth noting that the majority of people living in the UK didn't vote for UKIP or the BNP, it's just the way our democracy is structured. So where has all this panic come from? Well, judging from the articles and opinion pieces I have seen published in the predominantly London based media, it would appear that provincial ignorance and racism are to blame. However, I have yet to see a balanced article that explores these two questions.

1. “Why are the opinions of a minority of working and lower middle-class white people being used to objectively stereotype a large part of the UK population?” 
2. “Why do more working and lower middle-class people living in the UK feel excluded from the existing institutions of government in London?” 

If we consider these questions rationally, without resorting to parallels with pre-war Germany, then perhaps we might begin to sift through the fog of chav-bashing rhetoric emanating from London, and reach a better understanding.

I recently saw an interview with American writer Chris Hedges, in which he proposes that the political liberal classes of America have neglected the legitimate concerns of the working and lower middle classes by becoming distracted with identity politics. In short, while everyone has been arguing about equality and the rights of the individual, the financial and political voices of the lower classes have been effectively destroyed.

This completely resonates with my experience of living in London. Something as beautiful as the discourse of equality and fairness has been twisted into just another form of oppression and exclusion. Londoners may profess to creating a glorious bastion of multicultural egalitarianism, but that hasn't stopped the city stealing everybody's pensions and raising shiny new buildings in Canary Wharf (yes, we had noticed). It's easy to label white people in the UK as racist but I really think we need to deconstruct the erroneous notion that all of this political drama is somehow the fault of a unilateral sense of entitlement perpetuated by white supremacists.

It would appear that the language of discrimination has been hijacked, and it is now used to shut down any reasonable discussions pertaining to community interaction or national policy. The political institutions in London no longer serve the interests of the majority of people living in the UK, regardless of anyone's ethnicity, and this fact can no longer be ignored.

I lived and worked in London on and off for over 20 years and I now spend most of my time teaching overseas. So yes, compared to many people in the world I live a very privileged life, but with regards to my home community in Cornwall, I am an exception.

Part of the myth of globalisation perpetuated by London elites is that the autonomy and individualism inherent in identity politics are universal perspectives. This just isn't true. These are predominantly western constructions. Having taught extensively in Asia I would say that terms such as equality and fairness are fundamentally meaningless. Exclusion of minorities is institutionalised more in Asia than anywhere in Europe. Try implementing concepts of minority inclusion into a class outside of the international schools, beyond the limits of western influence, and you will understand why it is a laughable task.

Nobody cares.

Inequality is a reality for the majority of people on the planet, I understand this, but the obsession we have in the UK with distorted notions of white racism are just delusional. Just ask yourself this, do the political, judicial and financial institutions in London privilege a poor white provincial family over the concerns of say, a Russian oligarch, a Chinese billionaire, or a Saudi prince? London serves the interest of a privileged elite and yes, it is multicultural – so why do people have a problem voicing this concern? It's the fear of being labeled a bigot, because any call for regulating foreign interest in London immediately earns you the title of being a fascist.

My Indian friends in Calcutta are always greatly amused by the fact that inequality is such an emotive issue in the UK. Thanks to the cast system, there seems to be no problem socially excluding a huge part of the population of the world's biggest democracy. Thinking about it, in all of the places I have worked, feudal family institutions ensure that exclusion based on race, gender and social class are the norm, and this is not up for debate. So at least we have the opportunity to debate this sensibly in the UK without labeling everyone a racist, right?

The arrogant elevation of London as the pinnacle of cultural integrity in the UK is nothing more than a well contrived attack on the majority of UK citizens. It is a distortion of the principles of fairness in order to silence the concerns of the majority. It is an undemocratic defense of the corrupted institutions that now serve the interests of an unelected, self serving, wealthy elite. It's nothing to brag about that the majority of Londoners voted Labour, that just highlights how broken the working man's party has become.

Perhaps we need to stop shying away from these issues, and engage in a more open debate. I hope people don't panic about this. Just think of it as a massive vote of no confidence in the existing political structure. After all, why should the majority of UK citizens fund the extravagant lifestyles of a privileged elite while being labeled racist, provincial yokels? And no, funnily enough, I didn't vote for UKIP or the BNP, I was far too busy getting ignored by soldiers in the laziest military coup in history.