Thought for the Week: In the face of the other

Harvey Gillman reflects on ‘the face of the other’

by Harvey Gillman 5th August 2016

Some years ago, I read an article about the growth of extreme nationalism in the south-west of England. This was manifested in antisemitic behaviour and actions. Yet the south-west of England is an area of low Jewish population. Recently, in an analysis of voting in the EU referendum, it was noticed that the areas with the highest votes for the leave campaign, with one or two exceptions, were in areas where there were fewest immigrants. There were many diverse reasons why people voted in the way they did, so I do not wish to be simplistic in equating ‘leave’ with xenophobia, but these phenomena do give me pause for thought.