Daily Archives: November 27, 2021

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Black Lives Matter raised eyebrows with a Thanksgiving post that characterized America as "stolen land."

"You are eating dry turkey and overcooked stuffing on stolen land," BLM's national arm wrote on Twitter Thursday. The post included a graphic repeating the "stolen land" claim.

"You are on stolen land. Colonization never ended, it just became normalized," the graphic said, instructing Americans to learn "which ancestral homeland" they are "currently occupying."

BLM DISSES KYLE RITTENHOUSE AFTER HE SAYS HE SUPPORTS MOVEMENT: I DONT F--- WITH YOU'

The tweet quickly sparked backlash on social media.

BLM, which supports defunding the police, has been a constant source of controversy.

Co-founder Patrisse Cullors announced her departure from BLM earlier this year, amid scrutiny of the group's finances. Cullors had garnered scrutiny by purchasing several homes worth millions of dollars.

BLM sparked backlash in July after releasing a statement that appeared to side with Cuba's communist regime over freedom-seeking protesters.

A Black Lives Matter banner is displayed on the building of the U.S. Embassy in Spain, on May 25, 2021 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Oscar Caas/Europa Press via Getty Images)

The statement originally posted on Instagram and later tweeted and retweeted blamed the U.S. embargo for the country's instability and credited the Cuban government for historically granting "Black revolutionaries" asylum.

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Cuba is being "punished by the U.S. government because the country has maintained its commitment to sovereignty and self-determination," the statement read. The group said Cuba has been an ally with "oppressed peoples of African descent" and praised the countrys effort to protect "Black revolutionaries like Assata Shakur."

Shakur, also known as JoAnne Chesimard, was convicted of being an accomplice in the 1973 slaying of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster, who left behind a wife and 3-year-old son. Shakur later escaped prison and fled to Cuba, where former Cuban leader Fidel Castro granted her asylum.

Fox News' Edmund DeMarche contributed reporting

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Black Lives Matter claims America is 'stolen land' in Thanksgiving tweet - Fox News

Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matter explains how the 3 core tenets of the Black Xmas campaign are building Black, buying Black, and banking Black.

The holiday season is in full swing, with Christmas carols on the radio and shopping sales luring customers to spend their cash. In spite of rising inflation,retail numbers are highand economists predict a robust Black Friday sales surge. But this year, rather than giving into the consumerist pressure of the season, theBlack Xmascampaign started by Black Lives Matter Los Angeles urges shoppers to use their dollars wisely and in service of racial justice.

In November 2013, Melina Abdullah, one of the founders of Black Xmas, wrote the following in a Facebookpost four months after the formation ofBlack Lives Matter:

Under capitalism, we are trained to compete rather than cooperate, to hoard rather than share, and to hate rather than love. Capitalism breeds a coarse, cold, cruel world. As revolutionaries, we are charged with transforming the system. Living a life of loving kindness is a good first step. #BeKind.

Abdullah is a professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. A prominent leader inBLMLA, she helped start the Black Xmas campaign to promote Black-led organizations and Black-owned businesses and banks during the holiday season.

Abdullah spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar about how the campaign was started and what it aims to do.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Kolhatkar: Did the Facebook post you wrote in November 2013 express the philosophical basis for theBlack Xmascampaign?

Abdullah: Theres always been an analysis of the relationship between racism and capitalism. Malcolm X says you cannot have capitalism without racism, and thats absolutely a truism that we see emerge in this Black Lives Matter movement/moment.

When we were birthed, BLM had a critique of capitalism, and understood that capitalism necessitates harm brought on Black communities and the exploitation of Black labor, exploitation of Black consumers, exploitation of people of color. We understood that from the very beginning.

With the murder ofJohn Crawfordinside a Walmart store [in Ohio], it really brought everything home. It helped us to understand that as we confront systems of policing, as we recognize police as the descendants of slave catchers, we also have to think about them as protectors of capital and protectors of the ownership class and how that steals Black life, including the life of Crawford.

We also began to think about the role of White supremacist capitalism and the theft of Black life. And so, we birthed Black Xmas and really tried to get Black people to be conscious of the way in which we use our dollars and our resources. Are we feeding a system of White supremacy that steals Black Life, or are we using resources to really build stronger Black communities?

Remember that you dont just have to be in a frenzy and run into these stores and buy people things that they dont need. You can use your dollars to really build strong Black communities.

Over the last six years, Black Xmas has had three core tenets: Building Black, Buying Black, and Banking Black.

Take Building Black. Rather than buying people things, think about what your mother would want other than, say, a sweater. Maybe your mother is a lover of the arts, and maybe she would be grateful if you would donate in her name to theFernando Pullum Community Arts Center,which provides free arts programs for Black children.

Maybe your aunt is a survivor of domestic violence, and maybe she would appreciate a donation in her name to theJenesse Center,which provides housing and resources for survivorsespecially Black women survivorsof domestic violence.

Thats really what Black Xmas is about. Its about shaking off the chains of consumerism and confronting White capitalism but also building new traditions.

Kolhatkar: Is there a reason why its Black Xmas and not Christmas?

Abdullah: Well, Im not that Christian, but I was absolutely raised in a Christian church by a mother who still practices Christianity, by a family thats largely Christian.

And we have to remember that the largest groups of Muslimsthe plurality of Muslims in this countryare Black. We have to remember that there are a lot of Black folks who dont identify with Christianity, and even Christians who dont practice Christmas. So, we wanted it to be as inclusive as possible.

We call the holiday season a Season of Giving, and we actually have, on our Black Xmas website, cards that people can download that say, This season of giving, please donate in my name rather than buying me a gift. So Black Xmas is being used as a more inclusive term for people who practice Christmas, for people who practice Kwanzaa or any other holiday during this season, or no holiday at all, but still want to practice giving and building Black communities.

Kolhatkar: In addition to making donations to organizations, what about also supporting Black entrepreneurs and artists?

Abdullah: The second tenet of Black Xmas is Buying Black. Sometimes, your mother really does need a sweater. Rather than giving your money to Macys, you can go toNobody Jonesor other Black boutiques.

Rather than buying from Amazon, a company that we know exploits its workers, you can go to small Black-owned bookstores, likeEso Won Books orMalik Books.

Did you know that theres a Black-owned skateboard shop? If your kid really needs a skateboard for the holidays, you can go toThe Rad Black Kidsand buy a skateboard. The brother there who started Rad Black Kids has intentionally based his business in Compton and employs Compton residents to work there.

So rather than going to businesses that dont value Black people, that dont contribute to the building of Black community, we have a pretty strong list of Black organizations and businesses that youcan buy from.

Kolhatkar: What about the third tenet of Banking Black?

Abdullah: Remembering where our dollars are housed is also important. So if you bank atCitibank, you are financing our oppression. If you bank atBank of America or Wells Fargo, you need to think about how they invest in private prisons and ask, are your dollars being used for the financing of environmental degradation, like the Dakota Access Pipeline and other problematic projects? So we encourage people to move their money toBlack-owned banks.

Kolhatkar: Is engaging with Black Xmas this year a chance for non-Black people who say Black Lives Matter to prove it?

Abdullah: Put your money where your mouth isliterally. So if you want to say Black Lives Matter, make Black lives matter by investing in Black communities.

We know throughout the pandemic about 40% of Black-owned businesses permanently shuttered. This is a way of supporting those that remained and investing in those that are seeking to emerge coming back out of this pandemic.

A lot of Black folks also lost their jobs, so theyre launching new businesses. So this is a way for all people all around the world to really make Black lives matter.

Kolhatkar: How do you square your critique of capitalism by encouraging people to still engage in consumerism but just narrow it to Black-owned businesses and banks?

Abdullah: Were not seeking to create richer Black capitalists. When we say Buy Black, were really looking at small Black-owned businesses. Most Black-owned businesses have 12 employees, and oftentimes, the employees are the owners and the owners families. This is not about enriching Black capitalists. This is about building strong Black communities so that we can have a degree of autonomy and self-determination.

When we think also about what Black-owned businesses do for the Black community, theymore than any other type of businessalso create livable-wage jobs for other Black people. I think about restaurants in Los Angeles, likeSimply Wholesome, which intentionally employsreturning citizens.

So this is not about trading Black capitalism for White capitalism. This is about really thinking about what cooperative economics the principle of Ujamaa is and how we can use our dollars to begin to create those systems.

Kolhatkar: The Black Xmas website lists businesses in Southern California, including Los Angeles and Long Beach. But it also includes South Bend, Indiana, and Michigan. What is the geographic reach of the campaign?

Abdullah: Black Lives Matter is a global movement, which means many of our chapters are becoming involved in Black Xmas. The campaign originated in Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, which was the first chapter of Black Lives Matter and is still the largest one. But other BLM chapters are also engaging. All of the BLM chapters in Michigan and BLM in South Bend, Indiana, are also participating.

If businesses want to be featured, they can send an email to[emailprotected]. Were still trying to carry the bulk of the work, but if they email us, regardless of where they are, well look at their business, and if we have a chapter there, we can feature their business on our social media platforms.

Were not the only organization that does Buy Black work. There is a website calledWeBuyBlack.comthat has things like laundry detergent, batteries, and toilet paper! All of these things that you probably didnt know exist as Black-owned businesses.

Many of the businesses that we feature are online rather than solely brick-and-mortar. So you can always order online.

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How to Show Solidarity with Black Lives Matter this Holiday Season - YES! Magazine

Outside a Georgia courthouse on Wednesday, the father of Ahmaud Arbery spoke to the press after three men were convicted of murdering his son.

Some outlets and reporters have misquoted Marcus Arbery Sr., however, suggesting he used a controversial slogan that is associated with criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Several tweets claiming that Arbery had said "all lives matter" went viral.

What he actually said was "all life matter" as he spoke about not wanting another family to lose a child the way he had lost his son.

"We conquered that lynch mob," he said outside the Glynn County Courthouse. "We got that lynch mob letting you know that Black kid's life don't matter.

"For real, all life matter, not just Black children. We don't want to see nobody go through this. I don't want to see no daddy watch their kid get lynched or shot down like that. So, it's all our problem. It's all our problem.

"So, hey, let's keep fighting, let's keep making this place a better place for all human beings. All human beings. Everybody. Love everybody. All human beings need to be treated equally. We're going to conquer this lynching. Today is a good day."

Black Lives Matter also celebrated the verdicts. "GUILTY! We uplift the Spirit of #AhmaudArbery and send love to his family," the organization posted on Twitter.

"Deep appreciation to all who organized, protested, ran, posted, and prayed. Every effort ushered in as much justice as could be had. May this victory inspire the continued struggle for Black freedom."

Ahmaud Arbery's name became a rallying cry during the racial justice protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer in May 2020.

Arbery's death in February 2020 had attracted limited attention at first, but video of the fatal shooting posted online sparked an outcry.

On Wednesday, after about 10 hours of deliberation, a mostly white jury convicted Greg McMichael, his son Travis McMichael and their neighbor William "Roddie" Bryan of Arbery's murder. All three face a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

The McMichaels had grabbed guns and jumped in a pickup truck to pursue the 25-year-old after seeing him running in their neighborhood outside Brunswick.

Federal authorities have also charged the men with hate crimes, alleging they chased and killed Arbery because he was Black. That case will go to trial in February.

Ben Crump, an attorney who represents Marcus Arbery Sr, and Black Lives Matter have been contacted for comment.

Continued here:

No, Ahmaud Arbery's Father Did Not Say 'All Lives Matter' - Newsweek

The COVID-19 pandemic has created major challenges for businesses across the globe, but the head of Nova Scotia's Black Business Initiative (BBI) said there has also been positive change.

The Black Lives Matter movement in the United States and Canada was unlike anything Rustum Southwellhad seen in his time with the Halifax-based business development organization, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this week.

"There was a strange set of circumstances that caused people to be at home for COVID, looking at TV and so on, to see ... the brutality that was happening in the U.S. And that awoke many folks who wanted to help," said Southwell, who has been with BBI since it launched in 1996 and serves as interim CEO.

Suddenly, in the middle of a pandemic,BBI wasswamped with calls from people looking to support Black businesses, or companies looking for advice on how to become more inclusive.

Celebrating 25 years is a significantachievement, said Southwell.BBI's original goal of making sure Black entrepreneurs are supported in life, as well as in business, remains just as vital today.

The organizationreceives funding from the federal and provincial governments to deliver a huge range of training, grants, mentorshipand other programs.

BBI also works withbusinesses and services to set up anonline presence, often for the first time. Helping people move into the digital age ensures they will also be around for decades to come.

"The systemic challenges of racism and marginalization on top of that makes it a little bit more difficult for Black-owned companies to be hugely successful but we've sustained. There's a lot of companies that have done well," Southwell said.

Tiffani Young received help from BBI when she started her natural cosmetics company, Butter Bar, last year.

Young said BBI has had a huge impact on her business, covering the cost of a pop-up kiosk at the Halifax Shopping Centre, connecting her with fellow entrepreneursand helping her navigate the loan process.

Shesaid BBI is vital because the Black experience is unique, and the organizationunderstands the challenges she might face.

"It's not just about the business ... but also, you know, helping you to build your image, helping you to navigate a world that you may not always see a reflection of yourself in," Young said.

"It's nice to have that support system."

BBI's website notes it is the longest-serving Black business development initiative in Canada.

Its 25th anniversary will be marked by a sold-out gala dinner and awards event Friday evening at a Halifax hotel. The event will also be live streamed.

For more stories about the experiences of Black Canadians from anti-Black racism to success stories within the Black community check out Being Black in Canada, a CBC project Black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.

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Black Lives Matter 'awoke many folks,' says Black business organization as it marks 25 years - CBC.ca

The killing of George Floyd by a white police officer may have taken place thousands of miles away, but his agonising cry I cant breathe reverberated in the UK, too. In fact, it became the catalyst for the largest wave of anti-racist protests in British history, taking place in more than 260 towns and cities last summer.

These protests were very much rooted in the British experience. Demonstrators carried handmade placards with the names of black Britons killed by the British police; they demanded justice for members of the Windrush generation threatened with deportation and the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire; they decried the high Covid-19 death rate among communities of colour. Statues were toppled, streets renamed and venerable British institutions such as the Bank of England were forced to reckon with their ties to the slave trade. A year later, Black British Lives Matter, edited by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder, takes time to reflect on this extraordinary movement.

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The book comprises essays from 19 prominent black figures, including the historian David Olusoga, the architect David Adjaye, the Labour MP Dawn Butler and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen. It is an effective primer for those keen to understand why Floyds death drove hundreds of thousands of people to the street. The essays offer a 360-degree portrait of the black British experience, taking in health, the criminal justice system, politics, art, journalism, business and education. They interweave the writers lived experiences with their expertise.

This is expressed most powerfully in Lawrences essay, Black British Mothers Matter. She writes about how the tragic events of 22 April 1993, when her 18-year-old son was murdered by a gang of racists, have defined her life since. She had just turned 40. I am aware that to many people I am ageless, she writes. I am ageless in the way that people in the public eye often are frozen in time by a single event I am also ageless because people dont always see me as human.

Her tireless battle to get justice for her son, and force the country to confront the reality of racism, has transformed her into a symbol, but this has also dehumanised her. And I need you to remember my essential humanness and the essential humanness of all Black mothers, she writes. This plea to recognise black Britons humanity recurs throughout the book, from Marverine Coles account of mental ill-health, which deconstructs the devastating consequences of the strong Black woman stereotype, to Ryders closing essay, which describes his own horrific encounters with the police.

So large is the political crisis to which the book is responding that some of the essays only manage to scratch the surface of their subject, while others at times feel repetitive. But what the collection occasionally lacks in depth, it makes up for in range. There is certainly enough variation in style and approach to keep the reader interested.

The essays are most effective when the authors use their experiences and expertise to address a specific problem. Butler laments the smattering of black and Asian representation in overwhelmingly white institutions such as parliament, arguing that, as a result, minorities can easily be pitted against each other. Too often there is one person of colour to argue for a policy that would deny their own parents entry into the UK versus another politician of colour arguing for policies that would benefit other people of colour. A critical mass of black politicians would avoid this.

It is clear, though, that the response to last summers Black Lives Matter protests must go beyond just representation. Protesters called for the dismantling of racism and vowed to weed it out of society. In Olusogas chapter, which is an interview conducted by Henry, the historian admits this surprised him. It never occurred to me that it was even possible. And maybe Im right and theyre wrong, or the other way around. The fact is I put limitations on what I thought was possible; I always presumed racism would always be here, that it was a given.

Perhaps that is what makes this moment critically important, and what makes the breadth of experience reflected in this collection justified: whereas we have become used to simply asking for space to breathe, our imagination has now been expanded. We see that not only is a new world possible, it is ours to win.

Black British Lives Matter is published by Faber (16.99). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

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Black British Lives Matter edited by Lenny Henry and Marcus Ryder review - The Guardian

False narratives are making it more difficult for charities working on anti-racism agendas and social change issues, the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust has said.

Halima Begum was discussing the issue of charities and culture wars at an event organised by the law firm Bates Wells earlier this week.

The Runnymede Trust has been at the centre of some of these arguments this year, with Conservative MPs questioning the charity's motives. The Charity Commission cleared the Runnymede Trust of breaching charity law in September.

Begum said: It's been really difficult being in the charity sector, working on Black Lives Matter at a time when others are in control of that narrative.

She said that the term culture war was unhelpful and offensive to anyone who has experienced a real war.

Begum said her real concern with how they end up going from a place where we can discuss to one where it's just becoming quite dangerous.

She called for people on all sides to deescalate and focus on civilised debate, because the faux culture war narrative certainly doesn't benefit social change, and democracy.

Later in the debate she said that she had tried to resist being drawn in to culture war debates and that: I think there's something going on in British life that is about creating false narrative.

She also said that it was wrong to assume that we're in the middle of a very intense culture war because it is perpetuated by extremists on both sides.

Tessy Ojo, chief executive of the Diana Award, said changing attitudes was normal because as humans we evolve, we change, she explained.

The problem, she said, comes when one group tries to prevent others from taking part in discussions.

She added: If we have children who are the age of 21 wanting to be fed on baby food, we will have a problem, right? Why would we expect that society should stay the same as society was maybe 21 years ago?

I do agree that things have to be done with a lot of dialogue that is not about war, what we often find where perhaps this war is where there's one group much louder than another and wanting to suppress dialogue.

As a charity that champions young people she said the Diana Award manages to do this without becoming adversarial towards older people.

She said: How can we be the voice for them? How can we help pluck from the issues that they're facing without trying to suppress, for example, older people, we don't say actually, everyone keep quiet, because right now, the most important thing is a young person. No, because we can coexist.

Ojo and Begum both suggested that it is important to focus on the real issues.

Begum said: The way to fight inequality is by looking at what the data and the evidence is telling you.

Now, if the data and evidence is consistently telling you that some groups and society are left behind or the outcomes are not as equal, then it's incumbent on decision makers and the government and territories to do something about that.

Ojo described examples where young peoples expectations for their future and opportunities available to them were curtailed by their race or circumstances.

She said: What young people are asking is to have a fair chance.

She added that during the pandemic young people from middle class families saw their mental health improve, with their parents being around all day. But that for children from a minority group their mental health was 10 times worse at the end of the pandemic.

That's the kind of irony when we talk about inequality. That's what we need to be working on, she said.

Danny Kruger, Conservative MP and a junior member of the Levelling Up Department, also called for a civilised debate.

He said he would describe it as a religious conflict, because: At the heart of what we're seeing is a presence of a new religion, or a new manifestation and over culture, which I disagree with.

However, he said was quite appropriate to have public disagreement and discussion on the topic.

Elaborating on the idea of a new religion, he said it has roots in French existentialist theory from 50 years ago, which he described as: The idea that essentially, the material order matters less than people's beliefs and feelings.

In terms of how society resolves the issue, he said: In our traditions in England, we have a template which is the religious conflicts that we've had in this country. And in a nutshell, I would say that somebody needs to win this cultural disagreement.

He added that he hopes his side wins, but that the other side is accommodated, and gave an example of how Elizabeth I treated Catholic and Protestant extremists.

So I hope that a conservative victory in this culture war will then lead to a much more generous accommodation of the very valid theories and points and frankly, the freedoms of people to take a different view, he concluded.

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'It's difficult working on Black Lives Matter when others control the narrative' - Civil Society Media

Theres barely a week goes by when our greatest wartime leader isnt slated as a racist and a tyrant by people who have no idea what he achieved and no understanding of history or of the times in which he lived.

This was a man who defeated fascism and who had the guts to take on Hitler at a time when many in our own government wanted to appease him.

But Churchill refused and because of his courage, his steadfastness we won the war.

Poll after poll shows that, despite his flaws and yes, he had some Churchill is, and always will be, a national hero. Yet Lefties are forever trying to make us all ashamed of him because they refuse to see history in context or understand the nuances of it.

It emerged this week that the latest attack on him happened at a Remembrance Day Service at the Imperial War museum.

Yep, you read that right. A bunch of teens from a youth music group were allowed to perform a vile rap song about racism, white privilege and Churchill immediately after a two-minute silence to commemorate our war dead.

Its beyond belief that at a service to commemorate those who died for our freedoms some idiot woke boss at the museum gave the go-ahead for those teenagers to insult the man whose leadership made those freedoms possible.

How dare they! And how dare the Imperial War Museum. Of course, the museum has since apologised, but that means nothing the damage has been done.

Heads should roll over this. Many people at the service walked out in disgust and even museum staff were shocked because they had no idea what was coming.

So who allowed it? Who green-lighted this vile insult not just to Churchill but to our war dead. And why havent they had the guts to own up?

A Remembrance Day Service is not the time or the place to callChurchill a racist.

Dont these idiots who trash him and other historical figures understand that you cannot apply 21 st century values and beliefs to the behaviour of people who lived and died in different times? Churchill was born in 1874 when Queen Victoria still had 27 years left on the throne.

You cant put right the wrongs of the past by trying to erase history and by heaping abuse on the people who made it. History has to be learned from.

Yes, Churchill made comments about people of colour that wouldnt be acceptable today, but he made even more denigrating remarks about Europeans that would be equally unacceptable.

The fact is that throughout his life he fought to protect the non-white people in British territories. He considered it his duty to improve the lot of the empires native peoples. So yes, black lives DID matter to Winston Churchill.

But of course actual facts dont matter to the Wokerati. Their minds areso closed they dont understand that you cant rip historical figures out of their context and expect them to have the views and values on race that exist today. The whole point about history is that we evolve and Britain has.

Yes, there is always a debate to be had on how history has unfolded the rights and wrongs of it but a Remembrance Day service isnt the place to do it.

But of course, asking these people to rationally debate history would expose the fact they know little or nothing about it. So they take to the streets instead to deface statues and trash reputations, completely failing to understand that what people thought, and how they acted a hundred years ago, wont be erased by their violence.

And neither will Churchills courage, his heroism or our respect for what he did!

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Black lives DID matter to Churchill whatever the Wokerati claim, says CAROLE MALONE - Daily Express

Todays widely accepted narrative is that we live in historically divided times. Voters are routinely described as polarised, while analysts compete to identify the essential schism of the age, whether this is metropolitan versus traditionalist, people versus democracy or anywheres versus somewheres.

For a third year running, however, the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project supports a different interpretation: that extreme views are given greater visibility by social media, which in turn creates an especially dynamic climate of opinion in that, for example, it can change quickly but one whose underlying forces are defined more by cohesion than division. Released annually by the Guardian, the Globalism Project is an international survey and the largest of its kind on the public relationship with globalisation, produced by YouGov in partnership with academics at Cambridge University. Its findings have consistently challenged popular stereotypes of public opinion in this so-called polarised age.

It turns out, for instance, that there is no deep divide between the mindsets of open versus closed societies. In fact, few voters support radically open or closed societies, while most tend to favour varying degrees of continued integration with the wider world. Academic theorists of authoritarian populism may perceive a new, mass disdain for liberal pluralism, but we found little evidence of this in public sentiment. Instead, majorities around the world maintain a determined belief in the superiority of democracy, with little partisan difference on the issue.

Nor has modern society been overwhelmed by demographic schisms. When we compared those who feel generally more permissive or restrictive towards net migration, for example, we found some discernible patterns on average between younger and older, metropolitan and provincial, graduates and school-leavers but hardly to the extent of rival demographic blocs, or splintering, parallel societies.

This is not to doubt that many countries have experienced an intensifying atmosphere of partisanship over the past decade. Strange as it might sound, however, partisanship and substantial division on policy can be two quite different things, as the Guardian recently reported. For example, in Britain, most respondents who described themselves as either leftwing or rightwing said they dislike others for identifying with the opposite camp (87% and 73% respectively). The same kind of partisan divide extended to other labels of political identity: a majority of leftwingers considered themselves feminist (62%) while a majority of the right did not (70%); or on the subject of Black Lives Matter, most of the left were favourable (70%) while most of the right felt the opposite (69%).

Yet when it comes to opinions on underlying issues, a different picture emerges. The same respondents were next shown a list of three jobs cleaner, nurse and politician and asked if each one was more suited to either women or men, or equally suited to all genders. This time, overwhelming portions of the left and right agreed, answering equally suited for every job (94% and 89% for cleaner; 90% and 74% for nurse; 88% and 83% for politician). Majorities on both sides also shared the view that it is unacceptable for a man to whistle at a woman he doesnt know in the street (85%, 58%), and that promoting equality for women should take some level of priority in modern society (98%, 88%). A similar pattern was evident for other progressive objectives of combating racism of all kinds and moving the economy away from carbon-intensive industries towards greener alternatives.

In other words, when we compare these groups by their attitudes to specific issues, rather than by markers of identity, we find a considerable amount of common ground, rather than polarised clusters of opinion or clashing visions of what contemporary society should look like. In political science, this is being increasingly recognised as the gap between issue-based versus affective polarisation, and supports a thesis that the latter is decidedly more prevalent than the former in numerous western publics.

Indeed, the study finds comparable patterns outside the UK, where notable levels of partisan antipathy coexist with significant overlap in views on gender and race equality and decarbonising the economy. This was found to be true among the rival voting camps of: Joe Biden versus Donald Trump in the United States; Emmanuel Macron versus Marine Le Pen in France; the Greens versus Alternative for Deutschland in Germany; the Left versus the Law and Justice party in Poland; Vox versus Podemos in Spain; and New Democracy versus Syriza in Greece.

This all hints at perhaps the most surprising but also reassuring finding of our research into populism and globalisation over recent years: that in countless areas of life, far from being poles apart, people tend to cluster somewhere in between that is, they fall on a generally moderate bell curve. In fact, this newspaper spotted a similar pattern when it first unveiled the Globalism Project in 2019, namely that the study was remarkable for how most respondents seemed so, well, normal. Large-scale studies of IQ and personality tell a similar story of a bell-curve distribution in which most of us are unexceptional, statistically speaking, and often share our strongest traits with the majority.

Social science researchers can be understandably keen to focus on what divides populations, or what marks out one type of person as being at odds with another. What is more striking is how much people tend to have in common, when you scratch beneath the surface of political labels and loyalties. Social media may be amplifying the role of identity markers in politics, but people are much more likely to agree than disagree on the underlying trends of what is acceptable behaviour, and what our priorities should be.

Stephan Shakespeare is CEO and co-founder of YouGov. Joel Rogers de Waal is academic director at YouGov

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Be reassured: the world is not as divided as we might think - The Guardian