Immigrant saves small boy – and racists across the world cringe
A hero’s welcome: Mr Gassama meets French president Emmanuel Macron.
It used to be called “all or nothing thinking”.
A certain element in western society – especially here in the UK – has spent a considerable number of years building up xenophobia against refugees from Africa.
Remember? There used to be huge campaigns against anyone crossing the Mediterranean, and even greater opposition to anyone crossing the English Channel.
That’s why the so-called ‘Jungle’ refugee camp arose in Calais, of course.
Here in the UK, thanks to the machinations of certain malcontents, all immigration has been demonised for years.
Well, Mamoudou Gassama has just made a mockery of all that!
No wonder certain commentators have reacted with the obvious:
Hopkins, Farage, le Pen and their ilk on seeing the video of the Malian immigrant rescuing a kid in Paris. pic.twitter.com/0g1jgecIzD
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) May 28, 2018
That’s what they get for trying to convince us that everyone coming here from abroad is a wrong ‘un.
“All or nothing thinking”, see?
Apologies for hijacking this story to make a wider point, but: To the demonisers, every immigrant, or refugee, has to be bad because if just one turns out to be good, it opens up the argument that more might be – and then we have to look at them as individuals, rather than – I don’t know how these people describe them – aliens? Objects? The enemy?
I hope Mr Gassama has done us all a favour.
Although I notice that the BBC report, quoted below, has already tried to minimise the damage to the – let’s face it – racist narrative we’ve been force-fed for the last few years.
So we are told: “Mr Gassama’s heroic climb to save the boy cements the image of Mali as a country with a culture of old-fashioned public spiritedness.” It implies that other countries don’t have that culture so it’s okay for us to carry on hating them.
Not today, thank you!
My fear is that someone will dig up – or more likely, fabricate – a story to discredit Mr Gassama. Best of all, for the haters, would be if they could pretend he was a racist.
It works just as well in reverse, you see: If you don’t like someone, you accuse them of racism. You find an instance in which they have dared to criticise someone of a different ethnicity and claim it shows they hate everybody belonging to that group.
For a practical example: Look at the lies about anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.*
A Malian migrant, hailed as a hero after mounting a daring rescue to save a small boy dangling from a balcony in Paris, is to be made a French citizen.
Mamoudou Gassama won widespread praise after climbing the outside of the building to save the four-year-old.
Video showed him being cheered on by spectators as he pulled himself from balcony to balcony to the fourth floor.
After meeting him at the Elysee Palace, President Emmanuel Macron said he would be made a naturalised citizen.
He personally thanked Mr Gassama, gave him a medal for courage and said he would also be offered a role in the fire service.
Source: Hero rescuer to become French citizen
*For clarity, I mean the lies. We all know there are genuine cases of anti-Semitism in Labour, as there are in other organisations. That doesn’t mean there aren’t lies as well. “All or nothing thinking” – see how it works?
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
There is no such thing as racism. It is a lie concocted by politicians and media to conceal what was being done to the British working class. In fact as a completely non racist impartial person I was wondering the man bothered climbing to ‘rescue’ the child when a man was standing right beside him.
whot these d***heads don’t say is our country with America France are bombing a lot of their countries any sane person would leave their home country for a better life elsewhere oh dear jeff3
Mamoudou Gassama is a true hero.
I hope that the actions of Mr Gassama will help to overcome the racism that is so evident in Western societies. Just as I hope that Prince Harry’s marriage to Megan Markle will help reduce the levels of racism seen in this country, notably amongst the more conservative elements who tend to be the most royalist.(I’m not sure how the ardent royalist flag-wavers cope with the reality of an American woman of colour getting UK citizenship when most would see the royal family as a bulwark against the world beyond the white cliffs of Dover. But that is their problem, I suppose.)
And I hope that the footballing skills of Mo Salah will help reduce the depressing levels of Islamophobia in this country.
Yet there are numerous examples of the intelligence, skill and courage of people who are not white Europeans with Christian backgrounds, but the prejudice still persists. Perhaps it will just be a long process which will have to involve efforts at government level(like that of M. Macron ) to keep getting the message over. Though, obviously, that depends on the nature of the government in power.
And Mrs may goes on with her ethnic cleansing