RIGHT of centre political parties in Wales have responded with outrage to a social media message from the leader of Plaid Cymru in the aftermath of the attacks in Barcelona last week.
Shortly after the attack, Leanne Wood posted a picture of the incident, accompanied by the comment: ‘Ofnadwy / terrible. Is this more far right terrorism? My thoughts are with all those affected’.
34 people were killed or injured in the attack on Las Ramblas on Thursday, and at the time of writing the suspected driver of the vehicle involved was still at large. Four people suspected of being connected to the attacks have been arrested, and a further seven killed.
While IS has claimed responsibility for the attacks, it is not currently known whether the perpetrators were members of the organisation, or influenced by it.
Ms Wood’s comment was seized on by a number of commentators. She posted a picture of some comments posted on Twitter, including one from ‘controversial’ Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins, who left her job at LBC through mutual consent after calling for a ‘final solution’ in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing.
A number of those who attacked the politician on Twitter included US-based users like ‘@cheezdog’ whose other posts included criticizing the non-existent leftwing organisation Antifa for their conduct at Charlottesville. Many of the other commentators appeared to be united by a dislike for Muslims; football, and a penchant for retweeting Tommy Robinson.
However, Welsh politicians, including the leaders of two parties, also criticised Ms Wood’s choice of words. Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies said it was ‘unbelievable’ Ms Wood had speculated it might be linked to a far-right group, while his colleague Janet Finch-Saunders called upon her to apologise or resign: “Politicising terror so fresh after an attack can never be acceptable, and only adds to the hysteria and toxicity of debate,” she claimed.
Ms Wood clarified her remarks, pointing out that IS was a right-wing ideology: “I am staggered by the reaction to the point that Isis and white supremacism both have far right ideologies driving them. Both see their group as superior to others. Both see people who are not in their group fair targets for abuse, violence and even death. Both hate minorities and consider women to be less than men. Both believe in using extreme violence to repress people with different views. This is far right/ fascism ideology. How can it not be?” she asked.
“I can see why this point may upset so many trolls and people who see themselves as being on the far right. The comparison links western racists and white supremacists to their number one hate target and shows them as no better than each other,” Ms Wood somewhat pointedly remarked. “Some of the responses to me making this point have crossed a line and so I will be relaxing my no blocking rule today.
“Events in Barcelona last night were terrifying, yet again. While it’s important, in my view, to say and keep saying that politics and ideology lie behind these acts of violence, my thoughts are first and foremost with the victims of last night’s horror.”
UKIP’s Senedd Leader Neil Hamilton also weighed in. The veteran politician claimed that because Ms Wood had described UKIP as being a far-right party, attributing this atrocity to the far-right was a calculated insult to UKIP and their 132,138 voters.
“Leanne Wood is clearly not fit for purpose. She is an embarrassment not only to Plaid Cymru but to the whole of Wales. When is Rhun ap Iorwerth going to have the courage of his convictions and spark a leadership contest?” he asked.
UKIP are widely described as a right wing populist party rather than as far-right. However, their MEP Mike Hookem quit as Brussel whip after Anne-Marie Waters, who founded pressure group Sharia Watch and who has called Islam a ‘killing machine’, was cleared to run in the leadership contest by the Ukip national executive committee. “If I were to continue in my position of deputy whip, I would be seen as supporting or at the very least turning a blind eye to extreme views and this is not something I am prepared to do,” he remarked.
Mr Hamilton’s belief that a Plaid Cymru leadership contest is imminent appears to be based on a comment by Rhun ap Iorwerth stating that should Ms Wood step down he would happily run for leader.
For some reason, though, commenting last week, the UKIP Wales leader appeared to dismiss Mr ap Iorwerth as a viable candidate, preferring ‘a red-blooded leader like Adam Price or Neil McEvoy, both of whom are very effective AMs, hungry to break the cosy Cardiff Bay consensus’.
“As a real nationalist party, UKIP will be pleased to work with Plaid Cymru to take Wales forward. We need to create an enterprise economy which will end our status as a beggar nation within the UK. Adam Price has seen a bit of the world and understands this. Neil McEvoy similarly never ceases to point out how Labour has utterly failed Wales’s working class,” he added.
It is not known how Mr Price and Mr McEvoy responded to this endorsement.
It is worth noting that other politicians agreed with Ms Wood’s assessment. Labour AM and Counsel General for Wales Mick Antoniw remarked: “Isis is a right wing extremist, fundamentalist ideology. Your description is right. There is nothing to apologise for.”
