Otherisation

When we other people – politicising diversity and difference. When we make the other wrong.

We do this in the school playground. You may have done it, or been the subject of it being done to you. The nerd. The ‘in’ group. The dyslexic. 

It hurts badly to be the brunt of a young person’s othering.’

And when we dish it out, we might feel the smug satisfaction of superiority.

Superiority, supremacy, otherisation. The code of a disease of hate.

Otherisation is a key feature of fascism. The political class needs us to find an enemy to distract us as they seize power and accumulate wealth. 

The hollowing out of the middle class, with the constant story of – ‘it’s the other’s fault that you can’t pay your bills’ – is a weapon of choice for the hard right and fascism. 

Power wants us to look at the other as enemy. The people getting on dangerous boats seeking a better life. The people who do not look like us, stealing our jobs. Destroying our ‘culture.’

It is a story as old as time. 

The fear of survival is real. The hollowing out of the safety nets is real. The struggle to make ends meet is real. 

But we are looking at the cause of this in the wrong place. It is not the other. It is the kleptocrats, oligarchs, and technofascists whose wealth is increasing exponentially as we break our backs not making ends meet. Where does their wealth come from? They suck it up, like a giant vacuum cleaner, from us.

Photo Taken July 28th 2025, Article published December 12th 2025