The Welsh Government is ploughing on with its taxpayer-funded “Anti-racist Wales Action Plan,” which it says is a “transformational path toward creating an anti-racist Wales by 2030.” Whatever that means…
To reach this goal the government has produced a new report on “racism relating to climate change, environment, and rural affairs.” The conclusion of which is – you guessed it – that people “of ethnic minority background in Wales face barriers created by exclusions and racism preventing them from fully participating in ‘environmental’ activities.” The trees are racist…
The report says that based on a “spatial analysis” ethnic minority groups visit green spaces less – while quietly admitting that “there is difficulty in disentangling ethnicity from a range of other demographic determinants.” I.e. people living in urban areas go to the countryside less…
The rest of the report is made up of complaints about the “lack of representation and diversity in leadership roles in environmental organisations and government” which “speaks of systemic inequalities” and the results from commissioning five “community groups” to “undertake dialogues” with ethnic minority communities. Quite some scientific analysis there…
Apart from vague platitudes the document actually fails to establish much evidence at all for green spaces being racist and blames existing material for not “fully capturing the experiences” of ethnic minorities. In the end the anti-racism planners pat themselves on the back by saying their “report highlights the need for concerted action by all people working in the environment sector (in its broadest terms) to heed the voices of ethnic minorities in Wales, championing inclusive approaches that foster environmental justice and equitable access to green spaces for all.” Translation: As you were…
UPDATE: Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies tells Guido:
“This kind of outdated virtue signalling nonsense is completely out of touch with the needs of the people of Wales. Labour is stuck on yesterday’s thinking, the kind that is being roundly rejected globally. Time to turf them out.”
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”