Mediaboss Marketing

Charities are facing increased hostility from politicians and the media, with some in danger of being reduced to fodder for phoney culture wars, according to a leading campaigning group.

The Sheila McKechnie Foundation said its annual survey of campaigners showed that nearly two-thirds thought politicians were becoming increasingly negative and less tolerant towards charities which actively fight for social justice.

It said the hostile political environment felt by many included politicians shutting down channels of communication, and attacking campaigners and their allies as a threat to the common good.

Examples included the bitter criticism of the National Trust by the so-called Common Sense group of Tory MPs for publishing a report into historical slavery links at some of its country house properties. The MPs accused the trust of pursing a Marxist, woke agenda.

Also cited was Priti Patels targeting of do-gooders and lefty lawyers in a speech at Tory party conference in October, despite Law Society complaints that the home secretarys earlier comments about activist lawyers had led to a racist assault on an immigration lawyer.

The UN aid charity Unicef was accused last month of a political stunt by Jacob Rees-Mogg after it funded food support for deprived children in south London, while Tory MPs reported Barnardos to the charities regulator after it published a blog discussing racial inequality and white privilege.

The foundation said the findings came after years of ever-tightening restrictions on charity campaigning, including lobbying restrictions, and the use of gagging clauses in grants and contracts to prevent charities openly criticising government policy.

Nine out of 10 campaigners said they thought the freedom to organise, speak out or protest was under threat. Over half (56%) felt conditions had got worse over the past year, while 72% said negative media coverage was a threat to their freedom to campaign.

The survey suggests that politicians and the media are out of touch with public attitudes to campaigning. Over half of respondents felt the public was increasingly positive about social justice issues, citing widespread support for the Black Lives Matter campaign, and the footballer Marcus Rashfords action over food poverty.

Halima Begum, the director of the race equality charity Runnymede Trust, was criticised in parliament on Wednesday by the women and equalities minister, Liz Truss, after saying the government sought to divisively prioritise the white working class at the expense of ethnic minorities.

Truss called Begums comments appalling, adding that they reflected an attitude on the left of politics that says: If youre not from an oppressed group, youre not entitled to an opinion, and I think that is fundamentally wrong.

Begum told the Guardian: It is a grave concern to see charity leaders being attacked at a time when charities funding is drying up. Increasingly, the government appears to engage with independent charities in a one-way process, making clear that its their way or the highway if you dare disagree with policy.

Sue Tibballs, the chief executive of the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, said: Civil society will keep working to defend rights and build a better world out of the pandemic. Its time for politicians to work with us, even where we dont always agree, not make us fodder in phoney culture wars.

The foundation was set up in memory of the late Dame Sheila McKechnie, a legendary campaigner who ran Shelter, and subsequently Which?, where her work on food quality led to the creation of the Food Standards Agency.

The government has been approached for comment.

View original post here:
Politicians and media getting more hostile towards charities, poll finds - The Guardian