Rise of the right & racism

[NewLeft]

I think that an important contributor to the right wing shift in politics (besides crisis) is racism.. Why is it that in Canada, the rise of the right correlates with periods of higher immigration of coloured people? Every period of hard right governance results in more racialized poverty and lower wages for coloured people (and of course the working class in general, but racialized people are hit harder..).

I did find the book "Welfare racism" which deals with the welfare issue, but I am looking for other books that look into this more broadly and not just the welfare aspect.. Anyone have suggestions?

[CAleftist]

Racism comes from a heavily hierarchical set of social relations, and those social relations come from, likewise, a heavily hierarchical set of economic relations. Those whose class interest is in preserving the economic and social hierarchy (the ruling class) always do whatever they can to further the hierarchy, which includes promoting ideas like racism, sexism, nationalism, etc. and dividing the working class through practices like lower wages for certain ethnicities, lower wages for women, etc.

I don't know the specifics of Canada, but in America, the story is similar as to how you described it in the OP. Just remember, that the ruling class assumes that "people like them"-and in America, they are mostly white straight males-are superior because of their material advantages over other people, and so they structure society according to that idea (but that idea, it is crucial to note, is a result of heir economic status).
The ruling ideas of any society, as Marx said, are the ideas of its ruling class.