An article from David Lindsay

Forty years ago, Enoch Powell delivered his Rivers of Blood speech. Powell knew and loved the Indian sub-continent, where he observed that all politics was communal. One party was Hindu, one Muslim, one Sikh, one Untouchable, and so forth. As a result – and this is the crucial point – people who lost elections or other votes did not accept the result and get on with things. They rioted, or worse. Sometimes a very great deal worse.

Powell believed that mass immigration from the former British India would import this communal style of politics, and everything that went with it. But he was wrong. Wasn’t he?

Late last month, 300 Labour members in Derby defected to the Tories on an Indian communal basis. The only surprise in any of this is that those in question would want to join the Tories. They had just welcomed a Tower Hamlets Councillor who found the local Respect operation too Trotskyist rather than, as he preferred, Islamist. And they are affiliated to the European People's Party, as is Turkey’s ruling AKP, the leaders of which are in no sense “former Islamists” and would not have been elected if they were.

Apart from that, this sort of thing is entirely predictable, and set to become increasingly common. The Tories’ vehicles toured Ealing Southall proclaiming in various South Asian languages that Muslim, Hindu and Sikh festivals were to be made public holidays by the Tories. Then that party's "Quality of Life Commission" (don't laugh, it's real) published a report advocating that "local communities" be given the power to designate three public holidays in their respective localities.

In other words, the Tories are going to go around Asian areas at the next Election making this same promise all over again, adjusted according to how Muslim, Hindu or Sikh the particular constituency, ward or addressee happens to be.

After this, what else are these unspecified "local communities" going to decide? Who are they, exactly? I think we all know that they are the great and the good of the local mosque, mandir or gurdwara. Getting to decide this, and then a whole lot more, is to be their price for getting out the vote, sometimes consisting of nothing more than reminding their mates to fill in postal ballot papers the right way on behalf of their entire households.

These situations will easily perpetuate themselves, since people will move - not just from around the country, but from around the world - to live in Cameron’s little Caliphates, Hindutvas and Khalistans.

I can only exclaim: “Enoch Powell, thou shouldst be living at this hour!”

 

David Lindsay is a visibly mixed-race English-speaking Christian and social-democrat

 

More on this topic:

Rivers of Blood and the Mentality of 68, 16 April 2008

It Is Worse than Enoch Powell Predicted, 16 April 2008