Just had a small insight into the paranoia behind some of the right-wing activists protesting against the Channel migrants. I’d had suspicions about this for sometime, as one of their arguments for looking critically on them was that most were military age men. That’s probably correct, though not necessarily sinister. A few months ago the right-wing channels and media were publicising a statement from one migrant, who said that he and many of his fellows were coming to Britain to avoid doing their national service in their countries of origin, and hoped to bring their families over later. I also suspect that many migrants are coming to Europe for economic reasons, because it is impossible to get a proper job or obtain the social or professional opportunities they desire in their home countries. A woman, who was one of the many immigrants who turned up on Europe’s border after being invited in by Belarus’ Lukashenko, was reported as saying that she was desperate to come to Europe as she hadn’t been paid in three months and could no longer feed her family. I’ve also seen respectable reports that the lower, mostly Sunni Muslim, orders in Syria are locked in poverty through the domination of the Alawi sect, and were unable to obtain many staple foodstuffs. And one anthropological study of a Moroccan immigrant to Germany in the 90s reported that he came here because there was no work for him in Morocco, and the landowners, who owned the fig or olive groves, rigorously excluded outsiders. There was excitement a while ago, when some of the Channel migrants were reported as turning up with guns, but I think they handed them over to cops soon after.
The right-wing YouTuber Clownworld YT put up a piece on his blog this morning stating that he had made a Freedom of Information request about the migrants, inquiring how many of them had military training. This goes beyond the ordinary concerns that Britain and its local authorities are unable to cope with such an influx due to its sheer number, or that this is leading to huge demographic changes that will eventually see White Brits as a minority in their own country. This shows that the far right really do see them as an invading army.
I see no evidence for this. Instead I think the reasons behind the mass migration is war, oppression and political instability in too many countries in Africa and the Middle East, coupled with stagnating economic conditions denying people job opportunities and decent living and working conditions. But the far-right’s own prejudices and paranoia make them view the immigrants as a hostile, military threat, a genuine invasion. It’s a dangerous attitude, that could easily end in violence.
Tags: Alawis, Channel Migrants, Immigration, Invasion, Jobs, Landowners, Lukashenko, Middle East, National Service, Starvation, Starvationm, Sunnis
Beastrabban\'s Weblog 
January 15, 2023 at 11:30 am |
Some v nasty Eastern European crims seem to get in legally and later feature in crimewatch-style and true crime programmes!
January 15, 2023 at 1:59 pm |
SW certainly seems to think we should be emulating Lithuania, Poland and Hungary’s responses to the migrant crisis. Except Britain is limited w/ what we can actually do- we haven’t many offshore islands large enough, building a wall would imperil ordinary shipping as well. He is right to criticise the Rwanda plan, as it is entirely an insincere deflection to make the Tories look “tough” on immigration. The right-wing paranoia does seem to be b/c they think it will lead to ethnic British being a minority in their own land by 2060.
January 15, 2023 at 4:11 pm |
I think part of the problems with dealing with the migrant crisis, apart from simple humanitarian concerns, is that we have international ties and obligations that the Baltic States and Hungary don’t. I’m thinking particularly of the Commonwealth countries, and I think these links also determine some of the other related issues, such as the treatment of historical slavery, imperialism and so on.
January 15, 2023 at 6:03 pm
One of the problems with them calling it an “invasion” is that the people who are using that term are very often hypocrites. IE they are the ones *invading* hotels on the 5% chance any have Syrian refugees inside. That aside, there *is* a problem in that most of the refugees are from countries with vastly different cultural views than liberal Britain and Europe. Esp. on women’s and LGBT issues.
January 15, 2023 at 9:42 pm
Yes, and after the 200 odd rapes by Middle Eastern and North African refugees in Germany, people are worried about women and children. There have been a couple of videos put up by right-wingers about citizens patrols in areas with refugees to guard against sexual predators.
January 15, 2023 at 10:14 pm
The paranoia about Blacks outnumbering Whites which Mark mentions featured in Enoch’s Rivers Of Blood rant back in 1968. I forget when he said it wd happen, but it was much sooner than 2060.
January 16, 2023 at 8:57 am
I can see the point about reducing net migration to <50k-a-year (that would definitely help those of my own generation get on the housing ladder) and prioritising immigrants from culturally-compatible countries, especially since the Leicester riots, but it's largely hypocritical for Ukip et al given they had the full advantage of free movement when they sent MEP's to the same institution they hated. Plus the British "ghettoes" throughout the Costas of Spain. As for the "white British being a minority by 2060" shtick, I really cannot see the % ever getting lower than 40% in England (by 2100)- and it would still be +75% in Scotland, Wales and NI!