Tags
BBC, BNP, Christianity, Christianity and Islam, Counter-Jihad, Counterjihad, Cultural Marxism, Defend the modern world, English Defence League, Guardian, Islam, Judeo-Christian, Multiculturalism, Muslim, Nick Griffin, No to Turkey in the EU, Pamela Geller, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, Robinson, Tommy Robinson
It isn’t a crime to change your mind. A greater folly is to surround your political conviction with an invulnerable coat of armour, letting it stand unaffected by changing evidence or opposing argument.
Tommy Robinson has clearly changed his mind. He hasn’t recanted his past beliefs, but he has substantially moderated them to almost that effect. He no longer believes (so he says) in making Muslims ‘uncomfortable’, or in tarring fundamentalist believers with the same brush as ‘moderates’. Talking to the Guardian, he even went so far as to apologise to the Muslim community for any offence he has given these past few years as EDL leader.
Although this might be disappointing for some, we should try to respect it. I don’t believe, like Nick Griffin, that Robinson was ever a puppet, or that the EDL was a deliberate misdirection of patriotism, a ‘shady Zionist plot’, or a government funded psy-op. It always seemed to me a perfectly sincere enterprise with a clear manifesto and a brilliant organisational structure. It was also something which – in its heyday- did great things for our cause and our defence.
It won’t surprise you then to hear that I disagree wholly with Robinsons new outlook.
His entire conversion, for me, rests upon a flawed idea; namely, the idea that Islam can be moderated by the sentiment of nationality.
What Tommy is now asking of Muslims in effect, is that they become British first and Muslim second, or in other words, that they take the here-and-now as seriously as the hereafter.
But, as anyone who has read Qur’an knows, the Muslim faith hinges on a belief that this earthly life, with all its loyalties, bounties and appearances is merely a test and a prelude to a greater reality. The ‘Muslim’ (literally ‘one who submits’) treats this life as a preparation, a period of moral labour necessary to unlock the doors of death and dwell forever in paradise.
To be ‘British’ by contrast, is of no value whatsoever, or at least not relative to the promise of eternity.
With this in mind, the creation of a distinct ‘British Muslim’ identity seems unrealistic to me. The two loyalties would be locked in constant battle, and the fallout would be toxic.
It would be nice if Tommy’s optimism was proven correct. I’m not convinced it will be.
D, LDN.
Defend the Modern World 
I guess the main reason why Tony Robinson has made this step must have been the unbearable tension and persecution he and his family has had to endure. His life has been threatened. He has been pursued relentlessly. We, couch potatoes, have no right to judge him, even if I am not very enthusiastic about his decision.
LikeLike
That’s true, and that’s why I don’t criticize him personally. I don’t dislike Tommy. I just disagree with him. Many people are using words like ‘traitor’ and ‘betrayal’. I think that kind of thing is uncalled for.
LikeLike
There is an elephant in the room that people are not talking about here. Tommy Robinson seems to believe that if Muslims adopt the British way of life things will be fine. Many other people share his view that as long as people integrate into our society they are welcome to come.
When my Japanese friends come to London they are surprised by the number of immigrants here – they come to see Britain and the British and end up seeing a tourist museum full of every ethnicity under the sun. For them it must look like the Star Wars bar.
But they are also surprised that British people don’t seem to mind about any of this. They think that they themselves must be terribly old-fashioned and prejudiced because they wouldn’t be too keen on being invaded in such numbers.
My Japanese friends don’t see Muslims or Sikhs or Hindus or Rastafarians. They just see non-native British people. And that’s what I see, too. I am not a racist and get on well with most immigrants I meet. In many ways I prefer them to a lot of the white people round my way. Even so, just as I don’t want Tibet overrun by ethnic Chinese (even if the Chinese do wash more often), or Eskimos by westerners (even if our lifestyle is more to my taste), or Tokyo taken over by anyone, so neither do I want my own country swamped by non-natives. I don’t even want Britain’s native red squirrels to be replaced by the American grey, yet this doesn’t mean that I have anything against grey squirrels.
I am happy for some foreigners to live here but not in such numbers that they upset the dominance of the historic majority. And although immigrants’ religion, politics and culture are not matters of indifference to me (I object only mildly to Hindus and Sikhs being here), neither are they the be all and end all of the issue. Immigrants are simply a different ethnos and they could be as lovely as you like and I still wouldn’t want them moving here in such numbers that they start threatening to replace my ethnos. I love the Japanese but I don’t even want them moving to London by the hundreds of thousands. I want them to stay in Japan and just come here to learn English and for holidays. Half a dozen translators could also stay.
I feel it’s time that people were clear about this. If they don’t mind native Britons being replaced by other ethnicities, just so long as those new arrivals behave themselves, they should say so. I personally feel that race is indeed now an issue, even if it wasn’t while the numbers of immigrants were still quite low. It isn’t just a question of defending the British way of life, which is what Tommy Robinson now seems to believe. It is about defending native Britons.
LikeLike
I’m less concerned with that aspect, as I find the situation where I live (South London) is very different to the country at large. Most of Britain (I’d say maybe 90% of the landmass) has a homogenous population. The small pockets of extreme diversity (London, Birmingham, Manchester etc…) seem larger than they are because of their fame and influence. They provide a misleading sample. That said, it would horrible for Birmingham to become the model for the rest of the country, and I’d endorse a long period of zero immigration for both economic and social reasons.
LikeLike
Hmm, you’re talking to someone from Leicester so perhaps I do get a skewed idea of what Britain is like. Native Britons are now a minority in Leicester, as they are in London. Even so, I’m not convinced that being told that 90% of the landmass of Britain is homogenous when you live in one of the pockets that isn’t is at all reassuring. And you could of course extend your list to include Luton, Bradford, Blackburn and several other cities. That Shetland and Orkney are homogenous does me little good.
Of course what we are also talking about is the future. It’s no secret that the native Britons are under breeding. This is fine with me since I would like to see a UK population of about half its present size (about 30 million would suit me). But the ratio of white natives to non-white non-natives is falling and your short list of cities blessed with plenty of multiculture is going to increase over the coming years. And no one can tell me that this will change nothing. The idea that the descendants of immigrants will be interested in reading Paradise Lost and listening to Elgar and be as keen on the man calved into the chalk hills as we are is unrealistic. And teachers won’t expect them to be. Both the students and their educators will try to connect to the students’ own past, which won’t be a British one.
LikeLike
I agree with a freeze on immigration. This would allow the non-native population to tail off (second generation immigrants have smaller families, third gen even smaller).
I used to live in Warwickshire, not far from Leicester (I should have included that in the list) and found the Hindu and Sikh population pretty innocuous. I realize that this isn’t any comfort from an ethno-preservationist point of view, but I can’t see any party gaining a mandate to reverse the situation.
My comment about ‘90%’ homogeneity I believe is accurate. Multiculturalism has yet to overwhelm Cumbria, Wales, Scotland, Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Norfolk, Suffolk and other areas. Of course this may change, but only UKIP seem to be prepared to put a cork in the bottle. Would you endorse them?
LikeLike
Yes, I would certainly endorse UKIP and will do all I can to persuade others to do likewise. Nothing would please me more than some high level defections from the Conservative Party from ministers I like.
I knew you were from my neck of the woods, though Warwickshire is rather different from Leicester.
Though I am against enforced multiracialism on principal and I am even more against multiculturalism, I am also against the idea of repatriation. I certainly don’t blame any immigrants for coming to the party. I just blame the people who sent out the invitations. And after walking through Leicester city centre on any day of the week and seeing the dregs of society, mainly white and black, that have taken over there, I pass through an Asian area and walk past a smartly dressed Indian man who must be about the same age as me. We look at each other and there is some kind of recognition. I’m thinking, ‘Poor bloke, he looks such a nice and decent chap. Whatever must he think of us and this country?’ And he is probably thinking, ‘Poor bloke, whatever must he feel about what has happened to his country?’
LikeLike