SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - The future of europe?/Islam threads (Merged)

The Avon Lady · 06-16-06, 05:36 AM

Skybird, someone wrote a letter to Melanie Phillips, which I think you'll appreciate. Maybe others will, too.

Quote:

June 11, 2006
The voice of beleaguered British sanity

I have been immensely touched and heartened by the steady stream of support and encouragement I have been receiving in response to my book Londonistan and my various articles and broadcasting appearances related to its publication. I am extremely grateful to everyone who has written. What is notable is that so many feel they are alone in thinking the way they do; but what is clear from such a reaction is that, on the contrary, there are many, many people who retain a strong sense of decency, conscience, and the ability to think straight, and who see very clearly what is going on and how it threatens our national survival. At a time when such people have effectively been politically disenfranchised, it is particularly important that they know they are not alone. In that spirit, I reproduce here a message I received today.

Quote:

I just want you to know that its so incredibly refreshing to know that there is someone in public arena to speak for those of us, who are increasingly fearful of the cultural and moral erosion we see in this country, as a result of a 'multi-cultural' society. I have never felt so compelled to write or contact someone as yourself, ever, ever before, until today, because I have simply had enough.
It amazes me greatly that people who are meant to be seen as rational, intelligent and highly educated cannot (or perhaps are too fearful) see that there is a great difference between being a racist who still lives in the dark ages and wishes for Britain to remain a white Anglo-Saxon society and those who are advocates of a British cultural and national identity.

My parents were among the many Nigerians who were sent to Britain by their parents in the 1960s to gain an education. My father qualified as a pharmacist from Cardiff University and my mother studied sociology and social policy at Birmingham. They had my brother and sister here, before returning to Nigeria in 1976, where my younger brother and I were born. They stayed in Nigeria from 1976 to 1985, where both my parents were finding it increasing difficult to live and survive in a country where corruption was necessary to maintain a particular lifestyle.

I clearly remember when my parents told my siblings and I that we were coming back to Britain, as my father's old employer had given him a job in Luton to manage one of his chemist shops - I was so excited. I was finally coming to this great country that I had heard so much about.

Britain, the country where there was always a right and proper way of doing things, a democratic country that allowed for freedom of speech and expression but was still relatively grounded in its beliefs. A Christian country that allowed for the practice of other faiths. One in which where there were opportunities for all who sought it and were prepared to work for it, almost regardless of race and colour.

I went to a local state school, where we had assembly and sang hymns and the headmistress gave a closing prayer. Hymns and closing prayer?? That’s almost unheard of in many state schools now - and why? Multiculturalism and the completely misguided belief that it would cause offence to non-Christians.

I completely agree with you that the goverment, the establishment, even the Royal Family (Prince Charles, defender of all faiths) have been completely sucked into a situation where in the country trying to be all things to all men has given up it beliefs, its fabric, its everything and is bereft of anything. My children are certainly not being taught what it means to be British – gosh, it’s almost embarrassing to say 'I am British'. Teaching all children from an early age to be able to sing the national anthe, would probably provoke a national debate about why we should have an anthem that mentions 'O Lord our God', as it might offend our non-Christian bothers and sisters. The true goal would be completely pushed aside.

I am worried that my children are growing up in a society where there is no national identity and celebration of the British culture. I can definitely attest to the fact that this lack of identity is causing children of second, third etc generation of immigrants to be brought up with the beliefs and national identity of the country their parents or grandparents have come from. They view and will view themselves to be British only as far as their passport is concerned, but a Nigerian, a Ghanaian, a Pakistani or an Indian first and foremost. I am not saying that it is this lack of identity that is solely responsible for young British Muslims wanting to blow themselves and others up, but it certainly plays a large part. They see themselves as Muslim and Pakistani / Bangladeshi / Jamaican first. For some, ‘British’ does not even feature in their identity — hence why they are so able to do what they do and believe what they believe.

Look at America, a country many times larger than ours with people from every corner of the earth, yet they still manage to retain a sense of what it means to be an American, because they make no apology for trying to instil this identity from when one has to pass the citizenship test, to the ceremony and pledge of allegiance.

It amazed me greatly after the July bombing that the majority of the media and British, white public were so shocked that 'our' own people could do this. I certainly was not shocked. What this part of the country needs to realise is because of the promotion of multiculturalism, THERE IS NO LONGER AN 'US'. There now exist separate identities living under the umbrella of Britain/United Kingdom, but who certainly do not view themselves as British.

After the recent raid in East London and the growing likelihood that the police might not find anything, I felt a sense of dread that the 'undercover' extremist groups and Muslim groups who in public like to pretend that there isn't an issue to be worried about (of which there are many) would now be able to use this as a weapon to be fashioned against the police and government, in order to ensure that their activities continue to go undetected and to protect 'their own'. These groups and their leaders who appear in the media, are aware that there is a problem within their communities but as a result of lack of identity or togetherness to the country they live in, they believe that their loyalty belongs first and foremost to their own, rather than to this country.

They might not necessarily agree with those who commit these atrocities, but are more likely to pretend to the outside world that all is well within and try and resolve the issues themselves that report a brother or sister who they know is planning to commit a terrorist crime, because their loyalty belongs to them first and not to the Crown.

There are many second generation immigrants, who although born and bred in this country are feeling a sense of alienation from the country they chose to come and live in and were prepared to imbibe its culture as well as keeping the culture of their parents, because the country, in trying to be all things to all men, has lost its identity and all are left with a lack of belonging.

My parents and I and many black and ethnic groups have always voted for Labour out of a sense of history, but I can certainly tell you that this group are more and more feeling disenchanted with the government as it is they who have slowly helped to ensure the erosion of a national identity out of a sense of political correctness, which they looked to and wanted their children to imbibe.

The Conservatives are certainly missing a trick here - the country wants direction and a national identity to be proud of and not ashamed of; someone who won’t apologise for insisting that those wanting to become citizens must learn to speak English and to pledge allegiance to the Crown, must learn the history of the country and must be able to sing the national anthem. That Christianity is the national faith, for which we make no apology for, that children must and should sing hymns in schools and have prayers.

We should stop being scared and embarrassed for wanting to be proud to be British. If the white, indigenous people are embarrassed about their identity, what hope is there for the rest of us.

You speak for a larger group of people than you probably know.