Well it was only a matter of time before the right-wing knee-jerk (or should that be right arm elbow-jerk?) kicked in and the mainstream parties made a dash to the right over migration in light of the economic downturn. The last refuge of the scoundrel anyone?
In a Times interview on 18 October long-time Labour Party apparatchik Phil Woolas, who has recently been handed the poisoned chalice of the position of Immigration Minster, broke party ranks and called for a 70M limit on the UK population (though he appeared to back track the next day).
Despite nailing his anti-racist credentials to the mast, he claimed that dealing with immigration was his "lifelong purpose"!? “I've been brought in to be tougher and to change perceptions,” he boasted.
His argument seems to be that in times of increasing unemployement racial discrimination and right-wing aggitation increases, therefore the Labour government should pander to this by limiting immigration and ensuring employers put British people first.
He also hailed the new points based immigration policy for non-EU migration as the ideal tool for this purpose. This policy, rather than looking upon migrants as human beings, sees them as economic units to exploit. If they have the requisite skills then they can come to the UK until they are no longer wanted, then they are out on their ears.
Not satisfied with having plundered the rest of the world through the British Empire and continuing to exploit the Third World for after its demise through the offices of multinational companies, the World bank and massive debt, now we have the modern equivalent of the slave trade - the skills drain. The developing countries have for a long time supplied doctors, nurses and other skill bases that the UK have been unable to satisfy itself. Now it is just being made more explicit.
Needless to say Frank Field, the Labour Party's own Enoch Powell, welcomed the government's change of tack and even managed to out 'sound bite' the chair of Migrationwatch Andrew Green (has anyone ever heard of anyone else being a member or spokesperson for this reactionary organisation?).
Not to be outdone, the Tories made their own bid of the amoral high ground by highlighting the fact that 80 per cent of migrants to Britain since 1997 have come from outside the EU. Dominic Grieve, shadow home secretary, claimed that there had been a " failure to control economic migration from outside the EU" and of course called for a " fundamental change in approach." (See)
See also the excellent analysis of the Woolas coverage on Indymedia.
6 comments:
There is something deeply, fundamentally wrong with your brain.
Stop flagellating for one minute and actually think about what you are saying.
I cannot even begin to start to list how utterly myopic your entire mindset is. And by this I am referring to this entire half assed 'outfit'. 'no borders' is a concept I realised was ludicrously out of touch with reality before I was in my teens. Seriously, stop what you are doing and study what effect your wonderful proposal would actually have on the people and nations of the earth.
think for a minute, engage that thing inside your skull.
you make me very very sad.
We should all be issued with one and the same passport:citizens of Plant earth! Well, it may take a while, actually after the demise of America that thinks they own the planet, and bomb nations into submission, just because they do not agree with their filthy foreign policy. Which in turn makes the passports necessary, until the demise of that dirty country.
I am quite horrified about your treatment of Mr Woolas. He is a very brave man to have spoken out about immigration the way he has. His is obviously very well informed about the imminent consequences of allowing uncontrolled immigration into the UK. Unlike yourselves, who appear to be living in cloud-cuckoo-land, Mr Woolas has recognised the severe economic and social problems which are already happening as a result of continued net increases in immigrants. Unlike yourselves he is doing something constructive about it. What do you think will happen if immigration is allowed to continue at the current rate? An increase of 14 million by 2050 will make living conditions here very different from what they are today. This increase would be happening at a time when food and fuel will be increasingly difficult to get hold of as developing/producing nations keep more of it for themselves. It is estimated that we have only enough land to grow enough food for 27 million people. Currently we import enough food for the other 34 million. What will happen when that supply dries up? It would be completely irresponsible to increase our population still further in those circumstances. You have probably never know the hardships of food, fuel and water rationing. How would you feel about getting your water from a bowser at the end of your road, or queuing for hours in Tescos to pick up your weekly food ration. What would you say if you were only allowed £30 of petrol coupons a month? Well, that is what we are heading for in our chronically overpopulated world. Natural resources have limits and those limits are being reached. Global warming is a terrible side-effect of our overpopulated over-consuming lifestyles. Without overpopulation there would be no resource shortages and no global warming. Controlling immigration is not about racism or culture its about ensuring a decent life and protecting the interests of the indigenous people, in this case the British. These kind of decisions are for the British people to make, British people like Mr Woolas. If you want to learn more about immigration then check out the Optimum Population Trust: http://www.optimumpopulation.org/. If you want to learn more about the wider issues facing us in this century then check out the James Martin Institute at Oxford, or read James's excellent book 'The Meaning of the 21st Century'. We have so little time to adapt and get moving in the right direction. What your organisation is doing is so wrong. Look at the people who are driving your group. Ask yourself why they are doing it? We have no room for self interest as we enter this age of consequences.
Yours Sincerely
John Lilley
So what sort of debate is assaulting someone and running off?
1. What point or argument was put across?
2. What assumption do the general public make in future about the No Borders Group?
3. What valid argument can this outrageous display of childish stupidity generate?
Sorry, but I'm afraid that No Borders have now joined the ranks of Hoodies, and Drunken vandals in the eyes of myself and the rest of the law abiding general public.
>"We threw the pie because we didn't want to engage in debate and legitimise what he was saying."<
How stupid, arrogant and childish is that comment?
All it did was leave the floor open and unopposed.a void to be filled with the likes of BNP who probably gained quite a few votes after that stupidity.
There are no borders on Free speech, Resorting to violence merely highlights to the public; the fact that the Manchester group did not have an intelligent and Valid argument to present.
It doesn't matter who the speaker is or was, in the eyes of the public, he was humiliated Nationally, and they sympathise with him, not 'No Borders'.
It wasn't "Just a Pie" it was the end of all respectability for No Borders.
That one stupid thoughtless act has horrified and dismayed the majority of your supporters, as well as many of the people that the organization was trying to help.
The death knell has now sounded for No Borders.
Please take note that there have been No valid & intelligent responses by NB supporters, to any of the valid & intelligent posts by persons in favour of some controls.
Come on people, surely one of you has a Valid scientifically proven or supportable point to make?
Waits eagerly..................
Still waiting..............
a tumbleweed rolls gently past, driven by the desert wind........
you're fucked....
Your blog name says it all.
Clearly there is something deeply, fundamentally wrong with YOUR brain.
Stop flagellating for one minute and actually think about what YOU are saying.
You must be some form of genius to have engaged with the concept of 'no borders' before you were in your teens. I bow to your superior intellect and will completely renounce all that I have come to understand about the world over the past 50 or so years.
P.S. Sorry about your being so sad.
banking and finance....
If there were no 'nation states' there would be no need for passports.
little john & diver...
I'm touched by your concerns for Phil Woolas. That someone chose to pie him in order to help deflate his rampant ego, one that became evident ever since he was a student Labour hack as president of NUS, I find admirable. I hardly think a pie in the face is assault, especially when compared to the everyday treatment of immigration detainees at the hands of the government's hired goons from G4S and the like.
little john's Little Englander (or should that be Little Cloud-Cuckoo-Lander) stance however does deserve some comment. Clearly you think that everyone else (other than those that live in Britain) can go hang. That the British Empire plundered the world for the riches (capital) that now informs your lifestyle, that enable you access to the internet where you can pick up your ideas from optimumpopulation.org and blog away to your heart's content, clearly doesn't matter. That multinational companies like Tescos (who you mention) can continue to plunder the rest of the world for their agricultural resources off the back of crippling structural third world debt, a situation that feeds the world's 'economic migration', is obviously neither here nor there.
And when someone resorts to talking about the 'indigenous people' or population of Britain it really shows just how short sighted they are. The 'British' are a mongrel 'people' full stop.
As for diver: dear, oh dear. Your portentous little post(s) accusing the Manchester group of having no "intelligent and valid argument to present", accusing them of opening "void to be filled with the likes of BNP" and that "the death knell has now sounded for No Borders", only to follow it 5 minutes later with "that there have been No valid & intelligent responses by NB supporters, to any of the valid & intelligent posts by persons in favour of some controls" kind of says it all.
Not everyone hangs around in the blogosphere waiting for someone to recognise and acknowledge their pearls of wisdom. Some of us have rich and meaningful lives to lead trying to change fundamental aspects of a world that we disagree with.
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