The soul of Britain is at stake

Is Britain imploding? That’s what it looks like watching the news with its violent images of protesters smashing and looting shops; people being assaulted; cars and buildings in flames, and police officers on the front line being seriously injured. The barbaric murder of three girls, barely school age enjoying a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last July 29, in Southport, by a teenager whose parents emigrated from Rwanda - the immediate cause of the racial riots - has already left 25 cities smouldering with countless more expected to participate by the day.

The UK is facing the worst disorder it has seen for more than a decade. And understandably, the government’s immediate concern and task is to restore law and order. But, the widespread perception is that the country is crumbling and falling apart at the seams and things are going to get worse. Everyone knows the coals of dissatisfaction have been smouldering for a long time and were well before this summer of discontent. The problem is successive governments have failed to admit it. The tragic episode in Southport simply acted as a detonator, and it is no coincidence that much of the violence was directed against the Muslim community, although the perpetrator in Southport does not appear to have any connection to Islam.

If those deep rooted resentments are not addressed with an appropriate political agenda, which unfortunately seems most unlikely, it’s a toss up according to pundits whether Britain totters over the brink into anarchy or Britain is too late to stop itself becoming a Muslim state. Essentially, there might not “always be an England”.

The riots are the first crisis for Keir Starmer, who became Britain’s leader a month ago after his Labour Party defeated the Conservatives in a general election. He is keen to prove himself and demonstrate he can steer Britain through the present storm drawing on his past experience: in 2011, violent protests hit England following the killing of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old mixed-race British man, by police, Starmer was director of public prosecutions. He was involved in quelling the protests. He kept the courts open for 24 hours a day to process offenders and allowed magistrates to pass longer and tougher sentences. He frequently refers back to that period in press conferences announcing that a good taste of the same medicine will resolve Britain’s present problem.

Instead, Starmer must be the only person in the UK to think nothing has changed since 2011 or that the very fabric of British society has remained unvaried. In fact, the solution he proposes - an increase in police powers and numbers, the introduction of new crimes, longer prison sentences after fast-track trials facilitated by 24-hour-courts will only frustrate the existing anger and resentment.

What is not clear to Starmer is that, as with all uprisings, the vast majority of the violence that is generated has little or nothing to do with the incident that triggered them. In fact, Keith Starmer is seriously underestimating the current malaise.

Rioters are not targeting Muslims because they need an enemy to vent their frustrations. Instead, they have had enough of government policies privileging minority groups in every sector of public life and the police force pussyfooting around Muslim criminals for fear of appearing racist while accusing and punishing white natives of racism with harsh sentences. The so-called “two-tier policing” is a daily reality they cannot stomach anymore and taking to the streets is their way of getting the message across. Evidently, Starmer like past governments, doesn’t want to tackle the disease but focuses on a few symptoms and therefore cancels any opposition by silencing its voice and denying fundamental freedoms of movement with actions typical of communist regimes. From this point of view, the violent reactions - certainly condemnable - play into the establishment’s hands.

“But the public will not be easily silenced this time. The barbarism in Southport has touched upon something very deep”, wrote Tom Slater in an article for Spiked. “Not just in Merseyside – where residents heckled Keir Starmer on Tuesday, as he showed up for his obligatory, sad-faced photo-op – but also across the country, working-class people can see society unravelling while politicians just mouth platitudes”, he continues.

A British civil servant who asked to remain anonymous due to their involvement in legal proceedings told the Daily Compass, “illegal and legal immigration has profoundly changed Britain. Extreme Muslims are allowed to get away with serious crimes in the UK. There was no massive crack down or rapid trials when they groomed and raped 1,400 of girls in Rotherham, (a sensational case that came to light in 2014 involving the Pakistani community, ed.) In some cases it took many years to bring these criminals to justice. Extreme Muslims participated in pro-Palestinian protests shouting and holding placards demanding ‘kill all Jews’ but they don’t get arrested for hate crimes. Social services, the police, local services and the government close ranks and don’t act because they are afraid of being considered racist. Minority groups like Muslims, homosexuals, transgenders or blacks have a head start on white natives for jobs, housing, grants, education. White native Christians are actively discriminated against. People expressed their discontent in the last elections. This is the reason millions voted for Nigel Farage’s party, Reform ”.

But, Starmer reduces everything to an issue of the 'far right' fomenting riots, and he is gravely mistaken. Assuming that there are extreme right-wing elements among the rioters, the present issue goes far beyond the opposition between political camps and even beyond racial disputes. At stake is the soul of Britain, which began to lose itself as early as the 1960s with the start of an incessant process of secularisation. In theory Britain is still a Christian nation - the Church of England is a state church, there are bishops in Parliament, a Christian constitution, a Christian king crowned in a Christian ceremony - but these structures no longer correspond to a nation that has lost its Christian identity.

A new phony, secularist, atheistic morality has replaced the natural, God-given morality. But it cannot last, and the current revolts are part of a conflict that will eventually see a new identity emerge. If Britain does not recover its Christian identity, Islam is ready to replace it. Recent elections demonstrated this: Muslims want to dominate, they are boosting their numbers through birth rates and immigration. It is only a matter of time before they have the political prowess to take over, also thanks to the shortsightedness of politicians who favour this process. 

Time is running out. The government must urgently change its policies before it is too late.