What the far-right won’t tell you (Part – III)

It is propagated by some in the UK that the immigrant population has witnessed a phenomenal surge, threatening the demographic statistics. In reality, though, at the time of the 2021/22 census, 16 per cent of people in the UK had been born abroad – a total of around 10.7 million migrants out of the total population of 66.97 million.

Despite all claims of the far right that Muslims are dominating the country, only a tiny fraction is coming from a Muslim country. For instance, according to the 2021/22 census, an estimated 32 per cent of all foreign-born residents in the UK came from five countries – India (9.0 per cent), Poland (8.0 per cent), Pakistan (6.0 per cent), Romania (5.0 per cent), and Ireland (4.0 per cent).

Proponents of ultra-nationalism create much hue and cry over the migration of Muslims to Europe. For instance, Douglas Murray claims that during the middle of the 20th century, Muslims had negligible presence in Europe but at the turn of the 21st century Western Europe alone witnessed 15-17 million migration of Muslims, one of the fastest in human history. This seems to be a disputed claim because between 1815 and 1915, some 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States alone and in 1960 Europeans constituted 75 per cent of all US immigrants though this number drastically dwindled over the past decades.

In addition to that, millions of Europeans also migrated to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand besides settling in South and Central Americas. Given the fact that Brazil speaks Portuguese and the entire Latin America has adopted the Spanish language, this migration may have been the fastest in the world with great demographic impacts.

Numerically, Muslims are not in a position to change or transform European culture in any way. They are not financially very strong nor have they excelled in education. As of mid-2016, the estimated Muslim population in Europe was 25.8 million (4.9 per cent of the overall population) – up from 19.5 million (3.8 per cent) in 2010. Europe’s current population is 745,003,089, including Russia, England and other non-EU countries. It is difficult to digest the claim that a population of 4.0 to 6.0 per cent can overwhelm a population of over 700 million which is overwhelmingly Christian.

The far right also tries to create an impression that all crimes or at least most of the crimes are committed by immigrants, especially Muslims. Criminals must be considered criminals without regard to their colour and race but factually, many murderers in the UK were not from immigrant backgrounds. Look at the list of serial killers and you will find that these claims fly in the face of reality.

Dr Harold Shipman, who was jailed for life in January 2000 for murdering 15 patients while working in Hyde, Greater Manchester, is believed to have killed at least 250 people over 23 years in Hyde and Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Beverley Allitt was convicted of murdering three babies and one 11-year-old, attempting to murder three other children, and causing grievous bodily harm to a further six at Grantham and Kesteven Hospital in Lincolnshire between February and April of 1991.

Notorious serial killers Fred and Rose West tortured, raped and murdered an unknown number of women between 1967 and 1987, most at their home in Cromwell Street, Gloucester, which became known as the “house of horrors. Rose, a mother of eight children, was convicted in 1995 of murdering 10 young girls and women, including her eldest daughter, Heather, 16, and her stepdaughter Charmaine, eight. Her husband, a builder, killed himself in prison while awaiting trial on 12 murder charges. Peter Sutcliffe, another serial killer, murdered 13 women across Yorkshire and north-west England between 1975 and 1980. He brutally attacked at least seven more who survived.

Ian Brady and his partner Myra Hindley lured children and teenagers to their deaths, torturing and sexually assaulting them before burying their bodies on Saddleworth Moor, in South Pennines, in the 1960s. Mary Ann Cotton, frequently called Britain’s first serial killer, was found guilty in the late 19th century of the murder of her stepson, Charles, and responsible for the deaths by poisoning of 11 of her children, three husbands, one lover and her mother.

None of these killers who committed appalling crimes came from an immigrant background. They committed heinous crimes and society declared them nothing but criminals handing down exemplary punishments to them. In the same way, criminals – whether they are Muslim, black, white or of any racial orientation – must be brought to justice. If a criminal kills a child or rapes women or tortures his or her victim, the entire community cannot be held responsible for his or her crimes.

One might argue that this is the story of the past and every second day far-right activists upload photos of Muslims, Asians and immigrants claiming they have killed some woman or sexually assaulted some vulnerable white girl; this is done without substantiating their claims with concrete evidence. But this year, 50 women have been killed so far and over 40 killers don’t seem to have an immigrant background. Most of the victims were killed by their partners or someone close to them.

Immigrants are legally in a vulnerable situation. They know very well that any violation of law would land them in great trouble jeopardizing their chances of settling there. They come to this country after burning all boats so why would they risk their future by committing heinous crimes? This is not to suggest that they are not committing crimes at all but to stress that crime should be treated as crime without raising questions about race, colour and religion.

Many on the left in the UK believe that the far right represents the elite class of British society that wants to drive a wedge between working classes of various racial and religious backgrounds. For instance, they claim millions of working-class people worked for 12 or 14 hours including young children and pregnant women during the industrial revolution and afterwards. Tens of thousands would have died while working in mines and industries.

Toiling white men, women and children would be ruthlessly exploited during the Industrial Revolution and several decades afterwards and those who were squeezing life out of their bodies by making them work like machines were no strangers to them. They were not from any different continent or land but the people of their own race and colour.

Left-wing activists believe that it is basically class that is the main issue and the policy of the ruling elite that dominates the state. They assert that these far-right activists never demand that elitist schools be made accessible to poor white working-class kids or prestigious universities for low-income families’ sons and daughters.

Ultra-nationalists are also reminded that they ignore the fact that from a brown Rishi Sunak to a white David Cameroon and Muslim Sir Anwar Pervez to a Jewish Len Blavatnik – all members of the elite can send their kids to prestigious schools and universities while the kids of brown, black and white working classes are bound to be admitted in government schools that lack staff, funding and adequate facilities. While the elite pay hefty fees for their kids to be educated at top universities, poor white young people struggle to repay student loans and meet other educational expenses.

To be continued

The writer is a freelance

journalist who can be reached at:

egalitarianism444@gmail.com