Rivers of Blood speech. Was Powell actually correct?

[DrYazz]

More than 40 years on from the 'Rivers of blood' speech given by Enoch Powell in Birmingham, I have a very simple question.........


.....was his portent of doom more relevant than ever?

Or has he, or will he be proven to be inaccurate and wide off the mark?

[Parrot of Doom]

Correct in appealing to the ignorant and fearful, yes.

[DrYazz]

Parrot of Doom said:

Correct in appealing to the ignorant and fearful, yes.

Ah, but in 2010, are the ignorant and fearful numbers decreasing....or increasing?

[tank slapper]

It is interesting to note that in a poll taken the day after he gave that speech, 75% of people agreed with him. While it is easy to look back 40 years accusatively, many of those things he mentions in his speech are very similar to concerns that are still being voiced to this day - even in the run up to the recent election immigration was high on the list of issues, albeit in relation to eastern European migrants. The language may have changed, but the sentiment hasn't in a lot of cases.

I wonder how many people have actually read the full speech - it is here for those interested.

[Scraggles]

so the guy was warning about immigrants having the special right to set up conclaves and mosques like the muslims do, and that there being way too many of them, coupled with their high breeding rates, however their fondness for sex with their first cousins has the tendency to make those offspring mentally and physically disabled, so less of a risk

[Bing o]

I don't see this being a new issue, or one that will ever be resolved - it's human nature I feel.

Out here in Singapore, they just celebrated National Day when they became independent from Malaysia. Guess what one of the major topics of the Prime Minister's national address was...



Yes, immigrants taking jobs, putting additional strain on housing, transport, healthcare, changing the cultural make up of the country, and failing to integrate.

[Tsippy]

If he was talking about rivers of blood due to gang related shootings, he is not far wrong

However to be serious, it's a minority of trouble makers in all "ethnic" groups (from whites to browns to tanned) but they make the headlines because it's 'scary' to think we have hundreds of skinhead thugs / muzzie terrorists / Triad gangsters / darkie drug crime (delete as appropriate)

[Marf]

~Checks local river~

Nope, it's water.

[Tsippy]

Marf said:

~Checks local river~

Nope, it's water, shopping trollies and discarded condoms.

EFA

[Marf]

[El Guapo]

The UK is now a diverse mix of ethnicities all living together in blissful harmony.
So Powell must have been wrong.

[Marf]

[JagLover]

Some might say, that with the rise in Islamic extremism that he has been proved correct. However from perusing the speech he seems to be referring mainly to colour rather than culture and failure to integrate.

[deevlash]

Of course he was, although if you agree you must be a rascist idiot according to idiots.

[stitched]

JagLover said:

Some might say, that with the rise in Islamic extremism that he has been proved correct. However from perusing the speech he seems to be referring mainly to colour rather than culture and failure to integrate.

I thought exactly the opposite actually.
I wrote a thesis around this speech and the context.
My conclusions were that he had the courage to speak out on behalf of his constituents on a subject most would not dare touch and that he managed to do so in a surprisingly non racist fashion.
It was a shame he was so violently flamed as, right or wrong, he was a courageous and intelligent man.
And unlike so many of the current crop he had a sense of honour.

[Mr_B]

I'm not sure even he really thought there would be a scene such as this in London. Not so much a river, more of a splattering.