It is forty years since Enoch Powell addressed an audience of Tory activists in Birmingham and delivered his infamous speech on immigration. ' Like the Roman,' he said, ' I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood.' It was a phrase he originally intended to deliver in Latin, that he did not gave to history the Rivers of Blood. Even in 1968 it was inflammatory in tone and content. And regardless of ones view it was racist. Something Powell himself acknowledged when he said, quoting a constituent, that in 15 or 20 years the black man will have the whip hand over the white man; and how " I can already hear the chorus of execration." He goes on to speak of charming, wide-grinned piccaninnies. So we can have little doubt, especially in our more sensitive times, that it was a racist speech. But was he wrong when he suggested that a curb must be put on immigration? That immigration leads to ghettoisation. That alien unassimilated communities threaten the native culture. It is ironic, perhaps, that in an age when mass-migration on a global scale threatens all of prosperous western society that a speech made so long ago seems more relevant than ever. It is even being in part embraced by those same liberals who maligned it at the time. We shouldn't forget that in 1968 Powell's speech was well received by the white working class ( its target audience ) and indeed many white middle class people. His approval rating stood at over 70%, he received 43000 letters of support in the weeks immediately following his speech, there were marches and demonstrations in his favour, and he was the most popular politician in Britain for many years to come. Yet he was sacked from the Cabinet by Ted Heath and ostracised within the Tory Party. Why? Because he dared to say what a majority of people were thinking, he offended liberal sensibilities, and touched upon an issue that no Government was willing to tackle. And that's the point for no Government has been willing to tackle it ever since. For 40 years race and immigration have been subjects that can only be whispered in corridors for fear of being damned. They have dressed it up in meaningless terms to make it more acceptable and palatable not only to the white population but also to the generations of well-established descendants of immigrants. That Britain is a multi-cultural society which it most certainly isn't. It is a multi-ethnic society. But I don't know many people who have an awareness of other cultures or indeed as a result share their cultural values. But now it is a subject that is very much on the political agenda for a variety of reasons yet even so people are unwillingly to discuss with any degree of honesty for the fear of being accused racist. As I'm sure someone could accuse me of racist simply for raising the subject. In fact, I was once accused of being racist because I suggested that a policy of equal opportunities was positive discrimination by another name.
Not so long ago the Guardian Newspaper ran a series in pamphlet form of famous speeches. In a preamble to the series it had a paragraph explaining why it hadn't included the Rivers of Blood. By doing so it could not have more eloquently explained why it should have been included. It was, after all, one of the most well-received speeches in British history. They said it was negative, what they meant was it was too controversial. To print it would be seen to be endorsing it. I'm no supporter of Enoch Powell, he is very much at the opposite end of the political spectrum to me. But neither am I blind to the significance of the speech, it's impact, it's prescience, or indeed its relevance today. It's language was avowedly racist and that has done much to shroud the message. That was a mistake and it ruined Powell's political career. But then as he himself said, " Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad."