In view of recent events has Enoch Powell now been completely vindicated over his "rivers of blood" speech?

Answer 1

Enoch Powell was not racist, he pointed out that by opening the borders to high immigration would in the long term cause problems especially culture clashes. Remember that he voted to abolish the death penalty, to abolish criminilisation of homosexuality and to make abortion more accessible as he felt it was a decision for the individual not the state.

The whole thrust of the speech was related to integration. Many here on Answers have pointed out that immigrants come to british and american shores and never integrate into our societies - never speak english, live within their original culture and often outright condemn the west for its liberal views - forgetting that it is these freedoms that brought them here from whereever they were being oppressed.

However, in light of the events in this decade, then I agree that he had the right ideas. We teach our children to stay away from strangers, yet our governments open our border and all these conflicting cultures pour in - did they never listen to their mothers?

Answer 2

Powell would say he has been vindicated, and many would agree. The speech was a long time ago, but the issues brought forward are, in different clothing, as relevant today as ever. Successive UK governments have largely disregarded general public opinion on Immigration over the decades to such an extent that we are now a laughing-stock elsewhere and seen as an exploitable target. The straight-on facts bear this out, as a visit to Calais will show. While no single political party is to blame, the Harold Wilson government of the seventies and the early part of the Blair "New Labour" governments are particularly culpable, and created a legacy which is now hard to overcome. A situation which, I'm sure, was clinically foreseen by those vested interests advocating minimal immigration controls in the first instance.

Answer 3

You have to remember that Enoch Powell wrote his speech about the Britain of 40 years ago so some of the things he said are not relevant, but his basic idea that uncontrolled immigration would lead to civil unrest was absolutely correct. He was a brilliant politician who was wrongly labelled a racist for having the guts to say where he thought things were going. And, of course, he was right as the riots in Oldham, Bradford etc. later proved. What worries me now is that it is the white Anglo-Saxon majority who are angry and if they are goaded into action by the BNP and its goons we could see riots on an unprecedented scale, The other problem is that all immigrants are being tarred with the same brush. I have seen a lot of questions on Yahoo stirring up feelings against Eastern Europeans who are guilty of nothing more than coming to Britain and working bloody hard. They are not part of this problem as a lot of them are students who will return to their own country at some time. Action is needed now by Blair and his pathetic bunch of cronies. We should limit immigration NOW before it is too late.

Answer 4

Enoch Powel forsaw what was going to happen to a certain extent and I also think that our immigration laws should be changed. However, these people have entered our system and are now partly governing the country and so you have sit right back and accept that the present circumstances are not going to change. You will never change the face of certain religeous fanatics, they have been with us for all time. Be it the present terrorists or past, going back to perhaps King William, depending on which side of the religeous spectrum you are viewing things from

Answer 5

...just a minute, old son - Uncle Enoch also told us the 'The black man will have the whip hand' - try telling that to the families of the dead who have met their Maker in cold jail cells of England since 1969 - and the living who are continuously being denied justice in the first years of the so-called 'clean and shiny' 21st century! Powell...odd man. In the late 40's he went over the the Windies himself to bring people from Jamaica etc over to the UK...come 1968 he became responsible for the forming of the NF. When did he change? Was it during 1958 after the riots in Notting Hill when white Brits realised not all West Indians tolerated racism and ignorance

Answer 6

No - he was referring to immigration from the Carribean.
The present problem is entirely different - it is due to the activities of the remnants of the arab mujahadeen who were trained by British, American, Pakistani and Saudi Arabian military intelligence to fight the russians in Afghanistan during the 1980s.
When they were ejected from Afghanistan after the taliban set up a new government, they dispersed to Europe and the USA but principally to the UK.
Osama bin Laden was one of these people and their policy since then has been to attack the USA and its allies to drive the infidel out of the Middle East and restore the Caliphate.

Answer 7

Enoch Powell was a great man,he was ostracized by his so called collegues for speaking his mind,it looks like he may have been right

Answer 8

As I understand the reason we take in immigrants is because there aren't enough native Britains being born to provide for all the old people we are going to have in the near future.

As Richard Pryor said 'white people ain't f**king-There will be no shortage of n****rs!'

Answer 9

I don't think he ever needed vindication, but yes his ideas have been proved right.

Answer 10

Had to look it up.

Does 'the black man have the whip hand'?

I think if anything the numbers he estimated for immigrants, a mere 3.5 million, has to be low though, doesn't it?