Was Enoch Powell right after all?

Question

His rivers of blood speech predicted the problems with too much immigration but he was labelled a racist.

Answer 1

He has always been right

Answer 2

He was simply being farsighted and trying to warn people before it was too late of the problems which the government of the time was creating for future generations. He was not a racist, simply a realist. His speech has been greatly distorted and misrepresented. How many people in Parliament today have the courage to speak out about what is wrong? Enoch Powell was courageous both as an officer and as a politician, which is more than can be said for his detractors.

Answer 3

Completely.

I think his speech was misunderstood. Had he been a university lecturer rather than a politician, people interpreted his speech as being racist, i.e. that we should prevent immigration because of the problems immigrants cause.

Immigration does cause problems. This is not to say that immigrants cause problems, and this is a very important distinction, rather than mere semantics. Mass immigration solved the problems of a labour shortage in the 1960s, but there was no long term policy of integration, be it social, educational etc.

Enoch Powell's speech represented a realisation that the Government's policy was a short sighted one, which needed much greater planning.

For these reasons, I would regard him not as a racist, but as a realist. He was unsupported by the Government which chose to ally itself with the newspapers, thereby avoiding criticism for an immigration ploicy which could have been written on the back of a *** packet.

Answer 4

In some ways I think he was.

When you look at 7/7/05. There sure as hell were rivers of blood there. Anyone remember the picture of the British Medical Institute with blood splattered up the wall? The pools of blood on the pavement and the bodies hanging out of the remains of the bombed out bus? That was the work of people who's parents had immigrated here.

But the I also know people who immigrated here and have lived productive and peaceful lives.

So I'm loathe to totally agree with him but when I think of 7/7 and the Kriss Donald case etc I feel he was in some ways right.

Answer 5

I knew Enoch Powell and he wasn't a racist - he only voiced his concerns about too much immigration.

His rivers of blood speech has been taken out of context, and bastardised over the years. He was warning us that allowing hundreds of thousands of immigrants into the country, without requiring them to conform to our culture, would lead to unrest.

I think that his words were prophetic.

Answer 6

Yes he was absolutely right and I am simply lost for words that people beg to differ. Just one part of his speech - 'whole areas and part of towns will be occupied by immigrants and descendants of immigrants' - practically every city in the country from Plymouth to Edinburgh and in between has whole areas and communities dominated by immigrants, people trying to recreate their homeland instead of integrating. How can anyone say that is not true? He was not a racist, he was making a very well observed prediction. Unfortunately he was right.

Answer 7

Enoch Powell's rivers of blood speech was not about too much immigration but about racism. He was so upset by the way the gutter press and racist morons interpreted his speech that he withdrew from English politics.

For as long as there are racists, we will have problems. If particular groups feel threatened, they will seek to defend themselves and rally to the cause of the racists in their own society. The BNP is the best recruiting sergeant that Al Qaeda could ever have hoped for.

Answer 8

I have thought that for along time and i am not racist, but there are far too many people now coming into our country and we are just a small island compared to a lot of others.

Answer 9

He was right, this country has sadly become a victim of ts own gain, we colonised the world, and now, since our Empire has fallen, we are now being swamped with so many immigrants that we do not even know how many we have in the country! Sooner or later, the White, English speaking Briton, will be a thing of the past.

Answer 10

The man was before his time !! I grew up in that era of Powell and Thatcher-who did a lot of damage to the popuation I grew up in. He was right in what he said but not being racist just sensible for economical forsight. Look at the problems we have now with immigration and think back to what Enoch Powell said. Its isn't racist to decline as many immigrants as we should. Its being sensible as we don't have the resources for everyone. Politicians in England are scared to speak up as they have turned political correctness and racism against us and themselves. So much for freedom of speech!

Answer 11

Yes he was very far right
That doesn't mean his facts and predictions weren't correct
Your English identity is almost eroded to nothing
You can't speak without a vocal minority of your own kind shouting you down and pointing the accusing finger. And now you have thought police throwing you in jail for speaking your mind. You are in a mess of your own making for voting in the people who let this happen to you out of political correctness
You have always had the power to pick your own leaders but you never go out and vote