The Patriot Post® · Douglas Murray: Speaking Truth to Power

British political commentator and writer Douglas Murray is facing an onslaught of attacks by the Left. You might wonder what a gay atheist could possibly be getting canceled for. But he has broken one of society’s most sacred taboos: discussing the implications mass migration has for the continued existence of Britain as a British nation.

Some are now demanding that Murray be removed from polite society for having placed the blame of the recent riots in Britain on the shoulders of politicians who have been twiddling their thumbs while their nation is transformed.

At the outset, I should make myself clear that political violence is always wrong. A defining feature of the Left is its revolutionary desire to take to the streets and violently publicize grievances over a specific political issue. Until January 6, 2021, violent protests had been strictly a left-wing activity, and an unfortunate consequence of the recent anti-immigration riots in Britain is that the restrictionist cause will be broadly categorized as one that precipitates social unrest and violence.

But while the political violence that has consumed Britain should not be condoned, its origins should be understood. Left-wing pundits will say that these protests originated through latent racism that spilled over violently into the public square. This analysis is far from complete, and the dismissal of these riots as racism will only fuel the fire of discontent that led to them in the first place. The real driving force behind these riots is the helplessness many Brits feel about charting the destiny of their nation. The citizens of Britain have the right to determine the future of Britain and who lives in it. But for years, Britain’s leaders have ignored the inundation of British cities by migrants.

To fully illustrate the magnitude of change Britain is experiencing, let’s compare migration in Britain today to that of the 1990s. Throughout the entire 1990s, net migration to Britain rarely, if ever, exceeded 100,000 per year. But in 2023, net migration exceeded 700,000, with only 30,000 people coming illegally and the rest coming through legal channels. This dramatic escalation unfolds when opinion polls have not shown any desire of the British people to increase migration.

Given this profound disconnect between Britain’s ruling class and its people, is Douglas Murray really wrong to argue that the negligence of Britain’s politicians may be the driving force of the recent political violence? I submit that he is not, and that the unraveling of the social order in Britain could soon come across the Atlantic to the United States. Since the 1990s, more Americans have wanted immigration levels decreased than increased, and yet, naturalization rates have increased almost fivefold since 1990. Furthermore, the American people voted to largely halt immigration, both legal and illegal, in 2016, but unfortunately, the Trump administration only made marginal improvements on the latter and none on the former.

Thankfully, in the United States, you are at least still allowed to speak out against mass migration. In Britain, the prime minister has chosen the route of authoritarianism. Rather than listen to the concerns of the electorate, he is seeking to imprison dissidents who speak out against the government’s lax border policy. While the riots in Britain may spill over to the U.S., let’s pray that this violation of our right to free speech never gets close to our shores.