PRESS RELEASE
Former Greater London Councillor Leo McKinstry, representing the Labour Party in Islington, has reflected on British “diversity” and mass immigration. Once a believer, he now sees diversity as a tool of the politically correct to perpetuate current British multiculturalism and high immigration policies.
Canadians should take note, says Immigration Watch Canada. McKinstry compares Britain’s obsessed politically correct with 17th century British witch hunters who created a climate of hysteria and panic over supposed religious heresy. Obsessions of the Canadian politically correct with multiculturalism, diversity and mass immigration are similar to those of their British counterparts. In fact, in the absence of any rational explanation for high immigration levels, Canadian politically correct have repeatedly used “diversity” as the reason for continuing these high levels.
Any Canadian who has questioned current immigration levels or the notions of multiculturalism and diversity has had to put up with the fervour of the ideologically correct here. Observers have described it as the “Four Legs Good. Two Legs Bad.” phenomenon.
Mr. McKinstry made the following points in his essay published in The Spectator: (Canadian similarities are shown in brackets.)
(1) Britain officially takes 200,000 immigrants per year. It also takes 2.5 million African and Asian visitors and students. No one knows how many of the 2.5 million actually leave because there is no check on departures. Those who stay probably work and displace U.K.-born from jobs. (Canada’s situation is similar.)
(2) Eighty-five percent of asylum seekers stay in Britain. Most of those ordered to leave ignore the orders. (Canada’s situation is similar.)
(3) Even some MP’s from the governing Labour Party admit the current immigration system is a shambles. But Britons are told to ignore the evidence of their eyes and ears.
(4) The explosion in immigration has changed British society, especially Britain’s cities, and everyone is expected to believe this is good. (Canada’s situation is similar. Ethnic catch-up to the host population has become the goal of several ethnic groups here.)
(5) Once a participant in the prevailing diversity ideology, he saw, as a resident of Peckham (Greater London), any sense of community vanish and violent crime become rife as a result of high immigration.
(6) All political parties proclaim immigration brings a $2.5 Billion net gain to the British treasury, but this ignores the huge cost to British social infrastructure (housing, social care and education). (The situation in Canada is similar. Major studies in Canada, the U.S. and Britain have all come to the conclusion that immigration produces almost no economic benefit to the host population.)
(7) Many employers cynically welcome immigration because it drives down wages. By supporting the status quo, the Left gives tacit support to the Right. The Left also supports the stripping of trained human capital in Asia and Africa. (Canada’s situation is similar.)
(8) Diligence has been a quality of many newcomers. But, according to the Department of Work and Pensions, an astonishing 61% of Bangladeshis in Britain are either unemployed or economically inactive compared with 23% of whites. Forty-five per cent of Africans are unemployed. (Poverty and unemployment in recent immigrants to Canada is far above that of Canadian-born. Inability of the British or Canadian economies to absorb high immigration levels is a major factor in both situations.)
(9) Overall, 41 % of all ethnic minorities are without jobs.
(10) Ethnic minorities are far more likely to be welfare claimants than whites: 28% of all ethnic minority groups and 34% of Blacks receive income-related benefits vs. 18% of whites. Blacks are twice as likely as whites to be claimants of housing benefits or income support.
(11) Once known as the peaceful country where even policemen were unarmed, the U.K. has changed for the worse. The British Crime Survey says 31% of all street robberies are committed by criminals of African-Caribbean origin while 60% of all muggings in London are perpetrated by blacks. (Canada does not publish crime statistics which divide offenders by ethnic background. Consequently, Canadians do not know whether disproportionate numbers of minority group immigrants are involved in crime.)
(12) Minority groups account for 24% of the male and 31% of the female prison population despite the fact that white defendants are more likely to be found guilty in court.
(13) The ideology of diversity has triumphed over objective facts in the U.K. Righteous unreason is destroying British society. (The ideology of diversity currently enjoys a similar status in Canada.)
END OF PRESS RELEASE
Note: The full text of Mr. McKinstry’s article from The Spectator is available in libraries or in the “News Articles” section (Canadian and British articles) of the Immigration Watch Canada web site: www.ImmigrationWatchCanada.org
