NOT THE PROMISED LAND

Would you like someone to come into your house and rearrange the furniture? What would you do if someone demands that certain types of food should not be cooked for as long as they are staying with you? What if they demand that you get rid of your beloved dogs because the creatures are not compatible with their religious sensitivities? What would your answer be if a guest demands that your wife and daughters should change their usual attire so as not to cause offence to them? Would you be able to come to an understanding with someone who discriminates against your son because he is gay, or would you have the courage to ask him/her to “F*** off”?

Such is the dilemma faced by those who are trying to balance the demands of a variety of guests with unusual requests. Constant and conflicting demands made by those whom shelter has been offered to, tends to add strain to any form of generosity, making it feel rather like walking on eggshells! Appeasing the unyielding yet entitled masses has led to an uneasy sense of tolerance which will soon start fracking society from within. We live in a world that tolerates and not in one that accepts. And who can you blame for this?

The first response to many similar questions is to blame it on the former colonisers and those in the west because of invasions that took place in the past. The blame game is like an exhausting game of tennis. Pretentious and politically correct posts on social media in which a Native Indian is asking Donald Trump to “go back home” gets a million ‘likes’ but it hardly addresses the issue of uncontrolled immigration. A post that suggests that Steve Jobs “was the son of a Syrian immigrant” tends to ignore the darker side of the story by highlighting the success of one unique individual. It just distracts from those who are a drain on the society they depend on. 

My take on immigration is a ‘lived’ one. I am commenting on a situation that can only be described as “biting the hand that feeds you” and I am expressing the side of the story that very few dare to write about and simply ignore. This is mostly encouraged by woke political thought which is gradually corroding the world we live in. We are no longer able to call a spade a spade due to the power of the underdog. When it comes to commenting on immigration the British media do their best to segue around the ever-increasing problems and continuously blame those in authority!

Here is a brief explanation of my views and experiences which, grudging as it may sound, is the unavoidable truth. My truth. 

All through my teens I longed to leave Sri Lanka and make a life for myself somewhere else. This was partly influenced by a confused gender-based bias which promoted a discriminatory trend of thought that “men don’t dance” and dancing was all I wanted to do. I also wanted to be in a country where my sexuality was at ease. (Please note that I have not used the word ‘celebrated’). I also wanted to be somewhere where I could converse and be understood easily which narrowed the choices to the main countries that most migrants want to finally get to – UK, USA, Australia, and Canada. As my schooling had given me a thorough English education the obvious choice was to hook my aspiration to Britain.

Thirty-five years after arriving here, my growing doubts that I have not reached the promised land have been confirmed. The country that I longed to be in has changed into babel. The last glimmer of hope that I had of a state of utopia started fading faster than ever after the events of 25 May 2020. The plethora of ‘Rights’ came into force overnight. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion became essential requirement that were enforced into the Britain’s workplace by law. All this was fast tracked because a racist ‘white’ policeman killed a well-known ‘black’ drug dealer, and the rest, as we know it, has contributed to our increasingly uncomfortable future. The world has gone berserk with political correctness. It’s not about equality anymore, it’s all about proving how everything about the ‘west’ and the ‘white’ person is wrong. Even with that thought in mind, migration to countries that are predominantly ‘white’ is unstoppable. 

Aggression by the entitled minorities arriving in the UK has reached a level that is so unbearable that supremacist movements are gathering force. The Guardian is wallowing in a tidal wave of wokeness that gives credence to the beliefs of the far right! The BBC with its selective broadcasting has become so panderingly pathetic that every British person I know feel that they have become the migrants. After never having forced my cultural idiosyncrasies on to those that accepted me as one of their own, the incidents mentioned below are reasons that most people who look like me are deemed suspect by association. The shame of it is unbearable.

For several years, 1400 teenage girls were subject to continuous sexual abuse by gangs of Asian men (mostly of Pakistani origin) in Rotherham. The press could not mention the nationality of these men in any statement they made “because it will reflect badly on the community they came from.” The Pakistani Judge and Queen’s Counsel who convicted them has faced death threats ever since. Lutfur Rahman won the election to be the Mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2022 after getting unceremoniously kicked out of this same position for electoral fraud and embezzlement four years ago. This is because he convinced the Bangladeshi population of the area that they should only vote for one of their own which he is. The members of the Labour and Conservative parties s**t themselves in fear of being labelled racists if they so much as make a comment. Under his watch several council house owners who have pet dogs are being threatened with eviction because dogs are considered unclean according to their religion! Britain watches on with its hands tied!

I know of a young Turkish man who makes his income by selling drugs. About eight council flats in the area that he lives in are occupied by his relatives all of whom are living comfortable lives back in Turkey while collecting rents from the flats that have been given to them by the council. Isn’t it a wonder there is an acute housing shortage in the UK? A Nigerian working in the civil service, fraudulently gave twenty-six council houses to his extended family and has since moved back to his homeland where he lives the life of Riley! The doctored documentation (passports/disabilities/entitlements for welfare, etc) which were provided as evidence for each tenancy application were considered null and void by the courts because the tenants had been in residence for over a year when the scandal was exposed. Female Genital Mutilation is rife in South London as is the practice of throwing acid on young women who have refused advances by members of their own kind. Honour killings happen frequently and arranged marriages (a form of racism, which seems to state that other communities are beneath) are still the norm among South Asian communities. After the headless torsos of many young boys were found floating on the Thames the police admitted that these were the results of ritual killings usually practiced in Africa.
Just a few weeks ago, a group of young Afghan girls (refugees who were brought to the UK in 2021) brought a case against the UK Government saying their education was hampered after coming over. Perhaps the education they were receiving under the Taliban (bombs, power-cuts, curfews, suicide bombers notwithstanding) was better? You tell me? Much as the media tries to say that we are a multicultural society, the hatreds that leer under the surface tend to rise when stories such as this are made know, hence the suppression of such stories in the media are a common practice. 

The BLM movement added many more layers of complexity to the difficult issues of immigration. This has strengthened the hand of refugees who brandish their cultural identity and practices in the face of authority like the shield of Achilles. It is evident that they have more rights that those who have been living in this country for several years. “Celebrating diversity” they call it whilst nailing down their own coffin! Most migrants move to and reside in a particular country because they find a sense of peace and belonging with the community that has welcomed them. They contribute to the society that they live with and adapt to the traditions and mannerisms of that nation. It is when some don’t adapt, don’t learn the required language, live in communes of their own. converse rudely in their own lingo and behave as if only they matter while milking the welfare state for every benefit that they can rake in, that the cracks begin to form. Commenting on the difficult issue of multiculturalism Jonathan Sacks once said that some migrants treat the UK “more like a hotel than a home” and I feel that this has become the norm.

The good that is done by migrants that adapt and contribute often gets washed away by those who come over just to exploit. When each set of incoming migrants refuse to leave their cultural baggage behind and do their utmost to impose their singular values into a plural world, the rights of many other communities are gradually violated. Too many ‘rights’ are making everyone feel as if they are in the wrong. We have now reached a point where we are unable to simply ask someone, “where are you from?” Apparently, its offensive! If someone asks me “where are you from?” isn’t it obvious that they are making a query about my ethnicity. If I reply by saying, “I’m British” (which is officially the truth), am I answering the question or am I simply being facetious? I have been mistaken for being Indian, Pakistani, Jamaican, Arab, Moroccan, Turkish, etc, therefore would it be a crime to ask me for more details? 

Freedom of speech, choice and opinion are being stifled to an extent that the Britain I came to is disappearing before my eyes. The lack of unity and a singular focus as inhabitants of one nation which most of us consider to be our home, is leading this country to meet that same fate as that of the Tower of Babel. On second thoughts I may just crawl back into the frying pan!