Charlie Napier has a Critic piece on what is now a permanently topical issue, the predictable growth of sectarian politics in the UK. Napier identifies three possible outcomes.
- Management of sectarianism
- Failure to manage sectarianism
- The victory of one group over the others
The whole piece covers familiar ground but is well worth reading as an issue our political establishment has created and cannot manage.
The disunited kingdom
The establishment must confront the disturbing realities of sectarian politics in the UK
Slowly, and by no means surely, the British political establishment is being forced to acknowledge the divided nature of the country over which it now presides.
This process has not been without significant resistance and self-delusion. Having ignored the doubters when they embarked on a policy of mass migration during the 20th century, the ever-more frequent case studies which proved the folly of this project were, one-by-one, ignored.
The vote-rigging scandal amongst Birmingham’s Muslim community in 2004 was largely written-off as a unique case. George Galloway’s by-election victory in Bradford West, 2011, was written off as well — this time, as an isolated case of public frustration with Western foreign policy in the Middle East.
The Lutfur Rahman case in 2015 was likewise treated as an isolated incident. The fact that a local mayor was able to win elections by exploiting family networks amongst the Bangladeshi community, should have been the canary in the coal mine — but it wasn’t.
On, and on, and on — but slowly, the reality of the situation has begun to dawn on those who created it.
The establishment must confront the disturbing realities of sectarian politics in the UK
Slowly, and by no means surely, the British political establishment is being forced to acknowledge the divided nature of the country over which it now presides.
This process has not been without significant resistance and self-delusion. Having ignored the doubters when they embarked on a policy of mass migration during the 20th century, the ever-more frequent case studies which proved the folly of this project were, one-by-one, ignored.
The vote-rigging scandal amongst Birmingham’s Muslim community in 2004 was largely written-off as a unique case. George Galloway’s by-election victory in Bradford West, 2011, was written off as well — this time, as an isolated case of public frustration with Western foreign policy in the Middle East.
The Lutfur Rahman case in 2015 was likewise treated as an isolated incident. The fact that a local mayor was able to win elections by exploiting family networks amongst the Bangladeshi community, should have been the canary in the coal mine — but it wasn’t.
On, and on, and on — but slowly, the reality of the situation has begun to dawn on those who created it.
