Issue 57, June 2009

Nation Revisited

An occasional e-mail to friends. # 57, June 2009

Living in the future

Thanks to those who pointed out that some copies of the last issue of this newsletter were incorrectly dated June instead of May. This one is for June and the next will be after my holidays, probably in September.

The environmental problems flagged up by the Green Party are important even if some of their campaigners are a bit over the top. We are polluting the air and the oceans. We are running out of oil and other vital resources and the world population is still increasing despite drastic measures taken by the Chinese and the natural controls of famine and starvation.

The original nuclear nations, America, Britain, Russia and France tried to stop other countries from developing atomic weapons. But China, Israel, South Africa, India and Pakistan soon joined the club and now North Korea has tested an atomic bomb and a missile delivery system that could threaten her neighbours.

Apart from most of the European countries and Japan experts think that Iran, Syria, Egypt, Brazil, Argentina and Indonesia are all capable of going nuclear. This will be a completely different situation to the Cold War. In those days America, Britain and France were on one side and Russia on the other. In the future we will not know where the missiles are coming from.

After the defeat of Napoleon in the 19^th century Britain ruled the waves and the world was divided into spheres of influence. The system broke down regularly and resulted in small-scale conflicts like the Crimean War and a rash of colonial wars in Africa and Asia. But soon into the 20th century an assassin’s gunshot in Sarajevo started the apocalypse of WW1. Europe was devastated by a war that paused to allow the belligerents to rearm from 1918 until 1939 and then resumed with even more deadly weapons. By 1945 the old order was finished; the European empires were earmarked for extinction and Russia and America emerged as the new world powers.

Somehow we survived all of this and entered the 21st century with an economic boom. But now the world seems to be returning to chaos. The boom has turned to bust, we are running out of natural resources and the teeming millions of the Third World are desperate to get into Europe and North America. Terrorist movements abound, volatile nations are armed with nuclear weapons and the European and European-descended nations are stupefied with liberalism and self-denial. It’s a miracle that we survived the 20^th century; we can only hope that our luck holds out.

Making Our Voices Heard                                                                

After twelve years of Labour misrule Britain is deeply in debt. But instead of saying sorry for wrecking the country Gordon Brown blames it all on the global recession. He conveniently forgets that he championed the free for all that caused the recession. The bumper tax receipts of the boom years should have been invested in the national infrastructure but instead he wasted our money fighting unnecessary wars, subsidizing immigration, bailing out failed banks and spying on us with CCTV cameras.

The police have been given unprecedented powers to detain people without charge. Their well-reported arrests generate hysteria but seldom result in successful prosecutions. And we are subjected to constant propaganda campaigns to raise public awareness. If it’s not terrorists with “dirty bombs’ its swine flu form Mexico causing panic and justifying government intervention.

An army of spin-doctors choreographs every move made by Labour politicians. At the height of Gordon Brown’s parliamentary discomfort he suddenly made an emotional trip to Poland to visit a wartime concentration camp. “Look,” he was saying, “I am a nice guy who cries over human suffering.”

The electorate put this government in office and they will undoubtedly throw them out at the first opportunity. Every Labour government has ended in devaluation and economic ruin. Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Jim Callaghan and Gordon Brown were all disastrous prime ministers.

The Tories were responsible for the EMU crisis of 1992 and their record on immigration and is almost as bad as the Labour Party. Many of them are mentally stuck in the Margaret Thatcher era of free trade and open borders. They still believe in market forces and few of them care that British industry has been battered by unfair competition from Asia.

The Liberal Democrats have not been in power for almost a century. They are the most honest of the established parties but they lack direction and usually seen as a third party rather than a choice of government. Their economic spokesman Vince Cable is one of the few politicians who understand what has happened.

We must thank John Wicks and the Daily Telegraph for revealing how corrupt some of our MPs are. The ex-Speaker of the House Michael Martin acted like a shop steward protecting the wages and conditions of his members. But he made a fatal mistake when he allowed the police to investigate Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green. This was a partisan decision made by a chairman who should be impartial. He was forced to resign but his party leader Gordon Brown is clinging desperately to power.

As the recession drives up unemployment and people lose their jobs and houses they will rightly blame the government. Let’s hope they stand up for themselves instead of tolerating the situation. They didn’t worry about politics during the boom years but now they will have to take an interest. There is no magic solution to our massive national debt.  Every penny that Gordon Grown has borrowed has got to be paid back with interest. The financial crisis started in America but the colossal losses sustained by investors of every race and nation indicates cock up rather than conspiracy. The recession is the result of indiscriminate lending by bankers given a free hand by politicians.

The Countryside Alliance had the makings of a resistance movement but they seem to have disappeared off the radar. The tanker drivers campaign against rising fuel prices also had the government rattled but they were stopped by threats to their livelihood. As things get worst people will get braver and more determined. We don’t have to put up with greedy, stupid and incompetent politicians. They can be dismissed and most of them deserve to be.

UKIP got an impressive 16% in the 2004 Euro election with the backing of the Euro-sceptic press and the publicity surrounding TV presenter Robert Killjoy Silk. But since then they have sacked two errant MEPs and Kilroy Silk has quit the party. They have attempted to broaden their policies but they are generally perceived to be a single-issue party.

Former Labour MP George Galloway captured a “safe” Labour seat in east London for the Respect Party. He has courageously condemned Israeli atrocities in Palestine and shown what happens to anyone who dares to challenge the Zionist consensus. But his support is largely an immigrant phenomenon.

The far right parties have been getting results that would give them parliamentary representation under proportional representation. But under “first past the post” they are unlikely to win any seats. The white working class is effectively disenfranchised by this system, but aspiring Labour leader Alan Johnson is calling for electoral reform.

The recession will exacerbate our problems. The immigrants that were brought here to undercut wages and conditions will not look so “necessary” when we have got three million unemployed. Already some politicians are calling for immigration control and supporters of lazier faire economics are being converted to state intervention. Most politicians are self-seeking survivalists who would support almost anything to stay in power.

We are faced with a period of austerity as the global capitalist system unwinds.   Britain cannot exist without industry and agriculture. The days of importing everything are over. We need to be as self-sufficient as possible and we need access to guaranteed markets. Margaret Thatcher’s vision of a property owning democracy protected by America and supplied by China has turned into the grim reality of repossession and unemployment.

We can emerge from recession as a better country if we can get our representatives to embrace a spirit of national revival. This might seem impossible but greedy politicians are used to salaries three times the national average. They will soon change their ways if their jobs are in peril.

There’s little chance of a minority party coming to power on a tide of popular support, shipping out the postwar immigrants and declaring independence from the rest of the world. But pressure groups can influence governments and we can reform a parliamentary system riddled with corruption, staffed by placemen and controlled by big business.  We can have representative government based on commonsense and a viable economy if we make our voices heard.

David Cameron has promised to give more power to the people. A move towards democracy would help those campaigning against immigration. We shall have to wait and see what happens. But democracy is no substitute for financial security. There is little point in giving the homeless and unemployed committees when they need jobs and houses.

The incoming government will inherit a shrinking economy and three million unemployed. They will be forced to control immigration and regulate imports. These moves will be both necessary and popular. People are sick of being told that we need immigration and that we must import cheap goods because of our commitment to “free trade.” Some immigrants set up their own businesses but most of them take jobs that could be done by locals or live off welfare payments. Far from being a benefit to our economy immigration has been a massive burden on the social security system and a restraint on wages and conditions.

It was the arrival of a million white Poles that finally made the immigration debate respectable. Many of them have since gone home but millions of Afro-Asians immigrants have no such intention. The population of Africa and Asia is rising uncontrollably and their situation is made worst by climate change and recession. Britain and the rest of Europe cannot solve this problem by taking them all in. We do not need unskilled immigrants in the depths of a recession. This is not racism it’s commonsense.

The economy has almost ground to a halt. Established politicians are talking about electoral reform and extended democracy. People are disenchanted with the old parties and contemptuous of politicians. The full extent of the pensions crisis has not yet been realized, and holidaymakers are getting a shock when they collect their Euros form the bank. Margaret Thatcher said that her greatest achievement was Tony Blair. She wasn’t joking. But if we make our voices heard we can dismiss the miserable government of Gordon Brown and bring to an end thirty years of unrestrained capitalism.

The hidden hand

The Times (14/05/09) report on the annual meeting of the Bilderberg Group was widely circulated by nationalist e-mail bulletins and websites. The Bilderbergers were meeting at the Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece. The guests included Robert Zoellick of the World Bank, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Joe Ackerman of Deutsche Bank and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank. The theme of this year’s meeting was depression. We therefore know who attended, where they were meeting and what they were discussing. This is not how secret societies are supposed to be. 

Prewar conspiracy theorists listed prominent freemasons throughout the world. But when Axis freemasons fought Allied freemasons they did not call a battlefield truce to exchange ritual handshakes and hold a lodge meeting. Jews and freemasons were prominent Russian revolutionaries but that didn’t save them from Joe Stalin’s concentration camps and firing squads. And we are told that French freemasons supported James Stuart’s invasion of Ireland. But the Orange Order was founded by freemasons and remains deeply connected to masonry.

Minorities are often made scapegoats in times of trouble. Nationalists in Britain and America blame a coalition of Jews, Catholics and freemasons but in continental Europe and South America they blame Jews, Protestants and freemasons. The prewar American fascist Father Coughlin thought the war was caused by Jews and freemasons in order to enslave mankind to the British Empire. But British fascists thought that President Roosevelt waged war on behalf of the Jews and freemasons to destroy the British Empire.

The British far right has lost interest in the Jews and is obsessed with Islam. But in the Middle East militants distribute copies of The Protocols of The Learned Elders of Zion.  And America gives Israel billions of dollars in foreign aid to appease a powerful Zionist lobby aided and abetted by born-again Christians who believe that they are fulfilling Biblical prophecy.

The present crisis threatens America but she has overseas military bases and a formidable fleet that can strike anywhere in the world. President Barrack Obama openly peruses the same aggressive policies as his predecessor. He believes that America is destined to rule the world and most Americans agree with him. They simply can’t understand why so many people are prepared to blow themselves to bits resisting them.

The world is divided into power blocs that compete for resources and frequently back resistance movements that are fighting their rivals. The Bilderbergers are just another pressure group trying to influence international affairs. They are the same discredited bankers and politicians who promised us unending prosperity just a few years ago.

Question Time

Some correspondents have asked me to clarify my position on Europe. I am not a member of a political party and I am not tied to a manifesto. But I believe in a federal Europe and I will try to answer their questions.

What legal system should Europe have?

That should be up to each member country. England and Scotland have kept their own legal systems through 300 years of political and economic union. The UK and Poland have opted out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the proposed Lisbon treaty.

Should Turkey join the EU?

No because most of the major states are strongly opposed to Turkish entry. The Turks are a mixture of Europeans and Asians united by language and culture. They will probably enjoy a special status in relation to the EU without joining. Most EU states exercised their right to exclude Polish workers when Poland joined the EU, only Britain and Ireland let them all in. The same restraints would apply to Turkey if she became an associate member.

Isn’t the EU a step towards world government?

Perhaps, but Britain has signed the UN Declaration of Human Rights and is a founder member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the GATT treaty.  We used to have a global empire comprising all the races of mankind and Queen Elizabeth is head of the Commonwealth. The UK would still have international obligations and commitments if we quit the EU.  Even North Korea and Myanmar have diplomatic and trading relations with the rest of the world.

Aren’t European federalists like Aesop’s dog?

I had to look this up. It’s a story about a dog carrying a bone over a bridge. When he saw his reflection in the water he mistook it for another dog with a larger bone. And when he tried to get the larger bone he lost the original.  I guess this means that we should accept the bone of British nationalism instead of going for the illusionary bone of Europe. In fact we need the guaranteed market of half a billion European consumers. Japan is an industrious nation of 127.5 million people but they are suffering dire economic problems because they cannot sell their goods to an overseas market that has run out of money. Britain would be in the same position if we tried to go it alone.

What about Britain’s culture and Identity?

I would like to see a European government with a common foreign policy and an appointed foreign minister. But national issues should be left to national governments. I am all for preserving local languages and customs. In the 52 years of the EU, in its various stages, the French, Germans and Italians have remained resolutely French, German and Italian. And after 36 years of British and Irish membership we are still British and Irish. The idea that our nationality is compromised is one of the many fallacies surrounding the EU.

Isn’t your vision a grand illusion?

No it’s a functioning union of 27 countries with a population of half a billion that accounts for 30% of gross world product. I do not support European solidarity just for ideological reasons but because a properly governed EU could feed and defend itself.

What about the monarchy?

The position of the British and other European monarchies is not affected by membership of the EU. Every member country retains its own head of state and national government. 

What about the White Dominions?

They have made their own economic arrangements within their own geographical areas. Australia and New Zealand are trading with Asia and Canada has formed an economic alliance with the US and Mexico. But blood and culture will always tie us to the English speaking countries.

Surely nationalists from European countries will cooperate with each other?

It’s difficult to imagine the BNP working with Sinn Fein. Alliances between nationalists of different countries have generally failed due to mutual distrust. It’s more likely that a pan-European party will emerge that has no tradition of insularity.  Declan Ganley’s Libertas movement may be a move in this direction.

Big business has flooded the world with cheap goods and cheap labour almost to the point of saturation. The politicians are warning us against protectionism but people are worried about their jobs and are looking for an economy that is not at the mercy of “free trade.” The EU is by no means perfect and its parliament is as corrupt as Westminster but it has the potential for self-sufficiency.

I agree with the far right parties on the need to stop Third World immigration and give assistance to those wanting to go home. But after forty years of debate we have all made our minds up about Europe. I have heard every argument on the subject but I remain convinced that a union of the European nations is our best hope for the future.

Rods, poles and perches

Britain’s “metric martyrs” are celebrating victory because the European Union has dropped its objection to Britain keeping traditional weights and measures. But we could never return to the old system because industry and the armed forces have increasingly used the metric system since 1965. The avoirdupois system was imported from France in the 15^th century and standardized throughout the British Empire in 1824.

We inherited the duodecimal monetary system from the Romans. The first step towards decimalization was taken with the introduction of the florin – a tenth of a pound - in 1851 but we only completed the process in 1971. Traditionalists were up in arms at the loss of their familiar thrupenny bits and half crowns. But the transition went smoothly and few people would welcome a return to pounds shillings and pence.

Pope Gregory XIII instituted the current calendar in 1582. It was immediately adopted by Spain, Portugal, Poland and the Italian states but spread slowly throughout the rest of Europe. In Scandinavia and the Protestant states of Germany it was seen as a Popish plot.  By the time Britain introduced it in 1752 we had to lose eleven days to bring us into line with the rest of Europe. This caused the rioting mob to demand: “give us back our eleven days.” The Russians were even slower and did not convert until 1918.

Old-fashioned ways of doing things have no place in the modern world. We are a major exporter of precision machinery, high-tech electronics and pharmaceuticals. We could not sell any of these products calibrated in imperial measurements. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are all metric. In the USA the military and the scientific community use the metric system and they are increasing using it to trade with the rest of the world.

People resent change but we can’t afford to cut ourselves off from vital export markets by clinging to the past. Our participation in joint European ventures has put us at the forefront of scientific research. We could not help to design and build the world beating Typhoon jet fighter or the giant Airbus A380 in feet and inches, or contribute to the Galileo space project in rods, poles and perches. If we blindly follow tradition we could end up supporting lynching and witch burning. We have a duty to inform public opinion not to be its slave.

Britain is not an agricultural backwater cut off from civilization; we are an advanced industrial nation of 60 million people. We desperately need to rebuild manufacturing industries that were ruined by cheap imports. To do this we need the most efficient machinery and the latest technology. We will not care for our population by using old-fashioned systems and clinging to outdated mindsets. Those wanting to rescue Britain from bankruptcy should welcome progress.