Is Brexit the new normal? By this I don’t mean simply the act of leaving the EU, but more the quixotic political cocktail of nostalgia, anti-immigration and the impulse to seal off borders from cosmopolitan influences in favour of nativist urges?
All over Europe, from the Swedish Democrats and True Finns in the north to the Northern League in Italy in the south, from the Brexiteers in the west to Orban’s Hungary in the east, the forces of populism are evident and they are not going away.
One of the most bizarre and unhinged incarnation of nativism was on display on Wednesday night in Washington during US president Donald Trump’s rambling but “must see” press conference. Nativism is changing politics across the globe.
In the weeks ahead, the Brexiteers will fulminate at the Tory party conference about the EU’s intransigence and the commission’s bureaucratic nit-picking which – as they see it – is preventing Britain from embarking on a great buccaneering adventure untethered from meddling mandarins in Brussels. This story, although colourful, does not reflect the true reason for the EU’s unified stance on Brexit.
The real reason has little to do with the EU’s economic concerns about Monaghan, Tyrone or Armagh. The EU leaders’ stance on Brexit can be best understood through the prism of their own domestic political travails. All are facing nativist threats at home, and all nativists have an element of anti-EU rhetoric in their arsenal.
As a result, Brexit has to be difficult. The UK has to pay and must be taught a lesson as a warning to the rest of Europe’s would-be separatists.
The main force driving nativism on the continent, as during the Brexit referendum, is immigration. Typically, when a society is faced with significant immigration, local political movements emerge to agitate against the newcomers. In fact, one of the first nativist movements sprang up in the US in the 1850s, and the Irish were on the receiving end of it.
In the mid-19th century, mass Irish and German immigration prompted the virulently anti-Catholic Know Nothing movement. In the New York of 1855, 52 per cent of the city’s 622,925 citizens were foreign-born. Of these foreigners, 28 per cent were Irish and 16 per cent were German. In all, from 1847 to 1860, 1.1 million Irish immigrants docked at the port of New York, along with 900,000 Germans. The Know Nothings rapidly won huge support among local Protestant workers.
So anti-immigrant parties are not new, and not unusual. This is what makes contemporary Irish political developments so out of step with the rest of Europe and much of economic history. Despite taking in more immigrants per head than most EU countries, there is precious little anti-immigrant feeling here.
According to a Eurobarometer survey from the EU Commission published this year, Ireland has the most positive attitudes in Europe towards immigration (both from within the EU and outside).
The survey shows that almost two-thirds of Irish people had a positive view of immigration from non-EU countries. This is a technical way of describing the largely non-white population that is the anathema of the far-right in Europe. This result compares with an EU average of 40.7 per cent, ranking Ireland higher than the traditionally tolerant Swedes and Spanish (both at 63 per cent) and considerably higher than the Brexit-era Britons (54 per cent), the Germans (42 per cent), the French (36 per cent) and Italians (30 per cent).
Similarly, when it comes to immigration from other EU members, Ireland is top of the table with 86.6 per cent of people holding a positive view compared with an EU-average of 65.2 per cent.
The data also suggests a “Trump effect”: Irish attitudes towards both forms of immigration (EU and non-EU) have become increasingly favourable since the US president’s campaign and election.
Regarding integration, Ireland ranks the highest in the EU again with 80 per cent of respondents saying that integration is successful in the local area or country, compared to an EU-average of 54 per cent.
What’s more, compared with other European countries, Ireland has high levels of social interaction between immigrants and the native population, 56 per cent of Irish respondents had some sort of daily interaction with immigrants, with a further 26 per cent engaging with them in some way on a weekly basis.
Possibly the reason for these attitudes is that Ireland is receiving one of the highest proportions of qualified immigrants in the entire EU. For example, Eurostat breaks down the origin of immigrant based on a Human Development Indicator ranking. Nearly 17 per cent of immigrants to Ireland come from countries ranked “very high” on this indicator, as opposed to only 3 per cent of immigrants who arrive in Italy and only 6.6 per cent of those who arrive in Germany.
In this respect too, Ireland is an exception. We are more tolerant, accepting and welcoming to migrants than all our neighbours. In a world of mobile capital, labour and ideas, this is a strongly positive development and it sets us apart from the prevailing political mood.
Remaining open to the cosmopolitan world, and availing of the opportunities that globalisation affords, is one of the ways a small country like ours can prosper. It’s nice to see that, in a world of recalcitrant nativists, we have such a strong popular tailwind of tolerance pushing us forward.
‘May says she will end EU immigrants’ priority status after Brexit Highly skilled migrants to be favoured as free movement ends ‘once and for all’’ Quite right too! There’s no non-racist reason why white East Europeans should have privileged access to the UK after Brexit. Nor white Irish via the Common Travel Area….*popcorn* If you’re white & can afford a Ryanair flight from Eastern Europe you’ll be alright, but if you’re brown or black, get on a dinghy or a life-raft. This article is based on some rather dubious tenets….& that’s being generous. ‘The brutality of Fortress Europe The EU… Read more »
Classic Christianity recognises that mankind is not a perfect vessel and encourages us to do our best to be as Jesus who is perfect.
Socialism says to us: this is how mankind should be: what can we do to them to change them.
You cannot change the nature of humanity David and those who have tried have created the Gulag and Auschwitz.
Instead of berating the Brits, it might make more sense to consider the mote in Ireland’s own eye. Start by listening to black visitors:
‘Music producer Quincy Jones says Ireland is ‘so racist it’s frightening’
[Bono]’s a great guy. I stay at his castle in Dublin, because Ireland and Scotland are so racist it’s frightening. He said, ‘Trying, Quincy, to assimilate, but it’s not coming easy.’ So I stay in his castle.”
*rollseyes*
#DalkeyIsNotDublin
https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/music/music-news/music-producer-quincy-jones-says-ireland-is-so-racist-its-frightening-36546295.html
‘Is Brexit the new normal? By this I don’t mean simply the act of leaving the EU, but more the quixotic political cocktail of nostalgia, anti-immigration and the impulse to seal off borders from cosmopolitan influences in favour of nativist urges?’ This article is simply EU-Globalist propaganda to besmirch Brexit. Unfortunately it has scant relationship to the facts which informed the Brexit debate or which will inform the UK immigration policy ‘going forward’. Any claim that Ireland ‘leads in tolerance towards immigrants’ is entirely risible as Ireland is unable to make it’s own policies on immigration. It must follow dictates… Read more »
Dear author, That same barometer report: “When asked what were the two most important issues facing the EU at the moment, Irish people selected: terrorism (40%) and immigration (30%). Climate change came in third at 15%. On average across the EU, the top two issues selected were: immigration (38%) and terrorism (29%).” In a Eurobaromter report of two yars ago, Irish people surveyed put their national priorities as follows: immigration, 44%, terrorism, 33%, economy, 21%. The first two issues are related: there are no Ultser unionist paramilitaries operating in Ireland, for example. It was to do with radical Islam. Or… Read more »
[ This story, although colourful, does not reflect the true reason for the EU’s unified stance on Brexit ]. There is propaganda, and then there is complete bullsh1t. The reason for the EU’s “unified” stance on Brexit has everything to do with power. They spent a generation building a power complex for an entire continent. They are not going to allow anybody question it. Concerning “tolerance”, the EU racket has a very low “tolerance” of dissent. Keep voting until you provide the answer that Brussels wants to hear. With The ISIS Times leading the charge, for more centralization of power… Read more »
The EU is becomming an immoral, greed propelled, deceitful, disrespectful racket that centralized power, and benefits the well connected. The hard sell, the soft sell, and the relentless obsession with control increase every year. And now, the latest installment of manipulation, moral pretence, and the false dicotomy. Anybody who opposes the EU racket is to be categorized as evil, and immoral. Even more immoral than the control obsessed, unaccountable EU. The EU has lost it’s moral authority, and it’s response is moral posturing. This is as inevitable, as it is twisted. In fact it is a deliberate twist. And that… Read more »
Sinn Fein?
David: I challenge you to explain to yr readers exactly what you mean by “populist” and “nativist.” Because they are platitudes – and until you do your auguments are not based on solid ground.
Well, one side of the immigration debate-that-never-was is indeed ‘unhinged’. In his insightful study of mass immigration the Diversity Delusion journalist Ed West (Mary Kenny’s son) draws a comparison with a millenial cult which, when the alien masters fail to show up, doubles its support instead of losing it. It is one of the huge fantasies we are surrounded by. I meant to say last time that David has discovered a new word, ‘nativist’. What is wrong with ‘populist’? Why do the fantasists keep making up new labels? Eurobarometer: “Abstract This paper reviews Eurobarometer surveys from 1995 to 2010 and… Read more »
It is the “bizarre and unhinged” which makes humanity human and understandable. But I ask myself what absolute does David measure bizarreness and unhingiosity? Does he have a device that measures these admirable characteristics?
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
Have you won a battle or but placed another nail in the coffin of the climate dream?
It’s like locking the barn door after the nuts have bolted.
A leopard can’t change his stripes: as we consider the road that unfolds before us it is beyond any question of a doubt from the bottom on down that we must get in the boat or swim or get out.
“Of him that writeth things Divine to men: But must I needs want solidness, because By Metaphors I speak; was not Gods Laws, His Gospel-laws in older time held forth By Types, Shadows and Metaphors? Yet loth Will any sober man be to find fault With them, lest he be found for to assault The highest Wisdom. No, he rather stoops, And seeks to find out what by pins and loops, By Calves, and Sheep; by Heifers, and by Rams; By Birds and Herbs, and by the blood of Lambs; God speaketh to him: And happy is he That finds… Read more »
Those who are competing with immigrants for jobs or see their wages reduced in real terms may see immigration as a problem to them. Those who are in a position to employ immigrants and make a profit of their back see imigration as a bonus. I have nothing against foreign immigrants as people but there is something wrong about a society where the majority of employees in some types of traditional employments employ only about 10% Irish and 90% foreign who send most of their money home out of the irish economy where they earned it, except for rent which… Read more »
‘….preventing Britain from embarking on a great buccaneering adventure untethered from meddling mandarins in Brussels. This story, although colourful, does not reflect the true reason for the EU’s unified stance on Brexit. The real reason has little to do with the EU’s economic concerns about Monaghan, Tyrone or Armagh. The EU leaders’ stance on Brexit can be best understood through the prism of their own domestic political travails. All are facing nativist threats at home, and all nativists have an element of anti-EU rhetoric in their arsenal. As a result, Brexit has to be difficult. The UK has to pay… Read more »
Are you having a laugh now. I can’t even be bothered to comment on this crap
we’re sooo special and soo open .
Brit-bashing used to be the preserve of conservative nationalists in Ireland. It’s still a way of expressing Irish cultural and moral superiority, but these days mostly by pseudo-liberals.
Look at us – we’re really cosmopolitan with our gay Indian prime minister, we’re not like those narrow-minded inward-looking little-Englanders.
According to the latest Attitudes to Diversity study, 59% of people in Ireland wanted to stop Muslim immigration. 75% wanted to stop Roma immigration. 42% even wanted to stop European migration. They didn’t poll for Africans or Asians. Why did you omit that statistic?
https://www.politicalirish.com/threads/the-attitudes-to-diversity-in-ireland-study.25671/
This has to be David’s worst article. Atrocious. Let me spell it out to you, that which you failed to mention. It is spelled. I.S.L.A.M. Now, let me re-title your article. “Why Ireland leads in tolerance towards immigrants is because they are not on the whole Islamic, unlike other countries, which they either presently have, or will soon have, sizeable society-changing Islamic populations, due to Islamic immigration and birth rates. Unlike the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium, France and England: Ireland is the outlier to the Islamicisation of Western Europe. That is why Ireland does not have nativist parties, because due to… Read more »
“Despite taking in more immigrants per head than most EU countries, there is precious little anti-immigrant feeling here.”……YET!!! Wait until we have the odd truck driving down O Connell st flattening your fathers,mothers,sons and daughters ,while some “gifted doctor or lawyer” is Yelling “Aloha Snackbar” or your daughters are being groomed for rape gangs..We’ll soon see how “tolerant ” we are then. “Regarding integration, Ireland ranks the highest in the EU again with 80 per cent of respondents saying that integration is successful in the local area or country, compared to an EU-average of 54 per cent.” WHERE and WHAT… Read more »
“the impulse to seal off borders from cosmopolitan influences” Au contraire. It is the urge to defend ones civilization and lifestyle from invading barbarians touting Islamic Sharia law as the superior to Western Christian/Judaic traditions embodied in 800 years of struggle to achieve individual rights and freedoms only finally obtained within the last 100-200 years. No go zones are common in many European countries. Western civilization is in jeopardy and under attack. The EU is an experiment to authorize centralized government and bureaucratic rule. It is the prelude to authoritarian one world government. Our author seems to be a bought… Read more »
The average European birth rate is 1.5. Dig into the numbers and the native white European birth rate is between 1.3 and 1.1. A population needs 2.1 to maintain parity. A birth rate under 1-5 is, for mathematical reasons I can’t remember, is considered, well, a rapid one-way ticket to extinction within a few generations. The outlier is Ireland with Europe’s highest birth rate of 2.0. The only future whites in Western Europe will be the Irish. I can not wait to see that sci-fi movie.
It was nice of the rest of the world to take in the Irish in days gone by but look how that turned out for native populations of North & South America, the aborigines in Australia didn’t exactly get a great deal either. Don’t they count as people or why are they overlooked? Isn’t that a bit nativist? Native Americans practically worshiped christian invaders who wanted their gold, in the end they were almost wiped off the face of the planet, most of their finest monuments destroyed, books burned, culture ruined. Just try imagining how much knowledge and history was… Read more »
Hi David,
Can I suggest closing down comments for a few months until the worst of the weirdos go away?
S
It’s true that immigration is not an issue for most of the Irish population but that’s because the Irish borders are under control and are a long way from where nearly all migrants enter Europe – the Mediterranean Sea and south-east Europe. Since Nato’s destruction of the Libyan state in 2011, many Africans have travelled by boat towards Spain, France or Italy in an attempt to get into the EU. And in 2015 there was a large influx from mostly Muslim countries when Angela Merkel announced that there was “no upper limit” for the number of refugees.Germany took in nearly… Read more »
If there was no welfare, minimum wage, socialised services nobody would be concerned at immigration. Americans only expressed reserves in 1914 when some distribution to these people was started. The bigger the social net the more attractive the location. Immigration effects your pocket and that’s why there is a “right” movement across the EU. There isn’t an answer to all this. Housing shortages are never linked to immigration ( more people). The PC police ensures that rationally linking the 2 would be a suicide to mainstream politicians. Tolerance and measuring it is an elusive science. All Races ( polish, jew… Read more »
I thought Platitudinous Maximus was a Roman emperor.
Why immigration is a class issue: Immigrants by definition compete with the poorest local people in the job market, in the housing market and for access to health and schools. This is a fact. Economists tend to miss the central point, of immigration which is that while the economy might get workers, society gets people. Therefore the technocratic language of the economy is not able to deal with the totality of immigration and can’t deal with the fact that there are winners and losers in this game. If you have, like me, the luxury of writing for the newspapers and… Read more »
Click here and support the reporting of honest reporters on the activities of Tommy Robinson. He is on trial for reporting on a trial of Islamist extremists. It is apparently against the law to tell the truth.
https://rebeldonations.com/real-reporters/
Just print up the money for nothing to fund the social services all these immigrants demand on arrival. Sure the debt is no problem. https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-news/argentine-lesson-100320181 “”Then, the Fed swung into action, too. Starting in 1987, it added $4 trillion to its holdings of assets. “Assets” sound like good things…as if the Fed was adding to the good side of its balance sheet. But it meant that the Fed was “printing” money and using the ersatz cash to buy bonds. It was like having a drunken bidder at an auction…with an unlimited supply of counterfeit money. Naturally, prices rose. And all… Read more »
Sometimes it’s better to ask a different question to come to the right conclusion.
Is the EU a well run entity, ie does it do, for its’ citizens, what it says on the tin.
Is the UK a well run entity, ie does it do etc.
The answer to both questions is probably ‘no’ so then it’s about which is worse/better run.
The EU is badly run is the UK worse?
Hi David, Terence Patrick Stewart put up on this blog one of the most insightful posts ever when he said recently that the english language is being mangled to such an extent words are spoken which have no relevance at all to what is in fact being said. For example; negative interest rates which in fact means bank authorised theft of the customers savings. Here in simple plain language explains what I think will happen to Ireland if we don’t regulate the flow of immigration to an absorbable level; We will wind up voting for Irexit when the immigrant population… Read more »
A thought occurs:
Is mass migration an aspect of the 4th industrial revolution? Because it seems to mirror the social upheaval of the 1st industrial revolution – but far more problematic insofar as in the 1st revolution the migrants were needed as labour for the satanic mills and were socially assimilable – but the low skills of this migration are not needed given the onward march of automation – and most are not easily integrated.
Last year or so I suspiciously looked up the Dominique Strauss-Kahn story to see if there were any witch hunt elements in it. I suppose it took about an hour. What found is that there appears to be a common element of deceit in the way the immigrants wheedle their way into the West and a corresponding self-deluded credulity on the part of the media (not least, let it be said, the Irish media). I don’t like Wikipedia, let alone trust it, but to save me the time of having to look elsewhere sake here is an excerpt: “On 30… Read more »
THE PROGRESSIVE AGENDA
-> YOU ARE WHAT YOU FEEL
-> IF YOU FEEL YOU ARE A MAN
=> THEN YOU ARE A MAN
HA!
.
.
-> THE MURDER OF REASON
=> THE RISE OF EMOTION DRIVEN POLITICS
.
.
EXAM FOR PROGRESSIVES
-> IF I FEEL THAT YOU COMMITED A CRIME
=> DID I COMMIT A CRIME?
.
.
.
ANSWER : ASK THE SUPREME COURT
HA!
.
.
.
GUYS
-> TIME TO FESS UP
=> WE HAVE DROPPED THE BALL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig2SgfVLigQ
Interest rates are rising. If they continue upward everything else will be downward!!
“”And when this bubble ends, the economic pain is going to be off the charts. Hopefully the American people will be in a mood to finally shut down the Federal Reserve at that point, because that insidious organization is truly at the heart of our long-term economic and financial problems.””
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/we-just-witnessed-the-biggest-u-s-bond-crash-in-nearly-2-years-what-does-this-mean-for-the-stock-market
Most Irish families arrived to the isles at the time of the Famine during a time when many of the natives then left because of exploitation or desperation or both. Today they are arriving since Ml O’Leary became CEO of Ryanair. These new arrivals are not the Popes children. Ireland is the cheapest remote island destination on the planet with oceans of space to give. I enjoyed reading the article by David McWilliams ‘ Why Ireland leads in tolerance towards immigrants’. In general I am supportive but with exceptions. It explains what is the writer’s narrative and is supported by… Read more »
Such favorable attitudes among the Irish population does not translate into humane treatment for refugees by the Government. Ireland has accepted only 5,200 refugees/assylum seekers over 4 years. They are stuck in 34 locations with no dignity, no right to work, and no humanity, and handouts of a few Euros per head . After the High Court ended the ban on work, the Minister for Justice excluded refugees from 60 job types. This was yet more punishment upon punishment for refugees who lost and suffered so much, and who were doctors, teachers, bakers, bricklayers, reporters, mechanics, etc., before fleeing from… Read more »
Racism in Ireland can be found because the Irish Language by default fails to share the BLACK connection with Gaelic . Until that changes racism will grow sponsored by the Irish Government.
Heard a woman on a radio show claim that she pays 900 euro a month to share a room in a clonskeagh house ?. Mass immigration since 2004 means half a million Irish kidults live with parents ?. Housing costs in Leeds and Manchester are half price or less.
Immigration is not a subject for the politically correct. You can never mention /discuss negative features without being branded a fascist or a racist. ( main stream economists all know this). Seldom in the “housing crisis” is immigration mentioned as a contributing factor. This is a bit like the Soviets denying that a typhus break is killing millions simply because they want good press. The “truth”, if they ever come to it, is more complicated. (1) Immigration can have integration problems if the immigrants have no respect for their new country. (2) They can displace natives and their opportunities can… Read more »
Illegal immigration into US is a serious problem. It spills into Canada.
https://needtoknow.news/2018/09/shocking-video-platoons-heavily-armed-men-easily-walk-us-mexico/
Canada ”welcomes” illegal alien from distant lands who are in reality economic migrants who stiff the system and jump the legal application, for immigration, queue.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-liberals-play-a-dangerous-game-with-illegal-immigration
A special moment to savour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coIaeuxdsGU
President Trump, Judge Kavanaugh EMOTIONAL Speech at Swearing In Ceremony as Supreme Court Justice
The biggest tax is the interest on the national debt and the ever ascending interest payments. ”’Conor O’Kelly also noted that the interest bill on Ireland’s €200 billion debt is the fourth largest spending category for the Government behind social protection, health and education. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/financial-services/ireland-pays-16-5m-a-day-in-interest-on-national-debt-1.3434158 Fire the central bankers, revert to own money issued from treasury, debt and interest free. Ban fractional reserve banking as the main creator of indebted money. The national debt can be redeemed with Treasury based money that is not a debt and charges no interest. Income taxes could be repealed. The economy would flourish .… Read more »
Hi Jean. Thank you for your participation and checking out the other posts.I am so happy to see you connected with Hugh and did you see his post this week and his response on your query?Esme, thank you for hosting. Starting my visits with your blogger of the week; I missed her post last week. gate.io
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