Tuesday, May 21, 2024

Camp of the Dumbbells


In 1975 a Frenchman, Jean Raspail, wrote a fictional account of how western civilization was destroyed by unrestricted immigration from the Third World. His work, The Camp of the Saints, has been out of print for some time, but it again became popular in 2011 and  Amazon now is offering it on Kindle and you can read it free online. I urge you to do so, because it is probably the most prescient novel you will ever read.

Every day on X (formerly Twitter) I read accounts from around the world of the increased crime, inflation, hatred, and destruction of western civilization by the open borders policies of countries and the European Union. Bringing in hordes of undereducated men who live off the welfare state and hold views incompatible with ours is every bit as destructive of modern western life as Raspail envisioned it would be. Here’s a brief, representative sample of what I am reading every day online. (Online because the legacy media is largely ignoring it.)

The UK

Islamist extremists calling for an "Intifada revolution". We are a tolerant country, but this is vile. Every single weekend London is a no-go zone for Jews. I'm fed up of these disgusting, perpetual, hateful, disruptive protests. It has to stop! 

@AJPhillipsEsq

"Britain is visibly declining under the weight of mass immigration, a complete lack of social integration, inflation, high taxes and soaring energy prices. It’s now time for British politicians to prioritise the British people and the country" @GoodwinMJ

Ireland

Yesterday the government went all out in an attempt to plant illegal immigrants in Doneraile, Coole and Clonmel. All 3 attempted plantations were stopped. The Irish will never accept mass immigration. This is our island!

Sweden

But one EU country traditionally welcoming of immigrants is hatching plans that will make immigration and integration there more challenging moving forward.

In October, Sweden’s new government coalition announced an agreement that includes broad proposals aimed at decreasing the amount of immigrants brought into the country, a dramatic shift in precedent for a country long-known to be welcoming to non-citizens seeking a better life. Experts say while it’s too early to know how the plans will really impact migration, the possibilities are concerning.

“The general approach is to lower the standards in order to make Sweden less attractive as a destination,” says Bernd Parusel, a senior researcher at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies.

Analysts argue this push began when the Sweden Democrats, a far-right political party, made big gains in the country’s September parliamentary elections and, as a result, gathered more political influence. [snip]

Then came October’s Tidö Agreement, which lays out the policy priorities of the Sweden Democrats and three other governing parties: the Moderate Party, Christian Democrats and Liberals. While just one component of the coalition’s broader plans, the proposals related to modifying migration law are wide-ranging. The coalition hopes to make conditions and requirements for family reunification, labor immigration and Swedish citizenship more strict. Even the country’s asylum reception legislation “will be adapted to ensure that it is not more generous than is required of any member state under EU law.” The package is “very comprehensive,” says Parusel, who notes that about 19 pages of the 62-page agreement document are devoted to asylum, migration and integration.

“Immigration to Sweden has been unsustainable,” reads a statement by new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of the center-right Moderate Party, delivered in October to the country’s legislative body, the Riksdag. “This government’s message is that this cannot continue. A paradigm shift is now taking place in Swedish migration policy.”

Netherlands

Geert Wilders has announced that the 5-month negotiations on forming a coalition government have finally been successful.

His PVV party will rule together with 3 other right-wing parties.

The "Hope, Courage and Pride" coalition platform presented today introduces strict measures on asylum seekers, scraps family reunification for refugees, and will reduce the number of non-EU students coming to the country.

"Deport people without a valid residence permit as much as possible, even forcibly," the agreement says.

The coalition will also strive to get a Dutch opt-out from the EU’s new Migration Pact and its mandatory migrant relocation quotas.” And I think both will regret ignoring it.

Neither this administration nor the EU seems interested in the large and growing antipathy to open borders. And I think both will regret ignoring it. In thr EU:

The tortuous and often explosive undertaking came to an end on Tuesday afternoon, as member states gathered to give the very final green light to the five regulations that make up the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, an all-encompassing overhaul that seeks to ensure all countries, regardless of location, shoulder their fair share.

Among other things, the New Pact envisions stricter rules to expand the screening of applicants, carry out health and security checks, speed up examination procedures and provide counselling free of charge. Its main novelty is a system of "mandatory solidarity" that would give governments three options to manage asylum seekers: relocate a certain number, pay €20,000 for each one they reject, or finance operational support.

The initial goal is to have 30,000 relocations per year.

As expected, Poland and Hungary, the most ardent critics, voted against the entire package of legislation. Since the reform was presented in 2020, the two have consistently resisted the system of "mandatory solidarity," falsely claiming it would force them to accept migrants against their will.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia, two skeptics, chose to abstain in the majority of files, while Austria voted against the Crisis Regulation.

However, the New Pact only needed a qualified majority so it moved forward and was formally ratified, sealing one of the greatest accomplishments of the current mandate. [snip]

Southern member states complained about being overwhelmed and left alone. Western and northern countries demanded stronger accountability and enforcement at the external borders, while eastern states resisted any initiative that resembled a relocation quota. [snip]

Amid the commotion, far-right forces saw their chance and jumped onto the topic as a trampoline to relevance and electoral success. The shockwaves of that political seism are still felt today, with polls ahead of the June elections predicting a sharp turn to the right.

Despite the sense of relief in Brussels, the thumbs down given by Poland and Hungary presaged a rocky start for what comes next: making the reform work.

The European Commission will present an implementation plan in June to outline the legal and operational elements necessary to put the New Pact into practice. Then, member states will have until January to submit their own national plans.

Not sensing the way the wind is blowing, the Biden administration has floated the notion that it may consider admitting refugees from Gaza, a place where the inhabitants have for decades been brainwashed by Hamas propaganda and would be unlikely to provide the kind of immigrants we need or want. 

Maybe a non-fiction version of Raspail’s work, The Camp of the Dumbbells, is due for publication.