ANOTHER EVENING WITH ENOCH POWELL

While I do not agree with many of Enoch Powell's policies, I do respect him as a political philosopher, for he was that rarest of things, an honest politician. I also respect his intellect and would love to have debated with him, particularly on his dogmatic adherence to liberal capitalist economics. This is not, however, our primary concern with Powell though. In his earlier interviews, he had been forthright on the subject of immigration, but he had never been an absolutist in terms of anti-immigration from non-White countries, and indeed often declared that he had nothing against miscegenation, as it would lead to better integration of alien stock. That view certainly changed, as it ought to have done for a man of his intellect; and, in the first of these videos, which is a documentary that features some of his last interviews, he finally hits upon the fact that what the Left term racism constitutes the foundation of any nationhood: "What's wrong with racism?" he asks. "Racism is the basis of nationality."

 

 

"Nations are, upon the whole, united by identity with one another, the self-identification of their citizens, and that's normally due to similarities that we regard as racial similarities."

He does, however, show his limitations in thinking, which are hampered by his commitment to the broad spectrum of the liberal political tradition. When asked about the inclusion and integration of Negroes in a nation, he answers that it is difficult but not impossible. That is a political answer that contradicts the biological reality of nationhood that he has asserted. This liberalism too always asserts the perceived needs of the Other above the existential threats of the Same, and Powell falls into this trap laid by the interviewer. What he ought to have answered was that the inclusion of Negroes would inevitably lead to the destruction of the nation at a genetic level. Inclusion is genocide.

 

Next we have Powell's surprising appearance on Desert Island Discs, surprising because generally the only times the BBC invited Powell on a programme were to harry him on subjects of race and immigration. It is no surprise, however, that Powell turns out to be a Wagnerite, for many intellectuals of his type are. Wagner is grand and reaches the extremes of musical possibility, but equally has a nihilistic streak popular with conservatives.

 

Given his sometime antipathy to Germany, Wagner might strike one as an odd choice, but he also had flirtartions with German philosophers, especially Nietzsche. Perhaps his views on Germany were at times coloured by his hatred of the National Socialist regime he experienced first hand. Indeed, our last offering is a long interview about his early life and war service in which he explains his antipathy to Hitlerism. While he was correct about the murderous aspects of the regime typified by the Night of the Long Knives, his antipathy also ties in with his typically conservative and wrong-headed philo-Semitism, probably stemming in no small part from his academic and Christian upbringing, a religion he abandoned and then re-embraced. Still, in spite of his flaws, Powell stood steadfast holding to his opinions in spite of being roundly pilloried and browbeaten by a corrupt media and political elite.