Britain: Explosion of Racism

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Like the gunpowder concealed in the cellar of Parliament by Guy Fawkes, an explosive issue has long lain hidden beneath the even fabric of British life. Last week it exploded into the open—and presented Britain with an ugly, gnawing and virulent problem. The problem was racial prejudice, and the man who sparked the explosion, as it turned out, was only saying what a great many Britons think: that non-whites are not welcome in 98%-white Britain. Before the week was out, race had become the most heated and con troversial subject of the year—and an issue that may well influence the next election.

The furor began when Enoch Powell, 55, a right-wing Tory M.P. from the industrial Midlands, launched an attack on an antidiscrimination bill introduced by the Labor government to protect Britain's 1,000,000 coloreds—a term that covers shades from light tan to dark black and encompasses Indians and Pakistanis as well as African and West Indian Negroes. Powell, a onetime teacher of Greek and a classics scholar, has a record for independence and strong-mindedness. Having decided in 1963 to try for the Tories' top job, he refused to serve in Alec Douglas-Home's Cabinet; he later placed a poor third in the 1965 party vote that installed Edward Heath as Opposition leader. He boils with emotion on the race question, particularly since his constituency has lately been invaded by large numbers of immigrant coloreds. He did not bother to inform the party leadership about his speech, but tipped off TV and newsmen. They soon found out why.

Foaming with Blood. "Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad," said Powell, borrowing from Euripides. Britain "must be mad as a nation, literally mad," he went on, to continue letting in colored immigrants, who have made Britons "feel like strangers in their own country." Powell warned that passing the race-relations bill would be like "throwing a match on gunpowder," demanded a virtual end to immigration and payments of cash bonuses to immigrants willing to leave. Predicting a 250% rise in the colored population within two decades, he declared: "As I look ahead, I am filled with much foreboding. Like the Roman, I seem to see 'the River Tiber foaming with much blood.' "

Shocked by the speech, Tory Leader Heath fired Powell as Minister of Defense in his shadow Cabinet. But the speech produced an outpouring of support for Powell's position. More than 2,000 tough Limehouse dockworkers walked off their jobs and marched on Parliament with signs that read BACK BRITAIN, NOT BLACK BRITAIN and DON'T KNOCK ENOCH. They were followed by butchers from Smithfield Market, still dressed in their bloodied smocks. At one point, the longshoremen's protest tied up London's docks.