Letter: Immigration Was Not The Only Referendum Issue

Published on: 2 Jul, 2016
Updated on: 2 Jul, 2016

From John Perkins

in response to: Immigration Was The Issue That Has Unearthed Scary Nationalism

Immigration was not the issue; it was only one of several and the main one, in my opinion, was democracy.

David Pillinger is clearly not adversely affected by mass immigration, so he can dismiss the fears others have about it in the patrician way that EU generally does. The absence of democracy at the heart of the EU fosters such attitudes: “we your protectors know best and you the people should just put up and shut up”.

This is only the latest in a steady trickle of letters harping on the immigration issue and claiming that it must be racist in nature. I have not read any of this supposed “vitriol about foreigners” in these pages, nor much in the way of “scary nationalism”.

I have, though, read claims about how concern about immigration equates to racism and how any mention of events in past wars is advocacy of anti-semitism, Nazism and genocide. Nobody should believe this nonsense.

The world is moving on and it’s leaving the EU in its wake.