Enoch Powell: Rivers of Blood

 Via NITZAKHON

Enoch Was Right

 On 20 April 1968, the British shadow defense secretary Enoch Powell MP made this speech in Birmingham, United Kingdom. His speech strongly criticized mass immigration, especially Commonwealth immigration to the United Kingdom & the proposed Race Relations Bill. It became known as the "Rivers of Blood" speech, although Powell always referred to it as "the Birmingham speech". The expression "rivers of blood" did not appear in the speech but is an allusion to a line from Virgil's Aeneid which he quoted: 

"As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see the River Tiber foaming with much blood". 

The speech caused a political storm, making Powell one of the most talked about and divisive politicians in the country, and leading to his controversial dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet by Conservative Party leader Edward Heath. According to most accounts, the popularity of Powell's perspective on immigration may have played a decisive factor in the Conservatives' surprise victory in the 1970 general election, & he became one of the most persistent rebels opposing the subsequent Heath government.