Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr. Farage?

 

Exposing the hypocrisy at the heart of anti-immigration rhetoric, because history has receipts.

by Sean Ash

There’s something darkly ironic about a man like Nigel Farage leading the charge against immigration.

Why? Because Nigel Farage is the product of immigration. His great-grandfather was German, his wife is German, and his children hold dual British-German citizenship. So when he rails against the dangers of “foreign influence” or losing British identity, who exactly is he talking about? Himself?

And he’s not alone. Many supporters of Reform UK, UKIP, and the anti-immigrant right are themselves descended from Irish, German, Polish, or other European immigrants. People who, once upon a time, were seen as outsiders. People who crossed borders and seas, just like today’s refugees and migrants, only now, they’ve been granted the privilege of forgetting that journey. Or worse, pretending it was somehow different.

Let’s not forget: even the British royal family descends from German roots. The House of Windsor only adopted that name in 1917, before that, it was the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. They changed it to sound less German during World War I. So when exactly did Britain become the exclusive property of those who happen to be white?

Because here’s the question that cuts to the core:

Who gave white Britons the keys to the country?

Who decided that whiteness equals ownership, that pale skin equals a deeper claim to the land, to the culture, to the flag?

British culture wasn’t handed down from some mythical Anglo-Saxon Eden. It’s a living, breathing mosaic, built by Irish dockers, Caribbean nurses, South Asian shopkeepers, Jewish tailors, African soldiers, Polish builders, Muslim teachers, and yes, even German ancestors of xenophobic politicians.

They all crossed seas. They all brought something. They all belong.

So when Farage and his followers try to define “Britishness” as something that excludes others, they aren’t protecting culture, they’re rewriting it, airbrushing history to make it serve their politics.

Let’s be clear:

You don’t get to define British culture.

You don’t hold the pen.

We all do.

This country belongs to everyone who builds it, lives in it, contributes to it, and dreams within it. No matter the colour of their skin, the name they pray to, or the roots of their surname.

So Mr. Farage, before you point fingers at today’s migrants, maybe take a look in the mirror. Your own family story proves what the rest of us already know:

Immigration built this country.

And no one gets to claim exclusive rights to something we all helped create.