As Tony Blair surveys the electoral wreckage of his policy of waging illegal war against Iraq and vainly hopes to rehabilitate himself by a policy of more of much the same, it is vital that he be reminded of the full extent of his crimes against humanity.

Not only has he illegally killed considerable numbers of Iraqis, but it is likely that the political position will be worse than under Saddam Hussein, even though considerable numbers of Iraqis have welcomed British and US troops. It has certainly added to the number of terrorists in the world if only by the two from Britain, where, for the first time we have young people willing to martyr themselves in the name of religion.

But the worst consequence has been the revival of Hitlerism in the shape of the British National Party. For be in no doubt these smooth talkers about democracy are the heirs of the Holocaust. In Wolverhampton, therefore, we are back to the days of Enoch Powell when our fellow citizens lived in fear of their lives from the racist fantasies of `rivers of blood' and the like, which turned Wolverhampton into the racist capital of Britain.

I believe that the multicultural position in Wolverhampton is stable enough for blacks and whites together to repulse any racists attacks in the town. But why should our black fellow citizens of many decades standing again live in fear and have revived the old beliefs that Britain will always be a racist country, and whites be denied the benefits and pleasures of a multicultural society?

Dr. George Barnsby
3 May 03

Postscript to the above letter.

Whether Tony Blair and his New Labour followers can redeem themselves depends on a number of factors. The first is whether they want to, or whether they prefer to remain at their existing state of institutional racists. If not, they must learn the elementary principles of anti-racism.

1. Decisions taken by white groups or institutions affecting black groups are not valid unless agreed with an appropriate number of black groups.
Thus the decision in Parliament to wage war against Iraq was not only illegal, but also racist.

2. The question of multiculturalism is the most important social issue in the world today
Until illegal war was made on Iraq it might have been claimed that this only applied to areas where a large number of ethnic minority people resided. Today it is clear that it applies to all parts of Britain.

3. The most important task locally is to empower our ethnic minority fellow citizens. This means discussion and adoption of such a set of principles as enunciated in the Parekh Report.   END