Londonistan Revised Edition

In Londonistan: How Britain Created a Terror State Within (London: Gibson Square, c. 2007), Melanie Phillips detailed how she thought “Britain is even now sleepwalking into Islamization,” blithely ignoring the “pincer attack from both terrorism and cultural infiltration and usurpation” daily changing the very nature the nation (#68). For many years Phillips was an acclaimed reporter and columnist—“a darling of the left”—for the Guardian, probably the leading leftist newspaper in England, “the paper of choice for intellectuals, the voice of progressive conscience, and the dream destination for many, if not most, aspiring journalists.” Her disillusionment with the Left began when she honestly followed the evidence while researching and writing articles on a wide variety of subjects—immigration, education, environmentalism, marriage and family, feminism, multiculturalism, health care, Israel and foreign affairs.
Though only nominally Jewish, Phillips found (to her surprise) that her colleagues on the Guardian branded her as a Jew who could not deal dispassionately with Israel. Indeed, anything but a pro-Palestinian stance was anathematized by Britain’s leftists, who routinely equate Israelis with Nazis! “The more I read,” she wrote in her autobiography, Guardian Angel, “the more horrified I became by the scale of the intellectual and moral corruption that was becoming embedded in public discourse about the Middle East—the systematic rewriting of history, denial of law and justice and the corresponding demonization and delegitimisation of Israel.” Indicative of this process is the widespread sale and use of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (a vicious anti-semitic work popular among the Nazis) and Hitler’s Mein Kampf in the Muslim world. Pondering this phenomenon, she concluded—wisely, I think—that “Israel represents not a regional dispute but a metaphysical struggle between good and evil. That is why the cause of Palestine is key to the Islamists’ demands” (#2661).
Half-a-century ago many European intellectuals embraced Antonio Gramsci, the Italian communist who urged his readers to abandon violent revolution while launching a “long march” through various societal institutions—schools, churches, judicial systems, media outlets, law enforcement and charitable organizations. “This intellectual elite was persuaded to sing from the same subversive hymn -sheet so that the moral beliefs of the majority would be replaced by the values of those on the margins of society, the perfect ambience in which the Muslim grievance culture could be fanned into the flames of extremism” (#2768). What needed, above all, to be replaced was the Mosaic code, the Judeo-Christian morality fundamental to Western Civilization. In many ways, the struggle now taking place is between the adherents of two books—the Bible and the Koran! Inasmuch as they simply cannot be reconciled there is little hope for reconciliation between their believers.
Hostility towards Israel was accompanied by lock-step support for the Palestinians and Islamic residents in England. For decades the British have welcomed immigrants of all sorts, asking no questions and offering them “a galaxy of welfare benefits, free education and free health care regardless of their behavior, beliefs or circumstances” (#912). Multitudes of Muslims thus arrived determined to preserve their traditions while enjoying England’s standard of living. While recurrently aroused by terrorist attacks such as the subway bombings in 2005, neither politicians nor public (eased along by a very proper English tolerance and political correctness) pay serious heed to the cultural currents transforming significant sections of their country. Trying to win over the hearts and minds of immigrant Muslims, naively convinced that “moderates” will support the nation that welcomed them, few Englishmen grasp Islamic extremism. By “defining ‘extremism’ narrowly as supporting violence against Britain, it makes the catastrophic mistake of treating the aim of Islamizing Britain as an eccentric but unthreatening position and not one to be taken at all seriously” (#84). The so-called “moderates” in Islam, Phillips thinks, are hardly moderate at all. Yes, they condemn terrorist attacks, but they simultaneously deny such attacks have any roots in “real” Islam, “denying what was a patently obvious truth that these attacks were carried out by adherents of Islam in the name of Islam” (#2011).
The Islamizing process is markedly evident throughout English society. In the schools, teachers are pressured to present Islam in an positive manner, becoming agents of propaganda and indoctrination rather than truthful understanding. Unable to distinguish between truth and lies, the ordinary Brit easily swallows pro-Muslim pronouncements that lack historical credibility and set forth misleading “mythology, distortion and libels” (#2453). Underwriting this process, oil-rich Saudi sheiks have poured enormous sums into educational institutions—establishing “chairs” in universities, building elementary school facilities, publishing various pro-Islamic materials. “Schools have ceased to transmit to successive generations either the values or the story of the nation delivering instead the message that truth is an illusion and that the nation and its values are whatever anyone wants them to be. In the multicultural classroom, every culture appears to be taught except Britain’s indigenous one. Concern not to offend minority sensibilities has reached the risible point where piggy banks have been banished from British banks in case Muslims might be offended” (#470). “This moral inversion has been internalized so completely that the more Islamic terrorism there is, the more hysterically British Muslims insist that they are under attack by ‘Islamophobes’ and a hostile West. Any attempt by British society to defend itself or its values, either through antiterrorist laws or the reaffirmation of the supremacy of Western values, is therefore denounced as Islamophobia, as even use of the term ‘Islamic terrorism’ is regarded as ‘Islamophobic’” (#492). Importantly, Phillips says, the multicultural assault on distinctively English ways results from “a repudiation of Christianity, the founding faith of the nation and the fundamental source of its values, including its sturdy individualism and profound love of liberty” (#1748).
Police are discouraged from enforcing English law in Muslim communities lest they be charged with Islamophobia, and a growing number of policemen (hired to pacify the strident doctrines of ethnic diversity) are simply jihadists committed to the ultimate triumph of their faith. Judges, more committed to “human rights” and “transnational progressivism” than England’s common law traditions, seek to impose multicultural values. The Association of Muslim Lawyers now calls for the “formal recognition of a Muslim man’s right under Sharia law to have up to four wives” (#2366). Step-by-step, “Sharia law is steadily encroaching into British institutions. In February 2008 the Archbishop of Canterbury caused a furor when he declared that Muslim families should be able to choose between English and Islamic law in marital and family issues. But the fact is that Britain is already developing a parallel sharia jurisdiction in such matters, with blind eyes turned to such practices as forced marriage, cousin marriage, female genital mutilation and polygamy, indeed welfare benefits are now given to the multiple wives of Muslim men” (#158).
In England today mosques attract more attendees than Christian churches which, have largely replaced “the fundamental doctrines of Christianity” with the “worship of social liberalism. The Church stopped trying to save people’s souls and started trying instead to change society. . . . Miracles were replaced by Marx” (#3197). Facing an ideology (Islam) determined to destroy Christianity, the Church in England capitulated in hopes of surviving as an emasculated but comfortable institution. So London now serves as a center for Islamic study, featuring scores of research and educational institutions with newspapers and publishing houses distributing radical Islamic materials throughout the world. Christian pastors and evangelists face prosecution if they make comments critical of Islam since “Islamophobic” speech is banned in England. Though he recently seems to have altered some of his views, Prince Charles once suggested he be known as a “defender of faith” rather than the ‘Defender of the Faith!” He seemed to have concluded his nation is no longer Christian and is now truly multi- religious. Amazingly enough, “the Church of England has been in the forefront of the retreat from Judeo-Christian Christian heritage” (#512)—it’s on its knees, not before the LORD but before Islamic intimidation, and the Church of England’s prostration rather painfully illustrates the plight of England today, says Phillips.

As a young man I marched with the Anti-Nazi League in late 1970's England in opposition to organizations such as the National Front. Decades later and viewing my homeland from America it is quite apparent to me that a new plague of Nazis festers in Britain. These ones are Islamic, homicidal and they are gaining momentum with each passing day.
Phillips' book is a grim tale of a nation flushing its native culture, its past and its future down the toilet in an orgy of appeasement and supplicate apology towards a community segment that celebrates its destruction.
Many indigenous Britons neutered by white guilt and a steady diet of Neo-Liberalism in the popular culture persistently refuse to acknowledge the threat of Islam and many of its practitioners. British Muslim leaders and police officials assure them that Islamic terrorists are not real Muslims and that it is Islamophobic to say otherwise. It's the religion of peace after all right? Phillips points out how their ire is misdirected towards America, Israel and even Britain itself while home-grown Jihadis plan their next atrocity.
The nightmare that is Islamonazism was borne out of British officialdom's decades-long ostrich head in the sand approach to immigration, asylum and Muslim extremism. This impotent policy can now be measured: A quarter of the UK's Muslims consider the scum that committed the 7/7 massacre to be martyrs (two thirds feel this way for Muslims under 25).
I don't fully side with the author on several levels however. A revival of Christianity will not turn the tide nor will it necessarily encourage civility and decency. Americans regularly attend church in vast percentages, yet the US is addled with most of the same social ills, crimes and decadence that Phillips decries. She appears keen to present Britain, America and Israel as a type of triumvirate bulwark in the fight against global terrorism. I reject this notion. Though clearly detested by most Muslims Israel's border skirmishes and civil war with the Palestinians are essentially a localized issue, marginally connected to the efforts to crush international Islamo-fascism
Melanie Phillips conclusions in the book on what must be done are somewhat tepid in my opinion. She does not call for, as I would, the removal from Britain's shores those who champion sedition and slaughter...and that's an awfully large number of Muslims as the book makes clear. I do not believe there will ever be general assimilation amongst those who view the Koran as the law and the infidel as eternal enemy and it is therefore imperative that they be firmly encouraged to relocate to Islamic nations. An extremist ideology requires extreme measures to counteract it. Until or unless that happens the madhouse that is Londonistan can only become more lunatic.
Addendum: This review was posted for several days on the uk Amazon site before being pulled. When I enquired why, I received this response: "Please know that Amazon.co.uk is a retail site and we are happy to post legitimate book reviews that meet our guidelines. All customer reviews submitted are subject to posting at our discretion and all decisions are final." Which is exactly the type of censorship taking place in Britain against those who are deemed to have offended Muslims that Londonistan cataloges.

An eye opening book! Melanie Phillips doesn't hold back into exploring the rise of Islamism and the culture that currently pervades the City of London and outlying areas. I have not finished the book, but you can see why the Brexit took place (since this book was written years before). Maybe things will change, maybe things will become worse for the citizens of London. Nevertheless, this is a great book to not only understanding the changes taking place across the pond but what may happen here if we, America, follows suit.

This book is so relevant to today's events. This book should have been read by those in power in England. Or maybe it is the reason that they don't want it known. It all about those on the gravy train of middle east oil money not wanting to unset the honeypot. Pity the native English.

Excellent book well written and insightful. As society heads into a "black hole" the West must understand the causes and try to save itself from extinction. The basic values of the West which provided its moral compass acted as the catalyst for stability and progress in many areas, making life better for most if not all of its citizens. The downward slide in true values (refined over centuries) and the blurring between falsehood and the truth (made easier by the Internet) has provided the sword onto which the West may end falling.

Melanie Phillips is an award-winning journalist. This clear-sighted analysis shows how the freedoms of a liberal democracy have been abused by religionists whose minds are trapped in the 7th century, but also by woolly-headed Christian theologians and politicians who are too cowardly to call subversion by its real name, and too pusillanimous to defend eight centuries of hard-won progress towards freedom of the human spirit.