Woke trends meet defeat on the Rock of Gibraltar

What a cancelled "Palestine" march tells us about Gibraltar and some home truths about colonial legacies and multiculturalism

Obviously this didn’t receive the attention it so richly deserves, but it happened in a place that’s inconvenient in more ways than one: the British territory of Gibraltar.

Last month, a planned “March for Palestine” was cancelled amidst the worldwide furore surrounding the latest progressive fad, one where incendiary rhetoric has helped normalise anti-Semitism among people who loudly proclaim they’re “anti-racist”. And the fact that they have met their defeat in Gibraltar really should speak volumes and force people to think if they’re even capable of doing so.

For you see, a place like Gibraltar is inconvenient in the modern world. Not inconvenient in location, but culturally and politically inconvenient because it’s Politically Incorrect. It is a British Overseas Territory (which some would say is a more Politically Correct way of saying “colony”), a legacy of the British Empire which we’re all being told is irredeemably awful.

The inconvenience for these noisy “anti-racists”, the acolytes of postcolonialism, identity politics, anti-imperialism and Third Worldism, is that Gibraltar is a vibrantly multicultural place. It’s far from a unique situation for these colonial hangover places (whether British, French, Dutch or Portuguese) but it’s also awfully uncomfortable for the West’s proponents of multiculturalism and anti-racism.

Most of Gibraltar’s population is of southern European stock, including Italian and Portuguese. Before coming under British rule, the place had been ruled by Spain (who often make noises about wanting it back, but Gibraltarians don’t want it), and had also been under rule by various Islamic dynasties. This colourful history is reflected in the diverse origins of Gibraltar’s population - heterogenous in origin yet with a homogeneous identity not unlike Malta. And like Malta, they’re predominantly Roman Catholic.

Gibraltar also has a significant Jewish minority - in fact, outside of Israel, Gibraltar may have the highest percentage of Jews in its population. Jews have long found sanctuary in Gibraltar when they have faced persecution elsewhere, and they have long contributed to the territory’s public life - its first chief minister, Sir Joshua Hassan, was Jewish. There are four active synagogues in the territory.

Sizeable Hindu and Muslim communities exist in Gibraltar (again, in common with a number of former British colonies). Like Jews, they make up a non-negligible percentage of the population and have active, vibrant communities.

And to an inconvenient truth: Gibraltar is not only a remarkably harmonious place, its communities are united by their sheer determination to remain a British territory and not to be transferred to Spain. They are profoundly and proudly British, lovingly adhering to British customs and traditions. But the recent planned “March for Palestine” exposes another threat to this harmonious society: that of poisonous ideological currents fashionable in the very country currently exercising sovereignty over the territory, namely the UK.

The narratives of BLM and the Palestinian cause, tied to Marxist and Islamist-inspired postcolonialism and identity politics, have come to threaten a community like Gibraltar. A territory that flies in face of conventional wisdom regarding colonialism, race and history, reinforced by the fact Gibraltar is far from unique in this regard.

The French overseas territories of Reunion, New Caledonia and French Polynesia have similarly diverse ethnic makeups, including Chinese communities. A majority of people in these territories prefer the status quo to any proposed “decolonisation” - the same could be said for most people in the remaining British, Dutch and French overseas territories.

In Portugal’s former colonial empire, Mozambique became home to Chinese and Indian communities while East Timor hosted Chinese and Arab communities - all of whom undoubtedly suffered under the regimes that followed Portugal’s departure from those lands. Indeed, a common feature of postcolonial Third World nationalism has been the vengeful targeting of commercially successful “settler minority” groups, whether European, Arab or Asian.

If the proponents of postcolonialism and “decolonisation” narratives get their way, many such communities will invariably be ravaged with everyone losing in the process. These rabid proponents of “diversity” pour scorn on colonial legacies, yet wish to destroy some of the most vibrantly diverse places on earth with their ideologies. This is precisely what proponents of current ideological fads wish for our world, which has to be fought against all the way.

Above all else, these examples show that diverse populations can be united and work together if there is a common identity, set of values and a sense of belonging. What BLM and the “Palestinian Cause” represent is the very opposite, threatening to destroy community harmony and make communities more vulnerable to exploitation and abuses.

For that reason, the cancellation of an inflammatory protest in Gibraltar can be seen as a victory for truth, decency and civilisation.