Colonialism does not merely occupy land. It colonises the mind. It creates a world divided into two zones — the settler and the native — and sustains itself by teaching the native to fear and despise the latter.
The violence on the streets of Glasgow and Belfast did not emerge from a vacuum — it is the harvest of years of deliberately cultivated anti-immigration sentiment, normalised in parliament, amplified by billionaires, and laundered through the language of legitimate grievance.
Farage, Robinson et al called for “pure, cold rage” and then fell silent when the rage they summoned found its expression in burning houses, terrified and hurt children. Their silence is a statement. It should be treated as one.
What happened in Glasgow and Belfast this week is not an aberration. It is not a spontaneous eruption of grievance. The empire is not over. It is marching down Buchanan Street in a balaclava.