Introduction

Abstract

In an essay titled “Londonistan Calling” published in Vanity Fair in 2007, Christopher Hitchens expresses his fears about the influx of Muslim immigrants into England, arguing that Islam is a threat to British society and that it endangers the core values of European identity. Walking down a street that has been taken over by these newcomers, he wonders at the sudden Muslim majority in the area, the chadors, the intolerance “they bring […] along with them.” The takeover is happening suddenly and at an accelerating pace, he warns us, aided by woolly-headed “indulgent” liberals, who cannot see that these new immigrants have no interest whatsoever in “assimilation.” Instead, “multiculturalism” is “catering promiscuously” to a new generation of “foaming, bearded preachers,” and a community that will not be happy until all traces of the “law-abiding” England of Hitchens’s past have been eradicated. “It’s impossible to exaggerate,” he concludes, “how far and how fast this situation has deteriorated.”