There is a crisis in Western civilization, not in its values, but in its confidence. This crisis coincides with the emergence of existential threats.
The Left expresses this self-doubt by feeling ashamed of the West’s heritage and, at the extreme, developing a disdain for Western history and culture. However, what is the perspective of the Right?
It is acknowledged that the West has contributed incredible concepts and principles to the world, including democracy, free markets, and banking systems. Despite this, we observe significant cultural and economic deterioration around us, leading to self-doubt.
We doubt our ability to build like our predecessors did. We doubt the liberal values of tolerance and free trade, demanding a post-liberal world.
But it’s not liberal values that are the problem. It’s weakness.
Last week, two surveys were released that should alarm everyone. Almost half of young Britons think their country is racist. Nearly 60 per cent are not proud to be British. Nearly 40 per cent of the fighting-age population wouldn’t fight for our country under any circumstances.
More than half of those aged between 13 and 27 said ‘the UK would be a better place if a strong leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament and elections’. A dictator, in other words.
We shouldn’t be surprised. Young people see a Parliament obsessed with trivia and presiding over stagnation. A Parliament where many are too scared to challenge those who attack what we believe in. I would say to those young people, ‘I understand your anger but be careful what you wish for.’
KEMI BADENOCH: Western civilisation is in a crisis of confidence as it faces existential threats
It is in the corruption of the rule of law – which built so much of the West – that we see where the problems begin.
I was born in London but grew up in a country with a military dictatorship and strong leaders who did away with pesky liberal values like democracy and who stopped free speech. In the 1960s, many former British colonies in Africa decided to move on from British values and a lot of people made clear they preferred strong-man politics and nationalism to democracy and pluralism.
But when they got it, they didn’t like it. The strong men had lots of words, but no plan. They ran everything and delivered nothing. They flogged teachers, shot journalists, people disappeared and dead bodies were found on the streets.
Without the ability to speak freely or trade freely because the government controlled everything, wealth became hard to create and easy to destroy.
So, let’s remember what we are defending here. Not just our wealth, but our culture – a culture built on those values we’ve taken for granted.
Classic liberal values of free markets, free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, the presumption of innocence, and the rule of law as well as equality under it, no matter who you are or where you come from.
We need to bravely fight for these values, now. Instead, we are too busy critiquing and deconstructing what previous generations built, rather than making sure that the very best of our inheritance is left intact for the next generation. This is the real poison of Left-wing progressivism.Â
Whether it’s pronouns, or DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion], or climate activism, these issues aren’t about kindness – they’re about control. We have limited time and every second spent debating what a woman is is a second lost from dealing with challenges.
Failing to spend more on defence isn’t peace-making, it is weakness, and it only emboldens threats to democracy and global stability from the co-ordinated efforts of totalitarian states like Putin’s Russia
Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, took the knee during Black Lives Matter protests, in response to a problem that was not in his country, because he was cowed by the mob
In order to fix things, we need to know what went wrong. And it is in the corruption of the rule of law – which built so much of the West – that we see where the problems begin.
The most extraordinary example is how the European Convention on Human Rights, designed to stop the persecution of individuals by the State, is now weaponised by those who wish to erode our national identity and border security.
One case involved a man who was allowed to stay after it was claimed that his son disliked foreign chicken nuggets. In another, a drug dealer reportedly avoided deportation because of his daughter’s gender identity issues. But we were members of this convention for half a century without this madness.
What’s changed? It’s not our values but the people who, afraid of any kind of conflict, use the most novel and expansive interpretations of human rights law to avoid it.Â
And we see that lack of confidence now in everything from law and order to national defence. We see it in the fear of sticking up for young girls being abused by rape gangs over many decades so as not to upset community relations.
Failing to spend more on defence isn’t peace-making, it is weakness, and it only emboldens threats to democracy and global stability from the co-ordinated efforts of totalitarian states like Russia, Iran and North Korea.
Conservatives are the guardians of Western civilisation. We need to defend what we have. But it requires bravery and not endless compliance at the threat of a legal challenge.
A brilliant example of someone who has shown this kind of bravery is the woman known as Britain’s strictest headmistress, who runs the Michaela School, the best school in the country. Her name is Katharine Birbalsingh.
Katharine Birbalsingh, Britain’s strictest headmistress, showed how you defend Western civilisation with her bravery in the face of an orchestrated attempt to destroy her school
The Michaela school is secular. However, its religious tolerance was being exploited to harass and bully others, with some students beginning to pray in the playground, violating school rules and pressuring peers to follow religious practices they hadn’t before, like wearing a headscarf or stopping choir practice.
In response, Katharine banned those prayer rituals and refused to provide a dedicated prayer space, aiming to maintain the school’s secular environment and treat all pupils equally.
The response was an orchestrated attempt to destroy her reputation and her school.
She was sued by one child’s parents. The BBC ran a headline saying the school ‘made being Muslim seem toxic’. Most politicians are afraid of that sort of headline for fear of being labelled Islamophobic. Most teachers would have relented the minute they were challenged. Katharine took her case all the way to the High Court, and she won.
She showed how you defend Western civilisation. Contrast this courage with Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, who took the knee during Black Lives Matter protests, in response to a problem that was not in his country. Why? Because he was cowed by the mob. The problem isn’t liberalism, the problem is weakness.
Millions of people all around the world want to live in the West because they want the benefits. However, some of them bring behaviours, cultures and practices that will undermine the West and the values that helped make us great. They find common cause with our useful idiots who don’t appreciate their own inheritance.
The Conservative Party in Britain has just lost an election. We have a crisis, just like the West. People ask me, what difference will new leadership make? Well, it starts by telling the truth.
A country cannot be successful if its people and intellectual elite don’t believe in it. This means dealing with the poisoning of minds through higher education. We have been naive on economic growth. We’ve been naive on issues from Net Zero to immigration, weakening ourselves and strengthening our competitors.
Immigration is far too high. We cannot support all those who wish to come to our country. The British people must come first. We cannot keep racking up debt for our children. We need smaller government and smarter spending. The world owes no one a living. Millions of people cannot just sit on welfare and expect to be paid to do so. And if they don’t like it, that’s their problem, not the State’s.
Our country is not racist. We don’t need to apologise. We don’t need to pay reparations or give away the Chagos Islands.
Free speech matters. Some cultures are better than others, and it’s only contentious to say this because honesty has become impossible. People should not be afraid to speak out. We will be proud of our country. Most of all, we need to get up off our knees and start fighting not just for the UK but for the West and our values again.
If we get this right, we stand at the dawn of a new Conservative century – with so much opportunity and possibility.
If we throw this opportunity away because of anger or self-doubt, or weakness, our country and all of Western civilisation will be lost. And that is why we, the next generation of Conservatives, must lead the world back from the precipice.
