An article in a magazine published on Tresco has provoked a storm of controversy among its readers.
The Tresco Times article extols the virtues of late Tory MP Enoch Powell and former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, both regarded as right-wing on issues of race.
A Waffle with the Commodore (alias of editor Richard Barber) tells readers of the magazine, distributed to timeshare owners and visitors, that they should “thank God for giving us people who are anything but ordinary”.
In a tribute to 76-year-old Islander Ken Crawley, the Commodore calls both he and Enoch Powell ?individualists who value truth above popularity and risk above safety’.
He describes Powell, a right-wing Conservative famous for his ?rivers of blood? speech on the dangers of immigration, as “one of the most brilliant and misunderstood minds of his generation”.
Although Powell’s views are finding some retrospective support, they have become - intentional or not - an intellectual justification for racism, stirring up and giving voice to racial tensions. He was sacked by Tory leader Edward Heath the day after giving the speech.
So far so fairly controversial. But Barber strays into increasingly thorny territory in his treatment of Ian Smith, hero of the fascist British National Party (BNP).
Smith, says the Commodore, “declared unilateral independence from Britain to prevent his beloved and prosperous Rhodesia following the precipitous path of other African nations into corruption and mass starvation.”
It’s an interpretation of history many would dispute. Though Smith is regarded by some as a courageous patriot, his system of white minority rule saw 220,000 white Rhodesians enjoy privileges over nearly four million black Rhodesians (rule by a minority of just 5%).
The declaration (UDI) attracted fierce international condemnation and resulted in the first economic sanctions in the history of the United Nations.
And it doesn’t end there. An editorial has added fuel to an already roaring fire by including the assertion that “Scilly is a mono-culture ? basically white Christian - rather than having the rich diversity of the multi-cultural mainland.
“Perhaps,” it suggests, “like some aboriginal tribe, Scillonians should be protected from the outside world and given grants to preserve their particular culture and lifestyle. We are an insular ethnic minority ? the last piece of England.”
One appalled reader described the articles as “repugnant writing, fuelled by that ‘Daily Mail’ paranoia that there is some liberal conspiracy to ensure every corner of the the UK becomes ‘multi-cultural’. Are barricades included in the new Timeshare sprawl?”.
And an Islander ranted to ScillyNews: ‘Rhodesia declared UDI from the UK 41 years ago this week, not in 1970 as the Commodore waffles, so why doesn’t Tresco do the same in tribute to Ian Smith - a real ‘hero’ who was not only a white supremacist but also anti-democratic.
“It’s political incorrectness gone mad. Only somewhere like the Isles of Scilly could you get away with publishing this stuff.?