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...import a new Empire...

Rushdie is referring to the time when Britain opened its "doors" to the rest of the world, in particular, to the blacks. It promised a land of plenty where anyone would be able to progress their standard of living while living in a free society. Needless to say, this invitation was widely accepted and soon Britain began to see its population change into one of more diversity and, at the same time, one with more differences. These differences are the side-effect of an open immigration policy.

To the rest of the world, Britain appeared to be shedding its black veil of oppression when in actuality it was masking a serious problem, internal racism.

To a large extint, this was covered up by the "white-only" press, namely the BBC. The same was done with the troubles in Ireland. The main way that the voices of the oppressed could be heard by the outside world was through the literature of the immigrants facing the racism head on. One of these people was Linton Kwesi Johnson. Through his poem Five Nights of Bleeding , British racism is brought to the foreground in a depiction of the Brixton riots of 1981 and their consequences.

Five Nights of Bleeding

Inglan Is a Bitch

The New Empire Within Britain

Listen Mr Oxford Don