This is of a piece with the 2019 presentation at the British Museum about how Islamic art influenced Western art. The objective is always to soften opposition to mass Muslim migration and makes those who oppose it feel ashamed for doing so.
“UK Left Celebrates St George’s Day with Annual False Claims Saint was ‘Turkish Immigrant,’” by Jack Montgomery, Breitbart, April 24, 2022:
Leftists in Britain celebrated St George’s Day on Saturday with their annual issuing of false claims that the Roman soldier of Cappadocian Greek ethnicity was, variously, “Turkish”, “Arab”, and “a migrant worker” in an effort to “own” English patriots.
The fact that England’s patron saint, St George, was not an Englishman is not atypical — Ireland’s St Patrick was British and Scotland’s St Andrew, the first-called of Christ’s apostles, hailed from the Holy Land — but is seized upon every year by left-wingers as a stick with which to beat patriots in general and sceptics of mass migration and multiculturalism in particular.
“George was an Arab with a Turkish dad and a Syrian mother,” crowed one typical blue tick on St George’s Day 2022.
“Isn’t it brilliantly appropriate that the patron saint of England isn’t English. #Diversity?” they added.
As mentioned above, however, George was in fact a Greek from Cappadocia, and while Cappadocia is located in what is now Turkey, the saint was born in 200s, around 700 years before the first Turkic invaders began to arrive in the area from their native Central Asia — making claims he was from Turkey about as sensible as claiming a 3rd-century Native American was from the United States.
Similarly, while St George’s mother reputedly hailed from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina, the Arabs would not conquer this area until after the birth of the Islamic prophet hundreds of years later, with the contemporary population being primarily Graeco–Aramean in culture and ethnicity….
“St George is a Palestinian/Turkish immigrant who would be trafficked to Rwanda today by this British Govt,” asserted Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, repeating the ahistorical claims about the saint’s “Turkish” ethnicity and adding an equally ahistorical claim about his immigration status.
(While the soldier may have crossed the boundaries of the Roman Empire on military operations, there is no reason to believe he ever tried to claim citizenship in another jurisdiction, still less illegally migrate to one.)
“Unlike me, he wasn’t British,” the activist continued, adding: “The English aren’t loyal to who and what #StGeorge is but claim him as patron.”
Kevin Maguire, associate editor of the left-wing Daily Mirror tabloid newspaper, made similar claims about St George being “dumped by the UK Conservative Government in Rwanda” but pushed his agenda-driven description of the martyr even further, dubiously describing him as “a migrant worker”.
“Plastic patriots, reactionaries and racists waving flags must be proud,” he added, jabbing at seemingly imaginary bigots unaware of St George’s supposed “migrant worker” origins….
Ade Fegan says
Thanks for this .. I had no idea … So widespread and mainstream are the lies
Give it a few years and the story will, I expect be that George was a Muslim !
bill says
What about that dragon he allegedly slew, where did that come from?. I do not believe dragons ever exited. Unless you count dinosaurs, which were extinct millions of years before human beings evovled.
The sort of ideas supposedly intelligent people come out with never cease to amaze me
gravenimage says
bill, with all respect, you seem to be missing the point. What is at question here is not if all aspects of saints’ legends are historical or not, but whether Muslims and leftists can undermine civilization without being called out on it.
You may not believe in any of these legends, but this does not mean that Islamic aggression will not affect you.
GreekEmpress says
Balls!
He was GREEK!!
gravenimage says
+1
libertyORdeath says
It doesn’t matter where he was from. What matters is what he did.
Show me the triumphs of diversity in present day England. Is it the growing authoritarianism under the guise of diversity or combating “islamophobia”? Is it the increased crime brought by economic migrants? Is it the grooming gangs preying on English girls and boys? Is it the appearance of genital mutilation? Is it the dramatic increase in antisemitism?
Honestly, besides food, can anyone really point out how “diversity” has made England better for anyone but non-English migrants?
gravenimage says
Good questions.
James Lincoln says
libertyORdeath says
“Honestly, besides food, can anyone really point out how “diversity” has made England better for anyone but non-English migrants?”
I would recommend steering clear of food prepared by muslim migrants, some of whom want to kill non-muslims.
gravenimage says
And much food considered Muslim is not, in any case. Falafels are Coptic, curry is Hindu-Indian, and much food considered Middle Eastern is Greek.
Alfredo says
England is now enjoying the great benefits of Diversity. Anything foreign is celebrated and anything English or British for that matter, is denigrated.
These relentless attacks are designed to undermine the very foundations of Western civilization. Sadly too often, this hateful vandalism is perpetrated by woke Westerners.
It’s all part and parcel of the drive to eliminate what the purveyors of this wretched Cancel Culture call Whiteness…
gravenimage says
UK: Leftists mark St. George’s Day with false claims that he was ‘Turkish,’ ‘Arab,’ ‘migrant’
……………….
What utter claptrap–wrong on *all counts*. He was not Turkish–the Muslim Turks would not begin to invade Anatolia for another 400 or so years. Same with Syria–Arabs did not invade Syria or any other part of the Levant for another 400 years. By the way, she may have been from Lydda–which is now Lod, in present-day Israel. Are they going to say that he was *Israeli*? I’m sure not–that would have a rather different meaning…
Then, he was no migrant–there is no indication that he left the Roman Empire. English people do not claim that he was British.
As for his being the patron saint of England, he is also the patron saint of Ethiopia, the nation of Georgia, Catalonia and Aragon in Spain, and Moscow in Russia. That doesn’t mean he went to any of these places.
And as noted, this is not uncommon. Many Saints are from the Holy Land and adjacent regions. Some patron Saints are more recent Christians from around the world, such as Saint Rose of Lima in South America, but many patron saints have been adopted by places they never visited in life.
Just another attempt by Muslims to appropriate Christianity.