The slogan “Import the Third World, become the Third World” was used by the Trump War Room in the 2024 election and has since been adopted by postliberals, national conservatives, and the wider MAGA movement. That phrase captures the argument at the center of a new debate over immigration: whether importing people from the developing world changes a country for the better or tears it apart.
The evidence on offer is stark. Three of the four men who carried out the 2005 London Tube bombings, which killed 52 people, were born to Pakistani parents. The man behind the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, which killed 22, was the son of a Libyan jihadist given asylum in Britain. The teenager who murdered three little girls in Southport in 2024 was born to Rwandan parents. All were products of British schools, not immigrants themselves.
The Numbers on Crime
The homicide rate in Britain is five times lower than in the United States. London is statistically much safer than almost every American city. Yet the crimes that have defined British terror and violence in recent years were committed by people whose families came from abroad.
In the U.S., India and China rank among the top three source countries for immigrants, just as in Britain. In America, new arrivals are surrounded by a patriotic and self-confident culture. They see flagpoles at work, attend Fourth of July parties, and watch uplifting movies. In Britain, intellectuals are described as self-loathing, with flying the national flag feeling subversive.
Working-class districts fly British or English flags from lamp-posts to signal contempt for mass immigration and governing elites. The contrast is striking: one nation celebrates its past, the other questions its future.
The History of the Indian Army
Arnold Toynbee wrote: “Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.” That line appears in the piece as a reminder that a civilization can collapse from within before it falls to an enemy. The argument is that Britain’s own actions are bringing about its downfall.
The piece also points to the Indian Army, which formed to fight in World War I and was the second-largest volunteer force in human history. The largest was the Indian Army formed to fight in World War II. There was no conscription outside the U.K. itself during either war.
Mahatma Gandhi urged Indians to enlist: “India would be nowhere without Englishmen. If the British do not win, to whom shall we go claiming equal partnership? Shall we go to the victorious German or Turk or Afghan for it?” The author describes the current British narrative on India as offensive to the Third Worldist narrative dominating schools.
The Flags and the Message
The “tinpot strongman vibes” from the White House under President Donald Trump are cited as an example of the broader political shift. The movement’s slogan is a warning, not a call to action.
The evidence presented is not abstract. It is a list of attacks, murders, and bombings committed by people whose families came from the developing world.
“India would be nowhere without Englishmen.”
That line from Gandhi captures the contrast at the heart of the debate. One generation fought for the West; their children are taught to despise it.
What the Debate Is About
The debate is about whether a country can absorb large numbers of people from very different backgrounds without changing fundamentally. The evidence on offer suggests that change is happening, and that it is violent.
The comparison between Britain and the U.S. is instructive. Both nations draw immigrants from India and China. But one surrounds them with patriotism, while the other surrounds them with self-loathing.
The flags flying from lamp-posts in working-class districts are a symbol of resistance to mass immigration. They are also a warning about what happens when a country loses confidence in itself.
The Conclusion
The slogan “Import the Third World, become the Third World” is a warning, not a promise. It describes a process that has produced violence in Britain and could produce it elsewhere.
The evidence presented is specific: individual attacks, individual murderers, individual bombers. The conclusion is uncomfortable. Britain has imported the Third World, and it is becoming the Third World.
The MAGA movement’s slogan is not a call to action. It is a description of where Britain is headed.
Source material: “Where do you want to find your immigrants?,” the Washington Examiner.
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