WarRoom Battleground EP 844: Updates From The UK And Spain On The Growing Anti-INVADER Protests Flaring Up

Summary

Bannon’s War Room: Battleground EP 844

Date: September 5, 2025
Title: Updates From The UK And Spain On The Growing Anti-INVADER Protests Flaring Up
Host: Steve Bannon (with Harnwell as co-host)
Guests: Gonzalo Martin (Vice President, Democracia Nacional, Spain); Ed West (British journalist and commentator)

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the recent surge of anti-immigration (referred to as “anti-invader”) protests in Spain and the UK, exploring the local sentiment, political dynamics fueling the unrest, and how authorities and mainstream media have responded—particularly the role of established “center-right” parties.
The first half examines events in Spain with guest Gonzalo Martin, addressing public reaction to crimes attributed to migrants and the perceived complicity of political elites in facilitating mass immigration.
The second half explores the UK’s flag protests and social divisions, with journalist Ed West analyzing the cultural and political meaning behind the increasing display (and removal) of St. George’s flags and the public’s response to government policies on immigration.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spain: Local Backlash Against Migrant Policies

Guest: Gonzalo Martin (Democracia Nacional)

• Context: Migrant Crime & Protests

  • Recent aggressive protests erupted in Madrid’s outskirts (Orthaleza), triggered by the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Spanish girl by a Moroccan migrant (claimed as 17 years old).
  • Martin asserts this is part of a larger, continuous pattern of crimes involving migrants at youth reception centers.
  • Locals feel their neighborhoods are unsafe due to assaults and theft by migrants, which Martin describes as a widespread problem “journalists don’t publicize.”
  • “We are not sure if they are minors because when they enter Spain, they break the passport and we never know the real age of them.” — Gonzalo Martin [02:40]

• Media and Political Framing

  • Martin criticizes left-wing media for labeling protesting residents as racist, ignoring their desire for peaceful communities.
  • Authorities allegedly focus on incidents where locals retaliate, e.g. masked citizens attacking immigrants after the rape, while downplaying crimes by migrants.

• Role of the Popular Party (“Center-Right”) & Socialist Dynamics

  • Both governing parties—center-right Popular Party (regional, Madrid) and national-level Socialists—use immigration as “a weapon” against each other, but neither addresses root concerns.
  • Martin argues Popular Party is complicit in immigration growth, referencing data showing immigrant population exploding from 0.5 million in 1995 to over 5 million during their time in power.
  • “When right wing people in Spain, they say, oh, the socialists are the one bringing the immigrants, it’s not true, it’s the Popular Party because...many entrepreneurs want to bring all this cheap labor hand to Spain.” — Gonzalo Martin [09:56]

• Suppression of Right-Wing Movements & Growing Disillusionment

  • Attempts to organize protests by Democracia Nacional and VOX meet judicial and administrative suppression, allegedly to suppress “anti-immigrant sentiment.”
  • Martin details the failure of the Popular Party to address immigration (instead focusing on funding center operations), causing voters to seek alternatives like VOX or his party.
  • “I can say that more or less 20 percent—15 to 20 percent—of Spanish people are already tired of the Popular Party. They don’t believe in them anymore and they will vote for Vox, for example.” — Gonzalo Martin [15:09]

• Demographics & Naturalization Laws

  • Spanish population growth in the last 30 years is, according to Martin, entirely due to immigration; the government’s policy grants citizenship quickly (2–3 years) to people from former colonies, greatly complicating statistics.
  • “We are 48 million but, really, 14 are already immigrants... because we have also...half a million of illegal immigrants that are not part of the statistics.” — Gonzalo Martin [17:03]

• Blue Collar Reactions & Generational Splits

  • Working-class Spaniards feel abandoned by the left, which is seen as prioritizing immigrants over local needs. Increasingly, support for anti-immigration parties comes from these demographics.
  • “People that are the one who are suffering the immigration, they are the ones who face all these problems...working class people...see they are totally abandoned by the left.” — Gonzalo Martin [22:53]

• Suppression Backfires with Youth

  • Judicial suppression of protests makes older citizens more cautious; younger people, however, openly call for removal of migrants, reflecting declining fear of being labeled “racist.”
  • “The young people...they say we don’t want them in Spain, we want them to send them back to the country. People are so tired of this situation...” — Gonzalo Martin [25:15]

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2. UK: Flag Protests and Cultural Tensions

Guest: Ed West (British journalist, author)

• Palestinian vs. English Flags: Symbolism & Social Pressure

  • West observes widespread display of Palestinian flags in liberal, upper-middle class London neighborhoods—signaling “solidarity” among some, but creating a “territorial feel” in predominantly Muslim areas.

  • Some non-Muslim shopkeepers reportedly feel pressured to display the flag to avoid intimidation.

  • Councils in places like Tower Hamlets and Birmingham resist removing Palestinian flags, citing community tensions and security issues.

  • “Some shopkeepers have even said that they feel they have to put up the Palestinian flag in their shops because otherwise they might be intimidated.” — Ed West [33:36]

• Operation Raise the Colors: Spontaneous English Flag Movement

  • Grassroots movement began outside Birmingham, with citizens displaying English flags (St. George’s Cross) on lampposts and painting them in public spaces as a form of protest—especially in communities facing sudden migrant hotel placements.
  • Councils moved quickly to remove or paint over the flags, now citing “health and safety,” in contrast to their approach to Palestinian flags.
    • “If you want to get rid of a pothole, you can just paint a flag on it and then they’ll come and fix it.” — Ed West [38:48]

• Flag as Social Marker: The Problem of ‘Respectability’

  • Explains how the English flag (distinct from the British ‘Union Jack’) is associated in elite circles with the working class or far right, stemming from its politicization in the 1970s-80s by groups like the National Front.
  • Elites remain “uncomfortable” with national symbols outside official contexts (like football tournaments), and especially with their use in connection to immigration protests.
    • “There’s this kind of fear of...these working class thugs, you know, running around the flag. And they’re the kind of people we’re scared of, naturally.” — Ed West [41:13]

• Social Media’s Transformative Role

  • West and Bannon argue that social platforms have allowed regular people to see they’re not alone in their opposition, encouraging wider protest participation and puncturing the isolating “respectability cascade.”
    • “For the first time people have had the courage to come back and do these protests, which beforehand they wouldn’t have done, because they don’t want to be associated with the thugs that you were mentioning before.” — Steve Bannon [46:13]

• Asymmetric Multiculturalism

  • West introduces “asymmetric multiculturalism” (from Eric Kaufmann), where state and society enforce stricter scrutiny, suppression, or even pathologizing of majority nationalism, while minority identity is celebrated or protected.
    • “Modern diverse states basically rest on rules where the majority and minority groups basically are treated in completely different ways...The British state is terrified of majority nationalism.” — Ed West [48:12]

• Future of Protests & Public Mood

  • West suggests anger is mounting, cracks are appearing in established taboos, and winter might “cool” things off but underlying causes—the disconnection between public expression and private belief—remain, and protests will return.
    • “Social system can’t indefinitely survive if there is that great gap between what people say in public and what they actually believe and what they do.” — Ed West [45:38]
    • “In the long term, the discontent...and the role of social media...I think it’s having quite a big effect in Europe right now, which no one probably foresaw...the kind of basic problems are there and ultimately getting worse.” — Ed West [50:01]

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Migrant Crime and Neighborhood Tension (Spain)

  • “Nowadays it’s impossible [to walk safely] due to all these immigrants...they are harassing and attacking local people, not only young girls—also old people stealing from them, the necklace, bracelets, watches, everything.”
    — Gonzalo Martin [04:18]

• On Political Complicity

  • “It’s the Popular Party, as you said, they are part of the elite. And of course there are many entrepreneurs that wants to bring all this cheap labor hand to Spain.”
    — Gonzalo Martin [09:56]

• On Public Awakening

  • “We are not here for the salary. We are totally people that we are fighting for our country and we want the best. So in this case, Vox is the one who is taking advantage of all these years of work of many patriots...”
    — Gonzalo Martin [15:10]

• On State Response to Protests

  • “People that are younger, they don’t care anymore...especially young people, they don’t care anymore about being accused of being racist, fascist, or whatever they say. These people, they will never integrate. We don’t want that they come to Spain, we don’t want that they stay here.”
    — Gonzalo Martin [25:15]

• On Flag Politics in the UK

  • “Shopkeepers have even said that they feel they have to put up the Palestinian flag in their shops because otherwise they might be intimidated.”
    — Ed West [33:36]

  • “The English flag is a bit more...proletarian is the way to describe it. People fly the English flag during football tournaments, for instance...but once you see people protesting about immigration also carrying the English flag, then they start to get very uncomfortable.”
    — Ed West [41:02]

• On Asymmetric Multiculturalism

  • “Majority and minority groups basically are treated in completely different ways...Minority identity has to be celebrated, majority nationalism has to be suppressed.”
    — Ed West [48:12]

• On Social Media and Shifting Taboos

  • “Social media breaks that, it smashes it because you can now see someone saying something with a tweet or something on X and that will get 10 million, 15 million, 20 million views. And people know...oh, wow. I didn’t realize I was the only person who thought that—there were others.”
    — Steve Bannon [46:13]

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:03–02:40: Steve Bannon & Harnwell open + context for Spanish protests
• 02:40–19:50: Discussion with Gonzalo Martin: migrant crime, party politics, demographics
• 19:50–24:48: Political and working class dynamics, party competition, generational shifts
• 24:48–26:29: Effects of protest suppression on public attitudes, especially the young
• 27:00–32:54: Bannon introduces Ed West; context on UK flag politics and local dynamics
• 32:54–38:32: Operation Raise the Colors: grassroots flags, council responses, protest roots
• 38:32–44:34: The English flag as a class and political marker; respectability and protest stigma
• 44:34–49:43: Role of social media; asymmetric multiculturalism; public/private opinion gap
• 49:43–51:15: Will protests fade or grow? Social media’s role in long-term change

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Memorable Moments

• Ed West’s “pothole” quip, poking fun at council priorities:

  “If you want to get rid of a pothole, you can just paint a flag on it and then they’ll come and fix it.” [38:48]

• The invocation of “asymmetric multiculturalism” crystallizing audience frustrations about perceived double standards [48:12-49:43]

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Resources & Guest Socials

• Gonzalo Martin / Democracia Nacional
  • Telegram and Twitter: @democracianacional
  • Website: democracianacional.es
  • Radio program: Aquila Bode Europa
• Ed West
  • Substack: edwest.co.uk
  • Twitter: @edwest

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Summary

Through first-hand interviews and pointed analysis, this episode paints a portrait of intensifying social fracture in Spain and the UK over mass migration, the failings of legacy political parties, and the grassroots cultural responses—from street protests to national flag movements. Across both contexts, Bannon and guests argue, mainstream parties of both right and left have lost legitimacy, while younger and working-class citizens are increasingly vociferous in their opposition, unafraid of old taboos. Social media acts as a force multiplier, breaking the elite’s monopoly on public narrative. As social, ethnic, and identity-based lines harden, the confrontation between “official” multiculturalism and indigenous national sentiment promises to intensify in the coming years.

Transcript

[Stephen K. Bannon]

This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going.

[Steve Bannon]

Medieval on these people.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Reasons I got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people, the people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen. And where do people like that go to share the big lie? MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved. War Room here's your host, Stephen k.

[Ed West]

Band.

[Steve Bannon]

Friday, 5th of September Anno Domini 2025 Harnwell here at the helm on Steve Bannon's War Room. Well folks, you might have seen over recent press coverage right across the world. In the uk, in Austria, there are, in France, there are increasing numbers of anti migrant, anti invader protests breaking out. Well, that's also the case in Spain, specifically in, I think in Madrid and Barcelon have had a number of anti migrant protests. And recently there was this specific case in just outside of Madrid where a guy of Moroccan extraction raped a young girl, accused of raping a young girl and that kicked off a particularly aggressive protest around the first reception centre. Now with me to break this down and to describe some of the local sentiment is someone I met about six months ago in Rome at a Forza Nuova conference, Gonzalo Martin, who is vice president of Democratica National Democracy. Gonzalo, welcome onto the show. I hope I pronounced that reasonably satisfactorily. Why don't you start off and explain just what has happened at this migrant center and then go on to say what the local reaction has been.

[Gonzalo Martin]

Yes, in Spain we have many centers for immigrants, minors and a companion that they are usually the outsides of the big cities in the proletarian neighborhoods and in this case in Orthaleza is a neighborhood of Madrid, not in the center is a little bit far away from from the center. And since many months we were accusing the government of Madrid and the government of Spain to bring all these immigrants that they don't want to adapt and they don't want to integrate. In Spain they're supposed to be minors, but we are not sure if they are minors because when they enter Spain to break the passport and we never know the real age of them. And when the doctors come to make some DNA test to verify if they are minors or not. Sometimes it's difficult to know because there is a gap of two years and most part of times they are not even minor. So in this case, these people with our money, with the, with the money of our taxes, they are living from us and they have this kind of summer camp holidays in these centers. In the, in this case, it was in the, in Madrid and they are free during the day. And of course they are around the neighborhood stealing, they are harassing people. And in the this particular case, there was this migrant, 17 years old, raping a Spanish girl, 14 years old. And this is not the first time something like this is happening. It's happening more often than the journalists say, of course, because they don't want to make publicity out of this. But it's something that is happening continuously in all these immigrant centers because these people, as I said, they are coming the worst of those countries and they don't have any kind of respect for Spanish people, and of course, neither for the Spanish women. So, so this have been used by the extreme left to accuse the neighbors of the neighborhood of Fortaleza of being racist because they were protesting because they want to be living in the neighborhood like always, a really relaxed neighborhood without problems, where you can walk your dog, going with your family to the park. But nowadays it's impossible due to all these immigrants that they are harassing and attacking local people, not only young girls, also old people stealing from them, the necklace, bracelets, watches, everything. So in this case, it became more popular, this incident, due to the fact that they're accusing two guys that they were with a mask of attacking another three immigrants after what happened to this Spanish girl. But they never talk about all these times, all the, all the, all the problems that we are having with them, and all the women that have been raped and harassed, and they are of course, never in public TV talking about this because they are afraid that people wake up and that there is a kind of riot against all this migrant policy from the Spanish government.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, Gonzalo, let me ask you this, because frequently on the war room, one of the points that we, that we make, what that we repeatedly make, is that it's really the center right political party that is responsible historically for a lot of what's the huge influxes of migration, what has been. And we often say, like for example, in the Spanish context, really, that the Popular Party isn't a center right political party whatsoever. And this is the same like the mainstream Republicans in America or the Tories in the uk they're really, sort of. It's just basically that these are vehicles and instruments that have been hijacked by globalist elites. And as a consequence of that, over many decades you've had the formation of new political parties which the press will obviously term as being far right, such as Democracia national, such as vox, obviously. Tell me what the response has been, because you have the socialists on the left who are in control at the moment, and they're obviously panicking. You know that they're panicking because as we go on into the conversation discussing like this, the judiciary is clamping down on the popular protest, saying that they're sparking anti immigrant sentiment, as if that sentiment didn't actually exist. Anyway, tell me, however, I want the audience to hear you, in your words, describe the real difference on the right of the political spectrum between the Popular Party and then between your party, Democracy national, and VOX as well, because both of you, both you and VOX have been suppressed in your ability to organize protests. But tell me, I really just want to drill down on the thing here about the. The center right. Tell me about the Popular Party and what its position has been in the face of these protests.

[Gonzalo Martin]

Well, the Popular Party, they are, of course, the region. Spain is almost a federal state. So we have like 17 states inside of this what they call autonomous community, and Madrid is one of them. So it's like an independent state inside of the Spanish state. So the government of Madrid is right wing with Popular Party, and the general government of Spain is socialist. So they have this war. They use immigration to attack each other. So what the Socialist Party is doing is now taking these minor, these immigrants from, especially from Canary island, and they distribute them in Spain through communities. But of course, they always take more immigrants to the communities where the Socialist Party is not in power. So in this case, they bring more to Madrid than, for example, to Catalonia, because in Catalonia, the socialism power, so they use it as a weapon against them because of course, they know that nobody wants to have the immigrants. And nobody wants that these minors or that they are not even minors coming to the neighborhood and doing what they do. Nobody wants them. So the Popular Party, what they, what they do is to. To say that they don't have enough money to provide to these immigrants a good life, that they will need more money from the central government. But of course they don't receive it because they are political rivals. And they only use this speech against the central government about money, about the conditions of these centers for immigrants. And they don't talk about the root of the problem is immigration. And I want to give important point about all this immigration history in Spain, the Socialist government was. The Socialist Party was in the Spanish ruling in Spain till 1996. Since the Franco death, we had mostly only socialist governments till 1996. In 1995, one year before the Popular Party ruled Spain. During eight years, consecutive eight years in Spain, we had half million immigrants in 2005 that the Popular Party was already in power for seven years. Sorry, no, were in power for ten years. We had in Spain we passed from half million immigrants to 5 million immigrants. And this was with the Popular Party. So when right wing people in Spain, they say, oh, the socialists are the one bringing the immigrants, it's not true, he's the Popular Party because the Popular Party, as you said, they are part of the lead. And of course there are many entrepreneurs that wants to bring all this cheap labor hand to Spain.

[Steve Bannon]

Gonzalo, this point is so important to get a correct understanding of what is happening in Europe, because it's exactly the same situation sort of 10 years later with Angela Merkel in Germany. Again you have someone supposedly of the center right, but not remotely in reality, then you have the, the creation of parties to the right of the so called inverted commas, to the right of the Christian Democrat Union, for example, the alternative for Deutschland and the government there, especially the judiciary, are trying to suppress the adf. It's the same thing in Spain, important folks, that here in continental Europe it is really the center right political party that is to blame for a lot of the invasion, the third world invasion that is overrunning us here now currently. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's Isabel Ayuzo who's the president of the local regional government. She's the Popular Party. I've seen some of her responses to these protests and they seem to be pretty performative. That is to say, she's trying to, with a few weak words, say, oh look, well perhaps this guy is maladapted. Perhaps this guy, this rapist needs to be returned with some 37 others. But if you're talking about 37 people, as you're saying, out of 5 million, and that was sort of, sort of 20 years ago, that's not going to solve the problem. It's not even going to have any serious amelioration of the condition whatsoever. It is total theater. Our people in Spain are people here by the Torre Peninsula, Pacheco, where these protests, north region protests are flaring up. Are people, do they realize, do they accept that the Popular Party is simply Part of the problem here. And that's why they're looking towards you and towards VOX for a new alternative or do these words actually carry some weight?

[Gonzalo Martin]

Well, people are changing, of course, but they still is not the same. The people voting for Popular Party in big cities and then people voting for Popular Party in the rural areas. People in rural areas, sometimes they don't have, for example, a party like Box that is much bigger than my party. They don't have maybe enough candidates. So as happened in the village of my father, not far away from Madrid, in Toledo, you have only like the Communist, the Socialists and the Popular Party run into elections. There is not even the candidate of box. So people in the countryside, they still having this mentality of the Spanish Civil War, that there was between communists and anti Spanish, against right wing and patriotic and fascist in the Spanish Civil War. So in Spain, many people in the rural areas, they still thinking that is this the blues? So in this case the blue are the nationalists against the reds. And it's not like this anymore because the Popular Party is the same problem for Spain. It represents the same problem for Spain than the Socialist Party. But in the rural areas they usually have a little bit more radical speech. And it's common to meet some of the candidates of the Popular Party in a bar with pictures of Franco, for example, and cheering Viva Espana or something like this. That in big cities they wouldn't do this. So they still lying to people and they still believe, making them believe that they are the good ones. But of course they are not. And people are waking, of course we, my party, Democracy national, we are fighting for Spain and we are denouncing the situation with immigration since 1995. And our first slogan was the Spanish first and our box that came later copy this slogan for NASA and many other things. What I consider is good because we want these people to wake up. So I can say that more or less 20%, 15, 20% of Spanish people are already tired of the Popular Party. They don't believe in them anymore and they will vote for Box, for example. And many of the people voting for Box, they don't know us.

[Ed West]

They.

[Gonzalo Martin]

They heard about us or some slogans or some political campaigns that we did back then. And now VOX is taking advantage of all the work we're doing in 30 years. It's no problem about that because we are not here for the salary. We are totally people that we are fighting for our country and we want the best. So in this case, VOX is the one who is taking advantage of all these years. Of work of many patriots, it's okay. But yes, people are changing mentality in some places, especially where there are so many immigrants. And they listen with the. What the Popular Party politicians are saying, saying that we need from now till 2050, 37 million immigrants in Spain. They set for the pensions to be paid. So people are saying, how can you say we need 37 million more of immigrants? We are, we are already like. We have already like 12, 14 million immigrants in Spain and we are becoming the minority. So some people, they are seeing it in other cases, like my parents, they are from a big city, are from Madrid, they will vote for Popular Party always because they live in a good area, they don't suffer immigration like in other parts of Madrid, for example. And they are still thinking that VOX maybe is too radical. Let me.

[Steve Bannon]

That 37 million figure seems to me an incredible number. I think a million Syrians were taken in by Angela Merkel 10 years ago. A million. And that fundamentally changed the political landscape in Germany. That really created the AfD phenomenon. That in itself, that's a million and a half. And Germany is a lot larger country than Spain. That 37. What is the population of Spain right now? It's about like 65 million.

[Gonzalo Martin]

Less, less. We are officially, I think 48 million. But you have to know, I will give some tips really, really fast about the Spanish situation. As I said, In 1995 we had half million immigrants and we were 39 million Spaniards. And back then, already in 1995, we had already more deaths than people getting born in Spain. So it means that we recover from that. From that time, we are having less and less children in Spain from native Spanish people, and we have more, more people dying and talking about native Spanish people. So all the growth of population in Spain in the last 30 years, if we were 39 million people in 1995 and now we are officially 48, all the growth is 100% from immigration. So it's not only 9 million more people living in Spain, it's 9 million more than 1995. By taking into account that there are more people dying than getting born in Spain, we were calculating more or less the real population, the real figures of the immigrant population in Spain. And we can say that Maybe from these 48 million people living in Spain, 14 are already immigrants. Because we have also the problem that with the Spanish constitution in the hands, it's written in the Spanish constitution that all the people coming from countries that belongs, that used to belong part of the Spanish Empire, so all America, some countries in Africa The Philippines, when they come to Spain and they stay legally 2 years, after 2 years they can already start the procedure to become, to become Spanish, to have the Spanish nationality. So after three years in Spain, they are already Spanish like me officially. And these people disappear from the statistics, from everything. So when they say that one Spanish guy was raping a woman, probably was not the Spanish. He has only the Spanish nationality. So with this constitution we have in Spain, it's very difficult to know who is Spanish and who is not. The only a statistic that you can find that is talking about the region of the immigrant or of the people living in Spain. Because in Spain it's forbidden to make statistics according to the race. It's totally forbidden. The only statistic you can find on Google is that in Spain there are around nine million and a half people that were not born in Spain. So nine million and a half were not born in Spain. It means that they are immigrants. But what happened with all the children they are having here in the last 30 years? So this is why I'm saying that we are 14 million, we have 14 million of immigrants and we have also half million, more or less, I think is even more half million of illegal immigrants that they are not part of the statistics.

[Steve Bannon]

I'm going to drill down on that in just one moment. Stand by if you wouldn't mind, Gonzalo. And we'll come back to this. When inflation jumps. When you hear the national Debt is over $37 trillion, do you ever think maybe now would be a good time to buy some gold? Whether as a hedge against inflation, peace of mind during global instability, or just for sensible diversification, Birch Gold Group believes every American should own physical gold and so they created something special. Until September 30th if you are a first time gold buyer, Birchgold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, request an info kit now. Just text Bannon to 989-898-plus. Birch Gold Group can help you roll an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA in gold and you are still eligible for a rebate in free metals of up to $10,000. Birch Gold is the only precious metals company we at the War Room Trust, as do tens of thousands of their customers. So right now, your first time to buy gold and take advantage of this rebate up to $10,000. When you buy before the September 30th deadline, just text Bannon to 989898 and claim your eligibility. Get your free info kit. That's Bannon to 989-898. Well, Gonzalo, we've got about three minutes left of this. Just tell me, if you wouldn't mind, things we spoke about the collapse and degradation. Degradation of the center right of the Popular Party. Just give me two minutes, if you will, on, on the left, on the Socialists, I saw that Francisco Martin came out with the statement that it's unacceptable to criminalize vulnerable populations. And this really just shows you the priorities of these people. There's nobody apparently in the center right or center left that's worried about the vulnerable population which are ordinary working class Spaniards. Just give me your. Tell me how is it going down on the ground with blue collar workers, with working class people in Spain to hear this from their elites. And the fact that if you think it's bad already, if you think it's bad in Germany, just wait to see what will happen when they bring in 37 million people, which of course won't just remain in Spain. They're going to travel all over the continent. That is going to be. That will be fundamentally transformative. But just first give me your. In your closing remarks, give me your reaction and tell me how this goes down with ordinary working class Spaniards who are trying to make it to the end of the month.

[Gonzalo Martin]

So yes, you are right. I think in Spain is happening a little bit what, what happened in France with Front national, many people, many workers, they saw that the left, the lefties, the left wing parties, they were giving priority always to foreigners and they saw how the conditions they were going worse and worse. The salaries, they were stagnant and they were earning the same the last 20 years like it's happening in Spain and there are many people waking up and they don't look anymore to the left people that they were in the family, they were all communist. Now they are changing and many of them, they start to support, for example Vox, that as I said, Vox is just taking advantage of the work of many years of people like us that we were saying that immigration is a problem. So there are many, there are more and more. In the case, for example of Democracy Nacional, when we were running to elections, we usually get more votes in the proletarian areas than the bourgeois areas. So working class people that are the one who are suffering the immigration, they are the ones who face all these problems and they know how they are and they know how it's not cool and multi culty to have neighbors above living on your. Above of your apartment from Dominican Republic. Listening to music 24 hours or gypsies on your left, or some Arabs with the praying and people that are living with those immigrants, they are working class people. And of course they see that they are totally abandoned by the left because the left is. They only care about the immigrants. And in the case of my party of Democracy national many the most part of us, I can say that we are working class people, we have really humble jobs and because we are the one who live with the immigration.

[Steve Bannon]

Gonzalo, 60 seconds on this and then we have to end. 60 seconds. When Spaniards are seeing that these protests are being suppressed by judicial order under the accusation that they will just inflame anti migrant sentiment, does that make people more enthusiastic towards supporting you or less enthusiastic?

[Gonzalo Martin]

Let's say that boomers, they were always afraid of the law and people that they are younger, they don't care anymore. They are so tired of the situation that every time that there is a protest like this, if you see what the journalists, when they are asking to people protesting people that they are boomers or they are older, they always say, I'm not racist, I'm not racist, I'm just here because we don't want to have them here in the neighborhood. So the problem for them is that they don't want to have them in the neighborhood. They want that they move the immigrant center to other neighborhoods. But if you listen to the young people, these young people, they say we don't want them in Spain, we want them to send them back to the country. So people are so, so tired of this situation, that especially young people, they don't care anymore about being accused of being racist, fascist or whatever they say. These people, they will never integrate. We don't want that they come to Spain, we don't want that they stay here. We don't want that to everything for them, that they will be so ungrateful for us in the future, as they are doing. We just want them to kick them out. We want them that they come back to the country and many people they start to see it and it's less political and correct. Now many people, they are, they feel free to say it. Maybe 20 years ago, if you will say yes to control immigration, you will consider a racist, really dangerous racist.

[Steve Bannon]

Gonzalo, we have to stop there. Sadly, we could go on just very, very quickly, what's your social media? Where can people get hold of you? And Democracia Nacional, you can follow us.

[Gonzalo Martin]

In the telegram and twitter democracianacional. We have also a website Democracianacional es and we are very active and we have really interesting programs. Also, we have a radio program called Aquila Bode Europa. I invite you all to listen to us.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

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[Gonzalo Martin]

Today, kill America's voice.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Family, are you on Getter yet?

[Steve Bannon]

No.

[Ed West]

What are you waiting for? It's free, it's uncensored, and it's where.

[Steve Bannon]

All the biggest voices in conservative media are speaking out.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Download the Getter app right now. It's totally free. It's where I put up exclusively all of my content 24 hours a day. Want to know what Steve Bannon's thinking? Go to Getter.

[Gonzalo Martin]

That's right. You can follow all of your favorites.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack POS and so many more. Download the Getter app now. Sign up for free and be part of the movement.

[Steve Bannon]

Well, my next guest, Ed west, is a British journalist and commentator. He's written for the Daily Telegraph, the Spectator, and his most recent book is Small Men on the Wrong side side of History. And the Wrong side of History is the name of his sub stack. And from that, there is a very important article that we'll be pushing out on our social media. And that's Ed, why we've got you on the show today to talk us through this. Some of the points here which you've, in a great genius fashion, you've tied together a number of themes here really to do with the phenomenon that's rolling across the UK right now, across England specifically. About the raising of the flags. Firstly, however, in your article you just mention your own borough of Crouch End and you quite well described the phenomenon before. You go on to say how these left wing councils are ripping down the flag of St. George, the English flag, which is for American audiences, it's just the white background with the red cross on the middle of it. Before going on to that, you start off by saying what the situation is with the Palestinian flag. Just why don't you say that in your own words to give a description of what your thesis is and then we'll take it from there.

[Ed West]

Well, thanks very much for having me on those very kind words. I mentioned my own area, which is an area of sort of upper middle class liberal leaning neighbourhoods in North London. I think we had one of the highest remain votes in the referendum. And like lots of parts of London, you see a lot of Palestinian flags, sometimes people's windows, but in other parts of countries you've seen the Palestinian flags on flag posts. This started out in 2023 with the war and it has sort of two meanings. In some ways it sort of signifies a kind of, a kind of middle class left wing solidarity with, you know, the wretched of the earth and, you know, against colonial injustice, whatever. But in other parts of the country it has a much more sort of territorial feel. It signifies, I suppose, that this is a kind of predominantly Muslim area and some shopkeepers have even said that they feel they have to put up the Palestinian flag in their shops because otherwise they might be intimidated. And so there are parts of the country where, you know, row after row of houses has the Palestinian flag. And some people have come to see this as having a slight territorial feel to it. And in two parts of the country in particular, it's been noted Tower Hamlets is a borough in East London. It has a very large Bangladeshi Muslim population and the borough is run by a small party which is basically bangi led and they had Palestinian flags hanging up from lamppost all over the area. And a lot of some of the residents complained. It has historically a very. It was originally the people have complained and said they find it intimidating. The council refused to take down the flags and they said they were a symbol of international solidarity until the government forced them to do. Also happened in Birmingham. Birmingham is the major British city with the largest Muslim population. In fact, I think it's projected to become at some point Muslim majority. And again the council there refused to take down the Palestinian flags and they also said, in fact, both council said that they couldn't take down the flags without police backup because there'd be tensions within the community, in which, in other words, they'd be worried, they'd be fighting about it and both flags. So since this recent thing started.

[Steve Bannon]

So just to stop you there, when it comes to the Palestinian flag, and you were mentioning Tower Hamlets, which has a 40% Muslim population there, and you mentioned the Bengali dominated Aspire party. So when it comes to taking down from the public roundabouts and public buildings, all the rest of it, the Palestinian flag, you can't do that just by, you know, there are issues there. No concerns about health and safety on the Palestinian flags. Right. That's the point I want to underline here. Now, the council's not saying, oh, you know, right. The issue that these things are a threat to public safety, literally health and safety dynamic there, that's not being called into question right now. That will be called into question, of course, as we proceed with our conversation here. Now let's do that. Let's talk about the Operation Raise the Colors. We had the beginning of the show, just a quick segment of what's going on across the uk Many people who active on social media of the war in posse will see some of these things being thrown up, for example, on YouTube, short clips of people just going out by themselves, not necessarily raising flags, even just painting the Red Cross on white walls, which of course the council will then come along in due course and paint over. Tell us about Operation Raise the Colors first and then we'll talk about this sudden out of nowhere concern for health and safety.

[Ed West]

It just seems to start spontaneously just outside Birmingham, just south of Birmingham, in an area on the fringe of the city, people started literally just raising flags on lampposts and then it suddenly spread. York is a big movement there. Other cities like Southampton, I think Norwich has seen them. And also in Tower Hamlets in an area called the Isle of Dogs, there have been flags going up. And bear in mind, the background to this is the. There have been protests all over the summer about the placement of asylum seekers, stroke, illegal migrants, whatever you want to call them, in hotels across the country. Because there are so many coming over. The government has basically bought up lots of hotels and just filled in with lots of sort of random guys. And the Isle of Dogs is one, one such location where there have been protests by local residents about these guys. And so the flag movement has kind of arisen out of this as a kind of civil protest. And yeah, and obviously in this case the councils are much keener to get rid of these flags. It's become all of a sudden a health and safety issue. Having people raise English and British flags up and down lamp posts and also in roundabouts as well. Do you know they've been painting them?

[Steve Bannon]

These councils which are bankrupt and have no money, suddenly find the money out of nowhere to do the most essential work possible. Not filly covering in potholes, but painting over the Cross of St. George. I'm gonna ask someone if you want.

[Ed West]

To get rid of your potholes. If you want to get rid of a pothole, you can just paint flag on it and then they'll come and fix it, fill it in, no problem.

[Steve Bannon]

That's what they're concerned about. I'm going to ask you about the next theme that you raise in your article, which is how the flag of St. George and the Union Jack, the Union flag became co opted by the far right because there's an important dynamic there. But first, I just want to quickly mention Jim Rickards. What if you had the brightest mind in the war room? Delivering critical financial research every month, War Room listeners know Jim Rickards as our wise man. A former CIA, Pentagon and White House advisor with an unmatched grasp of geopolitics and capital markets, Jim predicted Trump's Electoral college victory exactly down to 312 to 226. Now he's issuing a dire warning about a moment that could define Trump's presidency and your financial future. His latest book, MoneyGPT, exposes how AI is setting the stage for financial chaos, bank runs at lightning speed, algorithm driven crashes, and even threats to national security. Right now, War Room members get a free copy of MoneyGPT when they sign up for Strategic Intelligence, Jim's flagship financial newsletter. Time is running out. Go to ricardswarroom.com now and claim your free book. That's Richard. War room.com so, Ed, just give us an analysis, especially for a largely American audience. How did this happen? Did this happen in a vacuum? Or was it also the dynamic that the center left, the center right abandoned these flags because perhaps they were ashamed of, of Britain's history and heritage?

[Ed West]

We have to understand the British kind of elites have always been much more uncomfortable with their flag, even compared to American or French elites. You remember, the American and, and the French flags came out of liberal revolutions, while the British flag doesn't have any kind of, you know, it's quite visceral. It's, it's literally a Christian symbol. And the left have always been quite uncomfortable with it, especially since about the 1970s when they thought of it as being associated with the sort of far right National Front and hooligans and thugs. And there was a kind of attempt to kind of claim it back as a sort of left wing symbol. And bear in mind the flag has a different context. So, you know, the Prime Minister will happily be seen with the British flag. The English flag is a bit more, I suppose proletarian is the way to describe it. But people fly the English flag during football tournaments, for instance, and the Prime Minister will be seen with it. But it depends on the context in any situation. Once, once you see a kind of lots, you know, once you see people protesting about immigration who also carrying the English flag, then they start to get very uncomfortable. And remember, I mean, especially in England, a lot of this has a kind of class dimension as well. There's this kind of fear of, you know, these kind of thugs, these working class thugs, you know, running around the flag. And they're the kind of people we're scared of, naturally. So there is that kind of visceral discomfort with the, especially the English flag, but to a less extent the British flag.

[Steve Bannon]

Ed, let me ask about that. And of course the other thing that perhaps Americans will be familiar with is the last night of the proms. And that's probably the only other time you might see the English flag waving, of course, along with the Union Jack as well.

[Ed West]

You mentioned as well, the last night of prompt. Now, so that is a different, you know, there are flags everywhere. There's the Ukraine flag, the pride flag, the EU flag. They all have different kind of political and social, economic context.

[Steve Bannon]

Of course, that's the point, right, that they represent different things. You mentioned something there that really is so important that people instinct, especially Brits, you know, they, they have a sort of visceral reaction normally against anything perceived as being extreme. And the idea of the English flag, The flag of St. George being used in conjunction with anti immigrant protests will send a lot of people, it would have sent a lot of people into a mood of paranoia and somewhat fear. Now my question to you, because that's a really important point. I think that line has now been crossed. I think now, and this is really thanks to social media, due to Instagram, YouTube, the messaging apps, that people can communicate en masse with other people in an unmediated form. I think the anger of what is happening now with the reception centers, the migrant centers, the migrant based crime in England has passed that level in which people actually care about what other people think about them, whether they're going on anti migrant protests where the English flag is being Waved. They've transcended that sense of that very English sense of fear of being associated with anything extreme. And they actually think what is happening right now by our mainstream elites is more extreme than the social disapproval that might have come before. How does that thesis strike you?

[Ed West]

I think there's definitely a bit of a, you know, respectability cascade as, as it's called about these issues. They used to be, you know, if, if only like thugs and fascists turn up at an event, no one else is going to turn up at the event. So then therefore it's only going to be thugs and fascists. There is definitely like the protests that have been ongoing this summer. It's obvious that the kind of makeup is very different. You know, last year's, which were just rioting, basically the people who were involved in last year's disorders, if you looked at the cases, lots of them had repeated criminal records. They were mostly drunk. You know, it was a kind of an underclass protest. And that's obviously not the case now. You have sort of pretty normal people turning up there. You know, there is a huge difference, isn't there, between what people's revealed and their stated preferences are on all these issues. People, out of sort of politeness or social status will say, you know, I think, you know, all these kind of social changes happening in the country are great and I'm totally in favor of, you know, diversity and everything, but in their revealed preferences where they choose to live, most obviously they obviously don't agree with that. And I don't think society, you know, social system can't indefinitely survive if there is that great gap between what people say in public and what they actually believe and what they do. I mean, the most obvious example is with communism, which is kind of different system, obviously, but you know, people will have to repeat the mantra at school and work. But no one believed it. And I think there is that.

[Steve Bannon]

This is the important, this is the importance of social media. This is the importance of social media because you, you suddenly learn probably for the first time that you're not the only person thinking things. Because when the elites had all the basic. When they owned the means of production, as it were, for the culture, and they used that very effectively, they could condition people to think, oh yeah, so everybody, the half the country would be sitting there cowering in their living rooms thinking that they're the only person thinking it and therefore they conform to what they expect and perceive to actually be the majority opinion. Social media breaks that, it smashes it because you can now see Someone saying something with a tweet or something on X and that will get 10 million, 15 million, 20 million views. And people know, actually, oh, wow. I didn't realize I was the only person who thought that there were others. And that's how you, I think for the first time people have had the courage to come back and do these protests, which beforehand they wouldn't have done because they don't want to be associated with the thugs that you were mentioning before. Because especially the Brits have an innate dislike of anything that is perceived as being extremist. Look, we've got about two or three minutes left and I just want to flag up a phrase that you used in your last paragraph of this article which is absolutely brilliant. I don't know if you coined it yourself. Asymmet, Asymmetric multiculturalism, but that is absolutely brilliant. Could you just explain what that is?

[Ed West]

I should say that's Eric Hoffman, the esteemed academic and author that I, I've written about it, his thesis for. But it's brilliant. It's in his book White Shift and it's definitely worth reading.

[Steve Bannon]

Could you just give, give me like two minutes on what the thesis is behind asymmetric multiculturalism?

[Ed West]

It's basically that modern diverse states basically rest on rules where the majority and minority groups basically are treated in completely different ways. You know, in Britain this has become the two tier justices, two tier kia kind of theme. You know, minority identity has to be celebrated, majority nationalism has to be suppressed. The, you know, the prejudice within those different communities is treated in a very different way. I mean, like a lot of these ideas, it was basically devised in Soviet Union. They had exactly the same system where Russian national identity was suppressed and the Soviets encouraged minority national identity as a kind of counterweight. And that's basically what we've got. You know, this British state is terrified of national majority nationalism and all. It's, you know, even our anti extremism network is devised towards tracking supposedly nationalist sentiments amongst young white guys, even though Islamic extremism is way more of a natural threat. Because that is what a system does and that is what the system is, I suppose, most scared of and probably with good reason. But it's not, it cannot last indefinitely. You cannot treat two communities in a different way forever. It just doesn't work as a, as an idea of principle.

[Steve Bannon]

You can't. If the community that you're, that you're pouring scorn is actually still just about the numerical majority. Final word to you, Ed West. Do you think these protests are going to diminish with the passage of time or will they start to increase?

[Ed West]

Well, you have to take into account the British weather, so every single revolution Britain has ever had has been stopped by the rain. So, no, I think, I mean, in the long term, the, you know, the discontent and, you know, as you say, the role of social media. You know, it's ironic that in 2011, Western commentators were saying about how social media was going to lead to, you know, big change in the Arab world. And I think it's probably having quite a big effect in Europe right now, which no one probably foresaw in the same kind of way. You know, I think in the short term of the winter, things will die down, but the kind of basic problems are there and ultimately getting worse.

[Steve Bannon]

EdWest, I think I've been following you on Substack. You've got some great writing there. Where do people go on social media? No, no, no, it's absolutely fantastic. I love reading your output. Where do people go on social media and substack to keep up with your analysis?

[Ed West]

My substack address is just edwest.co.uk and my Twitter is just Ed West. I mean, I think I'm on Blue sky, but I stopped using it after about a week. So I, you know. But yeah, go to Twitter.

[Steve Bannon]

Great Ed West. Very, very grateful. Hope you'll come back on the show some point in the future to keep us impressed with your writings. Thank you. Thanks, Ed. Thanks very much indeed. That's all we've got time for now. The war will be back at 10am tomorrow. Thanks to Vittorio Santi Franco for his help putting the show together. To Spencer and his great team at Real America's Voice, and of course, Cameron Wallace, our producer.