Editing Malcolm X (section)

=== France and United Kingdom ===
On November{{nbsp}}23, 1964, on his way home from Africa, Malcolm&nbsp;X stopped in Paris, where he spoke in the [[Maison de la Mutualité|Salle de la Mutualité]].<ref>Bethune, Lebert, "Malcolm&nbsp;X in Europe", {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|pp=226–231}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Malcolm X|Breitman|1989|pp=113–126}}.</ref> After his return to the United States, he accused the United States of [[United States involvement in regime change|imperialism]] in the Congo by supporting Tshombe and "his hired killers" as he called the White mercenaries.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157"/> X accused Tshombe and the American president [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] of "...sleeping together. When I say sleeping together, I don't mean that literally. But beyond that, they're in the same bed. Johnson is paying the salaries, paying the government, propping up Tshombe's government, this murderer".<ref name="Tuck 2014 157"/>

X expressed much anger about [[Operation Dragon Rouge]], where the United States Air Force dropped Belgian paratroopers into the city of Stanleyville, modern [[Kisangani]], to rescue the White Belgian hostages from the Simbas.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157"/> Malcolm&nbsp;X maintained that there was a double standard when it came to White and Black lives, noting it was an international emergency when the lives of Whites were in danger, making Dragon Rouge necessary, but that nothing was done to stop the abuses of the Congolese at the hands of "Tshombe's hired killers".<ref name="Tuck 2014 157–158">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|pp=157–158}}.</ref> X charged that the "Congolese have been massacred by White people for years and years" and that "chickens come home to roost."<ref>{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=157 & 159}}.</ref>

A week later, on November{{nbsp}}30, Malcolm&nbsp;X flew to the United Kingdom. On December{{nbsp}}3 he took part in a [[Debate#Oxford-Style debate|debate]] at the [[Oxford Union]] Society. The motion was taken from a statement made earlier that year by [[Barry Goldwater presidential campaign, 1964|US presidential candidate]] [[Barry Goldwater]]: "Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is No Vice; Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice is No Virtue".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1964-republican-convention-revolution-from-the-right-915921/?all |title=1964 Republican Convention: Revolution from the Right |first=Rick |last=Perlstein |author-link=Rick Perlstein |date=August 2008 |work=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian Magazine]] |access-date=June 20, 2015 |archive-date=January 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220117112627/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1964-republican-convention-revolution-from-the-right-915921/?all |url-status=live }}</ref> Malcolm&nbsp;X argued for the affirmative, and interest in the debate was so high that it was televised nationally by the [[BBC]].<ref>Bethune, "Malcolm&nbsp;X in Europe", {{harvnb|Clarke|1990|pp=231–233}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brothermalcolm.net/2003/mx_oxford/index.html |title=Malcolm&nbsp;X Oxford Debate |access-date=October 2, 2014 |author=Malcolm&nbsp;X |date=December 3, 1964 |publisher=Malcolm X: A Research Site |archive-date=February 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201044843/http://www.brothermalcolm.net/2003/mx_oxford/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In his address at Oxford, Malcolm rejected the label of "Black Muslim" and instead focused on being a Muslim who happened to be Black, which reflected his conversion to Sunni Islam.<ref name="Tuck 2014 154">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=154}}.</ref> Malcolm only mentioned his religion twice during his Oxford speech, which was part of his effort to defuse his image as an "angry Black Muslim extremist", which he had long hated.<ref name="Tuck 2014 154"/> During the debate at Oxford, he criticized the way the Anglo-American press portrayed the Congo crisis, noting the Simbas were portrayed as primitive cannibalistic "savages" who engaged in every form of depravity imaginable while Tshombe and the White mercenaries were portrayed in a very favorable light with almost no mention of any atrocities on their part.<ref name="Tuck 2014 157–158"/>

Malcolm X charged that the Cuban émigré pilots hired by the CIA to serve as Tshombe's air force indiscriminately bombed Congolese villages and towns, killing women and children, but this was almost never mentioned in the media while the newspapers featured long accounts of the Simbas "raping White women, molesting nuns".<ref name="Tuck 2014 158">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=158}}.</ref> Likewise, he felt the term mercenary was inappropriate, preferring the term "hired killer" and that Tshombe should not be described as a premier as he preferred the term "cold-blooded murderer" to describe him.<ref name="Tuck 2014 158"/> Malcolm&nbsp;X stated that what he regarded as the extremism of the Tshombe government was "never referred to as extremism because it is endorsed by the West, it is financed by America, it's made respectable by America, and that kind of extremism is never labelled as extremism".<ref>{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|pp=158–159}}.</ref>

Malcolm X argued this extremism was not morally acceptable "since it's not extremism in defense of liberty".<ref name="Tuck 2014 159">{{harvnb|Tuck|2014|p=159}}.</ref> Many in the audience at Oxford were angered by Malcolm&nbsp;X's thesis and his support for the Simbas who had committed atrocities with one asking, "What sort of extremism would you consider the killing of missionaries?".<ref name="Tuck 2014 159"/> In response, Malcolm&nbsp;X answered "It is an act of war. I'd call it the same kind of extremism that happened when England dropped bombs on German cities and Germans dropped bombs on English cities".<ref name="Tuck 2014 159"/>

On February{{nbsp}}5, 1965, Malcolm&nbsp;X flew to the UK again,<ref>{{harvnb|Carson|1991|p=349}}.</ref> and on February{{nbsp}}8 he addressed the first meeting of the Council of African Organizations in London.<ref>{{harvnb|Perry|1991|p=351}}.</ref> The next day he tried to return to France, but was refused entry.<ref>{{harvnb|Natambu|2002|p=312}}.</ref> On February{{nbsp}}12, he visited [[Smethwick]], near [[Birmingham]], where the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] [[Smethwick in the 1964 general election|had won the parliamentary seat]] in the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]]. The town had become a byword for racial division after the successful candidate, [[Peter Griffiths]], was accused of using the slogan, "If you want a nigger for a neighbour, vote Liberal or [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]." In Smethwick, Malcolm&nbsp;X compared the treatment of ethnic minority residents with the treatment of Jews under Hitler, saying: "I would not wait for the fascist element in Smethwick to erect gas ovens."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.irr.org.uk/news/black-british-history-remembering-malcolms-visit-to-smethwick/ |title=Black British History: Remembering Malcolm's Visit to Smethwick |access-date=October 2, 2014 |last=Kundnani |first=Arun |date=February 10, 2005 |work=Independent Race and Refugee News Network |publisher=[[Institute of Race Relations (United Kingdom)|Institute of Race Relations]] |archive-date=September 19, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919004340/http://www.irr.org.uk/news/black-british-history-remembering-malcolms-visit-to-smethwick/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/britains-most-racist-election-smethwick-50-years-on |title=Britain's Most Racist Election: The Story of Smethwick, 50 Years On |first=Stuart |last=Jeffries |date=October 15, 2014 |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=April 17, 2016 |archive-date=August 10, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220810100135/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/15/britains-most-racist-election-smethwick-50-years-on |url-status=live }}</ref>