Intruders
A stark song, which gave its name to Leon's 1995 album. The intruders are unidentified outsiders - foreigners - whose presence leads to some local kids picking on one of them. Revenge is sought, violence ensues, matters escalate, and ultimately the entire population is battling for its survival, with bleak consequences. But what issue is at stake? Just that the outsiders were somehow different. Leon seems to have had in mind the demonisation of foreigners in the British press, particularly asylum seekers, and the same might be said for so-called economic migrants, whose principle affront to the political right is that they come from somewhere else.
"The protagonists of 'Intruders' and 'Just Like Animals', people who have a different culture and different beliefs are 'other', a threat, less than human. The campaign against asylum seekers by certain newspapers and certain New Labour politicians shows that they're not alone in their views." - LR (Turning Silence Into Song (songbook), p25)