English nationalism needn’t be ugly [THE GUARDIAN]

June 29, 2017As the repercussions of the referendum begin to set in, we’re addressing – quite rightly – questions about nationalism and our identities as Europeans, Britons, English, Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish. We have an opportunity to engage in that discussion fruitfully and constructively But that’s not happening.Instead the fallout of the result, beyond the political and economic earthquakes, includes a failure to properly address issues of identity. In its place, a narrow nativism has been released that tries to exclude rather than embrace. We do not need to accept this as inevitable – we must not.English nationalism in particular has become a more complex but vital issue to engage with, post-referendum. There is the Englishness of George Orwell, of values such as fair play, tolerance and respect. But that’s not inspiring the chauvinism that dominates the English nationalist scene at present.In Scotland there continues to be a resurgence of nationalism – but it is a civic-based nationalism, which means that a Scot might be Muslim, Christian, Asian or white, and championed as such by Scottish nationalists. It’s not idyllic – Scottish nationalism continues to have a thread of antipathy towards the English – but it is genuinely civic in orientation.In this regard, the likes of the UK Independence party or, worse, our English nationalists further to the right, are hardly similar to our Scottish brethren. Their contribution has simply been an atmosphere of deep intolerance in our country, not a recognition of our differences. It’s something to be deeply disquieted about – because it is getting worse.For almost two decades, I’ve researched the politics of difference in the UK and farther afield, and I’ve never before seen such a vicious uptick in brazen exhibitions of bigotry in such a short time. There is a deep undercurrent of anti-Muslim sentiment, combined with prejudice against ethnic minorities and migrants such as Poles, that continues to animate a significant portion of our population.It ought to be of concern to us all – more than a few have shown they are concerned about some types of bigotry, but not all.There are those who fail to recognise the burden Muslim Britons bear, while rightly raising the issue of maltreatment of Polish migrants; or those who reject stereotyping of all leave supporters as racists, but equivocate on mass prejudice against migrants. These are mistakes of magnificently short-sighted proportions. Our country is better than that.It isn’t necessary that English nationalism be animated by those kinds of impulses indefinitely – there is no reason why the same kind of civic nationalism that eventually predominated in the Scottish case cannot find expression in England. We need to have those discussions, just as there have been discussions of a pluralistic but integral sense of Britishness. They need to go beyond intellectual conversations in our universities, and into towns, villages and communities.But such discussions don’t happen on their own – it requires hard work and real leadership for such civically based patriotism to evolve. As the impact of Brexit hits our communities over the coming months and years, we may find we need that kind of patriotism more than ever before. Indeed, if Scottish nationalism is successful, and our country finds itself without one of its constituent parts, the issue of English nationalism, and what that means, will take centre stage in a fashion we’ve not seen hitherto.As it does, recognising the contributions of all of our communities in England and including them in our definition of Englishness becomes more necessary. If our politicians are unable to lead us in that regard – and recent weeks have not been encouraging – civil society shouldn’t allow yet another failure of leadership to define the next stage.The erratic nature of politics is staring us in the face, uncertainty on awesome display. Perhaps that is a good thing. In many ways we’ve grown complacent, and that’s partly why we find ourselves where we are today. The status quo has been broken and we must decide how we will move forward.In my lifetime, I cannot recall a time when British politics looked so unpredictable. However, in the midst of that uncertainty is the certainty of one thing: opportunity. The question is what we will use that opportunity for, and whether we will use it together. Can we define a “we” in Britain, including a specifically English “we”, that is generous and inclusive, and not destructive and divisive – where we celebrate our differences as our strengths, and resist the politics of fear?This may yet turn out to be a truly defining moment in the history of the UK and its constituent parts, and we must not shy away from it – irrespective of how we voted last Thursday. “History is in good hands,” according to Dr Timothy Winter, a contemporary English academic, and Muslim sage, at Cambridge University.As we reflect on how to move forward, it would behove us all to remember that stoical truism. The road ahead may be difficult – but it is one we are well equipped to traverse, if we rise to the challenge.Source: The Guardian