Tuesday, November 01, 2005

The CRE should stop promoting British Nationalism!

Here we go again. The CRE are wrapping themselves in the union jack and pushing new British Nationalism on us all.

The latest bout of Brit flag waving is because a high proportion of people from 'ethnic minority' backgrounds in England feel more British than their fellow white citizens (who strangely enough feel English).

With so many of their fellow citizens feeling English rather than British shouldn't the CRE start promoting an English identity rather than British nationalism? After all, reinforcing Britishness within the ethnic minority community will only further ghettoise that community from their fellow English citizens.

I know that Labour has a vested interest in Britishness for their own political ambition, but the CRE's job is to promote race toleration not British nation building and nationalism.

And is it any surprise that so many members of the ethnic minority communities feel uncomfortable with the notion of Englishness when the British left wing, until very lately, said Englishness = white racists?

In Wales (as in Scotland) the situation is different, with ethnic minority communities feeling more Welsh than British, and many calling themselves Welsh and NOT British, but this doesn't stop the CRE from ramming British Nationalism down our communities' throats as well.

The job of the CRE is not to become a new front in promoting British Nationalism. Nor is it it's job to suggest that British identity is better than a Welsh, Scottish, Cornish or English identity nor that Welsh people have to accept a British identity if they don't want to be branded racist. We shouldn't accept the forcing of this new British nationalism down our throats, whatever the colour of the speaker.

2 comments:

Gareth said...

Well said.

Nicholas Michael Morgan said...

Very good point. I'll add some of those link to the side-bar now.