How do you live in a country where you disagree with so much of the politics?

Reconciling with your nationality can be a complicated thing to do

Rosie Brennan
13th May 2024
Image:pixabay_TheDigitalArtist

My relationship to my British nationality can be rather complicated at times, and much of this complication has arisen from issues with both current and historical British politics.

As a country built on colonialism, much of the history of Britain is not something I am proud to acknowledge. The fact that this country has quite literally stolen cultures, languages and pride from millions around the globe is a very strange, complicated and difficult thing to comprehend, particularly due to the fact that colonialism is often not included in the school history curriculum.

"much of the history of Britain is not something I am proud to acknowledge"

At least in my own personal experience, we were taught about 'British pride and excellence'- the bravery of fighting troops in WW1 and the iconic rulings of the English Kings and Queens, but never the part Britain played in the slave trade or the Irish famine. The word 'colonialism' was barely ever mentioned in school, right up until GCSE history.

What's more, education on racism in school nearly always emphasised the American civil rights movement- providing the illusion to 9-year-old British children hearing the word 'racism' for the first time, that it 1) only existed in America, and that 2) the Civil Rights Movement completely solved all issues with racism to this day. As ridiculous as this sounds, it has been the experience for so many of us.

"'colonialism' was barely ever mentioned in school"

This miseducation of students in Britain certainly has a part to play in the ignorance of xenophobic discourse that is still present in British politics to this day. Groups like the English Defence League, who aim to keep England 'English', are birthed simply out of ignorance.

To want to keep Britain, a country literally built on the culture and language of loads of other countries, 'British', makes absolutely no sense.

Even the English language has an indefinite amount of influences from all over the globe, so aiming to prevent all immigration and multicultural influence in order to 'preserve' whatever 'Britishness' is, is an impossible task.

It is still clear through the actions of the Conservative government and those that support it, that this ignorance is still alive and well to this day. Even the particular language choices made by our government, like 'Stop The Boats', manage to dehumanise and villianise immigrants to the point where they are positioned as a threat to 'our' country.

"'Stop the boats' almost makes you forget these boats are filled with actual human beings"

'Stop The Boats' almost makes you forget that these boats are filled with actual human beings, with thoughts, feelings, friends and family like everybody else. By deliberately choosing to leave human life out of the conversation, the Tory party have managed to ignore the compassion all humans deserve, instead making immigrants sound like they are deliberately coming to Britain to 'destroy' what 'we' have built.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ReLated Articles
magnifiercross
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram
Copy link
Powered by Social Snap