Far from being the antithesis of multiculturalism, Britishness has that very concept at its heart, the Union Jack a visual representation of the coming together of people of different nationalities, ethnicities and faiths to form a modern state.
Billy Bragg: "The Progressive Patriot"
(Just finished it, some interesting stuff, hopefully I'll get round to doing a review in the next couple of days.)
2 comments:
Taken out of context I think. Remember Billy also wrote this rather damning perspective on British-ness:
Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset
And put it in the attic with the emperors old clothes
When did it fall apart? Sometime in the 80s
When the Great and the Good gave way to the greedy and the mean
Britain isn’t cool you know, its really not that great
It's not a proper country, it doesn’t even have a patron saint
It's just an economic union that’s passed its sell-by date
Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset
And ask our Scottish neighbours if independence looks any good
‘Cos they just might understand how to take an abstract notion
Of personal identity and turn it into nationhood
Is this the 19th century that I’m watching on tv?
The dear old Queen of England handing out those MBEs
Member of the British Empire - that doesn’t sound too good to me
Gilbert and George are taking the piss aren’t they?
Gilbert and George are taking the piss.
What could be more British than here’s a picture of my bum?
Gilbert and George are taking the piss
Take down the Union Jack, it clashes with the sunset
And pile all those history books, but don’t throw them away
They just might have some clues about what it really means
To be an Anglo hyphen Saxon in England.co.uk
"Taken out of context I think"
In the context of the overall message of the book, no it isn't.
He's done some very heavy thinking on patriotism and British/Englishness since the BNP rolled into Barking in 2006, you may be surprised with some of his conclusions. You'll just have to buy the book (or wait for my review!) to find out more.
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