Race, culture and nationality by Bill Baillie

There is a growing sense of English identity, partly in response to the devolution of power to Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, and partly a result of the “football nationalism” promoted by the popular press. Young men draped in the flag of St George chanting, “in-ger-land” can be seen whenever we play an international match. Of course, many of them, especially those from the big cities, are of Scottish, Irish or Welsh descent. And some of them are clearly of Afro-Caribbean or Asian ancestry. But they are united by “nationalism.”

Nationality is a complex mixture of race, culture, language, religion and allegiance. There are black men serving in the armed forces that wear their uniforms with pride and are ready to fight for Queen and country. And there are native-born whites that couldn’t care less about nationality and have no loyalty to any flag.

European nationalists regard the current wave of East European immigrants as cousins.  But linguistic nationalists regard English-speaking blacks as more acceptable than unintelligible “foreigners.” Again the influence of sport and the popular press can be seen. Many of the football players in the English national squad are black or mixed race.

Most European countries are comprised of regions enjoying various degrees of independence. The unraveling of the United Kingdom may result in three or four nation states instead of one. Spain is divided into seventeen autonomous regions. Italy is moving towards a federal structure. Germany is a union of sixteen states. Belgium is divided between Dutch and French speaking regions. Only France remains a monolithic state despite some separatist attitudes in Brittany, Corsica and the Basque country. The nation states of Europe appear to be fragmenting internally as the continent itself moves towards a Swiss model based on local autonomy within the protective embrace of federation.

Within this emerging federation mass migration from the Third World will force Europeans to forget superficial differences of language or religion. If something is not done about it the future population of Belgium will speak Arabic rather than French or Dutch. And King Billy and the Battle of the Boyne will mean nothing to the Somali and Pakistani citizens of Ireland.

The answer lies in immigration control, educational reform and solidarity. Liberalism has promoted multi-racialism over homogeneity. But the message can be changed and people can be made aware of their heritage. It would only take a generation to transform attitudes and revive European consciousness. We have moved beyond crude racism and tribalism but ethic conservation remains a legitimate objective. The survival of European civilization with its scientific, economic and industrial capacity is essential for all mankind.