Posted by
Scottish Unionist
at 10:45 AM.
There are .
Interesting fellow, Billy Bragg. Speaking in 2002 he said:
I think the Union Jack has connotations to do with Britain’s past. I think of British culture as being rather monocultural and that monoculture as centering around the monarchy, the flag and the British empire.
That's an all-too-common view which many within both the Hard Left and Scottish Nationalism would identity. But Bragg has clearly since reappraised. This is from his 2007 book,
The Progressive Patriot:
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.
He's speaking of a Britishness which is sufficiently certain of its own valuational foundations that its constituent cultures – shared and/or distinctive, indigenous and/or immigrant – are free to thrive without the artificial
promotion of one over another. He says further:
Establishing space rather than race as our foundation, we can imagine a Britishness which is the sum of every building, field, road, path; every food, custom, belief, culture; every person – in fact everything that is in Britain today, a Britishness that can only be truly appreciated by understanding how and why these things came to be here. The British identity is well placed to encompass such diversity.
Bragg succinctly exemplifies that notion in an April 2005 article in
Prospect magazine:
The answer to the "who are we?" question is found in our history but also on the streets. Why is London the most multicultural city in Europe?
But perhaps the most revealing aspect of his thinking is this: in a 2007 interview with the Scottish music website
Heaven or Las Vegas he said:
Because I had a British education, I know quite a few Scots and Welsh songs and stories and I cherish that part of my identity.
So here we have an Englishman who, while being passionately and very distinctively English, regards aspects of Scots and Welsh culture not merely as
related to his own, but as integral components of
his own identity. Such genuine multicultural richness is a direct result of the Union.
Interesting fellow, Billy Bragg. Speaking in 2002 he said:
Appears to be some selective quotations going on here which is a typical modus operandi of particular Unionist bloggers.
To expand somewhat on the selective nature of this article :
So where does Bragg see British patriotism heading in the future?
‘I admit I’m sceptical about Britishness,’ he says. ‘If Britishness is just about looking back at a glorious past, the empire and all that shit, then I think it will die."
"But IF it becomes a unifying idea that is successful for everybody – Scots, Welsh, Ulster, English, Bengali, Portuguese, Polish – if it remains open like that, then as a concept it "MIGHT JUST" survive.’
"The SNP’s civic nationalism, where you’re talking about being proud of your community, that says a lot about Scotland."
"‘I think belonging is a much more important thing than Britishness, Englishness and multiculturalism, which are all hard to define,’"
see - tinyurl.com/5qdaw4
On the topic of Britishness another
useful view point is from the English ex-editor of the London
Times who refers to
"that curious vacuity, Britishness.""
see tinyurl.com/682pbm
Traquir
No "selective quotations" or "modus operandi". I simply hadn't seen that interview.
It's well known from Billy Bragg's Guardian pieces that he admires aspects of the SNP’s “civic” nationalism (but not “separatism”) as they articulate with his own social agenda. As I said, he's an interesting fellow.
Incidentally, I would broadly agree with the comment which you cite about Britishness. If it was only about the past, it would be entirely worthless.
I should also point out that your capitalisation and quote marks around "MIGHT JUST" aren't in the original. Also note his expression "remains open like that".
Billy Bragg was born in Essex and lives in Dorset. Funny how the cybernats think SOME of his opinions are valid while decrying the right of Scots and residents of Scotland to do the same when they disagree with the SNP.
scottish unionist - you mention that Bragg admires "some aspects" of the SNP's politics.. are you aware that on a recent BBC 6 Music Stephen Merchant show, he stated that voters in Scotland were lucky to have a credible party like the SNP to vote for, and that the unionist parties in Westminster were failing the electorate?
Don't know which episode it was, but was in the last 6 weeks or so, so you should be able to track it down if you're interested. All the shows are uploaded here:
http://www.pilkipedia.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=6
An interesting fellow indeed.