Independence and Interdependence - Politics of the English Independence Party

I take a keen interest in the current debate on Scottish independence. At some point this year, Scottish people will vote in a referendum on whether Scottish devolution should continue in its current form, should be extended to full devolution, or should transmogrify into full independence: effectively ending a Union which has existed for over three hundred years. I’m fascinated by concepts of national identity- what it means to be Scottish in the 21st Century. The SNP is careful to avoid the negative connotations of nationalism- appeals to a sentimentalised, romanticised past, an identity based on ‘the other’; what we are not; and commensurate notions of ethnic purity. Therefore, notions of Scottish identity are complex and fluid. Scotland is a nation which was not only colonised but also participated in a global colonisation project. I am reminded of this every time I pass Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow, named after one of our ‘Tobacco Lords’, who made his fortune in Jamaica from slave labour. Furthermore, I am also interested in English national identity: what it means to be English, the concept of Englishness and political debates over English independence. In this pursuit, I discovered the website of The English Independence Party (EIP).

The party is committed to furthering the welfare of the English and combating widespread institutionalised discrimination against the English. However, we recognise that where elected, we will also have to represent the interest of all who are lawfully living England. We will observe this obligation which is an essential part of a representative democracy. We regret that others have felt no need to represent our interests’ (1). Thus, immediately, Constantine makes an important distinction: there is a difference between ‘the English’ and those ‘who are lawfully living in England.His concession that, if elected, the party will ‘have to’ represent the interests of this lawfully abiding group is reminiscent of a bone being gradually twisted from a bulldog’s jaws; an English bulldog of course; not a British one.

Constantine subsequently clarifies the difference between ‘The English’ and ‘all who are lawfully living in England’. It seems that there are two types of Englishness in his England- ‘civic Englishness’ (2) and ‘ethnic Englishness’ (3). ‘Civic Englishness’, for the EIP, is ‘determined simply by an association with England, perhaps by residence or birth. Anyone, regardless of ethnicity, can assume this identity’ (4) whereas, ‘ethnic Englishness’ is ‘founded on a sense of community and a way-of-life. We English are an ethnic group and a nation. We are a group of people sharing ancestral roots, a history, a language and a sense of belonging together. We are of English origin, descent and heritage’ (5)

So, what is to become of the ‘civic English’ in the prospective dystopian England of the EIP? Will they be tolerated, exterminated, or will a system of apartheid be introduced? At this point, Constantine clambers aboard his white charger and belches his pre battle address to his troops- ‘They did not ask our permission when they systematically took from us our ability to live freely in our own land, and we shall not ask their permission as we set about taking back that freedom’ (6)

Anyone with an ounce of intellect would find EIP policies repellent. However, in times of economic crisis, we look to rid ourselves of ‘the other’ and synthesise a sense of identity based on who we are not. Those who are vulnerable and downtrodden are pushed into the arms of parties like the EIP and BNP. Western economic dominance was founded on the exploitation of the resources of indigenous cultures and the enslavement of their inhabitants. Furthermore, the perpetual economic enslavement of developing and third world economies is an integral and inherent component of our current system. Yet, when the corruption of that system is exposed by the current financial crisis, we do not examine our own complicity: we feel the pinch in our pockets and look for someone to blame, marginalise, demonise, and exterminate. In the words of Joe Strummer, ‘if Adolf Hitler flew in today, they’d send a limousine anyway’.

References 1-6: http://www.englishindependenceparty.org/index.php