'Britishness' or citizenship?

'Lessons in how to be a citizen'
Muslim News, March 2008.

Pledges of allegiance to monarchs, national anthems, national days and flag waving; crowds of jubilant citizens are cheering the homecoming of their brave soldiers fighting wars that have a beginning, middle and end; a clear enemy and general purpose; Britannia is still ruling the waves with unwavering gusto. Life is good.

This is how it would be if the past 90 years didn’t happen; if Britain didn’t cede its colonies, if democracy and human rights didn’t evolve, if feminists never saw the light of day, if the Word Wide Web was a weird, dystopian, Sci Fi fantasy still festering in the warped mind of some lonely geek. But, unfortunately for some, the past 90 years really did happen.

Tradition is sacred and inspires respect, but can you really resurrect the nationalism of a bygone era to give binge-drinking, crack-smoking teenagers a sense of identity and belonging? Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, apparently thinks you can, as he welcomes the findings of the recent report on British Citizenship he commissioned. A sense of belonging would certainly make people less prone to the problems associated with anomie, but I don’t see the type of belonging being proposed here, namely a formal one based on abstract and defunct concepts, having any clout in the face of such causes of anomie as the break down of the family, the loss of communities, poverty, ghettoisation and a general disenchantment with politics.

It seems that former Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, who authored the report, has confused citizenship with nationalism: a loyalty to a geographic, ethnic and cultural collectivity that governs and represents its members through a common law. In this ‘space-age’, space has become virtual and relative; culture dynamic, fluid and postmodern; and the machine of the state is no longer the symbol of the acquiescence of its citizens. Loyalty, allegiance, obedience and worship of these flimsy notions are more redolent of an age in which army conscription was mandatory as opposed to being simply a job you do for “the adventure”.

A sense of belonging that we all so desperately need right now, especially the young, can take on many forms: parallel loyalties have been a reality since the dawn of man. I’m sure by citizenship Lord Goldsmith was really talking about civic responsibility, which he did rightly touch upon in recommending proposals to encourage volunteerism (the anomaly of financial incentives aside). Maybe he included the Oath of Allegiance and the National Day as a suggested addendum that got into the main text by an editorial accident. Either way, while we mull over how to encourage people to contribute to the community and act more responsibly towards their fellow citizens, we could possibly encourage more political devolution and greater empowerment of local councils, and it wouldn’t hurt not to berate people for putting religious beliefs before a government they feel doesn’t represent them.

We’re currently going through a time of heightened fear over disappearing British values and ‘Britishness’, with fingers pointing at the usual suspects: multiculturalism and immigration. All the furore does leave you wondering what exactly British values are, and how they differ from universal values enshrined in international law.

Citizenship, which is essentially about responsibility and fellow feeling, should never mean attachment to one cultural heritage at the expense of another; cultures themselves aren’t set in stone but are the fruits of time and circumstance. Becoming good citizens in this brave new world would mean some much needed moving on as well as some much needed growing up.