Brexiteers frequently talk of protecting “our culture”,
demanding that newcomers subscribe to it, pass tests in it or generalising that
“they” do not understand it. Do those who have been born and brought up here
understand even what it is, ourselves? Do we have the right to talk about “us”
as if there were still some race of Britons who form the core of the
population, which is gradually being eroded by the pollution of immigration?
What can “our culture” be? This is a hybrid country, a
federation of nations with their own cultures, mixed with a long history of new
ingredients contributed by arrivals from many and varied parts of the world. The
truth is that this is a nation composed of a huge variety of ethnicities,
forming a culture enriched by each and all of these. Whenever there was a
British tribe, it was before the histories taught even in our most reactionary
institutions. Angles, Jutes, Vikings, Romans, Huguenots, Irish, Jews, West
Indians, Bengalis, Somalis, etc – these are the ingredients of our happy
melting pot.
What are the fixed points, then, which we build on, using
these new ingredients? The weather – for this occupies minds, typically? Nothing
to be proud of there. Chaucer and Shakespeare – but how many citizens are
familiar with them? Our history – largely related as kings and queens, wars and
battles, imperialism and theft? Our sports – which may have been invented here
but at which prowess is far from unique?
The truth is that whatever we can identify as indigenous, our
political and moral philosophies are rooted in ancient Athens, our science in
the Arab world, our art in Italy. More recent cultural icons in this country
are not home-grown. Are not Dante, Beethoven, Voltaire and Leonardo influences
on or of our culture? Our museums and
galleries are packed with the works of great artists from all over the world, to
be admired and even [though I am not in favour] retained as national heritage against
repatriation claims. This is not to decry our home-grown national treasures,
merely to declare that we are a part of a Western European culture over 2
millennia old; and that to focus on home-grown alone is to narrow our appreciation
of what makes us tick or the world a better place.
The mantra “British x is the finest in the world” is mere
propaganda put about by those who lack the experience or learning about the
wider world. It is bandied about nonsensically in relation to our army, our
football, our beef, our healthcare, and more. Put any of these to true
comparison and perhaps the jingoism will prove hollow. This country is a fine
place to live, with fine people and much to celebrate but it is not so very
different and doubtfully superior to others. Rather, it is a part of the
cultural mix of a long-evolved international society, which it is folly or
tragedy to deny. To claim superiority for it is sheer hubris.
We could [and this
seems to be where Brexiteers would take us] define our heritage on ethnic
purity but this has been tried before, with disastrous results. We must not go
there again. Anyway, who wants a dreary diet based on what our geology, climate
and “true Brit” talent might allow us?
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