Back in February, tramping through knee-deep snow, a friend said something which surprised me.
Nationalism is a force of destruction.
No, I argued. Nationalism is a force for unity and joy.
Love, loyalty and celebration.
Admittedly, I was only thinking of the streets of Cardiff outside the Millennium Stadium after Wales had just won. The joy, the laughter, the hugs and happiness at what our tiny, brave, beautiful country just achieved. “Way-els, Way-els, Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi…”
Wales won last night.
Normally I’d be waving flags and cheering and gently teasing all my non-Welsh friends. But yesterday, displays of nationalism left a very bad taste.
You may not have heard about the UK referendum. Perhaps you’ve got a few problems in your own backyard and couldn’t give a toss how the British government’s petty in-fighting gambled with the future of the country and lost.
There’s a stupid six-letter word to describe this, but made-up, fallacious, simplistic, emotion-over-logic, reductionist bullshit is what got us thus far so I refuse to use it.
Let’s leave aside the likely break-up of the (dis)United Kingdom, campaign promises which were nothing more than empty slogans, the collapse of both leading governmental parties, international economic consequences, the impact on the EU’s geo-political security and the immediate uncertainty around who is responsible for clearing up this pile of political vomit.
The fact is the damage is done.
The British public is polarised, enraged, divided and shocked by its own behaviour. Much like the Scottish independence referendum, the hate and vitriol stirred up did not disappear after the decision.
The fury at ‘the other side’ continues with ever more extremist and personal attacks, retreating into its own media outlets and sticking its fingers into its ears as to anything which puts a balanced view.
Political parties practise self-defense/immolation while the electorate, whichever way they may have voted, says…
Oh Holy Shit.
At the heart of this is nationalism.
A deluded belief: absolutely fine on our own, thanks very much, never needed anyone’s help before, you need us more than we need you, our superiority complex has never let us down yet.
Nationalism is not a force solely of destruction or unity. It can be both. But it is certainly emotional and heartfelt, which can be used for positive, inclusive, joyous means or the exact opposite.
Much as I am grieving over Britain’s colossal political cock-up, I still have faith in (most of) its people. Our language, our culture, our cuisine, our infrastructure, our openness and our economy depend on the ability to absorb and embrace the rest of the world.
Britain is not the sum of its politicians.
It’s the sum of its people.
And we are so much better than this.
So, anyone got a plan?
Thanks to JD Lewis for all these beautiful images. Check out more of her work here.
jjmarsh 
June 27, 2016 at 05:51
I’m so surprised that you are able to say that you still have faith in Britain’s people. No doubt you know much more about this issue than I do, but with all the hatred that is spelling forth from potentially over 50% of it’s population, I’m not feeling much love right now. I know that Australia would probably have a similar result if it were in a similar situation because of the underlying racism and patriotism, and that is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the culture. We left, and now I feel an atmosphere of violence and hatred when we visit… I don’t have faith in its people anymore. I have faith in my friends and family, but they are the minority. It’s so sad.
June 27, 2016 at 08:55
Sad is exactly right, Joh. I feel it on many levels, not least how Britain now looks to the rest of the world.
But I believe that many leave voters – I’d argue it’s closer to 35% of the electorate – made their decision for a number of reasons other than hatred.
Misinformation, nostalgia, arrogance, political defiance and a swipe at Cameron and yes, a small minority of xenophobes.
On Friday morning, many woke up with an almighty hangover, realising the result of the nationalistic knees-up of the last few months had resulted in more than a few broken glasses and a stain on the carpet. One of our closest relationships was irrevocably damaged and our neighbours want to move away.
This is a godawful mess and is going to get worse.
How that affects the people remains to be seen, but I have to believe in the good.
The outpouring of grief and dismay from my friends, family and acquaintances (the vast majority remain voters) is turning into a force for positive action.
I just hope people like them represent the true majority.
June 27, 2016 at 07:31
Nationalism rots the soul, but patriotism fires it up. Let’s hope the second doesn’t get drowned in a wave of the first.
June 28, 2016 at 11:56
Nicely put and I hope you’re right.
However, it has shown huge divisions within the country and I don’t think the anger and resentment that fuelled the Leave campaign will be going away any time soon.
IMO people resort to racism and nationalism when they are fearful. The best thing we can do is address the reasons behind the fear, anger and resentment and not dismiss it as bigotry and racism. That just adds to the flames.
At the same time we need somehow to manage the oxymoron where intolerance is simply not tolerated!
Heaven knows how we’re going to do it, but hopefully we’ll muddle through…
June 28, 2016 at 20:30
Sarah, you’ve summed it up.
People are fearful and angry.
And those emotions have been skilfully manipulated by a bunch of sly, self-interested powermongers who provoked them.
The Fat Controller left his signal box because his gamble backfired.
Toad of Turd Hall, Ratface and Vole left the chimps’ tea party for someone else to clean up the spillage.
Now we’re left with a massive pile of vomit and a divided populace whose hate is directed at the nearest target.
Love, hope and tolerance, I agree.
Plus holding elected leaders to account for chucking the country/continent on the fire for personal political gain.