Being British is complicated. It’s often hard to determine exactly what it means to be British or what those often hailed ‘British values’ are. The last week or so has put that question of what Britishness is even more starkly into focus than before – it’s something that we as a society now actively have to wrestle with.
For me, the worst part of these riots was the idea that people believe there to be tiers of Britishness, that by virtue of the circumstances of our birth, or indeed our parents’ birth, some of us are just less British than others. I’m a regular LBC listener, and many of the callers have claimed that the reason for these riots stems from upset over the stabbings in Stockport – and how that tragedy was a result of immigration.
But there’s a real issue with that idea; to the best of our knowledge the perpetrator was the son of Rwandan immigrants, born in Cardiff. The logical leap then that we are asked to make, is that children of immigrants committing crimes somehow means that the whole concept of immigration is flawed. As someone who is also the son of two immigrants (both from Sri Lanka) – that hurts. It implies that my Britishness is less because of the location of my parents’ birth, regardless of how patriotic, loyal or adherent to British values I myself may be. Or it assumes that I’m somehow a representative of the entire immigrant class in a way that any singular white teenager would never be considered representative of the entire ‘native’ British class.
To be patriotic doesn’t mean that you have to denigrate others or adhere to some kind of notion of superiority. There is so much to be proud of in this country: the fact that my parents were able to come here seeking opportunity and found it. The fact that we (broadly) care for everyone and that our state steps in when individuals can’t. It’s a country where everyone is welcome, so long as you play by the rules and contribute to our national missions. We’re the nation that developed modern democracy, stopped the slave trade, defeated fascism. We have free schools, free healthcare, democracy, the rule of law, religious freedom, linguistic freedom, legal equality.
Those are, however, all things that have to be fought for and defended. They are not here by the force of nature, but by the force of political and legal will built over centuries. They will only exist so long as we continue to advocate for and respect them. The danger of the aftermath of these riots is that people become pessimistic and fearful for the future of our nation. The better path is to reject violence, racism and idiocy as the antithesis of what this country stands for, and instead to stand even prouder for what our British values actually are – namely tolerance, liberty, democracy, respect and the rule of law.
You can’t claim that you’re a ‘British patriot’, ‘fighting for the country’ while standing next to a bloke with a Nazi tattoo and throwing bricks at the police. In fact, those things are about as unBritish as I can imagine. There is a palpable anger in this country, built over years and years of governments failing to tackle fairly legitimate concerns over immigration – but there is also just a lot of racism, and a desire for chaos as a result.
As I always do, I would caution against failing to listen to and understand these people. These problems will not go away because of anti-fascist Instagram posts and counter demonstrations. We must address the underlying issues here, or events like these will continue to erupt – strong police response or not.
I am proud to be British. I always have been, and I hope that I always will be. We have so much to be proud of, and so much to defend. Let’s continue to be a modern democracy, to fight for our values and challenge those who seek to destroy them. I’m hopeful that we’ll look back at these events as a catalyst for building a stronger, more integrated society – and as a moment that brings all of us who deplore political violence and racism together.