After watching a horrifying documentary about Britain First, I realised that there was something very sinister in our country, something that – with my upbringing – i did not recognise. I was brought up in Wolverhampton, a city where there is an obvious and colourful mix of different cultures, religions and nationalities. I have therefore been brought up around these people, had relationships with them, and got to know a lot about their culture and ancestry. I love multiculturalism, but I do not agree with it. The idea I absolutely love, but the way in which the word ‘multiculturalism’ is used in our society makes me hate it even more. I think it is human nature for us to cohabit, we are all the same, we are all human. Whether the pigment of your skin is different, what does that mean? Whether you subscribe to one religion, or another, why should we care? whether you come from a very different country, what makes us any different? We are all in the same boat. We are all having to live on this planet, bouncing from crisis to crisis, how on earth is dividing us even more than we already are going to help us.
Britain First is trying to do exactly this, divide us. It says that we have to take back Britain from muslims and anyone who is not British. Well, there is a slight problem there as how can anyone ever define what being British is? Is it holding certain values? Is it being born here? Britain is a country, countries have borders to define where one country ends and another one starts. Britain is not a real physical thing, there is no natural Britain, just a made up one. Therefore, being British and claiming that a part of land is yours and everyone else is an outsider is ludicrous. Divisions in our society start with our borders, the nationalism that they bring only seeks to divide us and create tensions. Britain First plays on this. It incites nationalistic racism for what i can only see to be for the sake of division. We allow ourselves to be categorized, to be partitioned. Whether it be through race, class, culture or religion, we are constantly being told who we are.
Britain First tries to make people like me go against someone because of their culture and how it differentiates from mine. Why? If their culture really was a problem, do these racists not think that I – having been brought up with it around me – would have made my own decision to go against others because of their culture? I will tell you why I have not, I will tell you why I befriend the instead of sideline them. Because i understand their culture, not all of it, but lots of it. I think the real problem with the racists of today is that they do not talk to these people, they do not live around them, they do not grow up with them, nor do they learn in an environment surrounded by them. They isolate these ‘outsiders’ because they themselves are outsiders. They don’t understand these people, and they will never understand them as they oppose them before they can even think about speaking to them and learning from them. This is evident as there is much stronger racism in rural areas and places where it is very unusual to see a non-white, non-British person.
What we need to do is change our education system. We need to use it to make sure that we allow people to grow up with critical thought and an understanding of the cultural environment of which Britain is in. Divisions will do exactly what they say they do, they will divide us. Division is what creates struggles, what creates deprivation and what creates the racist culture that many are being brought up in today. These people are a vocal minority, but their voices are being heard. Let’s make sure we shout even louder than they do.
Another thing that i have learned is that if you actually look and listen to other cultures, religions and nationalities, we are really not as different as we think. We all share quite the same structural social hierarchy, we all have vaguely the same beliefs, and we could, if we work together, all live without tensions. If we focus on the similarities rather than the differences of our societies, then we will see the positives of social integration. We are all human, we all share the same history. We all inhabit this earth and need to get together to preserve it from war, from destruction and from division. Let’s not let the minority become the majority. oppose racism, speak louder than they can.
Political Evolution 