When people hear about White Nationalism or British Nationalism, what kind of image does this description of a party, movement or an individual usually conjure in their minds?
To those not very familiar with one of the most controversial issues taking shape in Western societies today, it must sound rather daunting - something unpalatable which you really wouldn't wish to know about or invest your time reading about. After all, aren't such people and their views generally abhorrent, evil and inhumane?
Are they not just representatives of murky issues borne from irrational deep felt hatred, issues which are only cared about by ignorant and violent thugs, the very worst of the uneducated men and women who eagerly seek to blame others for their own misfortune and quite simply just don't like people who happen to look or live differently to themselves?
What is British Nationalism really about?
There is much material present in the public domain which paints a rather simplistic view to what lay behind British Nationalism or indeed, its extension, White Nationalism. With this broad brush comes rather far flung theories of what British Nationalists believe in or stand for, and from there usually arises the kind of hysteria that scares people - and as such, Nationalism gets neatly categorised as being one of those disturbing issues of the world which therefore gets placed into one box labeled 'nasty' - and a warning issued that the box should never to be opened nor explored.
This guide to modern Nationalism is a briefing paper, or rather an introduction to the new Nationalism concept which is gaining popularity and influence not just in Great Britain, but also on the wider European Continent. Within this guide you should find an insight into what the issues are that currently drive modern Nationalistic individuals and movements, and it is intended to cover many subject areas so that a more well informed debate can start to take place out there in the wider world today - and even perhaps help to avert some serious problems which are already being stored up for the future by well meaning but very naive policy makers.
This guide is not intended to 'convert' or change the mind of the reader, its intended to be an introductory paper designed to aid both sides of many debates which are taking place today.
This design is so that Nationalists themselves are reminded, made more aware and more concise about their positions, but of course it is primarily designed to help make the public more aware of what Nationalist concepts do actually aspire to - rather than them listen to the conjured up projections of those who have not actually studied the ideologies, or similarly have their views of British Nationalism tainted by the expressions of pseudo nationalists and highly obnoxious individuals.
The first chapter of this guide should no doubt start off on the most controversial and most famous issues associated with Nationalism, that of Race. Following on from there shall be chapters that will hopefully give the reader a wider scope to base the principles of Nationalism upon so that a whole new picture may form, a picture which would be beneficial to all concerned considering that ever more controversial issues are due to arise in the future be it racial, cultural, religious, environmental or resource based etc.
The time it takes to read this guide is a worthwhile investment, whatever viewpoint is concluded from its contents.
Part 1: Race and Racism in British Nationalism.
British Nationalism? - Isn't that just nasty racism?
To start answering such questions about racism, the very term itself must be clearly defined.
Now, that might appear at this moment to be 'nit picking' over what is an "abhorrent view" (no matter how it is defined) but it is actually one of the most significant things to digest when determining the very core position of the race related concepts within that particular aspect of British Nationalism.
How, for example, can it not be 'racist', nasty and rather inhumane to deny a man or woman of a different colour from joining a political party just because they appear different? Isn't that very idea itself a hark back to the old imperialist days of a “no dogs, no Irish” society of yesteryear? One which is based on Empires, faint notions of superiority over anybody else and huge ignorance to the things which a diverse world has to offer?.
To a British or indeed White Nationalist, there is nothing nasty, inhumane, imperialistic or superiority driven about taking such a position. In fact, a Nationalist would be able to tell you honestly and straight faced that to do such a thing is not nasty, racist or discriminatory in the context which those words mean today.
But how can this be? Surely it's clear cut racial hatred or prejudice regarding abilities, pure and simple?
To answer this, firstly we need to understand the proper meaning of racism, and secondly the topic of race itself needs to be understood, such as it's whole historic role as being a definitive part of nations and continents, it's classifications, and for some people who don't believe in race (other than it being a 'social construct') the explanation of the scientific basis which shows its existence in the first place.
What is racism?, Is all racism bad?, How can there possibly be 'good' racism? Why should anyone care about races anyway, we are all human right?.
This is where talking about race at all becomes rather difficult, because to some opinion makers the very fact that we recognise different races amongst humankind at all is 'racism' which should be avoided at all costs. At the opposite end of the spectrum there are indeed those tiny minority who have some unfathomable distinct and genuine hatred of other people.
To the British Nationalist, and indeed White Nationalist, both ends of those extreme positions are rather dangerous and both are actually quite morally disgusting in their very own distinctive yet different ways.
The following definitions of 'Racism' appear to uphold the common held views of what it means:
Racism is prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities. Racism is the belief that genetic or inherited differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of one race over another.
Racism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that negatively discriminate against people based on their perceived or ascribed race.
The stigmatising of difference along the lines of ‘racial’ characteristics in order to justify advantage or abuse of power, whether economic, political, cultural or psychological.
Racism means that some believe groups are born superior to others and, in the name of protecting their race from “contamination,” they justify the domination and destruction of races they consider to be inferior to their own.
The prejudice that members of one race are intrinsically superior to members of other races; discriminatory or abusive behavior towards members of another race.
As can be seen from the above common definitions, racism is almost unilaterally defined as being a notion of irrational prejudice, a notion that genetic differences produce superiority of one race to another, that institutions discriminate on the afore mentioned racist grounds against those of a particular background, racism being something where a stigma is placed to justify continued advantage to ones own racial group or to justify the physical abuse of others, and ultimately, racism being defined as a superiority issue where deep seated notions of the inferiority of other races allows the justification of dominating (and ultimately destroying) other races entirely - so that their inferior genetics do not 'contaminate' those of the dominator.
Therefore, when racism is presented in this way, which is how most people tend to understand it, to be 'racist' presents a most repulsive viewpoint to take of the world - and as such, people quite rightly champion against racism.
It may be surprising to most readers however, that Nationalists also find those listed viewpoints repulsive and to be railed against. None of the thought factors or definitions listed in the above classification of racism have anything whatsoever to do with White Nationalism or British Nationalism.
It's easy to confuse White Supremacist with White Nationalist – but they are very different things entirely. British Nationalism is a derivative of White Nationalism which adds to the table such things as patriotism, the value of cultural ideals which help distinguish different civilisational outlooks, the cherishing of laws, traditions, beliefs and an indescribable bond to the land of the forefathers.
To proceed with this guide to Nationalism, it's imperative that the reader detaches themselves from pre-programmed concepts which often conflate the two definitions of Nationalism and that of being White Supremacist.
So if the racial aspect of Nationalism isn't about superiority, isn't about wiping other racial groups off the world though a fear of genetic contamination, it isn't about prejudice regarding somebodies ability, and isn't about hatred, power grabbing or maintaining a perceived unfair advantage – then what on Earth is it about?.
To begin to answer this question relies on knowing roughly what race is and what roles, what rights, what history, and what place it has in the world. Few would argue that different races developed on different land mass areas over many thousand years, which geographically gave rise to distinctly different races (or classification of humans) based on any specific (or combination of) physical characteristics - such as skin color, facial form, or eye shape etc, and increasingly (through modern science) those races are being identified by genetic markers such as blood groups - which is something controversial that's now emerging in the medical world with relation to its use for targeting effective medicines and matching the most successful transplant donors.
Classically, the main groups are defined as Caucasian ('White', European), Mongoloid ('Yellow', Asiatic, Far East) and Negroid ('Black', African) all of which are clearly recognisable from each other and are evident of the rich diversity the world has to offer and provides some variety on the planet which we all can enjoy.
The African continent therefore comprised of various African races, Asia comprised of various Asiatic races, The Middle East comprised of various Arabic/Asiatic tribes, Europe comprised of European races, so on and so forth, all of which had their own unique identity, nations, traditions, and localised sub deviations (Such as Germanic, Slavic, etc) each indigenous to their respective land masses and then emanating outwards.
This development in turn, through shared continental histories, though empires, battles and monumental changes such as the Enlightenment, has produced different civilisations, religions, cultural practices, languages, attitudes and customs etc, all of which developed and evolved over thousands of years in accompaniment to those racial groupings. The British Isles, and indeed wider Europe, being far from an exception to this.
tbc -work in progress.
