Sunday 25 October 2009

Nationality: English. Ethnicity: Mind your own business

The last time I was prevailed upon to fill in one of those countless forms demanding my 'ethnicity', I put 'mixed race'. I'm part Anglo-Saxon and part Cornish, I explained to a bemused colleague (there's a bit of Norman in there, but I don't like to talk about it - bit of a family skeleton). I don't consider myself white or British, and I refuse to allow myself to be pigeon-holed by the PC pen-pushers. The time before that, I think I ticked 'other' and specified 'homo sapiens' in the space provided. But I'll stick with 'mixed race' for now. In any case, my ethnicity is a private matter. It's a very intrusive question, actually.

I've traced my family tree (some of it, at least) as far back as the 17th century, and it's all English, except for the Cornish bit, which is for the head-measurers something else entirely. A Celtic race, the Cornish, the original Britons, not like these Johnny-come-lately Germanic invaders (bloody Jutes, coming over 'ere, stealing our cattle). Still, the way our oh-so-liberal multi-culturalists are talking, perhaps soon they will replace the 'white British' tick box with 'mongrel'. They like to change the definitions on a regular basis, so we're never quite sure what the correct term is. I heard some antidiluvian refering to 'ethnic minorities' the other day, oblivious to the fact that the correct term is 'minority ethnic' (note to self: check this, it may have changed again).

Yeah, 'mongrel', that's what I hear the people of this island are, people like me. Sounds a bit of an insult, if you think about it. I mean, if you call someone in the street a mongrel, they could easily take offence. A bit like the term 'bitch': okay when discussing dogs, but commonly held to be derogatory when used in reference to a woman.

I saw this programme the other night, which got me thinking about such questions. Some guy, to whom these things mattered quite a lot, getting pilloried by a load of others, who were angry about it all. Why it is of such importance to the guy, I couldn't say, but those pitted against him were in such a hurry to deride his strange views, that they denied validity to his claims, even when they held at least some truth. One told us that Africans were wandering around the place back in the days of Rome, but did she realise that Africa to the Romans was a province on the Mediterranean around the city of Carthage, and not the continent we now know by that name?

The BNP is another party I'm not going to vote for, and the deal-breaker inter alia is their attitude to race. It certainly isn't their view on the EU or the carbon tax. But my failure to rally to their cause doesn't make me any more likely to support the mainstream LibLabCon.

6 comments:

alison said...

The BNP have helped expose revolting people like Bonnie Greer. According that vile woman white people should be eradicated and the idea that they existed en masse in this country at any point in our history is a joke to her worthy of admitting on national TV in a put down to Nick Griffin. I used to think it was excessive to try and state that marxists try and peddle this crap in their race relations. But between Bonnie Greer and the Labour spokesman who admitted Labours immigration policies were simply devised to rub the Rights nose in racial diversity, I feel so angry. I'm not alone either. I sense such enormous anger in the comments under articles penned in the broadsheets designed to tell everyone how awful the BNP are, that it is obvious they will gain a few seats the the next election. I wouldn't vote for them. But I also won't be voting period.

alison said...

I have barely a drop of English blood in my body btw but I am passionately proud of this country. I wish I did. The small drop of Englishness I do have comes from a grandmother I don't know. She was mother to a child taken from her when she was born because she was too young and unmarried.

Trooper Thompson said...

Alison,

As Ian Brown said; "it's not where you're from, it's where you're at":)

Englishness, in my opinion, has never really been an issue of blood. We used to be above such pettiness, didn't we? Think of someone like Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His father was born French, but he's one of our own, and we're rightly proud of him.

That's not to say that there isn't clear dna evidence to show that English people to a large extent have descended from people living here for hundreds and, indeed, thousands of years.

What has happened to this country is that it has been subjected to a systematic attempt to destroy its sense of nationhood. This didn't start with New Labour, but they sure as hell stomped down on the accelerator. We are facing an ideology that seeks to destroy national sovereignty. I hope to write more soon on the subject, to flesh out what I'm trying to say.

alison said...

What has happened to this country is that it has been subjected to a systematic attempt to destroy its sense of nationhood.

That's it in a nutshell. I said something similar on my own blog but that's the word I was looking for. Thanks

Trooper Thompson said...

I'm glad I helped you find it! Have it with my blessing.

Sue said...

I know the BNP love quoting this one but if you read it, it's absolutely true. Its from the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is what we basically are if our ancestors have lived in the UK for a few generations.

United Nations Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples


Article 8
1. Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right not to be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.

2. States shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for:

(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;

(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;

(c) Any form of forced population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;

(d) Any form of forced assimilation or integration;

(e) Any form of propaganda designed to promote or incite racial or ethnic discrimination directed against them.

Labours "diverse multicultural experiment" was an illegal move and they have abused our human rights as indigenous people of the United Kingdom.