I've reached an important milestone
today - the heady heights of 500 blogs.
I'd like to thank
everyone who's read or scanned over my ramblings for the last three
years. I might make it look easy, but it's hard work - often
miserable, sometimes fun – but always rewarding. Taking time to
read it means a lot and I hope I can continue to count on your
support for however long this blog continues. Diolch yn fawr iawn i chi.
To
"celebrate", I'm going to do what I usually do and
over-analyse an abstract topic.
There's been some discussion on
here, and for many years elsewhere, about different strands of
nationalism. Some people in Plaid Cymru, for example, don't support
independence. Meanwhile, people who I would consider hardcore
unionists have been tarred with the "nationalist" brush
simply for backing Silk Commission recommendations.
In the
light of a high-profile Twitter row involving the Welsh rugby
captain, it's fair to say there's little understanding
of other people's points of view and how they might form their opinion
on the matter.
A person's relationship with a nation can
change based across a range of different factors. In my opinion, there are
three broad identities that engender a sense of
nationalism.
- National Identity : The stomach – This is the
primal, visual manifestation of nationalism. It's a "gut
instinct" where you define who and what you are, and the visible
outward label. This could also be expanded to include ethnic identity
too. This asks the question, "Who am I?"
- Cultural
Identity : The heart – This is the more fluid, dainty identity by
expressing what you feel about the nation you belong to, trying to
figure out how to express that, and trying to determine what being
Welsh/British/English represents. This asks the question, "What
does it mean?"
- Political Identity : The head – The
rational, thinking side of it. This determines how you express
nationalism based on decision-making, policy and democracy. It
determines how far you're willing to go in terms of
self-determination and how the nation fits into that. This asks the
question, "How does it work?"
In trying to determine
what all this actually looks like, I've come up with a sort of Kinsey Scale of nationalist sentiment for each of them, based on two poles - Welsh & British nationalism. It's worth pointing
out that there are no "right" or "wrong" answers
here.
National Identity
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| (Click to enlarge) |
The
only solid figures we have from this are from the 2011 census
(covered in more detail here).
The results clearly showed
that a majority of people in Wales consider themselves exclusively
Welsh with no British identity whatsoever. This sentiment was
stronger in some parts of Wales than others – in particular the
south Wales Valleys.
People who consider themselves Welsh &
British are in a withered minority. In fact, more people in Wales
consider themselves English-only (11.2%) than Welsh & British. It
seems most people have a very firm idea of what their national
identity is : Welsh, English or British – not a mix.
You
would think, therefore, that the fortunes of nationalist politics in
Wales would be much better than they are currently.
Clearly, national identity isn't that
important in political terms. It's been successfully adopted by
all of the main political parties in Wales to such an extent that
it's become rather elastic, or is being used as a dog whistle when it
suits their ends – as we saw recently with Welsh Labour's claims of
a Tory "War on Wales".
It can be a successful
tactic too, as playing to national identity illicits a primal,
somewhat territorial, response in voters and public. As a living embodiment of Welsh self-determination, many of us
probably will defend politicians - and devolution as an institution - if there's any hint of an outside attack
that would infringe upon Welsh identity or self-respect.
An
exception there would be those who would consider themselves British,
and/or have an outward antipathy towards all forms of Welshness.
The
real nuanced layers of nationalism and its outward expression perhaps
lie in cultural identity.
Cultural Identity
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| (Click to enlarge) |
Although
culture and nationality are inextricably linked, they needn't be
symbiotic. You can measure national identity in the census, and you
can measure its political expression in voting intentions. Cultural
nationality is very hard to quantify.
So, how can you tell if
you're culturally Welsh, culturally British, or a mix of both? I
suppose it's what's in your heart. If you feel Welsh you are Welsh,
likewise with British. If you're comfortable with both – so be
it.
The outward signs of a person's cultural identity involve
those things outside the formality of national identity, ethnicity or
voting. That includes : attitudes towards the Welsh language, sports,
literature, arts, hobbies and media consumption habits.
Those
at either end of the scale are more romantic in their cultural
identity. They probably get a sentimental glint in their eye thinking
of traditions and are highly involved in cultural affairs of their
chosen identity. They're proud of what they are, and aren't afraid to
tell the world. When that level of patriotism turns unpleasant it
becomes chauvinism.
The next step down would be those who are
very firm in their cultural identity. On the Welsh side, they might
speak Welsh or really enjoy things like Welsh literature and Welsh
music but aren't obsessive about it and are a bit more flexible.
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Logically speaking, those who identify themselves as culturally British
will have to accept things like the Eisteddfod and Welsh language as
a part of British culture despite being uniquely Welsh.
(Pic : Ynni Cymru) |
Likewise, anyone considering themselves "culturally
British" will still have to accept all of Welsh culture –
including the language – as a part of that identity. British
culture without the Welsh bits isn't "Britishness" but
"Englishness" because it rejects a key part of what makes
"Britain" Britain.
Then there are those with a more
fluid cultural identity, but with a clear preference for one. On the
Welsh side they would be "Ninety Minute Nationalists". I've
come up with "Olympic Unionists" for a British equivalent
as I couldn't think of anything better.
Someone supporting
Wales at the Six Nations, or the Welsh national football team, is
100% Welsh for ninety minutes. Even an ardent Unionist is advocating
Welsh independence by supporting the Welsh national side - which by
most normal conventions of international sport shouldn't even
exist.
However, once the game is over, their Welshness
disappears and they don't think about it too much.
That's why
"Ninety Minute Nationalist" is adopted as a pejorative. To
the hard nationalist, the position is nonsensical, as Welsh culture
should be – and is – linked not only to national identity, but
political nationalism. To use footballing terms, 90 minute nationalists are seen as glory hunters and armchair fans, while nationalists are season ticket holders and will question anyone not seen to be pulling their weight. Similarly, from the opposite
end, hardcore royalists might have similar suspicions of of Celtic
republicans.
Things become a lot more complicated when you
come to ethnic minorities, who are cited as feeling more British than white ethnicities, despite coming from cultures and backgrounds which
are very different and contribute to the "melting pot" of
Welsh and British society. Ethnic minorities might see adopting
"Britishness" as a safer option, as Englishness in England
has been claimed by the far-right - though that's starting to
change.
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Even the most ardent unionist can support Welsh independence
for 90 minutes - plus time to chug a beer or two.
(Pic : City School of Languages) |
Being stuck in the middle might be a sign of cultural
apathy and no real strong connection to either pole than a cultural
identity in itself.
I was born in a former colony, have an Irish surname, support an
English football team, haven't read much Welsh literature and most of
my favourite authors and books are American. I don't speak much Welsh
and I've listen to more Norwegian and German music.
In cultural terms, I should
be about as British as they come or don't have a cultural identity at all, placing me somewhere slap bang in the middle. Based on that alone I
probably have more in common with the Lib Dems and Greens than Plaid
Cymru.
Yet I'm still one of the more prominent hard
nationalists and supporters of Welsh independence out there. I can
only relate to this from my own anecdotal experiences, but far from
nationalism being solely about identity issues, it clearly goes a lot,
lot deeper.
You can like British culture and still be a Welsh
nationalist. Likewise, you can even live and breathe Wales in
everything you do and still be a British nationalist. Look at the
some of the Tories.
Political Ideology & The Constitution
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| (Click to enlarge) |
I suppose this
is the meat when it comes to nationalism and national identity. It
mostly manifests itself as support (or lack of) for varying levels of
self-determination, without which a nation can't exist.
At
either end, you're going to have the fanatical nationalists - people
who are exclusively and stridently Welsh or British. On the Welsh
side, they'd support independence by any means necessary, and
completely reject Britishness. On the British side, they'll show an
antagonism towards any outward sign of "Welshness" and
would equally support the union by any means necessary. You're
talking Northern Irish paramilitary groups, historical figures like
Owain Glyndwr and protest organisations. So they're thin on the
ground, if they even exist at all in modern Wales.
A step down from that at either
end would be those who support Welsh independence on both an ethnic
and civic basis, and those who oppose all forms of devolution – but
would stop short of violent direct action, just be very, very vocal
about it.
There are differences between between ethnic
and civic nationalism . The former is generally seen as more right-wing because
it links blood to soil, while the latter is bog-standard social
democracy with extra flags, and has pretty much been adopted by all
the main parties in Wales to varying degrees.
I probably count
as an "8" – a civic nationalist who supports independence more strongly than mainstream opinion and perhaps stronger
than Plaid Cymru. Such people are often called "hard/dry
nationalists".
The vast, vast majority of people will
fall somewhere in the middle. This includes those who are civic
nationalists but don't support independence strongly (Plaid Cymru in
general). Also, "wet nationalist" Home Rulers who support
further devolution or a form of federalism and consider themselves
happy to be Welsh – this would include the likes of David Melding
AM (Con, South Wales Central).
Welsh Labour are arguably slap
bang in the middle – they're happy with devolution as it is, and
are open to more powers, but would fall short of federalism,
considering themselves both "Welsh & British". Yet, as
the census figures paradoxically show, being "Welsh &
British" is something of a minority thing and enjoys less
support than Welsh independence. So playing up dual-identity is
unlikely to win support on its own. It looks like, quite frankly,
nobody cares if they're Welsh or British when it comes to politics,
unless they're already a nationalist.
Also lurking are the
devo-sceptics (or devo-realists), who think devolution has gone far
enough. They perhaps consider themselves more British than Welsh (but
will play up the Welshness when it suits them) and would likely
oppose further powers, but not the principle of limited
self-determination as a compromise. I'd image the Conservative grass
roots would be found here, as would many Old Labour and Labour
MPs.
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| (Click on Wales) |
It's worth noting this perceived spread of nationalism
within parties as it can cause problems. Plaid and UKIP are fairly
obvious candidates to be placed at either end – one a Welsh
nationalist party, the other a British nationalist party. The Lib
Dems have historically been "Home Rule" party so are fairly
easy to place too.
But even within those parties, there are
going to be differences. Dafydd Elis-Thomas AM (Plaid, Dwyfor
Meirionnydd) is clearly a Lib Dem style "Home Ruler", while
UKIP have come around to tolerating the Assembly's existence.
People
who consider themselves "internationalists/citizens of the
world" might often fall under British nationalism too because
they support the status quo by default. The Green Party of
EnglandandWales gives the impression of having quite a few of these - and have really struggled to adapt to post-devolution Wales, despite being officially federalist -
so are arguably closer to UKIP than Plaid in terms of nationalism,
but not general ideology.
Having said all this, it's worth
being careful in strictly equating levels of support for independence
with nationalism. If there were a Welsh independence referendum
tomorrow, with no underlying case along the same lines as Scotland's
Future, even I'd vote no. It's one thing to support something
superficially, it's another thing entirely to check the details - and
there are plenty of details on Welsh independence that need to be
ironed out if a realistic case is ever going to be made.
Although it's true that you can't eat a flag, they can make very good
tablecloths for a skilled chef.
Nationalists shouldn't get too
despondent about low levels of support for independence, as all the
foundations are there for a sudden change in opinion given the right
circumstances. However, it's off the menu for now and we should
perhaps learn to accept it and play the long game. Many hard
nationalists might not like the idea of Plaid sidelining
independence, but they're broadly right to do so.
Likewise,
unionists shouldn't get complacent about high levels of support for
the Union, which is perhaps all head and no heart. Technocratic
arguments about finance and borders will only get you so far. As the
Scottish independence campaign is proving, heads can be turned and
the positive case for union is – in some areas - built on
sand.
You're going to cause controversy in politics when you try to
mix the three identities or try and stamp a single one on people.
One of
the most important modern human virtues is tolerance. Tolerating
something doesn't mean have to like or accept it. You should just
respect that some people are going to have different ideas and values
from you. When we can all tolerate something or someone you don't
like, without resorting to smears or hyperbole, it's a sign our society is starting to mature and our media along with it.
