Nena Aru -A ‘United’ Kingdom in Name Only, On iconification, identity and colonization

A ‘United’ Kingdom in Name Only On iconification, identity and colonisation Nena Aru

Souvenirs or something to remember me by With flights having become increasingly cheaper in the last decennia, the world has become an accessible map for all to explore. Not anymore a privilege of the rich, the intellectuals, the ethnographers, almost anybody can now travel to a foreign land. Where it is possible to go to high street shopping, with the same multi-national brands of our own countries’ high streets, where, out of fear for the unknown, we can always eat at the fast-food restaurant we know from back home, or where we can buy a souvenir of the newly visited culture in one of the thirteen in a dozen souvenir-shops selling the same artefacts. This is what we call widening our perspective of the world.

These souvenirs, as the literal translation states, are a way of commemorating the culture through the abstraction of one representative element in these artefacts, made small enough to be taken to the foreign homes of those who now own them. Where they can probably be put next to neighbouring, or not so neighbouring countries’ souvenirs, next to countries they are at war with, next to countries they maybe colonised. It matters not, because they have now been reduced to the remembrance of a trip and have long lost the meaning they initially held of encompassing a whole identity-building element of one culture.

In our own city we despise those who believe that our culture can be encapsulated in small artefacts, but when going abroad they suddenly feel like the recognisable elements of the national identity that we are told represents each place. We believe the souvenirs rather than our observations because those are more layered, more nuanced and without a clear definition or answer. Because the core of what humans do is the same everywhere, we need the identity of the other in order to feel our own.

Truth is, that the chosen elements of culture and ritualisation that will sell, once commodified for tourists, are rarely the elements a native inhabitant of that country would associate with as part of their identity. These artefacts are rarely what makes up the key parts of a culture. What iconic souvenirs are supposed to represent the identity of the mighty United Kingdom?

Die Krone The crown on teapots, Queen Elizabeth II as current wearer of the crown on plates, masks, and Made in China Puppets. What is it that attracts foreigners to the British Royal Family?

Thé monarchy for all those who don’t have one in their own country, or the one favoured over the ruling monarchs of one’s own? At the same time this monarchy that is apparently seen as the epitome of Britishness, managed to cover up quite well that it is in fact not so British at all.

Since the Act of Union in 1801 - where the United Kingdom is forged out of the four nations - there have been nine monarchs that have worn the crown. King George III, King George IV, King William IV and Queen Victoria are all part of the German dynasty of Hanover. Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and so her descendants are all part of the dynasty of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with nine children, 40 grandchildren and 88 great-grandchildren married into European monarchies, this lineage is wide-spread. Giving Queen Victoria her nickname ‘grandmother of Europe’.1 King Edward VII, King George the V, King Edward VIII, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth are in fact all of this German lineage. Were it not that during the First World War, with German bombs literally falling into the British streets, it felt impossible to keep this apparent sign to Germanity and thus the dynasty changed to the House of Windsor. Creating as such a symbol of Britishness that could be felt as hypocritical.

The ‘Queen’s English’, stated as this differing and unique dialect of English, may not come as a surprise, precisely because of the German heritage and German being still spoken behind closed doors at the court’s core.2

Although the lineage of the crown could be questioned, all the monarchs were born in England. Yet, a tradition started in 1301 when the English King Edward I was able to conquest Wales. He does so by killing the last ‘true’ Prince of Wales, David III and hands the title over to his own son Edward II. Since Prince of Wales Edward II many of the first-in-line heirs to the throne have been granted this title. The laws were changed and the Statute of Wales was created, no Welsh person or leader was involved in the make up. There have been twenty-one non-Welsh princes of Wales since the invasion and conquest by the English in 1301 - this includes the 6 princes of Wales since the Act of Union in 1801. This tradition that is put in place, is a constant remembrance, let’s call it a souvenir, of the conquest and of the loss of independence for the Welsh.3

1. Veldman, Meredith, and Edgar Trevor Williams. “Accession to the Throne.”

Encyclopædia Britannica.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Nov. 2019. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

2. Dent, Susie. “The Queen’s English: Changes through the Years.” The Telegraph.

Telegraph Media Group, 21 May 2012.

Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

3. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

“Prince of Wales.”

Encyclopædia Britannica.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 08 Mar. 2017. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

Big Ben of England Even more present than the Queen, is the Big Ben. Gold, silver, bronze, transparent, in key-chain format, on magnets, with house of parliament or without.

The present-day parliament is a bicameral institution existing of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. In 1215 the Magna Carta was signed, and the barons received an established right to consult the king. To ultimately evolve to an early version of the House of Commons and Lords in 1332. Although the House of Lords was the more powerful of the two for a long time, now we can argue it is the House of Commons that has more power. Over time the parliament and its two chambers took different forms, today they both sit at the Palace of Westminster in London and are the only two bodies in the United Kingdom’s constitutional Monarchy that can create all legislations and make laws on all subjects.4 The House of Commons is made up of 650 members of the commons (MPs) that are elected by the public per constituency. The party that holds the majority of the votes wins all the seats to be delivered in the House of Commons for that party. The role of the House of Commons is to debate the important issues of the day, form laws and legislation, represent the public and holding the government - that is generally formed by the party with the most MPs - to account.

The House of Lords is made up of 670 Peers, going from spiritual Peers - members of the Church of England - to the hereditary Peers - lords and ladies who inherited a title and their seat in the House of Lords through their ancestors - and lastly the life Peers who have been selected by their communities for their specific merit or knowledge on a certain subject and bring their skills and passions to the house. They will all spend their time to help shape the laws and act as checks and balances for the House of Commons and government.

Peers represent skills and knowledge rather than a constituency region of the United Kingdom. Any decision made in either house has to be approved generally by the other one.5 Since the Reform Act of 1999 the House of Lords’ hereditary Peers are no longer being appointed through their heritage. Rather they are now selected through an appointment panel. This as a goal to make the House more representative.

Ethnic minorities only make up a very small portion of the House of Lords, woman make up only 20%. What is not up for change however is the representation of England compared to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The House of Lords counts 85% English, 6% Scottish, 4% Welsh and 3% Northern Irish representatives and 2% representatives of the Church of England. The House of Commons shows similar figures: 82% English, 9% Scottish, 6% Welsh and 3% Northern Irish.6 It is clear that the majority of the British population lives in England, and that is the main reason for the numbers being so disproportionately high in one former nation compared to the other three that have less than 13% representation in the House of Lords and 18% in the House of Commons cumulatively. It is equally clear however that in that case anything coming from one of the three suppressed nations is easily dismissed. This becomes clear in an almost painful way through the Brexit referendum, where two nations voted to remain - Scotland and Northern Ireland - but see the government that should represent their nations leaving the European Union.

4. History.com Editors. “British Parliament.” History. com. A&E Television Networks, 10 Aug. 2017. Web. 06 Dec. 2019. and The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “House of Commons.”

Encyclopædia Britannica.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 29 May 2019. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

“House of Lords.”

Encyclopædia Britannica.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 11 Apr. 2019. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

6.“Devolution at 20”.

Institute For government.

2019

An important side-note is made by the West Lothian Question, this was first formed by Tom Dalyell, a former MP for West Lothian in Scotland when the devolution of power to Scotland was being discussed. In 1977 he raised the question being an anti-devolutionist, why Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish MPs could decide over solely English matters in parliament, when the English could not do the contrary. After the devolution in 1997 in Scotland and Wales and in 1998 in Northern Ireland a parliament was formed in each of these nations, where decisions could be made on matters of schools and hospitals. Although this sounds like things are separated in fact they are not.7 There is a reason why EVEL - English voting English Laws - has not happened yet after the other devolutions and it is because any change in law in England would always affect the other nations. Mainly because the devolutions seem to federalise power to the three nations, but stay in fact highly connected to England and Parliament, because all decision on tax-spending are decided there.

Gordon Brown has argued that “in a union where 85% of the country is one nation, i.e. England, it is necessary for the dominant nation to show solidarity with the smaller nations and allow them to have the same power at Westminster as English politicians. Breaking that solidarity is effectively breaking the UK as a political union�8. It could be said that the devolution was only a screen that seemed to give more power to each nation but in the end kept the final power within Westminster. Perhaps a far-going federal system could be what England needs. On the other hand all English colonies have asked for independence at one point, and the last three colonised nations might not wait much longer.9

7. Carrell, Severin.

“What Is the West Lothian Question and Why Does It Matter?” The Guardian.

Guardian News and Media, 19 Sept. 2014.

Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

8. “What Is ‘Evel’ and the ‘West-Lothian Question’ and Why Does It Matter?”

CommonSpace. N.p., 02 July 2015. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

9. ibid

The Union Jack Lastly there is the ever present Union Jack, from mugs, to packaging of any other souvenir, to cushions, plates, sweaters, socks, ashtrays, lighters, magnets, and so many more. It is hard not to see the everpresence of the U.K.’s flag in any souvenir shop.

The Union Jack is a souvenir of England’s rich history of colonisation until it becomes the United Kingdom in name and in flag. After many years of verbal competing over the English Crown Queen Elizabeth I of England and her cousin Queen Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, it is King James I of England - or King James VI of Scotland - the nephew of Elizabeth and the son of Mary, who becomes the first monarch to rule both England and Scotland under one symbolical Crown. That symbolical union had to be empowered with another symbol, a flag to represent both nations together. Hence the upright white and red Cross of St. George is representing England and the diagonal white and blue cross of St. Andrews is representing Scotland, thus making up the first flag of Great Britain from 1707 - 1801. Although the flag was symbolically in use from 1606 it wasn’t until the official union of the two countries and its royal courts, parliaments and flags in the Act of Union 1707 that the flag became officially utilised.

In 1801 Great Britain became the United Kingdom with the merging of Ireland. So the Symbol of togetherness that the Union Flag represented had to be adjusted to also include the diagonal white and red cross of St. Patrick. This is the flag that is utilised until today, even though Northern Ireland and Ireland split through the Irish independence.

Even though the flag tries to unify these nations as well as it does, the symbol fails in representing a true United Kingdom, if not even all four nations are represented equally and unified. The flag of Wales, with strong Celtic influence showing a red dragon on a half white and half green background, is totally absent from the Union Jack. This has to do with the fact that Wales had been annexed by England in 1301, long before the first Union flag was made up, so by then the flag only needed to symbolise England (comprising of Wales) and Scotland.10

10. Ford, Matt.

“Will This Be the U.K.’s New Flag?”

The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

and Smith, Whitney.

“Flag of the United Kingdom.”

Encyclopædia Britannica.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 14 Mar. 2018.

Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

But the flag only represents cultural differences that live underneath the surface. The bank holidays are different in England-Wales compared to Scotland (St. Andrews’ Day) and Northern Ireland (St. Patrick’s Day and Battle of Boyne), commemorating different important Saints or historical events.11 It is difficult to see where the Union stands, if not in name, when looking at the icons that try to fiercely represent a country made up of one dominant nation and its 11. https://www. gov.uk/bankthree last colonies. olidays#englandand-wales

Sly identity and broken vows What role do these little souvenirs, commemorations, of the British identity mean today? Are they not more than selfreinforcing prophecies of the English patchwork trying to hide an asymmetrical division of power?

According to Fukuyama (2018, p.44-58), Identity is made up of three main pillars: thymos, the differentiation between inner and outer self and evolution in the understanding of dignity. In order to fully understand identity and how it operates on a social and political level it is thus important to understand the driving forces behind it. The sense of dignity can either act out in a feeling of superiority over others, or of inferiority. Once this realisation starts to happen, the people feeling a lack of recognition will ask for change.

This is what happened in many colonies, slowly a realisation started to happen that the self-dignity of a population group was not valued the same as that of the coloniser and often independence was asked. The British Empire had to understand this first-handed, when many formed colonies started to separate and become independent nations.

The tricky part of identity comes in however when the urge to be seen as equal can never be fulfilled, because many feelings of inferiority and superiority are so deeply rooted in our bias-driven brain. And although we want to believe that what we decide and how we vote politically is a conscious decision, like most of our other decisions, our brain pretty much makes them by itself through the many prejudices that help us make fast decisions, without too much effort. 12

Can equality be reached between two parties where one never feels enough recognition to it’s different identity and the other just cannot bare to lose ground in finding an equal relationship.

England has been conquering and colonising from 1277, the start of the invasion of Wales, until 1919 when the Versailles treaty was signed and it became impossible to support the right to selfdetermination for other countries, but not it’s own colonies part of the Empire.

One of the first dignity-fighters of the empire is the Indian population under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, from 1919 until 1935, when they received the Government of India Act that allowed them to rule over everything except foreign policy. Until finally in 1947 India was given real independence. This sparked off a realisation in most African countries that they too could step out of the inferiority that was forced on them and between the 1950 and 1980 the United Kingdom saw all it’s colonies ask for independence. 13 The slow colonisation of the three other united nations took England some 600 years and marks it’s history through feuds, wars, royal intrigues, victories and losses. And although they are not seen as real colonies of the British Empire, I would like to argue that the independence-fight of Ireland is similar in this sense of longing for a recognised identity to that of the ex-colonies.

As a result of the treaty of Versailles, Ireland goes into a rebellion from 1919 until 1920 and as a result the split of the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland is a fact. Although it will take until 1949 before the more independent Irish Free State of 1937, Éire, becomes the independent Republic of Ireland, leaving the commonwealth.

12. Kahneman, Daniel. “Thinking, Fast and Slow”. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015. Print.

13. “The British Empire through Time.” BBC News.

BBC, n.d. Web. 06 Dec. 2019.

As Bauman (2001, p. 121-129) states identity creates the paradox of belonging to a community that is being built over common traits, but all it does is draw up walls between groups at first and individuals later.

The discussion around Brexit has been dominated by fear for the other, Europe, the immigrant, the refugee. But fearing the other immediately draws a mirror to the self, what is one’s own identity in order to define what the other is. The focus on identity might for now seem to unify the United Kingdom against a - not so common - enemy, the risk of it drawing up new boundaries soon between the different nations, only held together by weak icons is existing. Half of the nations voting to stay within Europe and the Union moving out might be one of these ruptures. The will to keep illegal immigrants out by moving out of Schengen is another one, where the backstop might bring Northern Ireland back together with Ireland after almost 100 of separation.

The risk of giving in to identity politics is similar to giving in to populism. You know where you begin but you never know where it ends.

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