IN 2017 I gave an interview to journalist Lorraine Mallinder about the Brexit era. This is an extended version of the interview.
What does the term
'British' mean to you? Is it still a valid concept? Is it capable of embracing our society in all
its complexity and diversity?
For me, the term ‘British’
was always a handy, geographically inclusive but not
ethnically limiting identity. Even though it was a generalisation, it said
something about where I lived, not my racial heritage. I feel British – I am
British – and I’m clearly not white English. That said, both this country
(England) and its union (Great Britain) are tainted by their definitive history
of colonial exploitation of vast swathes of the rest of the planet, fuelled by
racism and all that racism brings with it: cultural superiority, avaricious
greed, exploitation, inhumanity and breathtaking arrogance.
However, the
Britain I grew up in – particularly the British London I grew up in – I associated
with other things, often very positive things: tolerance; variety; diversity of
language, colour, culture, heritage; a singularly subtle and dry humour; a
particular joyful eccentricity, even a celebration of the quirky and the
bizarre; a slightly rough and ramshackle streety edge.
On the flip side,
however, England has always had terrible shadow sides: the entitled Imperial or
aristocratic white male arrogance and cronyism that rises through elite schools
and universities and is then strengthened through the boys’ clubs at the top of
every single trade and profession including seemingly progressive leftist politics
and the seemingly liberal arts and culture sectors; and, at the other end of
the traditional English class scale, a defiantly insular, monoglot, defensively
aggressive, ignorant-and-happy-about-it, yobbish, philistine, laddish, violent-in-sentiment-or-word-or-deed,
backward, racist undertow.
Given the recent disastrous
Brexit vote it was these two tendencies which rose to the surface: a bigoted,
numbskull, philistine hatred of foreigners, experts and elites of any kind; and
an upper-class delusion that England (not Scotland, who voted to remain) will
somehow regain its abusive and dominating hold and status over the rest of the
world.
What's your
experience of living in Britain as an Asian woman? How has that evolved over
the years?
What do you mean, ‘living
in Britain’? I am not just on a speculative stay, I was born and brought up
here. In fact your question, with the underlying, subtle assumption that I am
not as tied to the country as someone who is white English, represents a new
movement in the way non-white Britons are seen. It is as if non-white Britons
are not really ‘from’ England and ought to feel some sort of pull to ‘return’ ‘back
home’ (that is, the country of their parents’ or even grandparents’ birth).
This is a new thing in my lifetime, and it has steadily been exacerbated over
the last ten year as lots of different bigotries and prejudices have combined
in white Englanders’ minds. Islamophobia in the wake of various terrorist
attacks like those on the World Trade Centre in New York and the London
transport network; an increase in racism based on colour, against people of
South Asian descent whether Muslim or not; a racist prejudice against migrants
from other parts of the EU like Poland and Romania; a vilification of refugees
fleeing war, fragile states, extreme poverty and political persecution, despite
the fact that the UK has accepted tiny numbers of refugees.
Life is much
colder and harder than it was – much more racist, much more suspicious, more
ignorant (and defiantly so). The general tenor of debate, both private and
public, casual and professional, has become much coarser. It has become permissible
to say just anything, no matter how narrow-minded, inflammatory, ignorant and
insulting, and waste the time of people like me, who have to ‘debate’ each
point as if it’s acceptable and legitimate in some way. As a political analyst speaking
in mainstream broadcasting (for BBC, Sky News and Channel 4) I have found myself
having to argue, as if legitimately, with people stating that learning other
languages is a waste of time, that migrants should be vetted “so they don’t
blow us up”, that “they” “don’t want to integrate”. I am having to push back
against openly racist, aggressively insular, utterly scathing and unapologetic
racists who feel their prejudices have now been endorsed and legitimised by a
significant proportion of the population – and by the shift rightwards which is
being seen all over the world, from full-on dictatorships in Turkey and Russia
to far right governments in Hungary and Romania and gains for far right parties
in Greece, France, Holland and Austria.
At a very personal
level, I’m in my 30s, very established in my career and public life – and worried
and despairing. I have seen the great dream of multiculturalism and the trend
of ‘cool britannia’ come and go. The white men’s clubs who ran everything still
run everything. Despite there being several very eminent
women of colour in my fields (journalism and broadcasting; arts and cultural
diplomacy; political analysis; human rights advocacy) we are still very much a
minority, and we are never in each other’s company. Each of us is often the
only woman and only person of colour on the panel, discussion, event, trip,
project or enterprise. Whenever this happens – whenever white male domination
refuses to break or change – the victims are blamed. This is true in the case
of all male abuse. I am hitting the famous glass ceiling and, as
a result, am probably going to become part of the ‘brain drain’ of non-white
Britons of talent who are leaving the country as a result of the racist and
sexist marginalisation and subtle discrimination we face. Let me be clear: this
isn’t overt name-calling, insult and attack. It’s more like the steady
realisation that no matter how nicey-nice people are to your face, you will
never be accepted into the club and normalised as a member. So the political
and personal are inextricably linked and (in my opinion), everything is
possible: I am aggrieved because of issues of sex and race, which have either
stalled or actively gone backwards in most areas of life in the UK.
What do you see
happening in British society today? How has Brexit impacted British identity,
if at all?
Brexit has
impacted everything for the worse. Brexit is a catastrophe, a mistake and a
disaster. I am horrified at how a virtually half-and-half vote has been
aggressively transformed into ‘the people have spoken’ and thus regarded as
some kind of mandate to enable a tragic act of self-harm; one which has no
upside culturally, morally, financially or politically. I believe the vote was
fuelled by racism, insularity, arrogance and aggressively blunt-headed nationalism;
by grief and misery after decades of under-funding of essential services,
social care, family support, infrastructure, schools, hospitals and civic life;
by an arrogant contempt for the responsibilities and pleasures of being part of
a world community which decides things together; by a philistine rejection of
Europe’s culture, history, peoples and languages
We are all going
to pay the price for this mistake. Brexit will affect everything from students’
ability to travel and study globally; medical research; collaboration on arts
and cultural projects; joint scholarship and research; financial services and
business; agriculture and farming; travel, life, retirement, freedom;
knowledge-sharing when it comes to security and terrorism. Whichever way you
look at it, from whichever standpoint you have politically, it’s a disaster.
Politicians know this. They know it both by instinct and by the research and
the appeals which are being put to them by every sector from farming to art
galleries. The one thing that they may have learnt from all of this is that
they must never throw out a referendum so callously and so casually again.
There was no demand from the public for a vote on EU membership; David Cameron
took a gamble that he thought he was going to win. He lost, and it destroyed
his career. It’s going to do the same to Theresa May, because Brexit is not
just poisonous but impossible: we have decades’ worth of successfully working
ties with the EU. There was no need for this politically violent and culturally
backward act of sabotage and self-sabotage.
What makes me all
the more angry is that the British left – which is ruled by entitled white men,
just the same as the right – is equally provincial, insular and small-minded.
They have mounted no opposition to Brexit whatsoever and indeed Jeremy Corbyn
has punished those of his colleagues who have shown opposition to Brexit.
How do you
perceive Britain's relationship with the rest of the world?
England (not Scotland which voted Remain) is a laughing
stock. It is seen as arrogant, insular, xenophobic, racist, nationalistic,
petty and provincial, chasing an impossible and immoral dream signified by
meaningless words and slogans: ‘take back control’; regain ‘sovereignty’.
Britain always had control and sovereignty. Membership of the EU is membership
of a linguistically and historically diverse community, with meetings in
Brussels, which is convenient for all the member states and is a few hours’
away on the Eurostar. We lost nothing, and gained so much, by EU membership. As
a result of England’s poor image international doctors and nurses, and
international students and researchers, are choosing to go elsewhere. England
will become a backwater within twenty years, with a young generation with no
sense of themselves as being part of a world community, uninterested in the
rest of the world; England will be abandoned as a bad bet by the rest of the
world – as deluded and arrogant, and pathetically out of step.
A best case scenario will be that London – and only London –
will become a hub for the global super-rich to park their cars and buy apartments;
and developments of luxury homes, boutiques and restaurants will follow this.
So it’ll become like Hong Kong or Dubai or Singapore. But the rest of the country
will exist in stark contrast to that wealth. But the fundamental delusion –
that greater days are to come and there is some new era of wealth and success
on the horizon – is pathetically empty. In any case, England will never and
should never regain any kind of Imperial power; the future of the world,
politically, resides in China, India, Latin America and numerous African
countries. England could have joined in with the flow of the future. Instead,
it put up the barricades and pulled up the drawbridge. The rest of the EU
nations are understandably bemused by what is so obviously a self-damaging and
damaging act which will damn at least a generation to come.
