I never was a great fan of John Cleese, his style of humour being a bit too manic for my liking, but I have to hand it to the old boy for stirring up a hornets nest a few days ago. You’ll remember the enormous stink that ensued when he said that London was “no longer an English city.”
He has inevitably been accused of racism by the usual suspects including Piers Morgan and someone called Dom Joly (a fellow comedian by all accounts). But Cleese’s remark does raise interesting questions about the meaning of racism and of the word “English”.
No doubt most of us would be happy to describe ourselves as racialists or racial nationalists meaning that ancestry and human difference are central to our understanding of personal and national identity, and fuel our determination to defend those precious things. Racialism, as I have tried to describe it, implies no disrespect for those who are not of our race nor any wish to rule over them. Every ethnicity should have its own more-or-less exclusive homeland in which its racial and cultural identity is secure; racialism is for everyone.
But our enemies make no distinction between racialism and racism, no distinction between love of land and folk on the one hand, and screaming racial abuse at a football match on the other. They do not understand our love of land and folk but they do understand – and fear – the power of that love to move hearts and minds, and that is why they seek to make it unmentionable by tarring it with the dread word “racism”. Racism, if the word ever had any validity, surely means the subjection of people to inferior treatment on the grounds of their race. But its use has been cynically and deliberately extended to cover every manifestation of preference for one’s own – but only if one’s own is White and especially if one’s own is English. Somehow even the mildest expressions of regret for the passing of Englishness, as in the case of Mr. Cleese, have come to be condemned as racist and are therefore to be suppressed. Douglas Murray, author of that brilliant book “The Strange Death of Europe” (Bloomsbury 2017) remarked in a recent article that the Left makes full use of all the weapons in its armoury, however mendacious – he surely meant the racism slur – while the Right is too timid to use those at its disposal, including what he calls “country and people”, surely not too different from our own “Land and Folk”?
So successful has been the inversion of values by the Left that our love for our own is now “hate” while their hate for us is “hope”. The old saying that the Devil ( also known as “the Lord of Lies”) comes with a fair face and sweet words, the better to deceive, has never been truer. The Left has even invented a new, and virtuous, racism of its own – Anglophobia. Loathing of England, presumably because of our proud imperial past, is permitted and encouraged – as exemplified in the recent outburst by Reg Dwight (Elton John): “I am sick to death of Brexit. I am a European. I am not a stupid, colonial, imperialist English idiot.” Substitute for “English” the name of any other ethnicity, especially a non-White ethnicity, and imagine the grovelling apologies and cancelled tour dates which would have followed the media storm, but because he said “English” – nothing.
Which brings me neatly on to my second question – who now are the English? There is a problem with defining Englishness and it stems from the unmatched success of England, expanding from a prosperous but fairly marginal European power in the Middle Ages, to the mastery first of the British Isles and then of vast new worlds beyond. That the countries of North America and Australasia are English speaking lands inhabited by scores of millions of people of English descent, together with the wider legacy of Empire, means that some major characteristics of English identity, such as our language and much of our higher culture – especially literature – are now universal. Given that fact, it would not be entirely unreasonable to suggest that anyone whose first language is English is entitled to claim to be English, but of course that would be going much too far – and is unlikely to please the Irish and the Scots! But if that definition is too wide, any attempt to limit Englishness to people of Anglo-Saxon descent living in England is too narrow. I suggest that a reasonable modern definition of an English person is one who is White, whose first language is English, and who reasonably considers herself or himself to be English – meaning either born and brought up in England or born and brought up elsewhere but of English descent.
Probably the only controversial element in that definition is the insistence on Whiteness. This is necessary because the English are a European ethnicity, and Whiteness is the fundamental distinguishing characteristic of all European ethnicities. White is what we are, we cannot be otherwise any more than a Zulu could not be Black. Most ethnic minority people in England are aware of this reality, defining themselves (if they are British citizens) as British, not English, recognising that Englishness is an ethnicity to which they do not, and cannot, belong. But what, some may object, about all those Black and mixed race footballers/cricketers/rugby players who play for the England international teams, are they not English? No they are not – they are ethnic minority individuals who are living in England; they are chosen to play for representative teams by the various sporting bodies whose job is to pick the teams most likely to win, not to define Englishness.
As for London, several newspaper columnists have made out that London has always been multi-racial and multi-cultural. This not altogether wrong, merely a great exaggeration. All great port cities have foreign communities living in their midst and always have done and London is no exception. But until quite recent times the foreign communities in London were overwhelmingly from near at hand – Dutch, Flemings, French, Germans – people who melded seamlessly with the English. Nor did these communities ever come anywhere near majority status. For nearly eleven centuries from its refoundation by Alfred the Great in the 890s London was unquestionably an ethnic English city. But no more – according to the census of 2011, only 45% of the inhabitants of London were then White British, and the position will not have improved in the eight years since, nor will all of those White British have been English. So, except in purely geographic terms, Cleese was right – London is no longer an English city.
The general response of the great and good to the news that we White British are no longer a majority in our capital city was enthusiastic – “it can’t be stopped” was the observation of one of them, a certain Boris Johnson.
By Frederick Dixon © 2019
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Sean Brown
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This small island, bordered by rough seas has outperformed most countries in Europe.
A rich heritage going back thousands of years, crafted a race of strong willed, godly, dreamers.
Who’s charge from God it was to spread the enlightenment of civilisation.
To not be proud is a direct affront to not only your ancestors, but the creator almighty.
Michael Woodbridge
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The dystopian novel, ‘1984’ by George Orwell is well worth a re-read. In it the author explains the principles of “Newspeak”. He describes a time when the government set up a whole ministry to simplify our language with the deliberate intention of curtailing our ability to think for ourselves. Hence, as Mr.Dixon explains, the word “Racialism” is conflated into its supposed derogatory form of “Racism”.
Another terrifying example, among many, of the corrosive, Orwellian attempt at mind control is the hijacking of the word “Extremist”. A word now currently used by the government to describe any type of dissident opinion which does not fit its Globalist agenda, and so conflate it with imported alien fanaticism. The sort of fanaticism Britain has imported through the kind of immigration only “Extremists” have the courage to discuss!
Alec Suchi
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By London no longer having a majority “White” English population, the capital is no longer an English city as correctly stated by John Cleese . It is the people who give a particular location its distinct identity, reflecting their values, traditions and modes of behaviour. The current knife crime epidemic reflect the values and behaviour patterns of distinct people of non European heritage, and this is not merely explained by poverty, institutional “racism”, lack of opportunities or lack of police numbers as “Progressives” attempt to do.
To be accurate, in a monarchy we are all subjects of the crown and not citizens. There are many non Europeans who have acquired the status of British Subjects but whose ancestry remains removed from that of the British Isles, and whose children who will always be identified as from the countries of origin. As Frederick correctly observes most non Europeans would eschew identifying themselves as English and declare themselves to be British (subjects). However neither are the non Europeans Britons as that refers to the ancient Celtic peoples, including the Welsh whom Frederick had omitted mentioning.
It has been risible when non Europeans have presumed to define “Englishness” in response to John Cleese comments. So many terms are conflated and the all pervading term “Racism” is inevitably introduced together with xenophobia, intolerance and many others.
It is of great regret that our major cities in England are no longer occupied by a majority English population or which are close to achieving minority status, while the progressive will gladly promulgate the supposed virtues of multiculturalism and diversity, while himself living in a largely white area.
John Beattie
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British roots is the reason the British Peoples League was founded in Toronto back in 1978.
Max Musson
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And I hope the British Peoples League has grown considerably, and continues to do so.
John Beattie
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Thank you Max. Bottom line for the BPL after decades: finally in 2019 more contacts above ground than ever before. Yet we are determined to grow “legally underground”, as the times require. I suppose my name being controversial adds a spark, via enemy smears constant here across the pond. Anyway the concept of Western Spring is terrific.
John Stephens
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I think we can be rightly proud of our Island, and its associate Island Brethren. However, Mr. Cleese hit a raw nerve that goes far deeper than “England”.
We are part of the ancient Scythians, and thus, we have a sometimes unsaid, mostly reserved, nature. This is twinned with an equally silent rage.
That rage is righteous. Youtube is just about, still a valuable resource for understanding the link with Mr. Cleese’s quiet rage, when studying the Scythians excellent role on Western idealls.
I will not need to say more here, only to ask readers, and Max, to check out what amounts to be an “unspoken” reality, whilst Western Spring helps to re-build our portion of the multi-layered Sythian principles of our God given origins, and the accompanying natural order.
Deus Vult.
Albert
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85% of the White indigenous population DNA can be traced back to after the last Ice Age 11.000 years ago,The other 15% are Saxon, Frisians, Angles, Jutes, Norwegian, Danish, Most Englishmen identifie themselves as Anglo Saxon but their DNA amounts too between 15 to 40% Germanic, , We are a ancient people moulded by this land , its moderate climate, it gentle hills and mountains its fresh water….kinship, a common culture and religion formed over Thousands of years, my surname is old English but I also have the blood of Ancient Britain through my veins…More immigrants mostly from the Third World have come to Britain in the last Seventy than in the last Thousand..but I recon you people already know this
Jake
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I am sixth generation Australian. My ancestors are German, Irish, English, and Welsh, probably in that order of proportion.
I can tell you that despite the passage of time and being on the other side of the world, I never the less have this powerful instinct that recognizes my Whiteness.
Not all all of my countrymen feel the same way ( nor yours it seems).
To me, this is the real tragedy. I am particularly disappointed with the Brits. Down here, we were always destined to be overrun, being as it were situated on the “rump” of Asia, but in Europe, you gave away the heartland. That is pretty well unforgiveable.
Sorry for that outburst, but that is how I really feel.