Monday, May 14, 2007

12 Points go to Serbia

This weekend brought the Euro spectacle which is the Eurovision Song Contest. For the first time I had to sit through the entire event on TV because my wife has Finnish roots. It is interesting to note that the cost of this event came to about €1 for each Fin in the country. A high price to pay for what is generally some of the worst music to be played across the airwaves.

But that is not the subject of this blog. It was the events afterwards which triggered my desire for another insane rant. The main daily in Finland (the Helsinki Sanomat) reported the views of some people regarding the winners (Serbia). It was not that she looked terrible, could sing ok and the song was awful (which was all true) but there were objections about the winner at the press conference standing there waving a Serbian flag when the country had such a bad history of human right violations, war criminals and some very dubious government activity during the Balkans war. ‘How could she stand there and be proud of her flag?’

What short and convenient memories some people have. It made me think about the issues closer to home. There she was proud of her new country and proud to be associated with it. Ok, terrible things were done by her country but terrible things have been done by all countries throughout history, not least of all the UK. National identity is the cause of many other them. It tends to bubble up when a group who hold a collective identity are denied the right to that identity or whose identity is threatened.

We should not shout too loudly, it is happening in the UK. Not to the point where civil war and ethnic cleansing will break out but certainly to the point where banners will be waived followed by a stiff cup of tea. Threaten our personal identities and we get annoyed, threaten a collective identity and that really spells trouble.

I am of course referring to the England, Scotland and Wales issue (and to some extent to NI but the religious and historic bitterness clouds this position). It is a clear and undisputed fact that the Scots consider themselves Scottish and the Welsh Welsh. They are proud of their identities. The English however are equally proud to be English but there is a general suppression of this identity which was fine in the Union until devolution. When not only did we have to consider ourselves British and not English but we have to do so in the face of the others clearly expressing their identity (and let’s not get into the parliamentary farce on voting).

The UK government needs to realise that national identity (collective identity) need not be about separation. One of the main reasons why the English would reject the EU is because we are already denied our English identity and have to be British. To lose that and become Europeans would be a step too far. If government could understand that allowing the English to be English and the Welsh to be Welsh and the Scots to be Scottish with their own regional parliaments to govern as they seem fit would lead to more cooperation and more integrated countries around trade and borders. Our identity would be safeguarded with our traditions and culture and we could look to gain the real benefits of the Union and the EU safe in the knowledge that there is a line that will not be crossed.

It is interesting to note that we already have identities one level down. We have village government, town government, district government, county government and the suggested regional government. This all represents identity. Our desire to have control over our immediate environment stretches all the way down to our individual identity. We all like to think we are different at all levels (and we are to some extent). Until we are allowed to recognise our differences, our peculiarities, our identities we will be less inclined to cooperate with the real commonalities. We have many common issues which are not dealt with efficiently because, mostly on stubborn principle, we are different. People focus their frustration at lost identity onto blocking common sense issues.

So let the winner of Eurovision proudly waive her flag. It is that flag waiving which she believes her country has fought for (albeit a dirty nasty fight) and I have no doubt that we and many others have yet to go through that process (and hopefully in a more peaceful manner). If we cannot forgive their methods then at least respect their right to an identity.