Topic > Nationalist Movements in Britain - 712

“Combo: But I have a question for you. Do you consider yourself English or Jamaican? [There is a long, uneasy silence, as Milky looks around nervously at the rest of his friends...] Milky: [eventually] English. Combo: Lovely, lovely, I love you for this, this is damn awesome. A proud man, learn from him; that's a proud man. That's what we need, man. This is what this nation was built on, proud men. Fucking proud warriors! For two thousand years this little fucking island has been raped and pillaged by people who came here and wanted a piece of it - two damn world wars! For this men gave their lives. For this... and for what? So people can stick their fucking flag in the ground and say, "Yes! This is England. And this is England, and this is England." (reference). Combo, the leader of a small nationalist group, truly believed that England had been conquered by immigrants. Nationalist movements still exist in Britain and their influence is growing. This essay will try to analyze why two nationalist organisations, the National Front (NF) and the more radical British National Party (BNP), were born in Great Britain, how they act in today's society and what consequences this has on society. After the First World War, people living in the British Empire were portrayed as loyal and as part of the British people. They fought in the war alongside the British and their right to emigrate to Britain was only contested if they were not white. After the war, as immigration from non-white colonies continued, British attitudes toward non-whites changed (Webster 54). Paul Gilroy argues that this is because the British people have lost their sense of comfort as their society has become less homogeneous… at the heart of the paper… a challenge to the UK State. Pluto Press: London, 2001. Print.The British National Party. BNP. BNP, 2014. Web. 12 April. 2014.Marrone, Jonathan. “The long march of the National Front towards politics”. The Independent. April 23. 2012. Network. 13 April. 2014.Gilroy, Paul. After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture?: Multiculture or Postcolonial Melancholia: Routledge: New York, 2004. Print.The National Front. National Front. NF, 2014. Web. 12 April. 2014.This is England. Director: Shane Prati. Perf. Thomas Turgoose, Stephen Graham and Andrew Shim. Non-Stop Entertainment, 2006. Film.Webster, Wendy. Englishness and Empire 1939-1965. NY: OUP, 2007. Print.Wynne-Jones, Ros. “Back from the Front: Inside the Mind of a Reformed UK Far-Right Extremist.” L'Independen.t 9 August. 2011. Network. 13 April. 2014.Unemployment. Politics.co.uk., nd Web. 13 April. 2014.