The outgoing head of the Church of England, Dr. Rowan Williams, has spoken out on the impact of identity politics in 21st century United Kingdom. Acknowledging the importance of civil liberty activism since the 1990s, the Archbishop of Canterbury announced that, “identity politics is all very well but we have to have some way of putting it all back together again and discovering what is good for all of us and share something of who we are with each other so as to discover more about who we are.”
Does this mean to encourage a compromise in 21st century British identity? Perhaps, Dr. Williams wishes us to come out from behind our self-made individuality, and merge together in the common good. This may sound like a reference to the ‘Big Society’ message espoused by a 2012 Downing Street, especially with the Archbishop highlighting the apparent risk of “really fragmenting the society we belong to” through an insular attitude to community relations. Commentators have labelled this language as “divisive” and a “warning shot” targeting movements in support of gay rights, feminism and anti-racist campaigns. Indeed, protection of identity diversity within the United Kingdom today is a balancing act between civil liberty and a sense of collective value; if we are better together, we should construct a unified society.
The problem with this is that identities evolved as a defence mechanism against exclusion from that very society Dr. Williams refers to. The unprovoked drunken racism of Liam Stacey (“so noxious… that no newspaper has the stomach to publish it”) warranted a 56-day prison sentence. In recent times, there have been several instances of such a proactive approach to limiting casual racism as a means of combating the expansion of identity politics. The horrifying outburst and indecency of Emma West on the Croydon-Wimbledon Tramlink in November is another example of an attack on a minority group. It involved a complaint about multiculturalism in 21st century UK. The British identity has been altered through immigration, just as it was through colonisation. Identity naturally evolves, but those of a conservative attitude are invariably more resistant to such change and wish to exclude those considered outside the ‘us’.
After West’s tirade was broadcast on www.youtube.com (the video has now been removed), she was charged with, and pleaded not guilty to, two counts of racially aggravated abuse. Issues of free speech and of racial abuse are often juxtaposed in the UK media, with different groups vying for recognition of their respective identities. The 2010 incident of the airport bomb Tweet and the breaching of high-profile super-injunctions in the summer proved the difficulty with policing modern technology, and Stacey’s comments have reopened this discussion in the context of racism. Free speech in a 21st century democracy is being challenged daily as the manner of informal interpersonal communication evolves at an incredible rate. Race relations in the UK too are advancing within a so-called “new post-racial nation”, as competing identities demand observation of their rights with heightening public awareness thereof. The question arises whether established approaches to combating racism should be imposed on new, digital forms of ‘socialising’. As identity changes alongside the changing nature of ‘inclusivity’ (social networking), what it means to belong is no longer black and white.
Jean-Paul Guerlain, of Guerlain perfume brand, said in a 2010 interview on national television that he had worked liked a “negre” (a racial slur on people of African descent) in developing the ‘Samsara’ scent. A Paris court on Thursday sentenced Guerlain with a €6000 fine and found him guilty of racial insults. France’s increasingly post-racial stance on governance, and its treatment of ethnic minorities, raises its own challenges for identity politics. There are lessons to be learned from across the Channel. With the Archbishop’s warnings about the risk of identity politics overpowering community relations to the point of societal breakdown in the UK, it is for us to create forms of promoting cohesion that do not compromise individuality or free speech. Rather, we must respect diversity – in ethnicity, gender and sexuality – and embrace new models of social involvement and inclusivity, as provided by social networks, in our search for a shared identity.
