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Tim Soutphommasane, Labour – and a new patriotism

August 16, 2012 11:00 am

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The notion of ‘patriotism’ has been met by most members of the Labour Party of the last few decades with something between haughty derision and outright revulsion. Yet as the response to the London 2012 Opening Ceremony and subsequent outpouring of pride in our sporting prowess has shown us, attachment to one’s country is a powerful idea. Everything we should be proud of was on show to the world in Danny Boyle’s Olympic masterpiece; our acquisition of labour rights and universal suffrage, a national health system that provides unquestioning support and care to everybody, a picture of multi-cultural Britain that we felt resolutely comfortable showing off to the world, if not the temperamental Member for Cannock Chase.

A very promising addition to the bank of ideas Labour can draw from over the next three years comes from a young Australian thinker, Tim Soutphommasane. Born to refugees who had fled to France from Laos, he has written extensively on the subject of national identity and multiculturalism. Soutphommasane re-imagines patriotism as a sentiment of democratic renewal and national belonging, a chance to make the emotional case for citizens to support those they will never meet through the welfare state. The Right, he argues, has kept tight hold of patriotism and used it to appeal to its own agenda. The idea that the Left can regain control of patriotism in public discourse has excited Jon Cruddas, the head of Labour’s policy review, and Ed Miliband. Both have met Mr Soutphommasane to discuss how his ideas can translate to re-establishing the idea of a State that appeals not to the standard nationalistic catalogue of clichés – Monarchy, military and aristocracy – but to a renewed sense of community and an acknowledgement that as a people, the British have fought the greatest battles not on foreign blood-soaked soils, but at home, where working people have fought to establish a nation that has a powerful social conscience and a collective duty to one other.

If the Left can truly welcome Soutphommasane’s argument, we will have a case that will appeal to far more people than the many who reject it think it will be appreciated by. Recognition that a love of one’s country and its people does not have to be jingoistic nonsense, but something that the people of this country really care about, will show the public that we finally get it. And if we do it right, we will be able to use the powerful case for country as the powerful case for many of the things the Left has striven to do for decades. Just as Great Britain and Northern Ireland has regained a sense of national confidence following the Olympic success story, the Left can regain confidence in arguing for and defending the things that a compassionate country should have no qualms about having.

Soutphommasane quotes the 19th century US senator, Carl Schurz: “My country, right or wrong: if right, to be kept right; if wrong, to be set right.” Whether they like it or not, those on the Left in Britain who react to patriotism with frothing hatred were born in a country that does not question whether they belong there. They belong to a community, and to look at it dispassionately through the brown-tinted glasses of somebody who rejects a country’s shared history, culture and achievements is to reject a sense of collective responsibility – and, crucially, pride – for what we have built and what we are to build in the years ahead.

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  1. Celebrating patriotism : How Labour can learn from Danny Boyle
  • AnotherOldBoy

    “The notion of ‘patriotism’ has been met by most members of the Labour Party of the last few decades with something between haughty derision and outright revulsion.”

    If that is true, it is very sad for all you lefties.

    • treborc

      I think we are putting to much on the games, it only lasted two weeks yet has saved the UK.

  • Iandgilbert

    “The notion of ‘patriotism’ has been met by most members of the Labour
    Party of the last few decades with something between haughty derision
    and outright revulsion.”

    Based on your highly scientific sample of how many Labour members?

    • treborc

      Because  some Tories told him.

    • http://twitter.com/tomwilliamsisme Tom Williams

      Well as an active member of the Labour Party of about four years, it is based on speaking to quite a few.

  • Vincenzo Rampulla

    So patriotism becomes pride in our shared communitarianism?

    From the comments below it is the cynicism and fear of symbols from some that holds this movement back.

  • Martinay

    Britain needs a  new patriotism not for its own sake, not just because the old patriotism was arrogant and xenophobic but because, without it, we cannot fulfil our potential in the world in general and continental Europe in particular.

    This new patriotism exists beyond political parties: it is the common ground of the people of Britain.  A ground that shifts over time,  usually slowly, sometimes quickly.  Labour’s job is to respect that common ground, to celebrate it, to ensure that it remains on it without asserting any rightful place on it.  

    The Tories today have a right job getting on to that common ground – so many of them cannot see beyond the old patriotism and are blinded by thoughts of British exceptionalism, by distant memories of ruling the waves. But if they were to get onto the common ground… well Labour should be there to welcome them onboard.

    • KonradBaxter

      Interesting.

      Can you define some of the common ground?

      I would read what you are saying also that any new patriotism cannot be multicultural in basis because that does not create common ground but puts up walls.

      I would diagree with any stance against British exceptionalism though. The medium, were are communicating on was created by a Briton for example and a belief in your own nation being special is, i would say, a key part of patriotism.

      • Martinay

        The common ground belongs to us all, embracing the many cultures, faiths and ethnicities in the UK, embracing  the old and new technologies that have underpinned our social and economic development, embracing  a democratic history from the founding of the mother of parliaments to the founding of international human rights law, from the fight against serfdom and slavery to the struggles for women’s rights and a living wage.
        Exceptionalism is the perception that a country is “exceptional” (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles.  British exceptionalism distinguished the British from “lesser breeds of men.” 

        • KonradBaxter

          But some of this mix do not have common ground or have areas where common ground is not possible – attitudes to homosexuality or womens rights for example. Dietary strictures. Voting. How can we have common grounds if we all carry on the cultures and behaviours and thoughts of where ever it is we may originally have been from? Can the common ground only come from the central, ‘main’ culture and then be slowly expanded upon by those who join it?

          There may be a patch in the middle but i’d like to explore what it is and what it is made of more than a sense of ‘oneness’ or historical achievemnts many of which took place under King and Empire and a far less diverse nation.

          We are exceptional and to embrace that is no bad thing in moderation. We – literally in many ways – built the modern world and have performed in an extraordinary way for a damp island off the coast of Europe.   

          • Brumanuensis

            You are confusing ‘exceptional’ with ‘remarkable’. Britain has accomplished remarkable things, but not exceptional things. Other nations have commesurate feats of culture, technology and regional or international dominance. The fact we have Shakespeare does not make Moliere inferior.

      • Brumanuensis

        I think any belief in national exceptionalism is incredibly dangerous. It breeds xenophobia and chauvinism, because if your country is ‘special’, then other countries sre deficient by comparison. I don’t think you can ever say Britain is ‘better’ than anywhere else, because comparisons become absurd pretty quickly. Is Britain better than Italy? The United States? India? Canada? And so on. Better to think of our country like a favourite football team: could be better, needs more investment, but much loved regardless because it will always be yours. I just want Britain to be a good country for its own sake, not so we can get one over other nations.

  • Daniel Speight

    The notion of ‘patriotism’ has been met by most members of the Labour
    Party of the last few decades with something between haughty derision
    and outright revulsion.

    So who is this aimed at? Is it anyone in the party to left of let’s say Tony Blair, David Miliband and the Sainsbury’s owner? I mean I’m to left of them, but I’m proud of the family I come from; I’m proud to be a Londoner; I’m proud of my English and Irish ancestry; and I’m proud to be British. But having said that I’m also not like any flag-waving American tea-party patriot. I can recognise when things are not as they should be in the country of my birth.

    Having seen a couple of posts of this ‘patriotism’ theme recently probably linked to the Olympics I guess, it would be well worth seeing how some in Labour’s history approached the call for patriotism. The First World War would be a good starting point. Of course we all know that Ramsay MacDonald stood against the war and lost his parliamentary seat in 1918 because of  that. But how about Mandelson’s grandfather, Herbert Morrison who was a conscientious objector during the great war?

    Seems to me that maybe some need to grow up a bit. It’s not a bad idea to resist the patriotic call sometimes.

    • Clem the Gem

      On the other hand, Attlee served with distinction at Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia, and the Western Front… 

      • Brumanuensis

        Hence his common moniker, ‘Major Atlee’.

        It just reminds you how small our current breed of politicians are.

  • Nhs_exec

    All very well if you are that way minded, but to those of us who prefer individual freedoms (within a fair legal framework) over collective obligations, then you are unlikely to get much acceptance.

    Your position is one that will appeal only to certain parts of the left only.

  • http://twitter.com/mistyblulabour dave stone

    “Great Britain and Northern Ireland has regained a sense of national confidence following the Olympic success story”

    Interesting front page in this weeks The Voice newspaper (‘Britain’s top black weekly’). The headline, in bold upper-case reads: PRIDE OF AFRICA, with a large photograph of Mo Farah below.

    Inside, a British BBC sports pundit is quoted: “Mo Farah is showing the east Africans how it’s done.” The leader writer responds: “Mo, while a proud member of Team GB, is without doubt, the son of the Horn of Africa.

    Looks like the Olympic tide of confidence swept well beyond Britain’s shores, and on its way became internationalist.

    Haven’t read Soutphommasane yet, though will do. It’ll be interesting to see how he accommodates internationalism and multiculturalism.

  • Franwhi

    1. The notion of ‘patriotism’ has been met by most members of the Labour Party of the last few decades with something between haughty derision and outright revulsion.

    *wrong – not ever in Scotland

    2. The idea that the Left can regain control of patriotism in public discourse has excited Jon Cruddas, the head of Labour’s policy review, and Ed Miliband.

    *the Left in Scotland welcome patriotism in the public discourse and indeed many on the Scottish Left champion and promote Scottish patriotism in a mature and open way 

    3.  Recognition that a love of one’s country and its people does not have to be jingoistic nonsense, but something that the people of this country really care about

    *what so many on the Left in Scotland have been arguing for a very, very long time – indeed Scottish Labour are one of the few significant groups in Scottish public life who don’t want to acknowledge this  

    4. the Left can regain confidence in arguing for and defending the things that a compassionate country should have no qualms about having

    *here’s  a confidently stated argument which can underpin the right to self-determination of one’s own country – please, please please let Scottish Labour colleagues who want to lock down Scottish democracy read and reflect on this high quality argument

  • Brumanuensis

    Carl Schurtz, a naturalised American who had to flee Germany due to political persecution, who put itbest: “My country, right or wrong. If right, to be kept right and if wrong, to be set right”.

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