Being British Cannot be Defined.

A recent experience I had in a hospital had me thinking about how deeply far-right propaganda has infiltrated and blurred people’s minds and perceptions of what it means to be British. While waiting in A&E, I sat opposite an older white woman who was clearly frustrated by the long waiting times from her facial expressions and audible sighs when doctors would call out names that weren’t hers. I understood why this situation would frustrate someone, especially given the context. However, it was her reaction to two young boys and an older gentleman of East African descent that really made me look twice. When a doctor came out and called the two boys in, her reaction was nothing short of disgusting; she made the comment, only once they had left, that she had been in this country her whole life and some people had come yesterday. She knew absolutely nothing about the two boys and the man or their status/citizenship in this country but chose to judge them on the sole basis of skin colour. But what this revealed and what many far-right groups push forward is this notion that those whom they deem ‘Un-British’ are undeserving or taking something away that is important to those that they deem are ‘British’, and in this case, that was access to free healthcare.

 

In my current module, Power, State and the Individual, my essay question is whether human rights have ever been universal. One reading in particular stood out for me when researching for this question, which detailed how far-right populist groups like MAGA with Trump and Reform with Nigel Farage rely on there being an enemy that is threatening the ‘true people’ and their political party being the only ones who can truly represent the ‘true people’. In the Reforms case, the enemy is immigrants, but this ‘enemy’ or ‘threat’ is not real and doesn’t exist. Groups like Reform are built on ethno-nationalist ideals, and what this lady believed she was owed more than someone else is a reflection of these and a further example of how the resurgence of populist groups has legitimized racism. There is also no ‘true people’. What it means to be British cannot be defined or categorized in the way Reform attempts to do. Being British isn’t synonymous with being white or having English heritage, and so the entitlement that was expressed by this woman is an example of the made-up scale of ‘Britishness’ being used to fuel an ethno-nationalist agenda.

 

Therefore, this inherent right she believed she had to be seen first by a medical professional because of her status in this country does not exist, and groups like Reform should not be regarded as political groups when their foundations are built on nationalist and fascist ideals.