Pride and Prejudice: Negotiating Identity in Britain

It's been a busy year for identity politics in Britain. Most recently, millions have watched the woman ofexpress her opinion on who is and isn't British in the UK today.

Identity in Britain is under attack, from inside and out. Neither calls for "integration" nor the apparatus of counter-extremism alone will stop it.

It's been a busy year for identity politics in Britain. Most recently, millions have watched the woman of My Tram Experience express her opinion on who is and isn't British in the UK today.

"You're black, you ain't British" she tells a fellow passenger. "Yes, I am" insists the passenger in response. The woman in question will appear in court tomorrow to answer charges of racially aggravated harassment.

Just a week before the tram encounter, the think-tank Demos published findings on pride in Britain. 83% of Muslims said they were proud to be a British citizen, the report stated, compared with the national average of 79%.

In Whitehall the introspection on identity and belonging in Britain continues. This year's opening salvo included prime minister David Cameron's speech in Munich setting out his views on radicalisation and Islamic extremism.

"Muscular liberalism" became the popular takeout though the sound bite overshadowed issues of identity, belonging and localism the speech had also addressed.

In June, the Home Office's Prevent Strategy was overhauled, revising the preventative strand of the government's counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST. The review recognised that radicalisation can occur as people search for identity, meaning and community. The government's final push this year may well be the forthcoming "integration strategy" from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Initial reports refer to a 'curry college' in the UK, intended to stem catering related immigration, as well as an emphasis on integration over cohesion.

What is clear is that both integration and extremism - from racist diatribes to violent attacks - are inextricably bound up with notions of identity and belonging. For Britain's youth, in a time of increasing economic and social turmoil, understanding their place in Britain is crucial. And yet, how much do we really know about what it means to be a young person in Britain today?

Identity - how we define ourselves - is of course more than a word; it is a lived experience, constantly under construction. Bell Pottinger Public Advocacy recently undertook a video ethnography study, spending time talking to and recording first-hand the lives of a cross-section of 15 young Britons. The research included British Pakistanis, Somalis, Yemenis and White Britons, from different locations and social settings. The result of course is just a snapshot, but a telling one.

A clear fault line emerged between British identity (being British) versus the British experience (living in Britain). There was no clear narrative around British identity or values, for either group.

Drinking, clubbing and pubs were a common refrain. While white Britons were comfortable defining what it takes to be British, they were less sure about what it means. This lack of a common national narrative means the dominant white majority retain a sense of ownership over British identity. The vacuum in turn fuels the uncertainty of the relationship between ethnic minorities and white Britons, and vice versa.

Still, young British Somalis and their peers comfortably discussed their attachment to life in Britain, rather than 'being' British. Many showed a better appreciation of what life in Britain means than their white counterparts.

One troubling reality, gnawing at this co-existence of identities, is the sense of total powerlessness over injustice or prejudice that second and third generation immigrants seem reconciled to. Whether it's an EDL march, a stop and search incident, or a tirade of abuse, a common response was one of resignation. Added to this is the seeming lack of any sense of societal responsibility on the part of white Britain.

Belonging, identity and their inherent vulnerabilities are what binds counter-extremism and integration efforts. The experience of the white Briton in Oldham, who gets beaten up by a gang of Asians and tells no-one mirrors the turmoil of the British Pakistani in Bradford, who cannot tell his father about his white girlfriend and baby. Both are vulnerable, both need to rationalise their situation, both seek unambiguous affirmation.

In the contest of public discourse, extremist narratives - whether propagated by Al Qaeda or the English Defence League - can seem to offer the more convincing and accessible answers to identity.

The angry rhetoric of each group acts as an 'echo chamber' of the other, amplifying arguments of separation and difference. Of course, fear and vilification are always easier to sell.

Undermining this discourse requires more reflection and reclaiming British identity is one step. Eschewing extremist narratives, and opening a positive debate around place and belonging in Britain is another. Doing so will take more than slick marketing or reductive, 'Tebbitt test' polling, engagement or denunciations.

Localism, active citizenship, a clearer sense of national identity, adherence to a social contract of equality and respect, with as much emphasis on white as non-white Britain, are all fertile places to begin.

Identity is too powerful a debate to ignore. Those who seek to divide and attack Britain know this only too well. It's time Britain began to understand what it is, and not just what it isn't.

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