Michael Kenny “Englishness: the forbidden identity” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/feb/11/english-nationalism-fight
イングランド・ナショナリズムの高揚。最近10年間に英国では” English identity”の強調が顕著になっているという。それは一方ではBNP*1のような極右の擡頭と結びついているが、それだけに還元できるものではない。曰く、
また、リンクされているMichael Kenny and Guy Lodge “England, England”*2に曰く、
Our research points to the Janus-faced character of this new sense of Englishness. On the one hand, a distinct English national iconography has quite rapidly become part of the wallpaper of our cultural life. Think of how commonplace the cross of St George, once a symbol tainted by association with the far right, has become. In this and many other guises – such as a notable revival of English musical traditions, literature and art – we found that English self-identification carries no single political or social agenda. Nor does the strengthening of Anglo identities necessarily mean that people cease to care about Britain. The evidence suggests that for most people the opposite is true: valuing your Englishness has for many people added to the stock of multiple identities that we enjoy holding.
最後のパラグラフはEnglish identityと極右の関係、極右によるEnglishnessの復興のexploitationを巡る話。
Various factors have helped strengthen Englishness. Devolution has had an impact, forcing the English to reflect on their own sense of nationhood and position in a multinational union. So too has a general trend towards the revival of some of the ancient ties of belonging in the face of the changes and insecurities associated with globalisation and a heightened interest in English heritage and cultural traditions over the last decade. A turn to the more organic and rooted sense of loyalty to Englishness may also be associated with the experience of successive waves of mass immigration in the last few years, uncomfortable as that may be to admit.Our research points to the emergence of an important dual trend in this period. On the one hand, a distinct English national iconography has quite rapidly become part of the wallpaper of our national life. Think of how much more respectable it has recently become to fly the Cross of St George, or how the idea of celebrating St George's Day has become a fixture in the calendar of many local authorities. In these guises, English self-identification carries no obvious political agenda. Nor does the strengthening of English identity necessarily mean that people cease to care about Britain. The evidence suggests that for most people the opposite is true: valuing your Englishness has for many people added to the stock of multiple identities that we enjoy holding.
But a second trend needs to be considered alongside the greater familiarity of Englishness. A shriller and sometimes chauvinist idea of English identity has become an important vehicle for the expression of a growing sense of resentment among some sections of the English populace, particularly, though not exclusively, in some of our poorest communities. It is this new breed of populist nationalism, as well as a lingering sense of being excluded from the economic boom of the 1990s and early noughties, that provide the soil in which the BNP is flourishing. These are the sentiments that lie behind author Michael Collins's reference to the white working class as the ‘last tribe of England'. References to a supposedly forbidden English culture are sometimes a proxy for talking about ethnicity. Sensing their opportunity, the BNP have sought to exploit this sense of marginalisation, which explains its generally unnoticed shift towards a more avowedly pro-English rather than pro-British nationalism. In fighting the BNP, it is imperative that politicians do more to combat the insinuation that Englishness is ‘forbidden' in our cultural and political life.
Englishnessという場合、そのEnglishというのがUK*3を構成する国のひとつとしてのEnglandを指すのか、それともUKを構成するエスニック集団のひとつとしてのイングランド人（アングロ＝サクソン）を指すのか、いまいちよくわからなかった。勿論、Englishという語はそうした両義性を常に孕んではいるのだろう。２番目に引用した記事を読む限りでは、後者の方に重みがかかっているかのようにも思える。
極右によるEnglishnessの利用だが、上の『ガーディアン』の論説では、BNPのNick Griffinがフォーク・シンガー／フィドル奏者のEliza Carthy*4のファンであるという話を枕にしている。Eliza Carthyはビリー・ブラッグと共演したり、ピート・シガーのトリビュートに参加したり、政治的なスタンスは寧ろ左翼なのだが、そのネタがChristian Koch “Osama Van Halen and the 50 Cent dictator”というコラム*5で暴露されたとき、フォーク（トラッド）を極右と同一視するな！ という反論を書いている*6。日本の文脈でいえば、一瞬、城内実にストーカー的に愛されてしまった眞鍋かをりという構図*7が思い浮かんだりもしたのだが、BNPの方はさらに戦略的であるようだ。“Osama Van Halen and the 50 Cent dictator”によると、BNPは既に独自のレコード・レーベル（Great White Records）*8を立ち上げて、曲をリリースしている。
さて、“Osama Van Halen and the 50 Cent dictator”によると、オサマ・ビン・ラディンはヴァン・ヘイレンとB-52’sとホイットニー・ヒューストンのファン。リビアのカダフィがライオネル・リッチーのファンだというのは何だかわかるような気がする。金正日はエリック・クラプトンのファンだとされているが、クラプトン・ファンは実は息子の金正哲。金正日はクラプトンの平壌でのライヴを企画したことはあるにせよ（結局実現せず）*9、Christian Koch氏は金正日のほんとうのお気に入りはエルヴィス・プレスリーだと睨んでいるようだ。だとすれば、小泉純一郎と金正日の関係はプレスリーつながり？
*1:See also http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20091101/1257071034
*2:http://www.progressonline.org.uk/Magazine/article.asp?a=5333
*3:植草某にあらず。
*4:http://www.eliza-carthy.com/ http://www.myspace.com/elizacarthy
*5:http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/16/osama-ipod-guardian-guide
*6:Eliza Carthy “Traditional English song has no links to the far right or Nick Griffin” http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/26/nick-griffin-bnp-folk-music
*7:See http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090729/1248869190 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090804/1249405632 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090805/1249492266 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090808/1249714415 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20090809/1249835813
*8:https://excalibur.bnp.org.uk/acatalog/Great_White_Records.html
*9:Matthew Weaver “Clapton invited to play Pyongyang” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/26/korea
