Firm, united let us be,
Rallying 'round our liberty,
As a band of brothers joined,
Peace and safety we shall find.
We all know that Trump is using the “take a knee” protests as a distraction from his ongoing problems with …. well you name it. From the outside, the fuss seems plain daft and the strict “rules” positively Staliist. The monarch of my country was born five years before the “Star Spangled Banner” was made the national anthem of the United States by law. Before then, the position was the same as the UK today; there was no official national anthem. Instead, from 1798 the de facto national song was “Hail Columbia”, the chorus of which you may not recognise but it’s at the top of the page. Perhaps its message should be heeded by a certain sometimes resident at the White House.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland does not actually have an official national anthem. As the royal web site explains
There is no authorised version of the National Anthem as the words are a matter of tradition. Additional verses have been added down the years, but these are rarely used.
The words used today are those sung in 1745, substituting 'Queen' for 'King' where appropriate. On official occasions, only the first verse is usually sung.
Even then there is a possibility of several different “second verses”. The nearest to an official version was “peace version” that in 1919 the Privy Council agreed could be used; but that was before the current UK was created; previously it encompassed the whole of Ireland. It is very rarely, if ever sung in full. It shares the opening verse “God save ….”
Various attempts have been made to produce versions of the lyrics which were considered more “politically correct” at the time. In 1836 William Hickson/Hixton came up with “God Bless Our Native Land” which alluded to the monarch only in the second verse. The sentiments at end of its first verse and fourth were also in the “peace version”.
Hickson 1836
May peace her power extend,
Foe be transformed to friend,
And Britain's rights depend
On war no more.
….
Nor on this land alone,
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore:
Lord make the nations see
That men should brothers be,
And form one family
The wide world o'er.
Peace version 1919
Of many a race and birth
From utmost ends of earth
God save us all!
Bid strife and hatred cease
Bid hope and joy increase
Spread universal peace
God save us all!
Even that quote is dubious as I have seen the second line of the Peace version rendered as “One Empire wide as Earth”. Neither of course is routinely sung, the last time I can remember the Hickson verse being sung in public was at the 2008 Olympic handover ceremony. Its second verse does however point to a further complication in the UK — “One realm of races four….” — referring to the separate countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, all of which compete against each other in various sporting events.
To get over the problem, the Scots use “Flower of Scotland” and the Welsh “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau” (“Land of my fathers”). The Northern Irish have adopted “Danny boy” to the tune of the “Londonderry Air”. English teams tend to use “God Save the Queen” apart from in competition with the other nations of the UK. This can cause confusion in international matches with Lichtenstein and some other countries that share the same tune. At various times the chorus of “Rule Britannia” (not really suitable), “Land of Hope and Glory” and “Jerusalem” have been used. Blake’s poem set to music by Parry is a curious mix of Christian-socialist idealism and nationalism with the struggle to “build Jerusalem” again also inspiring the suffragette movement and its adoption by the Women’s Institute. Whilst it was the most popular choice in a poll, the central myth of a visit by Christ to Britain is also central to yet another national anthem within the UK, that of the Cornish nationalist movement, Here again there is discussion between the use of “Trelawny” (or “The song of the western men”) and “Bro goth agan tasow” (Old land of my fathers). While the former is more well known, the latter is obviously preferred by Cornish language advocates.
Confused yet? Well to add to these complications, there are also anthems for parts of the British Isles which are not part of the UK like the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. We also of course have the European anthem (NOT the EU anthem Brexiteers would like to tell you). Whilst officially this is in “the universal language of music”, many sing along with “Ode to Joy” in either the original German or a local translation. English rugby union fans also urge on their national team by community singing of the spiritual “Swing low sweet chariot”, probably linking it with the “chariot of fire” in “Jerusalem”. Of course as an unreconstructed Liberal, the 1909 party anthem, “The Land” sung drunkenly at the Conference “Glee Club” holds a particular affection.
One thing I should mention that also makes non-Americans do a double take when they first see it is the business of hand over the heart. The British convention is merely to stand out of respect but traditionally one should also do that during a performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. The whole set down rules of procedure thing seems antithetical to a country based on freedoms. There is also a lurking background thought of “if you have to make that much fuss, what’s wrong with you” AKA “the lady doth protest too much methinks”. (By the way, the gorilla like grunting of “USA, USA” is also very unattractive.)
Now if pressed, I much prefer to sing the second verse of “God save...” because of its explicit statement of the role of the monarchy to protect the people against a dictatorial Parliament, even if the power is never needed to be used, It’s also one of the reasons I wrote to the BBC to protest the dire orchestral version used at this year’s “Last Night of the Proms”. The tune can be the dreary standard version but there is a quite magnificent orchestration by Benjamin Britten that has previously been played. (spot the totally out of place American boy at about 50 seconds in)
Symbols are always open to abuse. In the UK the broad center-left has had to retake the Union Flag and, slightly less successfully, the flag of St George from the ultra right and neo-Nazis. Through bitter experience we know the truth in Dr Johnson’s nostrum that “patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”.
As Europeans we are very well aware of the fluidity of both symbols and borders. In many countries the prime affinity is to what the Germans call Heimat and for which the Welsh long for with hiraeth when away. While this can have negative implications if manufactured (like the excuse of “history” to justify racism in the South of the US), there is far less importance played to conformity with a “melting pot” and more towards a concept of “unity through diversity”. (France is perhaps an exception to this internally.)
Traditions are there to be changed and evolve to suit the needs and desires of the living , not to preserve the past in aspic. During the late 1960s when I was a Promenader the orchestra left the stage after “God save the Queen”. We started what became a tradition of singing “Auld Lang Syne” before we left, hopefully to meet again at the start of the next season. Now the orchestra stays on stage to play under the direction of the conductor. Even the monarchy has changed out of all recognition since to start of Elizabeth’s reign.
When however the symbols are not of a unified community but for some represent historical and continuing repression of a group, it is right to protest. Here we took back the Union flag from the right, in part by its use in ways which are also forbidden by US law (like those Stars and Stripes bikinis and ties the GoP are so fond of). We did it by using the image in playful ways from the “swinging sixties” on, from tea towels to (now German owned company) Mini cars. The Sex Pistols version of “God save the Queen” was disrepectful and at the time shocking to many but it was also in the long tradition of satyrical comment on the King or Queen. A comedian even tried to reclaim the “toothbrush” moustache from Hitler on behalf of Charlie Chaplin by sporting one for a year
If there is pride, it is pride in the achievement of those who represent the country in sports and the positive achievements of the nation. What Trump wants is a false display of pride and respect from people whose experience justifies neither.
No one can expect another to be proud of a symbol of their own or their forebears repression. There is no British pride in establishing the “triangle trade” but there is in being one of the first to ban slave trading and to take action to prevent it. The con trick of Empire (the idea that a tiny island nation can possibly rule a third of the world’s population seems quite crazy) was a mixture of good and bad. In many ways, the pride is in the manner of dismantling it from 1950 on, even if I have severe misgivings over the details like the division of India and Pakistan. The transformation from imperial power to one of equals in the Commonwealth has to be positive. I do though fully understand that for those seeking to achieve independence, the Union flag became a symbol of their oppression.
The pride is not in bombing Dresden during WWII (or the second intense phase of the 20th C. European civil war as I prefer to regard it). The pride is in the spirit of the people of Coventry who proposed reconcilliaton after the conflict, even as their bombed cathedral and city smouldered, and the fact they followed through with it. There’s the start of it when I see the BBC’s motto; “Nation shall speak peace unto nation”. There’s immense pride in the UK not only meeting the UN’s aid target of 0.7% of GDP for aid but also the all party support for enshrining the level of spending in law.
What I am not proud of is the failure to share the prosperity that the country has generated over the past three or four decades. Old industries have closed. There are no longer any deep level coal mines in the UK (Three cheers that miners will no longer get “black lung” or be killed in pursuit of coal). But the people in those areas have not been given sufficient opportunity to either replace the industries with new ones or indeed given sufficient benefits to be able to live decently (albeit generally a lot better than the unemployed poor in the USA). It also means that they are so insecure, they reject the progress towards a post-multicultural society and are ironically the very ones who cling to meaningless symbols of a mythical past so tightly. They are also the groups who are very easy for the right to stir up xenophobia and racism in.
This last may be the common experience on both sides of the Atlantic. The rise of the far right coincides with periods of economic depression and uncertainty. The challenge is to not only confront the racism and xenophobia but also to understand the dynamics of its recent rise and to address the causes of it.
False promises of “bringing back jobs” or that pretending retraining without a prospective employer in the area will mean they will get a job are not good enough. They have seen a variety of these “top down” so-called solutions and know they have not worked for them. The challenge is to provide ways to create a “bottom up” environment without getting into the “gig economy” of driving for Uber for below minimum wage income.
Essential though is to reduce the disparity between the “1%” and those who are unable to cope or who are “JAM”s; Theresa May’s acronym for those “just about managing”. It’s also vital to be honest with both the electorate and ourselves about the benefits of free trade and “outsourcing” manufacturing jobs. The alternative is for that $5 t-shirt made in Bangladesh or the Trump tie made in Vietnam to cost five or ten times the amount or for the wages of those making the same goods in the USA to be much reduced.
The old social contract that “if you work hard, you will get rich” was probably always false for the ordinary employee. What has changed is that those able to influence laws have become less and less willing to uphold their side of that contract. They use their influence to be able to legally avoid payment of taxes and use the financial systems to enrich themselves at the expense of others, usually the very ones working hard. It’s common for one of the 1% to be paying less income tax than the person who cleans their office, in percentage terms but also quite possibly in cash terms.
It’s even possible for someone to have sufficient “losses” in earlier years to pay no income tax at all. (You know who I mean). Here though is a difference between the USA and UK. The Queen is not obliged to pay any taxes since in theory they are all collected in her name. She does however voluntarily pay the equivalent in taxes she would otherwise be liable for. Although she does have private property, the Crown Estate income goes entirely to the government and she receives a percentage back to carry out her duties. The rage here emerges when the likes of Starbucks, Google, Amazon and Microsoft use international fake transactions to avoid paying virtually any taxes in the country at all.
The concept of “enlightened self interest” has become unfashionable but it was the way in which companies prospered in the past. Henry Ford understood that paying his employees enough to be able to buy one of the cars they made was good for business. In the UK, the Levers, Frys and Cadburys understood that building decent housing for their workers made them more productive. The old Great Western Railway went further in their Swindon base and provided comprehensive medical care that formed the model for the NHS.
Those without morals do not have the authority to enforce an outdated concept of morality. Leaders who do not respect the people have no right to demand their respect. A country that systematially fails a section of its people must expect protest from those people. Individuals who ask not what they can do for the country but what the country can do for them have no right to demand others play along with their idea of obsequience to its symbols.
It’s a two way street, not an exclusive gilded elevator.