Ethno-nationalism and its Place in Far-Right Politics

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Ethno-nationalism is spreading across Europe amongst right-wing parties. It is becoming an ever more prevalent conversation for British politicians, including Secretary of State for the Home Department Shabana Mahmood, and leader of the Conservative Party Kemi Badenoch, who maintains that ethno-nationalism is rising online in the UK.

Britain’s largest far-right protest took place in September and involved Tommy Robinson leading 150,000 protesters in chants of “we want our country back” and “stand up for what we believe in, the religion and identity of our country”. The size of this protest demonstrated the rise of ethno-nationalism in the UK, and the isolationist chants underscored a growing sentiment of exclusion within parts of British culture.

So, what exactly is ethno-nationalism? Ethno-nationalism is a form of nationalism that “regards ethnicity and ethnic ties as core components of conceptions and experiences of the nation”. In the context of the UK, ethno-nationalism is about ‘protecting’ Britain and its culture against ‘outsiders‘, illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. To ethno-nationalists, multiculturalism is destructive to the dominant culture. Right-wing leaders like Nigel Farage have echoed this sentiment, calling the promotion of multiculturalism a “huge error”, and deeming it necessary to ‘discriminate’ who comes into the country.

Ethno-nationalism can be traced back to Enoch Powell, former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and his 1968 Rivers of Blood speech, where he criticised immigration. The speech alluded to immigrants’ “exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population”, a stance that considers illegal immigrants in the UK to be dominating British culture and that is popular among ethno-nationalists today.

Currently, in the UK, the rise of ethno-nationalism is masked differently; the far right uses it as a response to their economic challenges, including unemployment, lack of available housing, and low wages, which they blame on illegal immigrants and asylum seekers. They also link high immigration levels to high crime rates. This has led to the far-right leading campaigns and rallies which promote the idea that British culture is under threat, and as a result they need to unite to preserve their way of life.

Ethno-nationalism can be linked to what John A. Powell, an American professor, describes as ‘Othering’, or the “assumption that a certain identified group poses a threat to the favoured group.” Powell asserts that people don’t know those they are Othering – a trait shared by ethno-nationalists in the UK. Instead, they use a predetermined view of who fits with their idea of being ‘right’, leading a the increase in people of colour being targeted, regardless of their legal status.

Although political leaders largely do not refer to themselves as ethno-nationalists, there is no denying that far-right parties such as Reform UK have gained popularity based on their ethno-nationalist views. Reform’s promise to “stand up for British culture, identity and values”, has created a culture of intolerance and a platform for ethno-nationalists views to be expressed.

We will continue to see the ethno-nationalism movement grow if the government fails to counter the rise of the far right. Ethno-nationalism endangers people of different cultural, religious and ethnicities who have increasingly been targets of the far-rights propaganda.

Edited by Isabel Whitburn

Image: ‘Protest in support of freeing Tommy Robinson at Trafalgar Square‘, C. Sutherhorn, 2018 // CC BY-SA 4.0