Reclaiming England
Reversing the decline.
Reversing the decline and ongoing destruction of English culture, history, and nationhood by the British government is likely to be a monumental task — but by no means an impossible one. It requires a multifaceted approach, based on historical awareness, a cultural revival in which our own uniqueness is celebrated, political engagement at grassroots and national level, and encouraging local communities to get out there and do their bit for England. Here’s a broad outline of how the English might begin reclaiming and rebuilding what has been lost or eroded over time.
1. Reclaiming English Identity Through History and Education
One of the most effective ways to revive a sense of English nationhood is through education in our schools and collages. English history has been subsumed within a wider "British" narrative, often prioritising Scottish, Welsh and Irish involvement in the empire, and the wider anglosphere, over England’s own internal story. We must reverse this and push for an honest, comprehensive teaching of English history — from our Anglo-Saxons beginnings and the formation of England as a unified nation and up to the present day.
Our children should be taught our national story, as well as our rich folklore, our literature which is still the best in the would, regional histories of our counties and shire's, our gigantic contribution to world industry and invention, and this should be done with pride to install in our children a sense of their self worth as members of this English nation. This will allow communities to reconnect with their roots and this should not just be left to our schools alone, but museums, galleries, and libraries, should all play their part. As should local authorities in organising festivals to celebrate national days and their own local places of interest.
2. Cultural Revival and Localism
England’s cultural heritage has been systematically rubbished, scorned, sneered at, and vilified by successive british governments in the most deliberate way. We must reverse this by a concerted effort to support and celebrate local culture from Cornwall to Northumberland. Music, crafts, dialects, customs, and regional festivals. Reviving traditional English celebrations like May Day, wassailing, Lammas, and Bon Fire Night. St Georges day should become a national holiday as should the 12th July as Englands national day in celebration of Englands unification in 927CE. In this way we can help reconnect people to the rhythm of the land and their heritage.
Additionally, local media and publishing should be promoted to counter the dominance of politicised national media who habitually follow the Westminster policy of denigrating anything English. Our collective voices need space to tell English stories from all corners of the country.
3. Political Devolution and English Self-Government
One of the strangest aspects of modern Britain, as far as other nationals are concerned, is that while Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have a devolved Parliament and assemblies, England — the largest nation in the UK — does not. This two tear devolution was deliberate and has caused much resentment in England. And now that devolution is being brought to England it is being done in a way that is destructive to English identity. For where as the Celtic countries were given national devolution, and kept whole, England is being broken up into regions in an attempt diminish Englands nationhood for good.
We English must push for our own national parliament in a federal system in which all parts of the UK have equal representation and autonomy. An English Parliament with the same powers as the Scottish Parliament could debate specifically English matters and represent English interests.
4. Challenging the "British" Brand
The British government and media have long used the term "British" to bury English identity. The main stream media are notorious for substituting British when they speak of England in a way that they would never do if the subject was Scotland. This deliberate attempt at the undermining of national self-awareness has contributed to a sense of miss trust of the main stream media among many in the English public. English people should not be afraid to assert their Englishness openly and with pride. whether on official forms, in the media, or in cultural expression.
National symbols like the St George’s Cross, often overshadowed or misrepresented, must be reclaimed positively with civic pride and inclusivity rooted in shared English history.
5. Reforming Institutions
Major institutions have often reflected a top-down, metropolitan perspective that neglects the English. These institutions must be reformed, or replaced if they are un-reformable, to reflect the depth and richness of English life. Representation, funding, and leadership should reflect the whole of England not just the attitude's and prejudice’s of the Westminster elite.
Support for Englands huge number of heritage sites, from ancient woodlands to medieval churches, from castles to cathedrals, from museums to great houses, must be restored and expanded. These places are more than tourist attractions — they’re living connections to a shared past and they belong to us all.
6. Promoting English Language and Literature
The English language is recognised as the worlds language. English is influencing the whole world through all forms of modern entertainment and media, and increasingly as the language of the internet. All this at a time when the british political establishment are trying to do away with the idea that the English even exist. The English language has been evolving from its earliest beginnings as a branch of Proto -Germanic through Anglo-Saxon and into Middle English to the present day. This process of evolution and adaptation has given us a language unequaled by any other. Efforts should be made to preserve regional English through media, literature, and education. Writers, poets, and artists who explore the English experience — in all its regional diversity — should be supported.
English literature should be central to national life, not out of nostalgia or a chocolate box sentimentality, but because it speaks to who we are and where we come from.
7. Grassroots Movements and Civic Action
Finally, reversing cultural erosion will not come from the present british elite that holds power over England, as it is this elite that is purposely causing the erosion. It must come from us, the English. We must organise through community groups, local campaigns, heritage trusts, and civil society movements and take pride in who we are and where we’re from. And when we start to fight back against elite induced cultural amnesia, we will start to put down a strong foundation for national renewal.
Conclusion
The English are not without identity, as the british elites would have us believe, it’s just been suppressed and misrepresented with a vindictivenesses that at times is bordering on the unhinged. To reverse this, there must be a conscious revival of culture, history, and a political voice that at this moment in time is none existent. The present political class in Westminster is not ideologically equipped, nor willing, to see England regain its nationhood and reassert its own identity.
Only an English Parliament, elected from the people of England with the express duty of serving the people of England, will do that which is necessary to restore our freedoms and regain our national pride through building institutions, supporting education, reclaiming symbols, and most of all, believing that England is worth preserving as a living nation with a future as rich as its past.
We must once more become a nation of heroes in emulation of our ancestors. So we ask you to come and join us in the Campaign for an English Parliament, and help us fight for England through the ballot box and call for a referendum on Englands future, and be a rebel with your vote.
England is worth it.
RR
I tend to agree with your conclusions except on devolution the Country is known as Great Britain and all control should be centralised in London I am Welsh and believe that the Senedd should be sunk in Cardiff Bay the same for the Scots and Irish parliaments 20 years of labour party cock ups have done no good for Wales.