A Black Englishman? He laughed

An Englishman he is

He scoffed on the verge of derision; the thought of a black Englishman of Nigerian heritage was beyond him, 'How is that remotely possible?' He remonstrated. A docket for which he could not find a pigeonhole as the more common black British of Nigerian heritage would have gone down better with him.

Obviously, I was being asked to follow him down the classification of Black British, which broadly, I might be, but particularly, I am not. Great Britain comprises the three nations of England, Scotland, and Wales. The identities being English, Scottish, and Welsh, the United Kingdom is of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Whilst I can understand there are elements tending to hijack the English identity for nationalist purposes, what we cannot allow is for them to rob us of how we choose to identify just because some have deployed that identity to nefarious ends.

An Englishman I am

That I identify as an Englishman is quite fundamental by reason of birth and with an appreciation that the British influences that moderate my sense of being are exclusively English and quite different from if I were born and bred in Scotland or Wales.

I became acutely aware of this when I lived in the Netherlands and between the question of where I was originally from and what my heritage was, people still found it difficult to understand that in the last century or so, with much travel, immigration, emigration and settlement, the question of identity is rarely fixed by parenthood alone, the congenital elements notwithstanding, the rest can be so radically different from your forebears.

And a black man too

Living in Nigeria, I looked like everyone else until I began to speak, as my accent was not typically local. It set me apart in advantageous and sometimes disadvantageous ways, what they call a British accent is anything but, accents are regional, and they can also be influenced by teaching and conditioning; that mine became a smorgasbord of Black Country in the West Midlands, a bit of Received Pronunciation in school and Nigerian hearing, it has become literally nondescript whilst tending to an accent you might hear in England than anywhere else.

I now find that depending on where I am certain aspects of identity projection breakout more than others. My being black has never been in dispute though I could remember the shock of arriving in Nigeria to see that there were more black people than white people, until then, I knew a different world, but that sojourn in Nigerian solidified my black identity, I am comfortable in my own skin.

European to the core

Returning to England, there was a time of adjustment, whilst I was fully aware that I had every right by birth and by the law to live and work here. However, my sense of identity was in flux, I was in a phase of just being Black British until I found that I could be broadly European too and with that, I emigrated to the Netherlands, and there, I was an expatriate rather than an immigrant; an Englishman abroad. Funny, the issue of identification tags.

I guess the dominant side of my European identity came to the fore when I went to South Africa, even though the complexities of racial identity still bedevil interactions, you begin to see the intersections of identity and propriety in how where you are, what you do, how you speak, and so on puts you in the system whilst setting you apart again. That I can understand Afrikaans and nothing of Zulu leaves people questioning and a long story if I could be bothered. Yet, I have felt more European when in South Africa than anything else.

I identify as my identity

Now, where were we? I am a black Englishman of Nigerian heritage; I think that portrays a keen sense of identity with a lot of detail and no need for extraneous justification. That one chooses to identify as such is one’s prerogative and whatever anyone thinks about it is totally irrelevant.

Yes, I always tick the ethnicity box of Black Other or write in Black English. I am sure the Scots or the Welsh would take umbrage at being classed as broadly British when they have a keen sense of their primarily national identities, why does it have to be different when you are Black or any other colour for that matter?

Europe: We should remain

I’m a Europhile

Having lived on mainland Europe for almost 13 years, there is no doubt that I am much of a Europhile. It did take a while before I could bring myself to think of living and working outside the UK.

My first foray outside the UK was in 1992 when I visited the Netherlands, it was a bus trip that included a ferry ride to the north of France, through Belgium and up to Amsterdam. I felt lost, but it was somewhat an enlightening experience.

Then in 1995, I flew out to Berlin and with that began my love for mainland Europe, soon with my partner it was Paris a few times and Barcelona. In 1999, having acquired a strange fear of flying, this affecting someone who first flew at 5 between continents and into my teens flew a number of times in Nigeria, I went on a tour.

The Imperial Tour

I booked what was the Imperial Tour [The Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium to be completed in 2 months.] from Liverpool Street Station, it was one of those crazy ‘have a credit card, will travel’ adventures that I planned within 10 hours and was a ferry ride to the Hook of Holland and over 3 weeks I was in the cities of Amsterdam, Hannover, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg, Zurich, and Brussels.

Earlier in the year, a 7-year relationship had ended and with that was the exploration of possible job opportunities on mainland Europe, I concentrated on Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, I interviewed in Germany, but eventually, the best offer came from the Netherlands in May 2000 and I left for a new life and experience.

Life in the Netherlands was laid-back, the quality of life was high and there was means to extend travel to Portugal, Poland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and further afield.

We have our identity

The ties with the UK were still strong, but with each election season came a spot of bother, the growing Euroscepticism that threatened my status in Europe, you just didn’t know what to expect.

Having returned to the UK for almost 4 years, I am no less a Europhile and my love from Europe is borne of deeper consideration than the political talking points of immigration, economy or sovereignty.

The Netherlands is by many factors a smaller country compared to the UK, yet I never felt the Dutch were losing their identity nor sovereignty from being in the midst and centre of the European project.

What gets to me is this incipient exceptionalism exhibited by the #BREXIT camp and sometimes in the #BREMAIN camp that suggests the United Kingdom has no control of its borders, can’t make their own laws, are being held back by Europe and many other supercilious and superior sounding arguments as if Europe is an imposition by the other 27 members of the union.

We’ve done ourselves in

Herein, is our problem, we are in a group that we have railed and carped about since the times of Margaret Thatcher, a setup that requires agreement and consensus, but we send people whose starting point is to antagonise rather than negotiate and we expect to win the argument when there is a difference.

In my view, we have a place at the table, but we have the worst representatives at the table, for instance, we have the highest number of representatives in Europe from Ukip, we are constantly in some sort of détente and suspicion thereby having none of the engagement that can carry anything even if well-reasoned in our favour.

We have become a nuisance in Europe and then expect a better deal from Europe, we are the cause of our own European handicap in the main, the rest is a matter of consequence.

We are not superior

I feel quite threatened by the prospect of #BREXIT because we are not necessarily better or superior to our other 27 partners in the scheme and the people who front the somewhat isolationist stance have not promoted any new thinking of a great future beyond denying, debunking and rubbishing the ideas and advice of others.

The thought of the UK cast adrift in the hands of an untrammelled Tory leadership whose austerity and government ideas have brought many into mystery. The whole concept of cutting costs by surreptitiously granting autonomy to schools and hospital trusts, thereby shifting responsibility elsewhere and burdening the setups without adequate means.

We belong in Europe

The laws and directives are not made with us excluded, they arrive because we are not participating enthusiastically enough. I do not believe the money that comes back from Europe will go back into the services that are under strain.

We live in a more tightly integrated world, I think we need to belong to global and regional blocs for us to project strength and clout, we belong in Europe and that is where we should remain.

South Africa: Hotel life at first glimpse

A wary European

It is quite unusual not to have written about my hotel life, maybe because there hasn’t been much of an event to make of things.

I did say that when the airport shuttle came to pick me up at the airport, they had mangled my name, this was after the lady I called heard me spell my name twice and she read out the letters of my name and my phone number for confirmation.

It is, however, possible that in relaying the message to the cab company, some of the message was lost in translation. The driver from the airport was quite affable and friendly, he offered to do all sorts of things, get me a SIM card, give me a tour of Johannesburg, be a stand-by chauffeur and so many other things. I think the wary European in me slightly uncomfortable at the familiarity that borders on inveigling into my life just decided, whilst he was being helpful, I just did not need to be helped that much.

It is tolerable enough

I had to wait almost 90 minutes for a room to be ready for me to occupy, it gave the impression that the hotel has a high occupancy percentage though I was a bit sceptical about that. When I booked the hotel, I saw there were charges for early check-ins and there were for late checkouts.

The room was a slight disappointment at first and I cannot understand how when a manager sees a customer about to spend 3 weeks in their establishment, they dump you in a room as if you are passing through a motel. No views, no air, no welcome home feel.

It had a twin bed, immediately, I remonstrated and the bellboy called reception to have the problem fixed. At least I was told I would be called, I never got called.

Change, it must

After two nights in the room, which also did not have a fridge and the middle-of-the-night parting of beds which had me on the verge of repeating my coconut days of falling out of bed when I was 5, I went to the reception and asked for my room to be changed.

On returning from work, I immediately asked if my request was granted and I was moved 4 rooms up the corridor were a king-size bed and fridge had been installed. With the rooms being in close proximity, I really did not need help to move my stuff. That was done in about 15 minutes and I settled into my new room which was laterally opposite to the one I left.

All teas abound

To forestall the near disaster I had at breakfast when I was at another hotel in Johannesburg, I determined to carry my supply of Earl Grey tea over from the UK. All that I forgot to pack into my bags, but the situation was saved at the duty-free shops where they stocked Fortnum & Mason’s Classic Earl Grey tea.

Then, at breakfast, I needn’t have bothered, they had some many teas to choose from and Earl Grey tea was just as prominent. I have only been to dinner once, the food was alright.

I guess I could endure the absence of more comforts at this hotel, it is, however, not bad for a 4-star hotel.

The UK: Caressed by the dead hand of government protocols

Fill the will

Forms are what I encountered this afternoon, a meeting with officialdom that started with a convenient, but extraneous data-entry on my laptop just two days before.

Yesterday afternoon I received a text message on my mobile phone scheduling an appointment for today, just a 10-minute walk from where I now live.

On arrival, I was greeted and asked to take a seat and expect Irene attend to me, but instead a gentleman came round to get me a good 40 minutes after the appointed time without apology.

Sign and whine

After introductions and a number of printouts I had to proofread and other questions I had to ask, I scrawled my signature at least 15 times on all sorts of documents to gain access to a support framework.

He said there was a form I had to fill in; the instruction was everyone had to fill the form in especially if you had lived out of the UK for more than 13 weeks in the last two years.

However, logic escaped its function because out of 12 questions, there was none I could answer because I am British citizen and every option it presented pertained to Mainland European citizens and beyond.

Where I was to present an identity document, there was no requirement of a UK passport, yet, I had to bend the logic to complete the first part and the sign it before he registered me for another needless meeting with some other official.

Bureaucracy to make you crazy

It was the dead hand of government; forms aping formula without function, exercises that exercised your patience into frustrated resignation as apparatchik automatons gave the zombie of government exhausted of life, long before we were born purpose for existence.

I will not suffer too much in this, as I am on therapy, and I engage my hospital in my holistic well-being, anything untoward I will offload unto them to resolve. My mental state remains sacrosanct. I will not entertain the attempts of the state to sap every will out of the person in what they term encouragement to purpose by negative inducement.

Yes, bureaucracies are there to make you crazy, not if I can help it.

Turkey belongs outside Europe for now

Is this a democracy?

I have been watching events in Turkey lately and I think we can now conclude that it does not belong in Europe, it is best kept at the periphery of almost-European but never attaining the stature of a truly free society with European values.

Turkey is presumably a democratic country where a party with Islamic leanings holds the majority in parliament having been voted in by the people of Turkey.

The parliament exercises the right to elect a president who would in most cases be a member of the ruling party.

However, there is a fearful and uncomfortable undemocratic situation enveloping the country as certain vocal elements in the country try to derail the process in the name of keeping Turkey in its strict and suffocating secularist model.

It would make one wonder what the Turkish democracy is for and what the people of Turkey have required if the party they have voted into power cannot then exercise prerogative and privilege because some sections of society suspect the ruling party would de-secularise the country.

Protectors of democracy

Whilst the ruling party has had certain Islamist policies it has maintained if not protected the secularism of Turkey regardless of the fact that the wives of the ruling elite wear scarves.

This unholy alliance of undemocratic forces which now includes the opposition parties, the wayward army and even the judiciary have thwarted every attempt to present a viable candidate for the presidency from the ruling party such that the Prime Minister has now called for elections to be held on the 24^th of June.

Evidently, it appears the Islamic party is keen on protecting the democratic credentials of Turkey whilst the opposition is keen on protecting the secularism of Turkey regardless of the harm it does to democracy.

Between democracy and the secularist dogma, democracy should signify in the most certain terms what the people want; even if it includes ditching the secularist millstone.

The power of democracy

It would be interesting to see the result of this election especially if the Islamist party is returned to power.

The pragmatism of the Islamist party is commendable; they have also suggested that the president be popularly elected by the people of Turkey.

In fact, one can say that only the Islamic party is able to make Turkey a European entity and without them, Turkey would continue to be a proudly backward-looking country with a weighty heritage of being hamstrung to secularism when in fact it is the fear of religion that has kept them from respecting the very basic tenets of popular suffrage and democracy.

For now, Turkey belongs outside Europe, way outside Europe for the foreseeable future.

References

Turkey PM condemns court ruling

Court ruling deepens crisis in Turkey

Air data going nowhere

Information overload

Sometimes I wonder where all that accumulation of information goes apart from feeding the voyeuristic and controlling tendencies of the state and its apparatus in the pretence of fighting the war on terror.

Months ago when the highest European Court declared the data exchange, or rather the whole scale one-way data transfer of confidential data of European citizens who deign to travel to America illegal, that was triumph to be celebrated by all liberty seeking persons who do not want to sacrifice their freedom for temporary safety.

It so happens that the court asked that a better arrangement with legal grounding be negotiated between Europe and American authorities.

A bloody inconvenience

That negotiation seems to have broken down, and so it should, there is no valid reason for sending all that confidential information to America within 15 minutes of take-off only to find that more than halfway into the flight, the airplane has to be turned back because the computers throw up some innocuous and suspicious information which ends being a red herring.

Having never been to America, it does not really bother me, but, I have a newfound interest to visit and tour kindled by the arrival of this month’s National Geographic which had a foldout with a large map of the United States of America.

Extradition on a whim

The next thing to be resolved is that rotten extradition treaty that lets countries throw their citizens to American “justice” and sometimes gallows without court-tested evidence and with nothing of reciprocal equivalence from America.

The whole concept should be declared, unfair, unjust and illegal, the treaties should be annulled and made of non effect.

The poorest standard

The question is why America’s paranoia should become the poor standard of protecting our freedoms, that we end up serving America’s security ends at the expense of protecting and enforcing the rights of our own citizens.

It should not be so; the reciprocation of bad treaties is not the solution, rather the principles of justice, fairness, liberty, freedom and democracy that respects our privacy and protects our confidentiality grounded in good laws and enforce by good government globally is the way to go.

I do not want to know anything about American private lives; neither do I want Americans brought over to Europe on a whim without adequate legal and due process to determining proper cause.

Mind that language

Doing the Double Dutch

Not that I can say much about my command of languages, having been in the Netherlands for 6 years and find that I cannot string together one sentence without looking like a clown on Sesame Street. Back to classes for me.

The Dutch are generally known to be polyglots, the notion is that that can speak a number of languages at levels of proficiency that rate better than average.

I can agree to some extent if the purpose is basic communication, however, when it comes to serious conversation in the adopted language, the cracks and the holes begin to show.

Friendly and tolerant Dutch colleagues

In my case, I cannot hold it against any of the speakers, their attempts are a lot better than my attempts at Dutch and I am very appreciative of every attempt they make to me feel welcome and comfortable in their environments, despite the aberrant nationalistic inclinations of their populist politicians.

However, some university research now shows that the basic command of Dutch itself amongst the young Dutch is poor; this presents a problem because if one does not have a firm grasp of ones mother tongue it is difficult to formally learn another language from the grammar/usage perspective.

I perceive you know less

The research goes on to assess user perception of language knowledge to actual knowledge and understanding of the language. It appears managers believe they have a good command of English when in reality the standard is very poor.

That perception is an aspiration in some cases, I like to think I understand a lot more Dutch than I do, and I remember when someone commended me for my African dress and that the clothes make a man, which I did understand, then she said maybe I do not understand her – and that, I did not understand. Funny, the way Dutch just pays you up.

Et tu?

The twist in this research is the finding that other Europeans are less confident of their command of other languages, but they are a lot better than they think they are, the Dutch however are the opposite.

Sometimes, generalisations are not the best source of useful knowledge.

Dutch Intolerance Incubator brings forth electoral still-born

The benefits of being a European

I count myself extremely fortunate to be a European of British birth and Nigerian parentage.

This is made ever so obviously from the unfortunate events we have had in the Netherlands where non-Europeans have become hapless pawns in the political maelstrom of immigration and integration.

The EU-15 which consists of states in the European Union before May 2004 allows for the freedom of movement of goods, services and personnel to varying degrees.

Come May 2006, I would have been a Netherlands resident of six years standing. It offers me the opportunity to vote in the local elections and generally in the European elections but not in the National elections.

A hard tongue

So much commentary has been placed on integration and it formed the basis of the change in polity in 2002. However, whilst I understand a good bit of Dutch, I still sound like a Martian whenever I open my mouth to speak.

When learning German in the UK years ago, I can still say three months of study had me prattling about in conversational German and more fluently than my Dutch after almost 6 years sojourn.

Another benefit is the opportunity to become a Dutch citizen having passed the integration tests and also attained language proficiency. The statute books even include an old-time Napoleonic clause that allows a one-way conversion to French citizenship.

Aspiring for a better prize

Besides being able to vote in national elections or join the army, I think my British passport gets me into more countries than any other passport apart from being a member of the global diplomatic corps.

This Dutch citizenship is considered the “main prize” by my most popular copy-inspirer Mrs Rita Verdonk (VVD) the Minister of Immigration and Integration, an assertion that has been debunked by one of the pawns who in a World Cup year could have helped bring much glory to Dutch football.

The most irksome activity sometimes required but not compulsory is obtaining the resident’s permit which consumes time and energy, in some cases, certain services can be denied without it.

Once, I went out there for the resident’s permit and we were all lumped together as all the citizens of the world such that until you got to the counter 5 hours later, the EU membership counted for nothing.

The people have spoken up

Anyway, we had the local elections on Tuesday and the results were out by Wednesday morning taking a few scalps with it; the leader of VVD for instance, having lost just a few seats and a lot less than the main governing party.

The coalition of Christian Democrats (CDA), Liberals (VVD) and Social Liberal Democrats (D66) lost some ground; that was to be expected because they had become a triune of what is most illiberal and unDutch about the Dutch. See Political Parties.

More to the point, Leefbaar Rotterdam (Liveable Rotterdam) which was first made popular by Pim Fortuyn the assassinated firebrand of 2002, lost the controlling majority in Rotterdam to the Labour Party (PvDA).

The intolerance incubator

Leefbaar Rotterdam happens to be the incubator, if not the nursery of ideas that Mrs Verdonk then flies as kites to gauge national opinion before back-tracking speedily, like speaking Dutch in public.

The idea of forced contraception and socially-assessed abortions also came from Rotterdam, but a lot more can be read from the local election results even though the losers would bore us to death about these not having a shade on the more society-changing national elections, politics grows from the grassroots as people want to have a bigger say in how they are governed.

Many independents took part in the local elections and their number increased coming second only to the Labour party and pushing the ruling parties into lower positions.

The main result from this election is that the Dutch have rejected the demagogy of Liveable Netherlands with its right-wing agenda that excites the fear of immigration and the loss of Dutch identity.

Back to tolerant Netherlands

Indeed we all want the Netherlands to be "liveable" land, but not to the exclusion of others who live here who might not be indigenous.

The Dutch have a tradition of tolerance, acceptance and freedom of expression has for the past 4 years been hijacked by unscrupulous politicians and commentators that have focused the public on the divisive rather than the inclusive.

We have all woken up from that nightmarish existence and the countdown has begun for all those who promote a cause that does not fit well with a Dutch history and culture that goes back many centuries.

Come the next election, it should be “all-change”, from getting effective leadership to people in government who speak up for all and promote what we know the Dutch have given the world in justice, liberty and freedom.

Postscript - any other stone would do

Mrs Verdonk has had a change of heart; well if you have a heart of stone, any other stone would do - she has temporarily suspended the deportation of Iranian homosexuals and apostates. She has done the right thing regardless of what lead to this change of heart.

In office but not in power

In Office and losing credibility

One would not cast oneself as a political observer of any note but at times things do become too obvious to be ignored after a while.

It is generally thought that politicians in a final term are lame-duck politicians in that there is nothing to fight for but the confirming of ones legacy for the sake of posterity.

That is the view that prevailed at the re-election of George W. Bush, however the radical ideas and appointments that have ensued show that there is going to be a bit of moving and shaking before he calls off.

The same has already been said of Tony Blair of the United Kingdom who was re-elected last month for a third term albeit with a reduced majority, the parliamentary plan does look radical and full, but having said he would not serve the full term, we should expect he would be off in a few years.

Another European leader also appears to fit into the second term lame-duck scenario having had a squabbling first term that lasted just 9 months. Well, some people view that 9-month period as the gestation that has given birth to the least imaginative and innovative government in recent history.

That said, most of the radical activity that proceeds out this office has centred around burnishing his image for every criticism or parody made of him in the courts. For a politician, this is the thinnest-skinned ever encountered.

Today, offers the opportunity to pass severe judgement on the ideas, policies, demeanour and vision of this cabinet. The European Constitution referendum debate been hijacked by both the extreme and the indifference who have excited the concerned has left the government of the day cack-handed and stuttering about the real benefits of being in Europe.

Only arrogance and indifference can explain why the coalition that makes up the government has failed to look available and present in the campaign for the advancement of Europe.

In more common parlance, they are just completely clueless; in the world we live in, being clueless could as well be a complement.

Even now, the citizenry might just be secretly hoping that Harry Potter who bears a striking resemblance to our protagonist was the Prime Minister for the fact that he is smart, agile, bold and resourceful. The real alter ego just seems to have his wand pointed the other way and his broom flying backwards.

Two exchanges in the British Parliament to the Prime Minister of that time in the early 1990s typify the circumstances in which we find ourselves in the Netherlands.

The non-Midas touch of the Prime Minister here leaves us in dire need of a new and representative government and even though they are in office, they are definitely not in power. Alas!