A walking trail in the South Downs has been the scene of ‘a deeply shocking and appalling’ incident, according to the National Park Authority’s interim chief executive, Tim Slaney. The incident did not involve murder, or torture, or rape – indeed, nobody was injured or abused in any way – but rather an appalling act of vandalism, ‘a detestable act’, namely the removal of a series of thirteen plastic plaques from their posts.
These were no ordinary plastic plaques, however, but were, according to the BBC News website, linked to audio stories that featured work from ‘female writers from black and global majority backgrounds’, part of a trail unveiled in 2023 called ‘We Hear You Now’ celebrating the ‘deep connection that local writers of global heritage’ had with the landscape. Clearly, it was a ‘racially motivated attack’.
Now, good people condemn racism and colour prejudice wherever they find it. But is it possible that this heinous crime on the South Downs had another motive? Could it be that local people are not racist bigots (I am assuming here that the perpetrator might be local), but merely object to having a fashionable political ideology foisted on them when they are out for a walk with their dogs, or are enjoying a moment’s peace?
Few could object to audio trails, or to poetry, or any other form of art celebrating the Downs. And there is no reason that these should be restricted to people of any one colour, ethnicity, or creed. I have listened to some of the poems and reflections – ‘Taking Root’ by Alinah Azadeh, for example – and found them most sensitively rendered. The problem lies in the restriction of the works to ‘women of colour’ which excludes, first, men and, second, women who are white – in other words, most of the local population.
No doubt there are good reasons for ‘minoritised voices’ and ‘poets and artists of the global majority’ to be preferred, reasons grounded in the ideologies of critical race theory, decolonisation, intersectionality, queer studies etc. incorporating such notions as ‘white privilege’, systemic racism, and historic grievance, and finding expression in ubiquitous diversity, equity and inclusion frameworks. But if one does not buy into this poisonous brew, according to which people are divided into black (historic victims) and white (historic oppressors), it boils down to a thinly disguised assault on the ancestral culture of these islands, on our English culture and civilization, which has been declared irredeemably tainted by historic crimes and injustices, above all by its ‘whiteness’.
When the inhabitants of the South Downs, who are overwhelmingly white and English, are invited to celebrate the cultures and voices of minorities while denying their own, and furthermore hear from wildlife charities that ‘racist colonial legacies’ have framed the countryside as a ‘white space’ – in other words, that there are too many whites in the countryside – is it not predictable that they should feel a certain resentment?
2 responses
If you live in London and get about there by public transport, a trip to anywhere in the countryside is a really weird (even disturbing) experience. All the faces are white and the only language anyone seems to speak is English. How else except through audio trails are you to feel at home? Video, I suppose.
We often drive out from London to the Pantiles in Tunbridge Wells for lunch or tea. Lovely atmosphere on a sunny day. Restaurants, cafes, galleries, stalls. Everyone sitting out, at ease. No tension in the air, no aggression, no attitudes, no staring down, not a whiff of resentful victimhood. England as it used to be. It’s like breathing pure oxygen. But how long, one wonders, before the waters of vibrant diversity engulf it?