Mahamed Abdullahi, the vice president for welfare and community at King’s College London, has called for his university not to play God Save the Queen at graduation ceremonies. In a rant on facebook this elected official stated: "Hey guys, I want to get rid of the national anthem at graduation because it’s outdated and not reflective of the ‘global’ values that the college espouses. In the context of increasing far Right nationalism across Europe and the legacy of the British empire, it’s just a bit s--- and it doesn’t even bang. Basically, f--- the nation state.”
For most of the past thirty years many of those on the Left assderered that the National Flag of the UK was owned by the far right and thus we should not fly it. Thankfully most of us ignored such nonsense but in some places where this idiotic claptrap took hold it became a self fulfilling prophecy in that the only folks left flying the flag were fascists. Thankfully we seem to have moved on and it is now deemed okay to fly the Union Flag in Britain in the sasme way as folks across Europe fly their national flags and always have done without shame.
But Mr Abdullahi now wishes to marginalise the National Anthem in the same way. Yes it is a fairly awful song but it is one that most of us regard as our national song. That a pampered metropolitan and, of course, state funded little brat like Abdullahi can seek to piss on national pride is fine. It is a free society.
But we can also point out that he is talking errant nonsense. Such talk only fuels the sense of alienation that many in society - who do not enjoy the priveleges of folks such as Mr Abdullahi - feel about so many aspects of life in the country they are not ashamed to love.
That the far right is gaining across Europe is regrettable but undeniable. It is gaining ground becuase folks who do not enjoy the privilege of a University Education and other things that Mr Abdullahi takes for granted, feel that their views and their culture and their standard of living are being crushed by an elite who despise them. Spoiled brats like the vice president for welfare and community at King’s College London are the best recruiting sergeants that the extremists have.