CEP welcomes the swelling recognition of the distinct identity and nationhood of the people of England
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Monday, 17, Aug 2009 09:18
David Horspool's new book 'The English Rebel', (Viking Press 2009) recounting the history of fifteen hundred years of English radicalism, from the the time of the Abbess Hilda of Whitby down the centuries to the Peasants' Revolt and the Levellers to the present day and the opponents of the Poll Tax, has been warmly welcome by the Campaign for an English Parliament.
'This book speaks only of English men and women,' says Veronica Newman the Campaign's secretary in her August message to the CEP membership. 'It describes how radical and revolutionary the people of England has been and is. It asserts by implication that England is a separate and distinct nation within the United Kingdom.
'This book reclaims for the people of England the sparkling identity that is distinctly theirs. We must not forget how the BBC has used its dominant media position for the last 80 years to deny to England its existence and identity as a distinct and separate nation within the United Kingdom. This book celebrates England's glorious tradition of rebels which iculturally and politically has changed the whole world. It celebrates The Peasants' Revolt which asked that most revolutionary question: 'When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?' Colonel Rainsborough at a meeting of his fellow Levellers at St Mary's church in Putney during the Civil War making the statement which has reverberated ever since: 'Really I think that the poorest he that is in England has a life to live as the greatest he'. Thomas a Beckett challenging the unjust rule of a king even unto death. Robin Hood forced off his land into the greenwood. The Pilgrimage of Grace from the North marching with the banners in defence of their religous faith. The Suffragettes embracing imprisonment for women's rights. The Magna Carta in defence of basic freedoms which has been recognised and revered throughout history ever since.
'There have been of great noteworthy rebels through all human history,' says Veronica Newman. 'But this book is about English men and English women as a distinct people, not about anyone else. We have all been brought up in a society where the British political and cultural Establishment, particularly the BBC and characters like the present Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have done their level best to deny any recognition of England. But this book celebrates the English. The English are the people of England, anyone and everyone for whom England is their home, their future and their childen's future. This book is one of many statements now being made, now being shouted out loud and clear, that we have our own history and our own identity, constantly being reinvigorated and renewed, a distinct and vibrant part of the rich fabric that is the world.