We should ignore the tokenism promoted by the Guardian, says ted vallance |
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The Guardian's readers are to vote for the most radical moment in British history out of a shortlist of five chosen by historian Tristram Hunt. A Heritage Lottery Fund trustee, Hunt wants to see the chosen events memorialised in a British equivalent of America's "freedom trails".
As a former member of "third way" think-tanks such as Demos, are Hunt's own radical credentials somewhat suspect? Some nominated events have more than a whiff of New Labour tokenism about them (including the 1549 Western Rebellion in order to placate Cornish nationalists). Blair himself is very fond of the word "radical", although he tends to use it as a euphemism for "things that will be deeply unpopular with the general public". Brown, too, is keen on projects that will repackage Britishness as embodying tolerance, fair play and decency; not least |
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Perhaps we will be invited to thrill to the excitement of a real police baton charge at a ‘Battle for Orgreave’
visitor centre |
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because sponsoring such initiatives might help re-brand a "semi-autistic" Scotsman as a progressive North Briton.
Aside from the competition's dubious political inspiration, and the fact that some of these events aren't really radical at all (why include a 16th-century religious revolt as part of Britain's democratic tradition?), the idea of developing visitor attractions based around British radicalism is pretty preposterous.
Hunt has suggested that the 1984 "Battle of Orgreave" between striking miners and the police (left) could be memorialised through an exhibit at the Beamish Open Air Museum. You can imagine the promotional leaflets: "Thrill to the excitement of a real police baton charge, as you re-live the glory days of unionised labour."
Isn't there a more obvious and more dignified way of celebrating our democratic heritage? Instead of commemorating an event as important as the 1647 Putney debates through building a visitor centre, couldn't we, gasp!, teach children about it at school? 
FIRST POSTED SEPTEMBER 27, 2006
 The Guardian's top five protests
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