Republican News · Thursday 1 August 2002

Pan-Celticism and the collapse of the British state

Celtic Identity and the British Image
By Murray G H Pittock

It may not be everybody's cup of tea, but anyone with an interest in pan-celticism and its potential to undermine the British state will find this book compelling. It is written by Murray G H Pittock, an academic based in Manchester University. This book deals with the theme of national identity within the British state, with particular emphasis on the Celtic components of that state. It is written in a highly academic style but is quite readable for anyone with an interest in this subject.

This book deals with the Irish, Scottish and Welsh nations and how each one has responded to the British (English) state in the last 300 years, noting the similarities and differences of each country's response. Various questions are posed by the book, such as whether or not the creation of the British state was essentially a colonial project in all three countries, and whether or not the "Celtic Revival" basically amounts to a cultural and/or political challenge to the Anglo-Saxon hegemony of this state. On the whole, Pittock leans towards the view that while the creation of the British state was a natural process in its time, the implications for all three Celtic countries concerned basically amounted to a colonial one, with Ireland the perennial battleground in this conflict.

The reasons for writing this book clearly reflect the present-day political crisis in which the British state now finds itself and the major debate taking place within Britain as to the future constitutional structure of that state. There is the possibility that it will break up into seperate sovereign components, meaning a United Ireland, an independent Scotland (and possibly Wales). The collapse of the Empire, the instability of their Six-County colony due to war for the last 30 years, and the grudging concession of a parliament and assembly for Scotland and Wales, respectively, are all symptoms of this decline and impending crisis.

The implications should not be lost upon Irish republicans. While many republicans are dismissive of pan-celticism, given the role played by many Scots and Welsh (and Irish!) in the colonisation of Ireland, pan-celticism perhaps represents the ultimate subversion of the British state.

We'll see, but for now, the struggle here continues.

BY TADHG Ó SÉ