The UK government is encouraging all school children to sing a supposedly patriotic song that critics say wouldn’t sound out of place in North Korea.
The song, which includes the repetition of the words “Strong Britain, great nation,” has been widely mocked on social media.
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The Department for Education, headed by education secretary Gavin Williamson who once told Russia to “go away and shut up,” wants schools to take part in “One Britain One Nation Day” on Friday the 25th of June, “when children can learn about our shared values of tolerance, kindness, pride and respect”. Singing the song forms part of the day’s “celebrations”.
The song’s lyrics combine flag-waving patriotism with vague notions of diversity and inclusivity. It begins, “We are Britain and we have one dream, to unite all people on one great team”.
The song ends with repetition of the words “Strong Britain, great nation”. It has been derided on Twitter as “nationalistic crap”.
Users have also questioned the meaning of the “shared values” of “tolerance, kindness, pride and respect” coming from the current Conservative government. It is a government that has spent years creating a “hostile environment” for migrants which resulted in the deportation of Black British citizens, which unlawfully kept asylum seekers in “squalid” barracks during the pandemic, which has overseen a proliferation of food banks because of an explosion of poverty meaning people can’t afford to feed themselves, and which claimed that experts had contributed to an official report claiming that there is no systemic racism in Britain without actually consulting them.
Even as a weird initiative to promote national unity in the UK, it has problems. Scottish schools will have broken up for the school holidays by Friday, meaning that they will miss out. The campaign’s name and song lyrics do not appear to have taken Northern Ireland into account, as it is situated on the island of Ireland and therefore not part of Britain.
The song is being promoted by One Britain One Nation (OBON), an independent campaign founded by Kash Singh, a former police officer. According to its website, it aims to “see every child develop a strong emotional and meaningful connection with our country and its people by recognising that we are all one people with a role to play in the life of our nation where everyone must feel happy, safe and valued.
“OBON wants to create a spirit of inclusion with a collective purpose and a common future where we all seek to eliminate hatred, intolerance and discrimination of any kind so that all our people can feel and develop a strong and shared sense of belonging in order to showcase their pride, passion and love for our great nation,” the website says.
OBON has asked schools observing OBON day celebrations to encourage children to clap for a minute “to recognise, embrace and pay tribute to all those people who helped during the Covid 19 pandemic crisis,” and to sing the song “as a MUST please”.
OBON also encourages participants to, “Dress your children in red, white and blue and utilise this theme throughout the school, to decorate classrooms etc.”, “Allow children to unpack the meaning of Shared Values of British Citizenship” and “Write a poem / create a piece of artwork or a song with the words One Britain One Nation”.
