We're Returning to Tribalism (Connor Tomlinson)

Mary Harrington proposes that protests like Patriot Platform represent the British returning to ethnic tribalism, rather than nationalism.

Nationalism requires the nation-state to represent its people. But demographic and cultural fragmentation, driven by immigration, has separated the state from the nation it was named after.

When the people no longer consider the state to be a legitimate authority, vigilantism is inevitable.

This is also a function of social media: differences between ethnic groups are amplified by the abundant video evidence on image-based platforms. The smartphone has discredited the Blank Slate.

Singapore-style solutions — forcing incompatible imported “communities” to play nice with the natives — will not solve this problem.

The state knows this. Hence their attempts to scapegoat and contain the “far right”.

These protests could be crushed like the Peasants’ Revolt: its leaders persecuted, and the boats stopped as a concession made to quell the mob.

But if legal migration continues, demographic insecurities will not subside. Until homogeneity is restored, the tribalising will continue.

The longer that is forestalled, the more likely undesirable ethnic conflict and Balkanisation become.



[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, September 20, 2026.]