Ein gewisser Part der britischen Popkultur war immer auf eine verklärende Affirmation für ein nostalgisches Britannien ausgerichtet. Ob Morrissey, Oasis oder eben die Libertines, ein poetisches „England“ wurde gern als Sehnsuchtsort verhandelt. Umso interessanter ist nun die Positionierung angesichts des nahenden Brexit und des antieuropäischem Sentiments auf der Insel. Wo Morrissey sich zu einem nationalistischen Reaktionär entwickelt hat, zeigt Doherty, dass man „Albion“ besingen und sich trotzdem einen klaren Kopf in der Politik bewahren kann:
„The Babyshambles and The Libertines frontman has often referred to Albion in his work – framing Great Britain in traditional and romantic terms. However, in a new and in-depth interview with NME, Doherty said that he felt unease with such ideas being co-opted for “monstrous manipulation”.
“You’ve got to remember that these people, The Daily Mail for example, are fascists. Completely, they backed the black shirts, backed Hitler. Who would want to buy The Daily Mail? Funnily my nan, who was brought up in London during the depression and worked cleaning rich people’s floors until she was 65, she reads The Daily Mail. That just shows you what a Christian old place Albion is.”
“It’s a very thin veneer that separates the monstrous manipulation of ideologies and the truth, which is far darker than anything anyone could garner from a party political broadcast,” Peter Doherty told NME, when asked about imagery of Albion being used in Brexit discourse. “It’s a pretty messed-up old land, and yet our country is so rich musically and artistically. We’ve got so much to fight for and so much to believe in and celebrate.”
„It’s not really anything to do with nationality, though. It’s just that a lot of us seem to share some gut feeling and surge of true pride in coming from where we come from. Inverted snobbery is just as dangerous as snobbery itself, you know – that pride in having nothing. Poverty is rife and you can get stuck in an ideology. It’s amazing; the number of people who don’t have passports, who can’t read, who can’t write. It’s sick actually. It’s disgusting. God knows what kind of potential it has for this country.”
“I’m not an activist. I’m a fantasist. I just create a self place to get out of all that. People just get into rows about absolutely nothing because they’re too macho to back down.”
“I don’t know, we’ll see what happens with Brexit. If they make it so that you can’t travel any more without a VISA, I’m going to have to leave the country, stay in the EU and probably change my citizenship.“
(aus einem lesenswerten Interview des NME mit Pete Doherty)
