Anti-British sentiment

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Anti-British sentiment is prejudice, fear or hatred against the British Government, the culture or the people of the United Kingdom, or its Overseas territories.

Argentina

Anti-British feeling in Argentina stems mainly from the Falkland Islands dispute and the Falklands War in 1982 with the United Kingdom. Due to this, anti-British protests and acts of vandalism do erupt.^[1][2]

Guatemala

Guatemala has a strong anti-British sentiment due to the Belizean-Guatemalan territorial dispute. Guatemala claims that United Kingdom has not honoured several treaties.

India

In the Indian independence movement, this sentiment was common.^[3]

Iran

Anti-British sentiment, sometimes described as Anglophobia, has been described as "deeply entrenched in Iranian culture",^[4] and reported to be increasingly prevalent in Iran. In July 2009, an adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Britain "worse than America" for its alleged interference in Iran's post-election affairs. In the first half of the 20th century, the British Empire exerted political influence over Iran (Persia) in order to control the profits from the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. As a result, British influence was widely known to have been behind the overthrow of the Qajar Dynasty in the 1920s, the subsequent rise of Reza Shah Pahlavi, and the successful coup d'état overthrowing prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq in 1953.^[5][6][7]

On Monday 9 August 2010, the senior Iranian minister and Iran's first vice president Mohammad Reza Rahimi declared that the British people were "stupid" and "not human". His remarks drew criticism from Simon Gass, the British ambassador in Iran, and also from the media in Britain.^{[citation needed]}

In November 2011 the Iranian parliament voted to downgrade relations with the UK after British sanctions were imposed on Iran due to its nuclear programme.^{[citation needed]} Politicians reportedly shouted "Death to Britain".^{[citation needed]} On 29 November 2011, Iranian students in Tehran stormed the British embassy, ransacked offices, smashed windows, shouted "Death to England" and burned the British flag.^[8]

Ireland

There is a long tradition of Anglophobia within Irish nationalism. Much of this was grounded in the hostility felt by the largely Catholic poor for the Anglo-Irish gentry, which was mainly Anglican. In post-famine Ireland, anti-English hostility was adopted into the philosophy and foundation of the Irish nationalist movement. At the turn of the 20th century, the Celtic Revival movement associated the search for a cultural and national identity with an increasing anti-colonial and anti-English sentiment.

A feeling of anti-English sentiment intensified within Irish nationalism during the Boer War leading to xenophobia underlined by Anglophobia. In 2011, tensions and anti-English or anti-British feelings flared in relation to the proposed visit of Elizabeth II, the first British monarch to visit Ireland in 101 years. An anti-Queen demonstration was held at the GPO Dublin by a group of Irish Republicans on 26 February 2011, and a mock trial and decapitation of an effigy of Queen Elizabeth II were carried out by socialist republican group Éirígí. Other protests included one Dublin publican (the father of Celtic player Anthony Stokes) hanging a banner declaring "the Queen will never be welcome in this country".^[9]

Israel

In Israel, anti-British sentiment historically stems from British policies in the mandate era, and in modern times from the perceived anti-Israel stance of the British media.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Anti-British sentiment has been evident across Israeli mainstream media. Israeli officials and media have routinely attempted to claim that the United Kingdom is "anti-semitic".^{[14][15][16][17]} In 2010, one of Israel's leading newspapers, Haaretz, claimed that the United Kingdom was "anti-semitic" and claimed Britain had a "not-so-splendid heritage".^[18] Haaretz also accused "The English" of controlling Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.^[18] And went on to claim that Britain was occupying "Ireland's island".^[18] Haaretz also claimed Britain was a prime example of "European hypocrisy" and criticised its "shameful actions".^[18]

Michael Ben-Ari (a member of the Israeli parliament) referred to British people as "dogs" and accused Britain of being "anti-semitic".^[19] After the UK government expelled an Israeli diplomat due to Israel cloning British passports for an assassination operation without Britain's consent and despite previously promising they would not do so, Aryeh Eldad (another member of the Israeli parliament) was quoted as saying "I think the British are behaving hypocritically and I don't want to offend dogs on this issue, since some dogs are utterly loyal".^[20]

Spain

Anti-British sentiments evolved in Spain following the invasion and capture of Gibraltar by the British in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession. In August 2013, Spain was considering forging an anti-British alliance with Argentina, adopting its strategy over the Falklands Islands.^[21]

United States

President Thomas Jefferson complained of an unreasonable hostility towards the British state by the people in the United States during the Napoleonic Wars, brought about by the American Revolutionary War.^[22]

The anti-Tom novel Tit for Tat (written anonymously in 1856 by "A Lady of New Orleans") encouraged anti-British sentiment in reaction to Britain's positive reception of the anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.^[23]

During the period of alliance between Britain and the United States, anti-British sentiment took another form. Fleet Admiral Ernest King had been noted for his Anglophobic views which affected his decision making during the "Second happy time" (in the Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945)).^[24] Joseph Stilwell, a four-star general in the China, Burma and India theatre of the Second World War was another noted anglophobe (for example, in this diaries he wrote, "Boy, will this burn up the Limeys!" when Myitkyina was finally taken). Curiously, he got on well with William Slim, even volunteering to serve under him for a time rather than under George Giffard. Slim noted that Stilwell had a public persona that differed from his private relations.

The LaRouche movement has a strongly anti-British stance, viewing the British monarchy and ruling class as an essentially criminal financial conspiracy.

In the 21st century, the Special Relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom has come under attack by advertising executive Steven A. Grasse who published The Evil Empire: 101 Ways That England Ruined the World.,^[25] although this work is partly tongue in cheek and forms part of a larger media project launched by the author.

References