It’s time for the left to re-embrace patriotism

For those of us who are on the left of the political spectrum, patriotism tends to have a negative reputation. It is commonly associated with conservative thinking, nationalist policy and imperialist tendencies. Yet, I fiercely believe a patriotic society can, and must, co-exist with a liberal and forward-thinking population. 

I was born in the United Kingdom, but my family and history can be traced to British East Africa (modern day Kenya) and the British Raj (modern day India). Naturally, growing up, many people I met on the left expected me to hold anger and distrust towards the United Kingdom. After all, it was the British who created the economic conditions in India that caused my community to migrate to East Africa. The same British created the conditions that saw my community then flee to the United Kingdom after East African independence. Given this history, most western leftists immediately disregard my dual patriotism for both Kenya and Britain, calling it a tool of neoliberalism and a false reality I have built for myself. But why can I not feel proud of the country that my grandparents and parents built a life in, a country that has protected and housed me, while also engaging authentically with British imperial history? 

I hope to unpack why leftists cannot lose patriotism. We live in a world ordered and interpreted through borders and nations. Whether one likes it or not, it is our reality, and will likely remain our reality throughout our entire lives. There is a growing and alarming trend within leftist discussion to reject the nation-state as an important component of political life. As someone whose identity is deeply tied to the nation-state, I cannot do this.  

In July 2024, the British public went to the polls to elect their fifth prime minister in the span of five years. Yet for many people, especially first-time voters like myself, this election felt different. The British Labour party — a centre-left party — had a genuine shot at victory. Keir Starmer, who now serves as Prime Minister, rebuilt a party which in 2019 won just 33% of the vote, its lowest share since 1933. Myself and many of my friends and family felt a genuine sense of change and excitement. There was a Labour party that not only could win, but bring desperately craved political stability to the U.K. 

However, when I shared this excitement with some of my friends who are further left on the political spectrum than myself, I was met with a muted, and often unfortunate reaction. Starmer’s Labour party is far from perfect, but it was rejected immediately by most of Britain’s far left and student activist populations. Labour had become a new party. It was not the protest party that shamefully lost the election in 2019 —  one I believe it could have easily won had then leader Jeremy Corbyn embraced patriotism — but a party with stable political clout. Starmer’s Labour embraced British patriotism. It presented a future where Britons were proud of their island. A patriotic left can motivate its societies to strive to improve their countries by understanding why humans are naturally proud of where they came from. A patriotic left, like Britain’s new Labour party, can win elections. 

I am deeply proud of my British identity. My grandparents immigrated to Britain in 1965 with little to their name and forged a life for themselves. Four children and numerous grandchildren later, my family would not have been able to see the stability we now see without the British state. This July, I voted in the North London constituency of Hendon. Hendon returned a Labour MP to Parliament with a majority of just 15 votes. If just 15 leftists did not vote for Labour, rejecting their patriotism, and instead chose to vote for a single issue, albeit more leftist, party, Hendon would have flipped for the Tories. With enough protest votes, more than 50 seats like Hendon would have not flipped to Labour. If leftists cannot embrace British patriotism, Labour may not remain in government. Starmer may never have been able to bestow the British people with the gift of the Labour party. 

Refusing to accept patriotism on the grounds of ideological purity brings me to another point: single issue parties. If the left can embrace patriotism, it can shield itself from fringe movements that seek to capitalise on short term issues to upset generational political trends. For example, Israel’s war in Gaza, rightfully deemed a genocide by U.N. experts, did not influence my decision to vote for Labour this July. Leftists in Britain, a country with realistically very little influence on the genocide in Gaza, abandoned the Labour party over their non-committal stance on Gaza. Many of my friends on the left pressed me on my reason for voting for Labour while also maintaining my unwavering support for the Palestinian cause. The answer is simple: Labour is going to build affordable housing for the British youth. Single issue parties, like the Green Party of England and Wales, will not. An affordable housing boom in Britain is undoubtedly a liberal, and patriotic policy. Patriotism allowed me to see that the tragedy in Gaza would remain unchanged with or without a Labour government. Is it selfish for me to want to see British housing prices fall?

I now look at my other home, Kenya. Why do leftists reject patriotism when it is emulated from the west, but seem to allow it to exist when it emits from the global south? Patriotism should belong to everyone, especially the left. It is those of us on the left that have more hope for the future. Look at Kenya: patriotism was the vessel by which we fought for independence before 1963. We have to be realistic. We have to win elections. Patriotism is the only way we can do that. I am a Gujarati man of colour, born in north London and raised in Kenya. I am not native to either of my home countries. Despite this, I am deeply patriotic towards the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Kenya. If you are on the left like me, embrace patriotism.