Tribes by David Lammy

David Lammy’s Tribes promises a lot, delivers something, but ultimately fails to convince. His problem lies in the very nature of his vision, not that it is wrong, misguided, or anything less than praiseworthy. This latter failure to convince, in fact, stems from the general vision’s inability to deal with the very problems that the author identifies at the outset.

David Lammy is a British politician, currently a member of the Shadow Cabinet of the Labor Party. In Tribes, he attempts to assess the political landscape, beginning with a theoretical analysis of why class and other larger identities have splintered into what might appear to be smaller, interest-driven groupings that he calls ‘tribes’. Many readers may expect this analysis to unfold, but instead the author pursues a personal reflection on some of the ideas raised. And, as the book progresses, the context becomes even more personal, before a final section attempts its rational, believable, and, given what precedes, impossible ending. The approach makes the book highly readable, but less than satisfying after its promise of theoretical discussion.

The author is a remarkable man. He was born into a Guyanese immigrant family in Tottenham, north London, raised by a single mother and later attended Cathedral Choral School in Peterborough. The University of London preceded Harvard Law School, where he became the first black British graduate. In Silicon Valley he became a lawyer and was later elected to Parliament representing the Labor Party. And then he was a government minister. These are just a few of the facts from this brilliant man’s life – so far! His wife is white and his children are mixed, whatever that means, since we are all mixed, if we are human.

But in a search for identity of the kind that seems to haunt modern people, David Lammy sought out a DNA test. The results suggest a mix of origins, one of which linked to the Tuareg of the West African Sahel. The author spends a lot of time and resources researching this link and then, where possible, experiencing it firsthand. Although this association ultimately proves tenuous at best, perhaps even illusory, the author’s willingness and enthusiasm to pursue it illustrates a point he makes early in the book, that identity today seems to be felt most strongly. on a personal rather than a group level. Except, of course, when the group has the ability to reinforce and confirm the personal.

David Lammy introduces Maffesoli’s concept of neo-tribes, communities of feeling, to identify a contemporary tendency to see one’s own personal identity purely in terms of a group identity. Thus, rational approaches to certain issues that, by their nature, are universal, are devalued as neo-tribes develop their own internal values ​​and explanations. It is the fact that these are identity-conferring minority positions that provides the focus of the neotribe’s identity. The fragmentation of our social, economic and religious life favors the substitution of universalism. This is a crucial point.

A few pages later and David Lammy pretty much identifies how this behavior, even bias, has been exploited by the political right. He cites two successful election slogans: “Make America great again” and “Take back control”, to which could be added “Let’s end Brexit”, as examples of hashtags that brought campaign success by exploiting fears. of the groups over rational arguments, thus defeating rational analyzes that recognized, or at least tried to recognize, the true complexity of the issues discussed. The slogans denied this complexity and offered the illusion of simple solutions. David Lammy persuasively illustrates how these simple moving but inaccurate messages prevailed over the complex, unclear but precise counter-argument.

Still in the introduction, he cites a poll stating that almost two-thirds of UK voters still believe the oft-falsified claim that the country sends £350m a week to the European Union. David Lammy follows this by stating that there is still a group of deluded people who think that Arsenal is the best football team in North London. By way of balance, I will remind you that some thirty-five years ago the philosopher AJ Ayer wrote that it should be impossible for a logical positivist to support Tottenham Hotspur. Jokes aside, the author illustrates that once accepted by a neo-tribe, a falsehood can retain its own internal illusion of truth.

But people support Arsenal and others support Tottenham. Both cannot be right if they claim that they follow the ‘best’ team. However, based on the internally accepted values ​​within the group, both may be right. Even a moment after chanting “what a bunch of crap” on his own team, that tribe would unite if the opposition expressed the same sentiment. Welcome to the Conservative Party, which is eternally divided internally, but externally as united as Stalin’s allies, until purged, and then largely silent. And who cares if the message is irrational, impossible, implausible, or even irrelevant? The tribe will back you to exclude others. And works.

There is much in Tribes that is rational, clearly expressed, believable and sincere. It’s an excellent snapshot of where British politics and society now reside, precariously in opposing camps, ideologically armed, but often unable to agree on a language in which debate could take place, where sensitive questions are usually answered with an irrelevant and unrelated positive phrase.

However, the general message of the book is wrong, since in the end we have returned to the need to recognize and acknowledge the complexities of real problems. We must trust our rationality and participate in the politics of discussion and debate. Global problems need global solutions. Working in isolation will encourage failure. Disorderly international cooperation and therefore, effectively, globalization is the only way out of local problems. However, the difficulty with such a praiseworthy, deliverable, and sensible analysis is that it fails, repeatedly, in the face of slogans that seek and achieve short-term solutions, but that give identity. Remember Vote for Victory?