CURRENT AFFAIRS
June 2002
(Comments/Discussion: Tony.Papard@btinternet.com)
U.K.s Jubilee Jamboree
The Queen’s Golden Jubilee is being hailed as proof of the popularity of the Monarchy – one million people in The Mall singing God Save The Queen, Land Of Hope And Glory and waving Union flags.
What Jubilee Weekend DID prove was how stage-managed the whole event was, and in fact much of it had very little to do with the Monarchy. People will turn out for an open-air pop concert whenever it is held, even more so if held in the gardens of Buck House, not usually open to the public. Quite frankly The Queen, who turned up near the end of the proceedings, looked absolutely horrified at what was going on in her (very large) back garden. She’d obviously been told it was a sure way to draw big crowds, but they were there for the music and out of curiosity as to what Buck House Gardens looked like, not to celebrate 50 years of Liz on the throne (which sounds more like national constipation to me than a cause for celebration. Only dictators like Stalin, Tito and Emperor Hirohito achieved these kind of double figures as Head of State.)
Then there were the spectacular fireworks and light show in front of the Palace afterwards – again this would draw huge crowds whatever the occasion.
No doubt many did turn out to see the State pageantry Tuesday morning when Liz and Phil drove to St Paul's in the famous Golden Coach – Mickey Mouse and Cinderella draw similar crowds in Disneyland’s daily parades. You don’t need an unelected Monarchy to have a fancy parade with a fairy-tale coach.
This was proved in the afternoon when The Mall hosted a hybrid parade of traditional military style units, plus a sort of joint Lord Mayor’s Show/Easter Parade/Notting Hill Carnival. Again, millions regularly turn out for the Carnival every August Bank Holiday which has no connexion with the Monarchy whatsoever.
True the crowds filling The Mall at the end of the ceremonies were cheering The Queen, singing outdated, politically incorrect (i.e. Imperialist/Racist) ‘patriotic’ songs and waving Union Flags, but they also do this on the Last Night of the Proms and other occasions – don’t forget the World Cup was also in progress, which also prompted much flag waving. If you stuck Bill and Ben the flowerpot Men on a Dais at the end of The Mall the crowd would cheer them and wave flags at them.
Having said all this, The Queen, by keeping a low profile, never saying or doing anything to offend the Establishment and smiling and waving when required to do so, undoubtedly retains the affection of many people, though Prince William got the biggest cheer of the day when he appeared on the Balcony, purely because of his Boy Band-Type looks. He is the biggest boost The Monarchy has had since Diana, who did her level best to undermine the institution, or at least modernize it.
The Queen, however, is not such an uncontroversial figure as people like to make out. I can never forgive her for launching nuclear armed Polaris and Trident submarines designed to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale. These weapons are totally illegal, and giving her blessing to them in this way makes The Queen a war criminal along with all the other Royal Family members, politicians and others who support the threatened use of nuclear weapons. We can see on the Indian sub-continent where this refusal to give up our precious nuclear status-symbols is leading – one day these weapons will be used again, with terrible, terrible consequences. The Queen has not had the courage to utter one word of protest, neither has any of her spineless family. Only Diana had the guts to at least act against the crime of sowing landmines around the world to blow up innocent peasants and children.
So I see the Jubilee Weekend as proving just how weak The Monarchy really is. If they have to resort to Pop Concerts and the Notting Hill Carnival to draw the crowds, is there really any future for the institution as it stands? We might as well have Westlife as the Royal Family and have them ride around on State Occasions on a Notting Hill Carnival float, the crowd would be just as happy.
So are we just putting on a nice show for the tourists and onlookers, or are we seriously celebrating an outdated institution which is undemocratic, ostentatious, costly and a reminder of everything which is bad in our history -–Colonialism, Racism, War-mongering, Greed, Inequality, Hatred of foreigners, Murder and Intrigue (Henry VIII and all that)? I hope it is the former, but we don’t need an unelected monarch to do it.
There are at least two alternatives – both essentially the same but with a different name. One is a Republic, and the other is an elected Monarchy. In both cases the Head of State would be democratically elected every 5 years or so, and any suitable person could be nominated and stand for election. This includes the present Royal Family, showbiz and sports personalities, pop stars, even politicians if they weren’t too partisan and had popular support (Mo Mowlem comes to mind). If we chose a Republic they would be called President, if we chose an elected Monarchy they could call themselves King or Queen, it doesn’t really matter. So long as we can choose our Head of State and get rid of them if we don’t like them. With the present system, we are stuck with them till they die or decide to abdicate – at 76 Liz could still be there in another 30 years. Imagine if we were stuck with a real dumbo for 80 years with no way to get them out of office! If we had a Republic or elected Monarchy Prince William, the present Queen, Gary Lineker or Dame Vera Lynn could be Head of State within 5 years, but could not stay in office longer than that without a fresh mandate from the electorate. It is a unique system, it is called democracy.
War on the SubContinent
‘Another fine mess you’ve gotten us into’ to paraphrase Oliver Hardy. Yes, the British are yet again mostly to blame for the mess they left behind when the Empire started to collapse. We were to blame for the Irish problem by dividing that country, largely to blame for the Middle East situation for promising Palestine to the Palestinians then giving much of it to the Zionists, and we also left a mess in Cyprus when we gave it independence. Despite two huge bases there with thousands of British troops we did nothing when first Greece (via means of a coup) then Turkey invaded the island in 1974. In the subcontinent, we divided India between India, Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and left the problem of Kashmir unsolved, split between Pakistan and India. Can’t the British do ANYTHING right?
Added to this, we insist on having an ‘independent nuclear deterrent’ which is neither independent (we rely on the Americans for the Trident submarines) nor a deterrent. Our nuclear weapons didn’t stop Argentina from forcefully seizing back the Malvinas which we had stolen off them a century or so earlier (no, the ‘Falklands’ are NOT British. If you want to be British you have to be born in England, Cornwall, Scotland or Wales or become a naturalized British citizen. Even the Northern Irish have NEVER been part of Britain, hence the official name of the U.K. – United Kingdom of Great Britain AND Northern Ireland. As for Gibraltar, forget it – they are Spanish, or Gibraltarians, not British. The British Empire has long since been dismantled, thank goodness.)
So, we now have the very real prospect of a nucear war breaking out on the subcontinent, if not now, during some other crisis in the future. The principal reason for this is countries like Britain, France and Israel who insist they need nuclear weapons as a sort of status symbol, despite being military useless. Nuclear weapons did not help USA win the Vietnam War – they lost to a non-nuclear ‘enemy’. Similarly the nuclear-armed USSR lost a war in Afghanistan to a non-nuclear ‘enemy’. All USA’s nuclear might and Star Wars technology could not prevent the September 11th terrorist attacks. Nuclear weapons are nothing to do with defense, they are illegal weapons of mass destruction and State terrorism. Possession of nuclear weapons merely encourages others to use similar tactics for political and religious ends – i.e. target civilians with bombs, explosives and other indiscriminate weapons and try to terrorize governments into submitting to their demands.
It is the height of racism and hypocrisy for Britain or USA to lecture the Indian and Pakistan governments on the dangers of nuclear war, whilst refusing themselves to give up these military useless yet dangerous weapons. What we are really saying is ‘white people can be trusted with these weapons, other races can’t.’ Actually, I don’t trust ANYBODY with nuclear weapons. Only one country has ever used them so far, USA, on innocent Japanese civilians at a time Japan was already suing for peace. The suspicion is USA just wanted to ‘test’ the atom bombs on real people before the War ended. So much for trusting white people with nuclear weapons – the reason they haven’t used them since is because of the horror Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused around the world. It immediately put the U.S. government in the same category as the Nazi butchers in Auschwitz. Britain came off little better, with the firestorms caused by bombing of innocent civilians (including babies and little children) in German cities. ALL bombing or threatened bombing of civilians is a war crime.
The only real hope of avoiding nuclear war anywhere in the world is for all states to sign and adhere to a treaty banning all nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. This means all nuclear states agreeing to give up their nuclear weapons without further delay. If Britain scrapped Trident tomorrow, we would then have a moral right to go and ask Pakistan and India to scrap their nuclear arsenals, and might actually stand some chance of persuading them. But if we need OUR nuclear weapons, other countries will say they need them too. Will we really all sleep safer in our beds when every country in the world has nuclear weapons of their own? That is the logic of any country saying it needs them for ‘defense’ or as a ‘deterrent’.