Well friends and comrades, it's a new year, will it be a new year's resolution, or will it be a new year's revolution? Will there be the great awakening, will there be that revolution of consciousness when we see the world differently? Will we follow our imagination, and grasp our dreams? Will we realise that power we have through solidarity, and shape the world to all our needs? After generations of being exploited, will we finally stand up and screw the bastards, once and for all. All the best.
This image, one from those brutal days of empire, must be the biggest insult of the last century, to the ordinary people. Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC.
was a famed butcher of the colonies, in the peak days of Empire. As colonial administrator, he was responsible for many ruthless campaigns to keep the colonies under the yoke of the British Crown. He was also the imperialists recruiting sergeant for that swamp of death, that is referred to as The First World War. Why would the people of this country and those of the former British colonies wish to see this man honoured? Why should we feel any affinity to this butcher?
We are in for a year of patriotic pish being poured over us, in an attempt to turn the stupidity and the pointless carnage of that blood bath of 1914/18 into a glorious event. An avoidable event, when parasitic imperialists decided to settle their greedy squabbling by shedding the blood of millions of ordinary people. People who had nothing to gain from the slaughter, People who left poverty to enter that hell on earth, and, if the did come back, they returned to even greater poverty and hardship, while their imperial lords and masters wallowed in glory and wealth.
There was nothing in the "Great War" for the ordinary people except endless, pointless killing and suffering. Rather than follow the flag waving triumphalism of that pampered parasitic class of imperialist dinosaurs, who would willingly send another generation into the "valley of death", for their own gain, we should be getting very angry. We the people bore the brunt of all the bloodshed, death and misery, while they, the ruling parasites gained all the spoils.
The First World War, like most wars, was a public display of our lords and masters' greedy squabbling, to further their own wealth and power. It should be remembered as such, and the finger should be pointed at those responsible for all that death and suffering.
Patriotism
No, I shall not die for the fluttering flag,
if truth be known, ’tis nothing but a multi-coloured rag
held aloft by some foolish hand
inciting worker and peasant to kill
on some green and wooded hill,
peasant and worker from some other land.
Nor shall I shed blood for the fluttering rag
that brings out fools to stand and brag
of brutal deeds painted grand,
deeds where rustic and craftsman lie so still
killed by my brothers' misguided hand.
No allegiance have I for the Nation
this man made autocratic creation
that divides my brothers in a world so small,
binds us to a country's cause, right or wrong,
bids us follow its drum, sing its song,
then sheds our blood in some border brawl.
No, I'll be no slave to flag or nation,
have no ear for power oration,
though its iron heel is on my breast,
my back feels its leather thong,
at patriotism's barracoon, I'll be no guest.
Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
