In no way would I dream of belittling or denigrating all
the recent WW1 commemorations. It is
absolutely right that we should remember (we must never forget!) all the
tragedy and sacrifice of that terrible war – and many of the commemorations
were very thoughtful and moving – BUT . . .
Remembering is not enough! Yes, it is good to see all those presidents,
prime ministers and royalty from various nations laying wreaths and making
speeches. Perhaps it might have been a bit more meaningful if these paragons of
wisdom, all these great and godly leaders of our supposedly civilised world, had
actually set aside just an hour or so of their precious time to sit down round
a table to try to think of ways of preventing all the wars that are going on
now and those that are likely to flare up in the future.
In today’s paper, after all the articles and pictures of
candle-lit services and ceremonies at cemeteries, there appeared another
article, telling us how the UK’s government is “reviewing” the sale of £8bn worth
of tanks and weaponry to the Israeli government “in light of the conflict in
Gaza”!
Am I really being too cynical? Wars can be very useful. They create a lot of employment and they bring
in a lot of money. The weapons trade is
one of the world’s most lucrative industries. What would our economy look like
without the income from the arms trade?
What would our unemployment figures look like if all our soldiers,
sailors and airmen were out of a job? Wars are a useful political tool too –
they keep the proletariat scared and submissive and deflect attention from issues
that really matter, like climate change, food, water and energy supply, pollution,
uncontrolled population growth and the effects of rampant consumerism.
The United Nations was a good idea at the time but,
having been pretty well emasculated by Bush & Blair, it now has no teeth,
no power and little authority. It is
high time it was either revived in a new and more effective form or replaced by
something rather better. Surely it is
not beyond the wit of man to devise some kind of global police force to prevent
wars from happening and to control the spread and use of weapons. Do our world leaders want this? Apparently not!
The European Union was never, originally, conceived as an
economic or political union. It was
intended, primarily, to prevent war and preserve peace in Europe after
WW2. In that respect, for nigh on 70
years, it has been extremely successful.
That is what we should also remember at this time.
It is only by working together that we can hope to achieve
and preserve peace, both in Europe and throughout the world. The rise of “Separatism” and “Nationalism”
across Europe and elsewhere is one of the most worrying trends of our time. Not
just in the middle east and in Ukraine but also in Spain, France, Belgium –
even in the UK and in Scotland – we see increasing support for Nationalist and
Separatist parties.
Perhaps it is time for everyone to read (or re-read) George
Orwell’s “1984”. Is that really the sort
of society we want? We’re getting closer
all the time!
