I think it is appropriate on this day of the commemoration of the landing of our troops in Normandy seventy five years ago to play a song that I would normally associate with the November Remembrance Day.
I hate war. I think there are many better ways. But sometimes, when we get it horribly wrong, we have to resort to it.
The extreme right-wing fascism of the Nazis was such an occasion. The Nazis with their tyrannical brutality and racism should never have been allowed to come to power. But having achieved it they had to be crushed. Their ideas of racial supremacy, their anti-Semitism (which murdered 6 million Jews), and their desire for world domination, were repugnant to all civilised people.
My father fought in Italy against the Nazi scourge.
I, like everyone else, am both grateful and in awe of the bravery and sacrifice of the men who stormed those beaches. We all owe them a big debt. But I, like Roy, wonder at the things that lay behind it. The class system and elite still exist and exploit. The system is not fair. Nothing changed.
After that war alliances and trading partnerships were forged to prevent us ever having such a terrible war again. The United Nation, the European Union and NATO were the result. Better to Jaw Jaw than War War. They have resulted in a more unified Europe with much sharing, understanding and collaboration.
Lately this security is increasingly under threat. All these institutions – NATO, the UN and the EU are under threat. They may well be flawed. They may well be costly. There may be fraud and corruption. It might be a gravy train. But, from my perspective, the alternative is far worse. We’re throwing out the baby with the bath water.
There are fascists and racists marching on our streets again. Right-wing fascists are becoming mainstream. We think respect and liberalism, tolerance and PC are rude words. We are building walls again. We are tearing down our collaborations and institutions. We are becoming isolationist.
It seems ironic to me that the American President is one who represents these isolationist and anti-liberal values. It feels like having the KKK in charge of America. He appears to have more in common with the Nazi’s than with the allies who stormed those beaches yet he is presiding over this ceremony.
Roy put the words of Laurence Binyon to music and added his own verses. The result is chilling.
Lest we forget what those brave men fought for!
They fought against right-wing fascism!
They fought for liberty and freedom from tyranny.
They fought against racism, brutality and persecution of races or people – be that Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or Christians.
They fought for lasting peace and security.
They fought for a better world, a fairer world.
They did not fight for walls, separation, greed, or isolation.
They shall not grow old, as we are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning
We will remember them
They built a wall boys, it stayed up for thirty years
We’ve torn it down now, clattering round their ears
You know how it is, with spirit(s)
They just couldn’t hold us
Brothers and sisters
The world you died for, was all but a pack of lies
It had to fall down, and keep on falling
You gave us the world they promised you
And in the morning
We are the flowering
We are the flowering youth
Berliners