Poetry – Those Days are Long Gone!

Posted on by Opher

Those Days are Long Gone!

God, Queen and country,

To follow blindly!

Those days are long gone!

We know far too much

To drown in liquid mud

For something that is wrong!

All three an excuse

To further an elite

That sets itself above the throng!

All three artificial artefacts

Created for power

To make that elite strong.

We much prefer

International inclusivity

To which we all belong.

Opher – 20.11.2019

I have no faith in the artificial constructs of God, Queen and country. They were invented by the elite for the elite and perpetuate a system that works for the elite.

They send us to war in order to bring back the spoils for them. I prefer to think, view the evidence and decide.

Patriotism – Proud to be British???

Posted on by Opher

Patriotism – Proud to be British???

I am British.

So why do I feel so torn about my heritage, so conflicted?

Am I not proud to be British? To be the descendant of people from a tiny island who went forth to conquer the world and create the greatest Empire the world has ever seen?

At one time the British Empire ruled most of the globe. Our Kings and Queens ruled over the USA, Canada, Indonesia, The Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the Caribbean and the Falklands.

We were the supreme world power.

Yet, was this a good thing?

Was this anything to do with my kin?

I think not.

My people did not rule or create an empire. Neither did we benefit.

The empire was created by the establishment – the aristocracy and wealthy traders. They raised armies and navies and went forth to invade, capture and plunder. They set up companies to use indigenous people as cheap labour in order to harvest, mine and manufacture the goods that made them richer.

The wealth poured back from the empire but it did not find its way to the likes of us. We were every bit as abused as those indigenous people abroad.

My people were the poor working people. We were the ones pressganged into the navy, used as cannon fodder in the conquering armies, exploited at home in mines, factories and shipyards.

We lived in poverty and slums while the establishment built great mansions, with fancy carriages, banquets, balls, fine clothes and servants.

The empire was not of our doing, neither was it of benefit to the likes of us. Its foundation was based on racism, arrogance and superiority. It spawned slavery, greed, exploitation and division. It was based on might, force, violence and cruelty. It subjugated and controlled.

Am I supposed to feel proud about this?

No. I refuse.

I refuse to own this empire or take delight in its accomplishments.

But I am proud to be British.

I am proud of the working people who stood up against this establishment and fought for justice and freedom, for rights and fair conditions.

I am proud of the ones who fought for the right to vote, for fair government, fair pay, fair work conditions.

None of it was easily forthcoming.

It took time for men like me to be given the vote. It took even longer for women to be afforded the same.

It took blood and guts.

We formed unions, struck and starved, marched and were massacred, just so that we could be afforded fair pay and good work conditions. We fought for a better, fairer society and it had to be wrested by struggle and loss of life from the hands of the establishment.

So I am proud of those brave women and men and the sacrifices they made. I’m proud to be descended from them.

I look around at this society we have fought for. It is still not as good as it should be. There is still injustice and gross inequality, exploitation and slavery. I look at the wealthy becoming wealthier while people like me slave on zero-hours contracts for poverty wages.

There is still much that needs addressing.

So when it comes to patriotism I think it’s a con-trick.

I’m not going to wave my flag for the Queen or celebrate battles and empire.

I will stand up for the Diggers, for the Chartists and the victims of Peterloo.

They make me proud to be British.

Poetry – The British Empire

Posted on by Opher

The British Empire

From the shores of this small island,

Reaching out with armies to embrace the whole world,

From the Falklands, through the USA, Canada, the Caribbean,

Africa, India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines

to Australia and New Zealand,

Great Britain ruled.

The greatest Empire the world has ever seen.

The tentacles of that empire

Probed, exploited, subjugated and menaced.

Its power was extent.

It sent forth its mighty navy.

It invaded, deposed and laid claim.

It deployed its superiority and arrogance

Through its technology and attitude.

A sense of privilege and worth,

It conquered,

Divided and ruled.

With armies of bureaucrats it controlled.

It plundered the world

Bringing back the spoils

To build its stately homes,

To finance its servants and lavish lifestyle,

With fashion, banquets and balls.

To finance its great armies

And maintain its domination.

Yet little, if any, of this vast plunder

Was wasted on the populace of Great Britain.

The public were sentenced to poverty,

Gruelling labour in field and factory,

A life of penury with great penalty

And heartless application

Should they rebel,

Or question their position.

For we were the cannon fodder,

Worthless, expendable,

Without a vote,

No power and no hope.

Brainwashed in schools

To worship mighty God,

King and country

And wave our union jacks on Empire day.

The Empire was a product of the elite,

For the benefit of the elite.

While we, the people, were exploited

As heartlessly as any slaves.

The British Empire

Swaddled the world in pink.

It should have been red –

Red with the blood

The blood of ordinary folk,

Of battlefields,

Of the whipped slaves in the sugar plantations!

Or at least blue with aristocratic blood,

The blue blood of arrogant rulers,

Of those who populated the Public Schools

And assumed superiority.

But it was pink.

The delicate feminine colour

Of charm and romance.

A disguise

For a sinister vehicle of oppression,

Within and without.

All Empires crumble.

But the same privileged elite

Maintain their position,

Deploy their power

And still reign supreme.

Opher – 29.12.2020

Thus it is everywhere to this day. Just because the Empires are less obvious does not mean they do not exist or are not as ruthless. Privilege maintains privilege. Equality is a myth