NOT TO BE SILENCED

There were two aspects of last Fridays glossy OK style royal wedding, pretty girls in pretty dresses, young men in Ruritanian military attire, all glass slippers and open coaches teased along the Mall by suitably attired lackeys, which showed the darker side to this affair. I quote Nick Cohen:-

‘The royal family's willingness to ban Labour prime ministers from the wedding has already told us much about the monarchy's ideology. After that cheap snub, I hope to hear less self-deluding babble from Labour leaders about the Windsors being "above politics". If they cannot see that royal rule is a justification for conservatism, surely they must now realise that royals are Tories and their political opponents.’*

Even more sinister was the arrest of people for thought crime.

‘Around 70 people were arrested in the UK in preemptive raids on suspected protesters prior to and on the day of the Royal Wedding.
The police enjoyed expanded stop-and-search powers in Central London on Friday. Nearly 100 people were barred from the City of Westminster during the wedding.
The police made some arrests on the grounds that people might be considering planning a breach of the peace, without evidence that any crime had been—or was going to be—committed. People were arrested for carrying anti-monarchy placards, for singing protest songs, or even for wearing zombie make-up in a coffee shop.’*

Protests were also prevented in Soho Square, if you know anything of the geography of London you will know that this was well away from the route of the royal wedding. Over the last week we have seen peaceful republican protest criminalised; this should be ringing alarm bells, but hey who cares about a few anarchists? It is perhaps worth remembering the words of Pastor Niemöller.

“First they came for the Jews

and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists

and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for me -

and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.”

The German anti-Nazi activist,

Pastor Martin Niemöller

Now of course I am not implying that we currently live in a police state, let alone a Nazi one, what I am pointing out is that the price of liberty is indeed eternal vigilance. As Rosa Luxembourg observed “Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.”

There is a concerted move to re-brand the monarchy after the squalid vulgarity of the Diana/Fergie years, to skip King Charles the idiot and move straight to the photogenic William and Kate. It is important to ensure that debate includes the possibility of a republican alternative.The republican voice must not allow itself to be silenced

* Nick Cohen Writing from London Observer 01/05/11

** Police make “pre-emptive” arrests before Royal wedding

By Paul Bond World Socialist Website

2 May 2011











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