FINAL THOUGHTS


I saw that Thatcher was dead on a newspaper hoarding from the top deck of a London bus, not far from the Ritz in fact where she died. I felt nothing much, curiosity at how the media would handle her death and a sense that I should have been expecting it and surprise that I was surprised. I felt neither the jubilation that some felt, nor anger at the memories that her death provoked. My first response to the jubilation that her death provoked was that it was in poor taste.

In the week that passed after her death this changed. As the scale of the Thatcherfest has grown, as the stream of eulogising claptrap as vomited out, as the conscious and unconscious re-writing of history has flowered and as the cost of the whole affair, both culturally and financially, have grown, I grew angrier. The results can be seen in some of the preceding posts.

I understand that all the vitriol towards Thatcher seems to have surprised, and possibly even shocked people in the US. This sort of incomprehension is not new, nor restricted to Anglo American affairs, Gorbachev was heralded as a hero in the west, whilst he is still loathed in Russia; the French constantly look across the channel aghast at our insularity, and the popularity of the semi senile Reagan made no sense to British voters. Such phenomena as Thatcherism must be experienced from the inside. 

In all the eulogies of Thatcher not one mention, not even nuanced, that she was a bully, that she could be callous to the point of outright cruelty, that she held a grudge and took real pleasure in the humiliation of others, including members of her own cabinet.[1] Instead we had erected before our eyes a wholly new Thatcher, wise and compassionate, regal yet possessed of the common touch; Churchill in drag.

Had Thatcher had a private funeral I might just have been able to put up with all this guff, but the cost of her funeral and the propaganda exercise for the right that this became was too much. Like so many others I found within me years of suppressed anger at the Thatcher experiment suddenly, like some long dormant volcano, pour forth.

Now that she is buried physically it is time to take on and ultimately bury her malign political legacy. One good thing to come out of this whole affair has been a re-invigoration of the left, not only a clearer sense of the evils were and still are up  against but a re-examination of the terrain, of who we are and how best to carry on this fight. For that I suppose I can thank her.

[1] One thing not that has not been said too much but that I think ought to be emphasised more is that fact that, for all her supposed patriotism, she never really liked us, the flesh and blood citizens of this country, her patriotism was for a white cliffs of Dover world, that never really was. Seehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/14/thatcher-never-liked-her-country
 







Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.

Popular posts from this blog

NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

Image
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries...
Read more

INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

Image
Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t...
Read more

VOLINE AND TROTSKY

Волин и Троцкого A Footnote in Russian History In April 1917 the Russian anarchist revolutionary Voline* and Leon Trotsky were both stranded in New York as the Russian revolution broke out in Petrograd , inevitably coming into contact with one another. Voline stated that he felt that the Bolsheviks, given their ruthlessness and single minded determination, would ultimately come to power. They would then begin eliminating their opponents, amongst whom of course were the anarchists; this persecution would end with the Bolsheviks shooting the anarchists “like partridges.” Trotsky was dismissive, they might have their differences but they were comrades in arms, they had different interpretations of the revolutionary process but shared the same goals. It was nonsense to speak of Bolsheviks shooting revolutionary comrades, “we are socialists, comrade Voline! So we are not your enemies….” [1] In December of 1919, whilst gravely wounded Voline was captured by the Bolshe...
Read more