THE OPUIM OF HOPE

Of all the words in the English language the one I am least comfortable with is hope.

Hope is as tangible as hot air, as solid as candy floss and, we are constantly told, as essential as oxygen. “You must have hope,” people intone, seeking to press a promissory note into your hand, redeemable at some unspecified date in the future.

People living crappy lives all over the world either live in hope, or are exhorted to do so. Politicians and priests are the primary sellers of hope; jam tomorrow, the meek inheriting the Earth. Hope indeed being the main product sold by religion*:-


                         'His Oath, his covenant,his blood
                          support me inin the whelming flood.
                          When all around my soul gives way,
                          he then is all my hope and stay.'1
 

With these lullabies and daydreams life is made more tolerable. Hope, like a lottery ticket, the opium of the people.

Now I hope that civil liberties are better defended in this country in the  future than they have been in the recent past, though I think I would be better doing something about it than just hoping.

 The ruling elites of all countries are more than happy for the poor to hope for better days to come. What frightens them is the possibility that they may act on their desires in the present, that they might choose to do something to make these dreams come true.

So the next time the priest or politician comes peddling hope, you do what you will, for my self I will send them away with a flea in their ear.  


1 My hope is Built, words by Edward Mote, 1797-1874 
 
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