3 August 2009
Always violence, aggression and slaughter for one millennium and still going strong!
The often shameful British history that was the responsibility of our politicians and people of past generations:-
Giving Afghans and Iraqis the vote every few years is just not worth all the slaughter. It is called bringing democracy down the barrel of a gun; just like we condemned the Communists for spreading revolution down the barrel of a gun - we are no better! In fact, down the years, the white nations have killed many more black people than they of us. We whites are so hypocritical and racist!
It was the Christian, white nations and not the Muslim, black nations who developed and first used chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. We were responsible for the 1st WW and its sequel, the 2nd WW. In fact, we had the Arabs, united to the last man under our army hero, T E Lawrence fighting with us in the 1st WW - only for Lawrence and the Arabs to be let down later!
In a recent thirty year period, in one corner of our country, we had a civil war between two branches of the UK and two branches of the Christian Church that resulted in many more Irish republicans killed than they managed to kill of our own Irish monarchists who were loyal to the Queen. Figures from the BBC website. Bloody Sunday is only one most disgraceful and shameful episode in the history of the heroic British Army.
I have just seen in the 'Church Times' that one leading Christian vicar is arguing in print and, this morning, on BBC Radio 4 that the US/UK/NATO must continue the warfare in and on Afghanistan. The vicar is the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, Vicar of Putney in London.
Giles Fraser agrees with the War of Terrorism on the good people of Afghanistan. I know it is directed at the Taliban and al Qaeda but, as usual in modern warfare, the people of non-violence get injured and killed in much greater numbers than the wicked Taliban and al Qaeda that our men of violence are trying to eliminate for ever. Does this really satisfy Giles' Church of England's just war teaching?
David Dimbleby on 'Question Time' last month, said that al Qaeda is to be found in fourteen countries. Does Giles seriously think that even if we were to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan, that they would no longer exist in the other thirteen?
Does Giles not know that our current war in Afghanistan is the fourth? We lost the first three, just like the Russians did more recently in their fewer wars in that country. We are certainly not winning this current war, even after eight years of desperately trying and we are told it is going to last for decades!
David Dimbleby on 'Question Time' last month, said that al Qaeda is to be found in fourteen countries. Does Giles seriously think that even if we were to defeat al Qaeda in Afghanistan, that they would no longer exist in the other thirteen?
Does Giles not know that our current war in Afghanistan is the fourth? We lost the first three, just like the Russians did more recently in their fewer wars in that country. We are certainly not winning this current war, even after eight years of desperately trying and we are told it is going to last for decades!
Does Giles not suppose that if we were invaded and occupied by foreign armies, that our men and women of violence would not similarly fight back? People of non-violence, like me, would be classed amongst the non-collaborators rather than the resistance fighters.
Does Giles not recall that our country has not been seriously invaded since 1066? Instead, we have had one millennium of invading, occupying and exploiting many nations around the world. Iraq and Afghanistan are simply the latest in a very long list of countries that are the victims of our many crimes of aggression down the centuries.
As a man of the cloth and a Christian believer, should Giles not be leading his flock in the way of non-violence as taught and practised by Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jnr and Donald, Lord Soper? In my book, Giles is now a man of violence, along with too many in the church and society.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your email, sorry I'm so late in replying, we've just moved into the flat and haven't set up an internet connection just yet.
I do agree with 95% of your piece, I think that the prospective 'democratic' regime in Afghanistan will not be worth the lives being laid down daily. Having said this, although I'm a humanitarian to the core, I do think certain circumstances are worth fighting for as a country. WW2 for example saw a global threat to not only democracy but to the survival of many groups of our human race, and I think that the lives laid down were justified and indeed honoured by the cause. Had we gone into Afghanistan to a) halt the progress of another such regime and b) set up a genuine, hopeful, well-structured democracy for the future I would be tempted into support. However, we have not done either of these things. The "war" on al Qaeda is not halting their progress, we know it, they know it. The democracy being set up is already corrupt, with Karzai the obvious choice of the USA and not the Afghan people in any way, shape or form. In these aspects I am in complete agreement with you
However, I do feel that drawing racial comparisons, however apologetic, will act to prolong the differences between the races. Undoubtedly, the white race has the more bloody history, but I feel that this is a product of circumstance rather than anything inherent in the white nature. Indeed the idea that there are seperate "natures" for black and white people, is, in essence, pulling the idea of a unified human race further asunder. How are we to know whether, had the people of Africa been blessed with the circumstances that us Western Europeans have in terms of agriculture and proximity to various resources, they would have been any less oppressive than we?
I feel the example best set for racial reconciliation is that of Nelson Mandela who, having assumed power in South Africa after (Tory-supported) apartheid, did not dwell on who should apologise to whom and who was to blame. He instead acted in such a way that seperates great men from the rest of mankind. He sought to reconcile the races, regardless of how successful he was, Mandela acted to look to the future and to ignore difference in skin colour. His dream is not of a South Africa where the whites pay for what they did, but for a South Africa where whites, blacks, those of asian descent and mixed races all have equal opportunities. This is what I feel we must dwell on as a unified human race, if we are to ever see peace,
Joe
Thanks for your email, sorry I'm so late in replying, we've just moved into the flat and haven't set up an internet connection just yet.
I do agree with 95% of your piece, I think that the prospective 'democratic' regime in Afghanistan will not be worth the lives being laid down daily. Having said this, although I'm a humanitarian to the core, I do think certain circumstances are worth fighting for as a country. WW2 for example saw a global threat to not only democracy but to the survival of many groups of our human race, and I think that the lives laid down were justified and indeed honoured by the cause. Had we gone into Afghanistan to a) halt the progress of another such regime and b) set up a genuine, hopeful, well-structured democracy for the future I would be tempted into support. However, we have not done either of these things. The "war" on al Qaeda is not halting their progress, we know it, they know it. The democracy being set up is already corrupt, with Karzai the obvious choice of the USA and not the Afghan people in any way, shape or form. In these aspects I am in complete agreement with you
However, I do feel that drawing racial comparisons, however apologetic, will act to prolong the differences between the races. Undoubtedly, the white race has the more bloody history, but I feel that this is a product of circumstance rather than anything inherent in the white nature. Indeed the idea that there are seperate "natures" for black and white people, is, in essence, pulling the idea of a unified human race further asunder. How are we to know whether, had the people of Africa been blessed with the circumstances that us Western Europeans have in terms of agriculture and proximity to various resources, they would have been any less oppressive than we?
I feel the example best set for racial reconciliation is that of Nelson Mandela who, having assumed power in South Africa after (Tory-supported) apartheid, did not dwell on who should apologise to whom and who was to blame. He instead acted in such a way that seperates great men from the rest of mankind. He sought to reconcile the races, regardless of how successful he was, Mandela acted to look to the future and to ignore difference in skin colour. His dream is not of a South Africa where the whites pay for what they did, but for a South Africa where whites, blacks, those of asian descent and mixed races all have equal opportunities. This is what I feel we must dwell on as a unified human race, if we are to ever see peace,
Joe
Thanks v much for your excellent and thoughtful reply.
Nelson Mandela is a great man but I also like Desmond Tutu who initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission but, was it with the agreement of Mandela when he was President?
I think my emphasis is to point out that the richest and most powerful white nation sincerely believes it is God's gift to the rest of humanity, that it has a unique divine destiny and, is the world's policeman, judge, jury and hangman. It was once called gunboat diplomacy (now, hard power by Blair) and has the support of the UK with our special relationship to the USA. I am trying to correct the "we are right, you are wrong " or, the "we know best for you" mentality. This is well intentioned but unwelcome by some in some nations. Now Muslims/Arabs have got in on the act of coercion, warfare, aggression, terrorism. But our side was first. We like to point the finger but to forget that there are three fingers pointing back at us!
We forget about our side shooting down the Iranian airliner a few months before they bombed our PanAm plane. We demand justice for us but certainly not justice for Iran! Our foreign policy is partial, hypocritical and unethical - as Robin Cook once pointed out. I want our nation to evolve into a nation more like Norway, the nation that does the most peacemaking in the world.
Now, off for a cycle ride to a local beauty spot, Kinver Edge. It is cloudy but cool and dry here.
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