In the name of empire nations
‘… the writing is on the body … fake peacemakers … real dictators’
From The Limping Messenger:
Away with the glorification of the battlefield, the courage of soldiers, and how we are indebted to their futile sacrifice for whatever honoured the pride of nations . . . Speak rather about those who refused to be called to arms, about those who refused to climb out of the trenches right into the spitting canons and had to be forced at gunpoint by “their” officers, about the mutineers on all fronts . . .
Thank you for this unfortunately rare perspective in the USA. Veterans Days and Memorial Days should be a form of collective apology from all sides to the veterans and all the other victims of war, a time of remorse that we let humanity fall into murderous, collective insanity. The Europeans have gained this understanding. When will the Americans?
I can take credit for the posting, but it’s my Eurostaff that keeps me informed. Frankly, I wish I’d had the guts to expatriate myself during the Vietnam War. And I regret not doing so even more now that I live in Trumpistan.
Things aren’t going so well over here either. Lots of right wing populism. Merkel is leaving the Chancellorship in Germany. She will be replaced by someone to appease the xenophobes. There is no refuge.
Good on you to champion the grotesqueries of the war machine, Jan. The irony of this demonstration is that is by agitators from the feminist movement, who carry a banner dropped by the Suffrage movement as appropriated by the schismatic, class-poisoned, Emmeline Pankhurst faction WSPU. Her militant nationalism was a betrayal. Here is an intelligent summary: https://qz.com/535662/dont-be-fooled-by-suffragette-violence-alone-did-not-secure-the-womens-vote/