“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Thursday, 26 June 2014

The real WW 1 .

 I don't want to speak too soon, but so far the centenary of the start of the First World War has been nowhere near as jingoistic as I feared it would be.  Certainly we have had plenty of newspaper articles, books and TV/radio programmes about the war but it has not all been in the "ultimate sacrifice for country" vain. There has even been some coverage of those who resisted the war and I recently came across The Real WW 1. An interesting antidote to both nationalism and the Great Men view of history.

1 comment:

Dr Llareggub said...

I have mixed feelings about the presentation of WW1. It is not going to be presented from a nationalistic or great hero approach to history. It will be left wing, or at least appealing to left and anarchist bosses, many of whom are doing quite well in politics and media today. History is so often presented as an endorsement of the current political system. Already the signs are that the Government and Mainstream Media are building on the truth that people of many races and ethnicities were involved as a means of endorsing multiculturalism. Watch out for Guardian articles reminding us of the sacrifices made by certain cultural groups. This should please many on the left - including anarchist bosses and the far left - who see multiculturalism as the solution to racism and discrimination, which it is not. The left have been suckered into supporting what is nothing more than what the Colonial Office described as the 'Woad Policy' during the 1930s: empower conservative tribal (community) leaders, let them maintain their traditions, and rule with their collaboration, keeping quiet about the repressive nature of their traditions. Same today - with the left defending conservative community leaders, paid handsomely through government finance for mutliculturalism, and critics of the system reviled as racists. Cameron leapt on to this bandwagon as a progressive Tory and despite his attempt to snatch a few UKIP votes with his British values bit, has new returned to multiculturalism, which you can see in his linkage between the end of Ramadan and the anniversary of the outbreak of the war. (See his address to Muslims on the eve of Ramadan) Yes Dave, we know than many people of many faiths died in that war. But the way this is emphasised by you and the MSM is designed to sell a very undemocratic form of segregation, which is ultimately employed to undermine any gains made by the working classes. The left will have bought into it and be prepared for radicals who will point out to nationalistic bigots how a multiculturalist woad policy is the way forward.
Obviously you can see I dissent from the left support of the multiculture and quite happily face accusations of racism, xenophobia, for my defence of universal values which the working classes developed over centuries of struggle.