So very often I accept the actions of authority and their explanations at face value! I catch myself abdicating the self-image I have as an implacable revolutionary (well, within limits… ahah) when I hear and accept as reasonable the fig leaf explanations for cowardice, genocide, dereliction of duty and other failures of authority.
Dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified because it shortened the war. Was it?! It was good for the Japanese people because they did not have to put up with a war that was causing them so much misery… that sort of thing. We have in the press at the moment parallel narratives that aren’t in any way puzzling the great British Press. On the one hand Panorama declares that there were war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan by the SAS. On the other hand Putin is accused daily of war crimes in Ukraine. The former is being dealt with as a domestic rant by a handful of overzealous nosey parkers at the BBC; the latter is commanding the attention of the War Crimes Tribunal who is taking forensic samples and gathering evidence; it merits the full on attention of the Secretary General of the United Nations; it occupies the front pages of the National Press in dozens of countries; etc. I’m no historian, but I understand that, when Napoleon - that other cuddly man of power who just wanted to be loved and admired by all the world - invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the early 1800’s, his armies contrived to destroy the national structures of Spain to such an extent that the country had centuries of suffering and destitution visited on its brave people before recovering stability and freedom, well into the 20th century. Portugal followed. Invoking yet again the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance of 1373, the British took charge of the situation and fought him to a standstill in territory still today marked in the landscape within sight of the country’s western Atlantic coast. The Portuguese Royal family packed their tiaras and their frocks and fled to Brazil, why wouldn’t they?! Portugal became a British Protectorate from 1812 until 1822. The king, on the beach in Copacabana, sipping on a nice chilled caipirinha, decided to become Emperor of Brazil instead of returning home. His name was Peter. Everybody understood that it was for the best, as he was much loved over there and not so much over here. So he graciously gave the throne to his daughter, Maria, as you do. And she gamely took it on, married a cousin of Prince Albert, and proceeded strenuously to try to establish a constitutional monarchy (something nobody was quite sure what it was at the time) in a country in turmoil, with irreconcilable, extreme right and left wing factions, while fending off other minor royals scattered throughout Europe who wanted to try for a piece of the action. If you think Edward VIII was a bit of a nuisance, imagine that multiplied by four, to the power of ten. Anyway, point is, nobody ever asks where was the duty of care of the Portuguese crown towards its people? The sinking ship is left to take the hit without a second thought? The story in Portugal is generally accepted as a sensible solution, to my knowledge. Not by me… I’m no revolutionary, (see above, smiley face) but when I see that eventually the Republic movement won the day in 1910, all I can think about is how long it took also for Portugal to shake off the disastrous consequences of that whole napoleonic farrago: 150 years later in mid 20th century, we still had eye watering levels of poverty, destitution, oppression, illiteracy, infant mortality, servitude, misogyny, and all the rest that goes to make a whole nation despair of itself and blame its people for being less than… The British, has to be said, did a great job. Deprived of the vineyards of the Rhone, they started the Port Wine industry in the Douro valley and remain still today a beloved enclave of the British merchant class in the country. The political discourse and social intercourse in the most refined private clubs in London were toasted with Malmsey and Taylor’s - profit and good taste coming together… Now, you may ask, what has all this to do with ceramics?!… Well, I clearly have to write another piece to make that case. But for now, ‘Hasta la vista, Baby!’ 😇😇
0 Comments
|
Archives
April 2024
Categories
|