War in Heaven

Johnnie Andy who was our neighbour in Glencolmcille would not let water into his house - as another old man put it, 'aren't we all our lives trying to keep it out!, meaning out of their old thatched cottages. However, much more rashly I would have thought, he did let in 'the jigger', which was his name for the television. Now one day I came up with some bright-but-trite anti-war comment, as we absorbed yet another bit of footage of people trying to blow each other up, but I was stopped in my tracks by old Johnnie's comment - 'Ah well now war's allowed. Sure wasn't there war in Heaven?'

     Let us hope that, if war there must be, it should not be a matter of trying to blow each other up; because I'm afraid the forthcoming general election in the UK does have to be a matter of war. It will be a generational battle to determine the nature of the outfit for years - a battle, one might say, for the soul of the nation.

Another frontier.

     Who am I to say such things, or care as I swan around the Gannetsway? It should be obvious to all by now that, not for the first time, this battle is liable to be largely fought out in or over Ireland. It was in 1969, in the wake of British troops, that I first went there in earnest, trying to figure out what was going on, as opposed to sailing about the place or visiting a friend. It was above all the British attitude to Ireland that made me baulk at the idea of spending my life banging my head off those old brick walls.

       One little illustration of what I mean will suffice, that an Irish seaman forwarded to me from his FB page:-

In disbelief that people could still think like this, I asked was this someone just trying to take the mickey or stir, but was assured that this is the way that a lot of the Brits he works with really do think, they now think that their wretched xenophobia carries endorsement on high, and moreover there's much worse stuff going around in the dark recesses of Facebook. It is one of the more nauseating habits that the Brexiteers have, invoking ww2; mostly by people whose actual idea of it was derived from those dreadful whizz bang take that Jerry AAAch Himmel actung the English svinehunds! comics of the '50s. People like my father who actually fought in the war were much more inclined to value the European movement and regard it as a degree of consolation for all the misery that brought it about.

     For my part, I find myself irreversibly Europeanised, and I suppose there are not a few people like me in that. It is simply unthinkable that we should revert to an English nationalist mindset. Cosmopolitan elite be damned - we just know where we came from, where we like to go, and cherish peace. The same can be said from an Irish perspective. It should be obvious by now that the fragile equilibrium which has been built in Ulster is very much dependent on the EU. If this stupid deal of Johnson's goes through, it is going to cost lives in Ireland.

     There is another side to all this, intimately bound up with it. It is no coincidence that Brexiteers are inclined to deny the climate crisis. I saw a nice lady representing the People's March talking to Mr Farrage the other day on LBC. Having gone through the usual rubbish, trying to cast doubt on the science, he said 'anyway, we only represent 2% of the problem; what can we do about it?' The lady really missed a trick when she didn't respond with - 'that's one big reason why we need the EU'!

     So how can this battle be fought, with such fragmented forces? Mr Corbyn, bless him, is not the man to lead the fight, and at the moment there does not appear to be anyone else who can either. There is no time to go trying to found a new political party, even if it were desirable. The basic issue however is  simple, and of such importance that it must come before any party loyalty or ideology. My name for what is needed is the European Solidarity and Environmental Movement - ESEM or even just SM. I hasten to add that I do not mean 'solidarity' in any exclusive sense. 

     Coupled with environmental degradation is a rising tide of human misery in the world. The challenge is to address both. ESEM should work in tandem with Mrs Gina Miller and RemainUnited*, but go further and find a leader with the potential to form a Government on the twin essentials of ESEM. After all the rest is largely hot air, especially so if the country insists on impoverishing itself (and the air keeps getting hotter!).

     

     Increasingly as old age creeps up on me, I sometimes feel saddened at the prospect of my old country going down the tubes, and even regret that I did not find a way to 'fight the good fight' back in the day. I'll see if I can do a bit for it now by pushing this idea. Will you, dear reader, if you like it, please do the same; send it on and let us see where it goes! Tell them about it, post a comment below if you would support it, and let's see if there is a catch to be made!

Bringing Home the Catch.

*https://www.remainunited.org