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Issue
No.12 Spring 2003
The
Highest Treason
By John Nixon
The highest treason
to do the right deed for the wrong reason
T.S. Eliot
In many ways the above quote from Thomas Stearns Eliot epitomised the
anti war philosophy of many of those who marched to Belfast City Hall
to protest against the planned Anglo American invasion of Iraq. There
is an irony and a symbiosis contained in the quote that warrants comment.
Eliot, an American born poet and Nobel Prize winner was an ardent Anglophile.
His epic poem 'The Waste Land' (1922) written in the aftermath of the
First World War reflects the opinions and convictions of a decimated generation
who had seen humanity at its most destructive and the futility of war
as an instrument in the hands of greedy and corrupt rulers.
No doubt the millions who marched to Hyde Park and the hundred thousand
in Dublin would also identify with Eliot's cliché. In Belfast the
preponderance of red flags and banners, socialist parties, Palestinian
support groups, trade unions and radical left students along with the
whole array of militant Left and international solidarity groups gave
the perception that this was a protest that that had a particular complexion.
Far from it and as Newton Emerson writing in the Irish News observed this
was a protest made up of a broad spectrum of people; families, pacifists,
born again Christians, dyed in the wool republicans, liberalists, unionists
and all shades of opinion political, religious or otherwise. They have
all rallied to deliver a clear message to Blair and Bush: Not in my Name.They
were united in anger and united in opposition to this war. Under a common
banner Bush and Blair have united their potential enemies; 'Tory' Blair
has fragmented the Labour Party with its strongest majority since it came
to power after World War II.
Robin Cook and two junior ministers have resigned. Clare Short’s
antics have made herself look like a contemptable fool. Blair has also
united the militant Left in common cause and common weal and between the
twain they have divided the United Nations. If there is a reaction from
Moslem militant groups or individuals, if there's ricin or anthrax attacks,
bomb scares, fear, hysteria and instability, if people are killed or maimed
in English cities there could well be a backlash and pogroms and invariably
it will be against innocent Moslems. Memories of anti-Irish vendettas
in English cities during the Seventies will be resurrected. The National
Front will be to the fore exploiting fear just like the Nazis. Racist
elements will jump on the bandwagon, communities will be fragmented, classrooms
divided and it will all leave an indelible mark on the collective conscious
and memory. The outcomes are too depressing to contemplate. But these
are more than worst case scenarios.
There
is a lot of anger and frustration to give vent to for as one British minister
remarked ‘Britain is like a coiled spring that is gradually tightening
and tightening and is bound to snap’. All the manifestations of anger
and frustration are there and the British media has been instrumental
in creating many of them. Communities feel unprotected from increasing
violent crime against property and person, gaols are overcrowded, racism
appears structural in state institutions, there is a rage against social
and economic inequalities, add to this road rage, traffic congestion and
public housing shortage. Even the TV soaps convey doom and gloom and maybe
they really do mirror life in 21st century Britain. A voyeuristic public
seems mesmerised by other people’s pain and misfortune thankful it's
not them.
But war reality is when the body bags of British and American soldiers
arrive back, when war is not confined to military targets. But when it’s
all over bar the shouting what has been gained? The Yanks will spend 80
billion on war while the British have promised a blank cheque or enough
to build twenty hospitals and ten police colleges. Will one tyrant replace
another, will the Iraqi people face years of Yankee-British imperialism,
and will the Iraqis resist? What if Saddam dies defending Baghdad, who
will be the hero then?
Meanwhile North Korea has strengthened its towers and outposts and already
is looking for allies. It has developed its own weapons of mass destruction.
Recently North Korea sent out a signal to the West when they test fired
a nuclear device. We are living in dangerous times and as the blood dimmed
tide rises, an echo from the distant past conveys a message that all should
bear in mind: A single spark can start a prairie fire.
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