Come 2014 when the government marks the beginning of the
first world war with quotes from Rupert Brooke, Rudyard
Kipling and other great jingoists from our past empire, I
will declare myself a conscientious objector.
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/kipling/rkimperialism.ht...
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5478/
Thanks for the "Tommy" poem, it also shows something important.
Take up the White Man’s burden—
Send forth the best ye breed—
Go send your sons to exile
To serve your captives' need
>In Flanders fields the poppies blow
> Between the crosses, row on row,
> That mark our place; and in the sky
> The larks, still bravely singing, fly
> Scarce heard amid the guns below.
> We are the Dead. Short days ago
> We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
> Loved and were loved, and now we lie
> In Flanders fields.
> Take up our quarrel with the foe:
> To you from failing hands we throw
> The torch; be yours to hold it high.
> If ye break faith with us who die
> We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
> In Flanders fields.
One way of getting it is by donation to the British Legion.
As with most symbols with time, its meaning now also very much depends on the observer (nostalgic-imperialistic, pro-war, gratitude, sacrifice, etc).
It's to commemorate British soldiers. And therein lies my problem. It implies that British soldiers are worth commemorating, and any others (Russian, German, Austrian, South African, you name it, it was a world war after all) not.
It's like visiting the holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Everywhere you turn you hear how the museum is there to make sure it doesn't happen again to Israelis.
9/11 is another fine anti-example. You only hear about that one every year because it's American.
Meanwhile Rwanda happens, and Burma, Kosovo, and Iraq, and Afghanistan, and so on. Nationalism gnaws at my arse. Badly.
It the only way.
EDIT: Not wearing a poppy is an individuals right in the UK. It's a right that I absolutely stand by. I have no issue with anyone choosing not to partake in the act of remembrance. I take issue with it being misrepresented by both sides of the political spectrum. The irony of course is that the people who they are choosing not to remember gave their life for that right.
The controversy has parallels with the debate about the Vietnam War in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Haig,_1st_Earl_Haig
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme_%281916%29
UPDATE: The comedy series, Blackadder Goes Fourth, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton covers the subject rather well, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder_Goes_Forth
I believe the OP was referring to the politicising of the act of remembrance for political gain. Mr Smith has politicised this by writing an inflammatory piece bemoaning the current wars, which as you rightly point out were brought forward by Blair and the (Guardian supported) Labour Party. As a result, Smith is asking us to besmirch the act of remembrance of soldiers who have fought in these conflicts. Why? Because we don't agree with the wars? That seems rather churlish to me. I don't agree with either of the conflicts that the US has started and that Blair blindly followed, but it won't stop me remembering the combatants whose lives have lost or irrecoverably changed. If anything the act of buying a poppy is reminding us just how vile war is an how we should all stand against the politicians and corporations that lobby for it. The poppy should be a symbol of peace, albeit a sombre reminder of what it can cost.
Sure, from a general population "pleb" POV, yes, mistakes. Plebs die, get tortured, imprisoned with out due process, and so on. But for those making these mistakes? Do they lose out? Or do they gain? Recently, Bush had his two terms. Obama has his two terms. Even the "plebs" didn't punish them. I take is Bush, family, and friends are doing fine right now, and I bet Obama doesn't fare too badly either after he's done. I take it that all their political and business friends are and will do fine too.
Im struggling to see the mistake from the POV of the powers that be.
Not just wart and so on, look at the banking collapse. Same thing. Same with any disaster that hits the mass population.
Right now, dont I see a younger generation making any head way in to politics based on any historical knowledge of the past mistakes. No. What I see right now is so much weight of imposed responsibility loaded on them that they simple cant. And, in the case of the UK, when students take to the streets in protest the authorities treat them like rioters and abuse them, legally. And that's leaving out the people who think such protesters should face the military on the streets. See, protesting causes poor business people to lose money, some how. Disruption costs. And that is apparently really, really important.
All we ever get is scraps thrown at us in the sure knowledge that most people dont want to make any real effort and are happy to accept any thing that they can cling to that means they can say the government did something and they can get on with their loaded stressful lives. But over all, it'll just be the same old, same old.
Mean while, most are missing a fundamental ruling class mentality that exists in both the US and UK, and probably many, many other "democracies". Namely that they can and will do what ever they like until caught out. And when they are caught out, they face little consequence of any worth, let alone consequence that ensures nobody after them do it again. Oh, and of course they blame the people who expose them, rather than take responsibility for their own actions.
We can muck around all we like, but until the people in power face real consequence, nothing fundamental will chance.
Sad truth is, "we" accept it.
I will no longer allow my obligation as a veteran to
remember those who died in the great wars to be co-opted
by current or former politicians to justify our folly in
Iraq, our morally dubious war on terror and our
elimination of one's right to privacy.
This feels a great deal like "we used to fight just wars, and recent wars aren't just", which is so misguided[3], I don't even know where to begin. The whole thing feels like "my war was better than your war".
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_et_decorum_est_pro_patria... [2] http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Empire
But whilst we remember, let us not forget our returning veterans need help, both financial, medical and with integrating back into the norms of civilian life after two brutal conflicts.
I believe Wilfred Owen summed it up best, with his poem Dulce et Decorum http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html