Monday 19 December 2016

British Values? No Thanks

For some reason the Government are considering a plan to make Brits swear an allegiance to British values but the problem for those of us who pay attention, some British values are just awful.
Without even mentioning our colonial past where we raped, pillaged and enslaved large swathes of the World, there isn't much going in Modern Britain which to be proud of.
A perennial favourite is Democracy, something many young men and women have been sent to die for by old, white men but because of our electoral system, parties (like today’s Conservatives) can win and govern alone on the votes of less than a quarter of the electorate, the three quarters who said they didn't want them running our lives are left twisting in the wind.
Are we supposed to be proud of our military who have been encamped in the Middle East since 2003 and have participated in such illegal wars as Iraq, Afghanistan and are currently dropping high explosive on Syrians?  
Hand in hand with the military is arms sales, only last month we cleared the major receiver of our arms, Saudi Arabia, of human rights abuses only to discover today that they had been dropping British made and sold cluster bombs on the people of Yemen.
In 2015, Britain trousered £5.2bn by selling arms to countries listed as being of 'human rights concern' by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, including Saudi Arabia, Libya, Israel and Ukraine.
Since Brexit, attacks on immigrants and refugees has doubled and characters such as Nigel Farage, him of the Nazi propaganda poster, are popping up in other nations cheerleading for more division.
Then we have the Government closing social services and cutting benefits but refuse to see the link between their actions and the lengthening lines at the food banks.
Trying to get us to swear an oath to Britain is just a line which appeals to the ignorant and xenophobic because if anyone took a good look at what we have done and what we continue to do home and abroad, who in their right mind could say with their hand on the their heart that they are proud of the values that Britain represents.
The best value i can come up with is the way we refuse to be kowtowed by Government Ministers trying to force us into fake patriotism.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

From a far I would say to harsh.

British values:
- independence
- accept consequences with little whining
- open society
- toughness emotionally, intellectually, physically
- innovative