Wednesday 4 March 2015

Do not go gentle into that good night

There comes a point where even the reasonable man has to take a stand against the corruption of democracy by those who seek to control power for its own sake, their personal benefit and the benefit of their friends and 'paid up' vested interests. I have seen the impact of armed conflict in the Falklands during May / June 1982 and would not wish to see such scenes within these islands but when the democratic will of the people is perverted, ignored and they are left without hope, just what response is left?

It is not just the continuing 'Better Together Campaign' being run in Scotland to keep the SNP out of Westminster, this approach refers to, it is the fundamental problem with a London centric Westminster politic who cannot see and will not look outside the M25. Their electorate has shrunk to be the bankers and money manipulators in the City of London, Wall Street and those who throw large wads of cash into the party coffers. The UK is back to what is in effect the 'rotten borough' system where the electorates' votes do not actually count for squat and the Liblabcon, three ugly sisters' manifestos are 'Humpty Dumpty' like in their verbosity with words meaning what ever the politicians want them to mean.

The problem for the current set up at Westminster is if things come to such a pass it will not just be in Scotland but across the that UK people will start taking direct action against the politics of Westminster. This crass and ignorant behaviour has implications for UK politics beyond Scotland's borders. There are a lot of angry people in England and Wales, as well, and a grand coalition of Labour and Tories could well be the tipping point.

The Falklands left me a pacifist and a follower of Buddhist philosophy but I am not stupid to the feelings and resentment of others. Cameron and Miliband might not realise it but they are sitting on top of a tinder box of resentment against the ruling classes and London, in all England's cities. This latest kite flying of a 'grand coalition' between the Tories and Labour could well be the spark that will start the conflagration.

The only way to prevent Scotland being sucked into the ensuing violence will be an immediate declaration of independence which may well be followed by the North of England wishing to secede to the newly independent Scotland - the potential then for catastrophe and civil war, across the British Isles, if that happened, is beyond imagination.

We are talking about facing down people who for over 700 years believe they have the sole right to rule England and the British Isles, the 'British Establishment'.

Do you think they will relish the 'considered will of the people of Scotland' being represented by a majority of SNP MPs at Westminster?

Do you think they will go gentle into that good night?

 

Do not go gentle into that good night


Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953

 
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

From The Poems of Dylan Thomas, published by New Directions. Copyright © 1952, 1953 Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1937, 1945, 1955, 1962, 1966, 1967 the Trustees for the Copyrights of Dylan Thomas. Copyright © 1938, 1939, 1943, 1946, 1971 New Directions Publishing Corp.

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