Wednesday, April 17, 2013

She Was Only a Grocer's Daughter



Do you know what the most energising aspect in the wake of Thatcher's death has been - whether it's overly-vocal protests (guilty on Facebook I know) or discreet and well deployed grumbles - that anyone who was there and lived through the toxic politics and nuclear threat of the Thatcher era, still hasn't forgotten the spiteful, pig-headed, bully boy backstabbing and squalid hypocrisy of her and the shape-shifting collection of corrupt cronies supporting: homophobia and racism/apartheid, the Hillsborough cover up, poll tax, selling off nationalised industries (diverting public money in to private pockets), choking the unions and union representation, US missiles at British bases, Northern Ireland, pit closures, inner city riots, the managed decline of northern towns.

When the Sun , the Mail,  right wing sympathisers and Tories wave the Broken Britain flag - never forget who broke it... 

Or how for all the current Tory soft-soaping, backsliding, historical repositioning and rewriting, glorification and chin-stroking - it was her own party, who after twelve years of an increasingly throttling clench on the country and the Cabinet - were the ones who gathered together to eject her Caesar style in 91. That, is her legacy

There'll be no retrospective tune echoing my thoughts on the most poisonous of British politicians - instead I'll direct you to the Thee Faction's new single Better Than Wages - and some smartly considered reasoning. The full post is here...

A rabid class warrior has died. The struggle continues. We don’t take moral exception to the celebrations. We just note that her death will do little, if anything, to loosen up the grip of bourgeois hegemony. In fact, if the hagiographical tributes the TV news is showing us are anything to go by, it’s a splendid opportunity for the ruling class to reinstall her as the postergirl of British capitalism. Which is very disappointing. So we need to redouble our efforts. 

We celebrate everyone who stood up to her. Those who refused to believe the lies about apartheid, the lies about trades’ unions, the lies about ‘freedom’, the lies about selling off our industry and our housing stock. Those who told her she was wrong in her careful imbalancing of the tax system – whether income or community. We also honour her victims: those who didn’t make it, and those who weren’t strong enough for the new robust liberal individualism she forced on us all. Many of us retreated into traditional ties of solidarity, but any project designed to atomize society is going to leave a lot of people isolated. That’s the point, of course. United we stand, and they knew that. 

Thatcher’s gone. But not forgotten. Let’s focus on what we’re fighting for. Onward.


 

4 comments:

cccathouse said...

She may only have been a Grocer's daughter but she screwed all them as well. She turned her back on them letting the corporate entities run shopping centres and big supermarkets sell everything thus ruining high street business. She has a great legacy and should be remembered as the creator of broken Britain.

Mondo said...

But she sold of the nations assets. Neatly nailed about the high streets mate - and why almosty any town is now Everytown..

Furtheron said...

Daily it seems I've had to break into my "Everything wrong in this country today can be traced back to Thatcher" routine...

May she Rest in Peace. Sadly her ideology and the divided and divisive Britain she bequeathed us continues.

When she declared there was "no such thing as society" that was the beginning of the tolling of a bell of what Atlee and the post war generation had built for us - a society based on compassion it is now sadly a memory and a society based on greed is all I see about me...

Mondo said...

Exactly F Ron. Summed up by her quote

"No-one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions; he had money as well"