Nico Rahim has posted a thought provoking article on Dionysus Unemployed. Here is an extract.
“I love the United States of America. I love the people, I love the land. I love that I can say “Fuck George W. Bush!” in print or in the streets without finding my life in grave danger or imprisoned for my political views (at least long term, police like handing charges for disorderly conduct that require a petty fine). Sure, I might be put on a government list and illegally wiretapped, but try telling Hu Jintao to fuck off in Beijing or Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, you’ll be liable to get run over by a tank and erased from history.
…to many self-proclaimed radicals my professed love for the United States may be taken as a betrayal to any sort of revolutionary movement. Just as you can’t choose your family, you cannot choose the country you are born into.. I’m an American. Sure, I may have an Arab last name but a denial of country—while not being a total denial of self—would be a denial of my history. …There are many skeletons in American history, but at least most are not in the closet. I will not say no to the past but say yes to the present. There is no point to history other than what we make of it…. it is up to each generation to overcome the transgressions of the past.”
These are not the words of a flag waving conservative but of a radical. Not everyone will feel the same of course but it demonstrates that criticism and desire for change is not necessarily based on hate for one’s country but on love and a true wish to create a better nation that does nor repeat the iniquities of its past. “No shit, Sherlock?” Am I stating the blindingly obvious as is my wont? Perhaps, but this motive is ignored by many on both the left and the right.
I am not American but change a few details: Bush to Blair; American to British and Arab surname to Irish one and you sum up many of my views on the United Kingdom. There is no hiding the UK’s sordid and bloody past - Imperialism, slavery, and genocide to name a few. Just about the only untrue charge levelled against my country is that we invented the concentration camp. In fact the Spanish beat us to that by a few years, not that this is any comfort of course to the thousands of Boers and Africans who died in British concentration camps.
I am also Irish: my parents are Irish born and raised; my ancestors are Irish; I also hold an Irish passport. British rule in Ireland was far from benevolent (a massive understatement!) but it does not make me hate Britain. I would no more condone the acts of terrorism committed by the IRA than I would the 7/7 suicide bombers. The IRA bombing campaigns from the 70s to the latter 90s did nothing whatsoever to right historical wrongs or to bring forward Irish unification.
As Nico Rahim says,” it us up to the current generation to overcome past transgressions”. We Britons cannot change our history but we can at least make some restitution for past iniquities by working to ensure Britain’s future, and its role on the world stage, is very different.
