tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post37858445436671583..comments2024-03-28T09:46:24.020+02:00Comments on A Political Refugee From The Global Village : Why a statue in London to that humbug Gandhi?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-15198820630881513532015-06-05T09:55:20.141+03:002015-06-05T09:55:20.141+03:00Perhaps they should replace it with a statue of Ed...Perhaps they should replace it with a statue of Edward Carson. Ed Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-41268374655693961662015-03-18T10:14:19.375+02:002015-03-18T10:14:19.375+02:00The ending of the alliance with Japan happened man...The ending of the alliance with Japan happened many years before 1939 - but I agree it may have been a mistake (although the Canadian pressure should not be forgotten - it was not just the United States). The real question is could the rise of the totalitarian movement in Japan (for example the twisting of Shrine Shinto into State Shinto) been prevented? Perhaps continuing the formal alliance, ended in the early 1920s, would have helped prevent the internal changes in Japan - I just do not know.<br /><br />On 1939 - there appears to be a deep campaign (which started with the Marxists, then spread to anarchist "libertarians", but has now got to some conservatives also) to twist the history of the 1930s - and of the run up to the First World War also. In reality the British government did all it could to avoid both World Wars (desperate, absolutely desperate, efforts were made to avoid both World Wars).<br /><br />The Imperial German government had clearly decided to take over all of the coast facing this island in 1914 - the Declaration of War upon France was a tissue of lies (it even claimed that France was bombing Bavaria). As the President of France put it in his reply - it was not really a Declaration of War upon France, it was a Declaration of War on the "universal principles of reason and justice" (as a philosopher the President of France know that the German academic and political elite denied that these principles even existed, and beliefs are important). No government on this island (from the first Elizabeth onwards) could allow a hostile power to control all of the coast facing this island - and take all the resources of Europe into its hands.<br /><br />As regards the Second World War - even Austin Chamberlain (the Prime Minister's half brother and a man who was actually deeply attracted to German culture) came to see in the 1930s that war with the National Socialists was inevitable.<br /><br />Neville Chamberlain was not some sort of warmonger (as the idiot faction among anarchist "libertarians", the late Murray Rothbard and co, pretend) he, as I have said, made desperate efforts to avoid war. In fact the real problem was those efforts.<br /><br />Had the Allies intervened in 1936 (the Rhineland) the Nazi regime would have collapsed - the German troops did not even have bullets in their rifles. Even 1938 was not too late - the Nazi War Machine needed the Czech factories to perfect its tank armies. But, in a desperate effort for peace, Britain and France betrayed Czechs.<br /><br />By the time of the attack on the Poles in 1939 - the nature of the Nazi Beast was obvious to everyone, even Neville Chamberlain.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-10003932796671240812015-03-18T10:10:00.273+02:002015-03-18T10:10:00.273+02:00Well, yes and no of course - the old firm of Gandh...Well, yes and no of course - the old firm of Gandhi & Sons was certainly a factor in exerting a heavy pressure upon the British authorities to act – but, as you rightly point out, this was only one factor amongst many others. The Congress Party was never universally popular in India prior to 1947 – and, as a matter of fact – did as much as it could to undermine and scupper British attempts at ‘consensus building’ and progress towards legitimate constitutional reform (i.e. Dominion status). <br /><br />As for the attitudes of the British public towards the possibility of Indian independence: a Gallup opinion poll, commissioned in 1939, found that 77% of those asked (in the streets of London, I presume) favored independence ‘soon'.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-22098689344838873202015-03-18T10:04:50.770+02:002015-03-18T10:04:50.770+02:00This revisionism view of history, through the rose...This revisionism view of history, through the rose coloured glasses of The Empire, really undervalues and discredits the British legacy. Colonialism has done untold damage and the reality is that colonial rule created the conditions and legacy that was the direct cause of caused partition post independence! <br /><br />For the record, the "love" that former colonies inherited is not the narrow perspective of parliamentary democracy but parliamentary democracy embodied in a constitutional republic!<br /><br />So the statue of Gandhi is a mature gesture acknowledging a great statesman of a great nation!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-9196746589122794362015-03-17T15:40:20.618+02:002015-03-17T15:40:20.618+02:00The decison to divide British India along religiou...The decison to divide British India along religious lines (rather than along regional, linguistic or cultural lines) was surely a mistake - but - it need not necessarily have been the catastrophic disaster that it proved to be at the time - the ramifications of which continue to reveberate into our own time ... <br />It was the break-neck speed with which the process was conducted that led directly to deaths of at least one million people (possibly twice that number) and the displacement and impoverishment of millions more. Partition should have unfolded, in a guided fashion, over the course of five YEARS - rather than over the course of five months !<br />All of the parties involved in the discussions/ negotiations share the blame equally for their intransigence.<br />British India was itself an artificial construction - not a nation state - and preventing the ' Balkanisation ' of the sub-continent need not have been resisted at all costs ...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-52115623036812539762015-03-17T12:17:15.054+02:002015-03-17T12:17:15.054+02:00There is a statue of Lenin in Seattle, USA.
As f...There is a statue of Lenin in Seattle, USA. <br /><br />As for partition, it is a favoured solution to the problems of post-colonial societies but it is about as artificial as colonies were themselves. On one side of the partition, there is normally a functioning state, on the other a failed (or failing) one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-4714055275304033062015-03-17T10:50:58.046+02:002015-03-17T10:50:58.046+02:00Pacifism is immoral.Pacifism is immoral.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-7140944447827242802015-03-17T10:48:49.243+02:002015-03-17T10:48:49.243+02:00Gandhiji said that Indians should not fight agains...Gandhiji said that Indians should not fight against the Japanese and that the United Kingdom should capitulate to the Third Reich. Then he said Indians should train with ''lathi play and the like'' to resist the Japanese invasion. This man's reputation should have gone decades ago.<br />GeorgeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-89491434620795148102015-03-17T10:07:20.785+02:002015-03-17T10:07:20.785+02:00When our present Queen was Princess Elizabeth and ...When our present Queen was Princess Elizabeth and was getting married to Prince Phillip all their wedding presents were put on display at Buck House for everyone to gawp at. One day Queen Mary decided to visit and on a table was a little scrap of folded cloth which she peered at and asked what it was.<br />Well, Your Majesty...it is a loin cloth woven by Gandhi .." Queen Mary recoiled in disgust , said "How simply dreadful" and continued on her walk...<br />JennyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-490419300750060542015-03-16T13:30:00.409+02:002015-03-16T13:30:00.409+02:00Ghandi was a pedophile and a racist. There is plen...Ghandi was a pedophile and a racist. There is plenty of evidence for those accusations in the archives. The British Establishment have recently cancelled the honours awarded to two other high-profile known pedophiles -Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris.<br />So why is that statue being erected at all to honour a third high-profile pedophile? That's a disgusting proposal! Is it because none of Ghandi's child victims have complained to the CPS, because of their fear of community sanctions against them? On recent evidence, the CPS doesn't seem to have a Statute of Limitations on historic child abuse.<br />Unless it's being done under pressure from the civil service mandarins at the FCO who do not want to offend the Indian Government now so commercially powerful, and with armed forces many times the size of Britain's? The Indians might impose trade sanctions against Britain in reprisals. Or we might have an internal rebellion form residents of India ethnic backgrounds!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-81603922929186709842015-03-15T19:16:38.880+02:002015-03-15T19:16:38.880+02:00I'd also add that ultimately, the independence...I'd also add that ultimately, the independence movements did very little to actually bring about independence. They had an impact on some of the minor points of the timescale and they had a big impact on what would happen next, but they didn't cause independence to happen. That was down to a loss of appetite from the British public and two world wars.<br /><br />Gandhi was a very divisive figure both then and now. His non-violence was a sham and his regressive policies would have caused mass suffering. He certainly wasn't a beacon of democracy.<br /><br />The only reason a statue of him has been erected is because he's a popularly tolerable brown person and the government thinks it will make them look good to people who are concerned about race. It's a cynical ploy and I suspect most Indians will see straight through it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-20132712619164065252015-03-15T19:13:09.731+02:002015-03-15T19:13:09.731+02:00PS. A statue of Lord Curzon still stands in the gr...PS. A statue of Lord Curzon still stands in the grounds of the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta - but - HE has been unceremoniously shifted from the front of the building into what is, effectively, the back garden !Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-3989564852102984822015-03-15T19:12:33.098+02:002015-03-15T19:12:33.098+02:00In recent decades, the Indian authorities have dev...In recent decades, the Indian authorities have devoted a good deal of their energies to the demolition and erasure of colonial era statues and monuments upon their own turf ( as well as ' revising/ sanitising' school history textbooks) - so it seems incongruous that the British government should seek to reverse this trend by erecting a statue of Mr Gandhi in Parliament Square... Could the ' half naked fakir ' not at least have been cast in the garments that he would have worn as a law student in London in the 1880s ? Such a depiction would, at least, have carried some historical substance - rather than just acting as yet another politically-correct nod in the direction of prevailing postcolonial sensibilities.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-76142579553865409102015-03-15T10:39:08.866+02:002015-03-15T10:39:08.866+02:00Agree with both of you and think that Curzon will ...Agree with both of you and think that Curzon will always outrank both Gandhi and Mandela.<br />Helen SzamuelyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-79253338604538981722015-03-15T10:37:23.295+02:002015-03-15T10:37:23.295+02:00Anyone up for crowd-funding a Clarkson statue? #br...Anyone up for crowd-funding a Clarkson statue? #bringbackclarksonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-56526373326569732922015-03-15T10:27:15.644+02:002015-03-15T10:27:15.644+02:00In my experience racism is definately learnt in th...In my experience racism is definately learnt in the home. My stepfather was a so called sikh and he was the biggest racist ever. Mostly aimed at Muslim and whites.. and im ashamed to say that as a kid some of it rubbed of on me luckily I eventually learned how to think for myself. But so many dont they blindly follow their parents beliefs. Its a vicious cycle that needs breaking.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-70217685947818237642015-03-15T10:20:55.528+02:002015-03-15T10:20:55.528+02:00I do not entirely agree. India was united at some ...I do not entirely agree. India was united at some periods before in her history. In the 18th century the Mughal Empire declined and began to break up. The Britis Raj was able to piece it together again. As for Ireland, you are partly correct. Ireland was semi-united prior to 1172. There was a high king and below him there were several kings. These petty kingdoms were often at war against each other.<br />GeorgeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-31224837316299189242015-03-15T10:12:52.547+02:002015-03-15T10:12:52.547+02:00I was going to mention that statue even had you no...I was going to mention that statue even had you not reminded me. I am typing these words 300 yards from it and that reminds me breakfast was served ten minutes ago. Please see what I said in the amended blog post.Political Refugee from the Global Villagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03523068770529814044noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-59165900478406903952015-03-15T06:02:09.923+02:002015-03-15T06:02:09.923+02:00I'm partial to the statue of Peter Pan who sta...I'm partial to the statue of Peter Pan who stands at Hyde Park. He is a symbol of my childhood fantasies. He stands as one in a neutral corner.<br /><br /> ..but must admit I also salute Mr Gandhi, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I find I must salute the latter as I'm an American.<br /><br />I apologize as I do not mean to appear to take aim at either side. Just joining into a discussion. The mention of the Americans probably do most to help me to join in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-91852580880177896942015-03-15T00:30:27.521+02:002015-03-15T00:30:27.521+02:00Mr Gandhi admitted that his tactics of non violenc...Mr Gandhi admitted that his tactics of non violence would not work against a ruthless opponent - only against a civilised one. He should have thought about that. After all his actions led to a ruthless system of government in a least parts of the former Raj (Pakistan and Bangladesh) and India has had periods of ruthless government since indendence. And the "Permit Raj" (state domination) or Mr Nerhu was just about the opposite of what Mr Gandhi wanted - which was a smaller government not a bigger one. Although Mr Gandhi's vision was also fatally flawed - as he wanted to go back to happy villlage communities without much technology (that would have meant mass starvation).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-891289711377156224.post-15829846574054900942015-03-14T18:58:23.182+02:002015-03-14T18:58:23.182+02:00On the subject of statues, I presume you object to...On the subject of statues, I presume you object to the traitorous George Washington standing in Trafalgar Square (even if he is on American-supplied earth to respect his desire never again to stand on English soil); and to Abraham Lincoln, who "graces" your Parliament Square.<br />marcMarc Cannizzohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18324145080083101048noreply@blogger.com