Fellow poet Chris Meredith (who appears in the first 'Red Poets' magazine) once told me an intriguing anecdote. Meredith lives in Brecon and not far from the barracks there and one day a soldier knocked on his front door -
Are you the occupier? he asked.
No, you are! Meredith answered.
Today, Remembrance Sunday, we will no doubt hear much in the media about 'bravery' and 'sacrifice', but only the white poppies of the Peace Pledge Union will commemorate the many innocents who have died as a result of so many wars.
I cannot wear a red one, despite the fact that both my grandfathers were involved in the First World War : one damaged for the rest of his life by gas and shrapnel and the other who never spoke at all about his time as a stretcher-bearer .I know from the war poets whom I admire so greatly
( particularly Sassoon, Owen and Rosenberg) how futile this war was. So fitting that only this week Sasson's 'Soldier's Declaration', where he stated that the war was being carried on deliberately by those who had the power to stop it, should be read out once again in the Commons, this time pertaining to Afghanistan.
I know from witnessing the armed occupation of the Six Counties ( i.e. N. Ireland) in the 1970's, that all sides commited terrible atrocities, but that the British armed forces and RUC could do so with impunity. Tragically, the official inquiry into Bloody Sunday continues to this day : the day when 13 innocent civil rights protesters were shot dead by soldiers from 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (which is stationed in St.Athans). What fine bravery and sacrifice then, to murder them on the streets of Derry as they marched against a system of in-built sectarianism, discrimination and injustice!
Of course, I cannot forget that the Colonel-in-Chief of that very regiment is one Charles, Prince of Wales. Our anachronistic and totally undemocratic
monarchy is inextricably linked to the war machine.
The 'Troubles' ( it should've been called 'war' ) have been partly resolved through negotiation, as I always hoped they would. In the 70's, as successive Labour and Tory governments became increasingly repressive with the use of torture and 80's when Thatcher refused to acknowledge the political status of prisoners provoking the Hunger Strikes in the Maze, all talk seemed an impossibility.
So when the MP Paul Flynn proposes 'talking to the Taliban' , he shouldn't be scoffed at. In fact, discussions have already taken place with elements of that disparate grouping, just as they were (even in the 70's) with leaders of the Provisional IRA. Soner or later it must happen, if there is to be a resolution.
So today, when I think of those dying for 'Queen and country' I think -
' Yes, that's right. Sadly that is really what they are dying for.........a monarchy which represents a class system we've gone a little way towards dismantling in Cymru and a country, namely Britain, whose history is one of a falling Empire and wars against nations trying to fight for their independence against that Empire.'
YOUNG SOLDIER
I saw him on the train:
Prince of Wales insignia on his cap,
bowing to German motto 'Ich Dien',
ornate white feathers incongruous above flak.
He was only about eighteen ;
a woman with her shopping carriers
smiled proudly,as if he were her son,
but I frowned with memories.
I know I shouldn't have done;
maybe he couldn't have helped
joining the murderous profession :
kidnap threat of dole and debt.
Rehearsed a condemnation in my head:
he would've thought me mad,
like the daily traveller arguing with himself
about all the houses as we pass.
How could he know I saw Belfast,
his face blackened, his camouflage
a daily menace ; guns fired at innocents
under orders, or in the wrong place.
Both of us got out in Merthyr,
boarded-up pubs, buildings falling down ;
his badge insisting 'occupier', 'invader',
as he marched homeward in a familiar town.
Are you the occupier? he asked.
No, you are! Meredith answered.
Today, Remembrance Sunday, we will no doubt hear much in the media about 'bravery' and 'sacrifice', but only the white poppies of the Peace Pledge Union will commemorate the many innocents who have died as a result of so many wars.
I cannot wear a red one, despite the fact that both my grandfathers were involved in the First World War : one damaged for the rest of his life by gas and shrapnel and the other who never spoke at all about his time as a stretcher-bearer .I know from the war poets whom I admire so greatly
( particularly Sassoon, Owen and Rosenberg) how futile this war was. So fitting that only this week Sasson's 'Soldier's Declaration', where he stated that the war was being carried on deliberately by those who had the power to stop it, should be read out once again in the Commons, this time pertaining to Afghanistan.
I know from witnessing the armed occupation of the Six Counties ( i.e. N. Ireland) in the 1970's, that all sides commited terrible atrocities, but that the British armed forces and RUC could do so with impunity. Tragically, the official inquiry into Bloody Sunday continues to this day : the day when 13 innocent civil rights protesters were shot dead by soldiers from 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (which is stationed in St.Athans). What fine bravery and sacrifice then, to murder them on the streets of Derry as they marched against a system of in-built sectarianism, discrimination and injustice!
Of course, I cannot forget that the Colonel-in-Chief of that very regiment is one Charles, Prince of Wales. Our anachronistic and totally undemocratic
monarchy is inextricably linked to the war machine.
The 'Troubles' ( it should've been called 'war' ) have been partly resolved through negotiation, as I always hoped they would. In the 70's, as successive Labour and Tory governments became increasingly repressive with the use of torture and 80's when Thatcher refused to acknowledge the political status of prisoners provoking the Hunger Strikes in the Maze, all talk seemed an impossibility.
So when the MP Paul Flynn proposes 'talking to the Taliban' , he shouldn't be scoffed at. In fact, discussions have already taken place with elements of that disparate grouping, just as they were (even in the 70's) with leaders of the Provisional IRA. Soner or later it must happen, if there is to be a resolution.
So today, when I think of those dying for 'Queen and country' I think -
' Yes, that's right. Sadly that is really what they are dying for.........a monarchy which represents a class system we've gone a little way towards dismantling in Cymru and a country, namely Britain, whose history is one of a falling Empire and wars against nations trying to fight for their independence against that Empire.'
YOUNG SOLDIER
I saw him on the train:
Prince of Wales insignia on his cap,
bowing to German motto 'Ich Dien',
ornate white feathers incongruous above flak.
He was only about eighteen ;
a woman with her shopping carriers
smiled proudly,as if he were her son,
but I frowned with memories.
I know I shouldn't have done;
maybe he couldn't have helped
joining the murderous profession :
kidnap threat of dole and debt.
Rehearsed a condemnation in my head:
he would've thought me mad,
like the daily traveller arguing with himself
about all the houses as we pass.
How could he know I saw Belfast,
his face blackened, his camouflage
a daily menace ; guns fired at innocents
under orders, or in the wrong place.
Both of us got out in Merthyr,
boarded-up pubs, buildings falling down ;
his badge insisting 'occupier', 'invader',
as he marched homeward in a familiar town.
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