Amid all the horror, trauma and furious
controversy of recent weeks, our King Charles III struck the right note in his
well-chosen Mansion House speech in the City of London, urging tolerance and
moderation everywhere, a familiar theme for the respected British monarchy. We
know that much of what he said was platitudinous, but it was sincerely
expressed and reassuring in its way, showing that at least Buckingham Palace
was not caught up in the present fury and hysteria; we are happy to be reminded
of our long-established moral and civilised values. Well said, Your Majesty!
King Charles reassures
Sadly, our world is in a terrible turmoil. The
Russian invasion of Ukraine consumes human and material treasure on a huge scale.
The surprise and brutal Hamas attack on Israel was actually targeted on
innocent civilians and was inspired by blatant, visceral hatred of Jews. Israel
will inevitably retaliate with mighty vengeance, causing more civilian deaths
and destruction. Hezbollah, Islamic State, various Syrian and Iranian-backed
terror groups will add their poison to the mixture. Europe and the West are
waking up to the fact that uncontrolled immigration from Asia and Africa simply
imports to the streets of London, Paris and New York tribal blood-feuds and
religious fanaticism which unbalances the receiving nation. Our politicians
should unite to stop this nonsense.
Getting politicians to agree on anything is a
hard ask in almost all countries today. The politicians’ dark but useful arts
of deal-making and compromise have been lost to ideological “principles” and a
polarisation of opinion. The bi-partisan or crossbench approach is labelled as
weakness. An MP cannot select the good bits of his opponents’ programme but he
must swallow every syllable of his own party’s policy, dross and all. Parliamentary
democracies can be slow to make big decisions but debate is vital and party
management is an important element. Look at the depressing chaos in the USA,
where government business is hamstrung by wafer-thin majorities, Federal funds
are regularly blocked and the simple appointment of a House Speaker got totally
bogged down. The prospect of a feeble Presidential election in 2024 pitting barely
adequate machine politician Joe Biden, now much too old, against obnoxious and
ignorant egotist Donald Trump, if he can escape his blizzard of hostile
lawsuits, is just too awful to contemplate. One admirable feature of America
however is that her national loyalty runs strong and her citizens, white, Hispanic,
black and many others, unite in defending it, even in an excess of patriotism
to European eyes.
Many multi-national nation states have been
torn apart by historic, even tribal, differences. Yugoslavia, once a proud
unitary state ruled by dictators, fractured into 7 new countries after bloody
civil war. Belgium has Flemish and Walloon communities scarcely on speaking
terms. The Czechs and Slovaks chose to separate peacefully and end
Czechoslovakia. Spain struggles to suppress Catalan secession and Andalusia is
a different world. The Soviet Union could not bind her imposed empire together
and collapsed in 1991 into 15 entities. Italy’s prosperous North offends the
backward South. In all these countries politicians must be exceptionally nimble
to head off trouble.
Even the United Kingdom, embracing devolution
perhaps too enthusiastically, is troubled by nationalist agitators seeking to
deepen the historic fault lines between English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern
Irish. Their influence is currently on the wane while happily the old adage Unity
is Strength holds good and most of us rejoice in our British identity first
and our home nation identity second.
Liberty leading the People by Delacroix
Instability is an enemy of progress. China is a
great power and the domination of the Han Chinese gives it strength. India is
perhaps less stable, with many historic divisions, and the promotion of Hindu
nationalism by Modi seems to be a mistake. The Muslim world is notoriously
fissiparous, ranging from Türkiye with its Kurdish minority, violent Iraq,
multi-faith Lebanon with Sunni, Shia, Maronite and Druze ever-contending, and
Palestine under the baleful influence of Hamas and Fatah, not to mention the
sinister theocracy of Iran.
Yet all societies are dynamic and static
conservatism cannot endure forever. Aspirational idealism must find a lawful
channel to express itself as bottling it up simply makes the eventual eruption
more violent. Politicians of vision, if we can find them, can lead all our
nations to a secure, satisfying and fraternal future.
SMD
27.10.23
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2023
