No More Heroes

As befits the occasion, it's a sober one today, I'm afraid.

Like a lot of people, I observed a two minute silence today. Realistically, it's been more like a five hour silence since I've been sat at home alone all day, occassionally punctuated by shouting at the cat or talking to it in gibberish. The path to madness is travelled in tiny increments, and I am happily underway.

Anyway, today marks a day of national mourning, in which we remember the millions of people who have died in the 'defence of the nation'*. Previously, in the stages of my political evolution I've been somewhat skeptical about the role of the military, ranging from ranting about baby killers to extolling the virtues of any working class person who takes up a gun for what they believe in. I'm not entirely sure where I've landed today, but read on, because there is a really convoluted point to this. Today, I observed and reflected up the two minute silence.

Now, some people of certain political persuasions might be aghast at that. I suppose I would be on a different day, but hear me out.

Today, we have a perfect opportunity not to remember sacrifice for the sake of national pride. We do not have to construct a myth around our armed forces and regard them as Olympian gods. We don't have to consider every fallen young person to have died for some grand, high purpose, saving us all from the terror of the world. Today, we don't have to pretend it was all worth it.

I do not have to wear a poppy to show respect to the people I choose to remember. I do not stand silent in front of a flag snapping in the breeze. I don't regard a grey November sky to be part of the grand theatrical drama of Rememberance Day. Rememberance Day is every day, so long as you remember, right?

Today, at 11am, I remembered the International Brigades, who without any motivation beyond their political beliefs, fought and died in Spain against fascism. I remembered the victims of Bhopal, gassed in their sleep by the failings of Union Carbide. My mind skimmed Jean Charles de Menezes. Briefly, I considered the union reps murdered while working for Coca Cola.

At eleven, I remembered people who had given their lives, or people whose lives had been taken, as a result of the world system we live in.

For me, Rememberance Day is not about giving preferencial treatement to soldiers, but taking two minutes out of my day to remember the social, economic, sexual and cultural injustices that continue today. I remind myself that even my lowly place in society is bought with the continued suffering of others. Ironically, Rememberance Day is the time to remind yourself what you're fighting for.

*It might just be war, to be honest. War would be a lot fairer than 'defence of the realm', in a perverse way.