Remembrance Day: Why there is no glory and victory in ongoing imperial war
Me wearing a white poppy brooch- an anti-war symbol of peace and remembrance
"What peace and freedom?" I wonder, as I continued to notice the ugly reality of ongoing investment into supporting those facilitating unjustified imperial war being put at the price of the global poor.
This hits particularly close to home considering very recently I lost my grandmother who lived in the UK under the second world war (and long before that my grandfather who fought in the second world war, and whose family escaped antisemitism and persecution in pogroms in Russia and Poland prior to this).
I stood beside her bed in the hospital and held her hands on what was to be my last visit to her ever. I felt the hands that had reassured many during this scary period. Hands that had protected her from confrontation and violence on the streets in her inner London childhood neighbourhood. Hands that had waved goodbye to lost friends and family. Her hands still felt soft and fresh and able to clasp on in love and admiration for my future in a hopefully safer world in which I could fulfil my desires to pursue all the things she never could. She still, in her weak and feeble state, managed to smile at me warmly. She seemed at peace knowing that I was there continuing her legacy and that of the family in a newer world with a bright future ahead.
Yet, in many ways, I questioned whether this really was the case. Racism, xenophobia and discrimination giving rise to overt fascism continue to be prevalent in our society ruled by warmongering imperialist elites and set to take the plunge into austerity and the ultimate in a failing capitalist system where greed is made natural, human empathy is vilified, and we are falsely led to believe that war is good for the economy (when all it does is steal from the people and make already wealthy and powerful elites and arms companies even more wealthy and powerful). Thus clear parallels can be seen with the Nazis themselves rising to power in 1930s Germany with the same themes and ideas being adopted by present day fascists, albeit in more sophisticated, implicit and, arguably, more dangerous ways: a secret Nazi police force is replaced by people disguised as press in plain clothes and carrying cameras at anti-fascist demonstrations, social media and the influence of viral personalities perpetuating harmful ideology online can be accessed through the touch of a button in place of the censorship of literature, as well as the alarmingly more advanced means of quickly and effectively mobilising that today's far-right rioters have.
Society is not becoming more tolerant and accepting of others using misguided logic to justify racial and discriminatory rhetoric. As someone who has been yelled at repeatedly for "being antisemitic" and told that I "don't know what a Nazi is" and that "a real Jew would slit your throat with a knife" by some Zionists before being cornered with an Israeli flag when at a pro-Palestine campaign stall acts as the perfect example of this: hateful language being passed off as religious fanaticism and concern about anti-semitism thus making white supremacist, settler colonial ideology surrounding the creation of a Western ethnostate through annexing control of the Middle East suddenly appear more palatable. This appeared to be particularly hard hitting considering that this was a group of thugs who didn't know me from a hole in the ground questioning the legitimacy of my Jewish identity and claiming to disparage my past. I then thought of my family entering the UK for hope of a better and safer place, the peace of which still continues to be at threat. I was in fact born here because of the Nazis and, had I not been, I would have likely not existed in this way or had a very different life. As such, to be told I didn't know what a Nazi was proved seriously demeaning, and that a real Jew, meaning one of my many Jewish family members, actively wanted to hurt and kill me was what hurt so much. My father also continues to fear persecution and anti-semitism and so hides many aspects of his culture and identity, which should never be the case. It is, in fact, why I decided to change my original anglicised surname (the one previous generations of my family went by to sound more English and not be passed off as obviously Jewish) to the more traditionally Jewish surname of Rosenberg so I could connect better with my heritage and use it to show I have no fear and shame in it. It is, after all, a huge source of pride for me and what makes me who I am.
And so I will end not with sadness and fear, but a desire for change on this remembrance day, and a hope that me and my comrades can continue our fight for the end of the unjustified imperial war that the world seems to be so led by. We will only see glory and victory when this ends and all are free from persecution. Our UK soldiers may have won the First and Second World Wars, but they have not stamped out fear, racism and repression for good at all. After all, war only ends when all unite in a blessed union and share in their common humanity, rather than just when soldiers cease their fighting. From Ukraine to Palestine to Sudan to the Congo, imperial occupation is a crime.
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