Letter from Sarah Gale in Hertfordshire who has had enough!
The situation in Ukraine is of course heart-breaking, but we have been so sad that this united universal coverage and sympathy, from both the left and the right, is sadly lacking when it involves black and brown faces. If only there was this level of united sympathy for Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine. Of the latter, it’s about time that Amnesty International has finally grown some courage and called it what it is – though Noam Chomsky said it in 2014…
https://www.democracynow.org/2014/8/8/noam_chomsky_what_israel_is_doing
Then there is the hypocrisy and hubris of our local Tory politicos and their Tory newsletter mouthpiece, called “The Town Crier”, with its disproportionate united sympathy – albeit much deserved. I was at first delighted to read on page 29 of this newsletter that the Afghans had not been forgotten. The Rotary Club has contributed the princely sum (NOT!) of 600 quid to “allow” the Afghan families in the town to go on a visit to the Lea Valley Farm. Just as I decided to be gracious about the use of “allow” I then noticed they had to qualify it all for the woke finder generals…
“These brave people worked hard to ensure the safety of our troops and British personnel over many years in Afghanistan.”
Deserving
It would appear that when we loan our conditional support for black and brown faces, it is usually because they are only deemed deserving enough if they have done something for us before any charity or kindness is bestowed – even better if they’ve helped our ideology. The dear Gurkhas spring to mind.
Again, just when I thought I couldn’t be more enraged…
page 10…less useful even than a chocolate tea pot …our Hertsmere MP Oliver DOWDEN!!!…posing without any shame in the old library, now a foodbank, called, of all things, – “Gratitude!” As I type this to you, it has occurred to me that it is disgraceful that people have to feel ‘gratitude’ for being fed via charity in the 6th richest country in the world. It reminds me when Westmonster Council used to put you in something called the ‘talent pool’ if you were under threat from redundancy. I asked them to call it what it was, as the talent pool was a living oxymoron…you are so very talented yet if no one wants to hire you from the ‘talented’ redundancy pool, you are being made redundant…just so Orwellian.
Dowden and Cllr Turner – our mayor – she whose chosen charity is a food bank, have such cognitive dissonance that they fail to see (or have convenient amnesia) that their food-banks are a corollary of over ten years of Tory austerity, which was a political choice and not a necessity! Reminds me of an Orwell quote – they “give the appearance of solidity to pure wind,” except there are those of us who see through their false compassion.
Shameless
It’s the old conservative con – erode what should be a human right to food and a home, then show up bold as brass and pretend to pledge your allegiance and useless support for a situation you caused in the first place. Shameless! I take my hat off to them for having fronts as big as Harrods.
I understand from Professor Alston (the previous UN Rapporteur on poverty), that Nicola Sturgeon is still on track to make adequate housing, food and welfare a legal human right in Scotland. Not one UK government, since the 1976 UN treaty was signed to protect economic and social rights, has shown any determination to enshrine it in law.
On a more positive note – It was so inspiring to see how Drakeford’s Wales has helped Afghan refugees by setting up centres with a holistic approach.
England’s government is, as usual, an outlier with its ‘compassion with conditions’ but hey ho, we can always guarantee plus ça change, eh?!
Have a good weekend!
Onward!
With admiration and respect…and in solidarity,
Sarah.
