Now That’s What I Call Integrity

The Honours System – how does this continue to exist, how on earth is this still a thing?! It defies a defence.

What a honour to receive a knighthood, you might think and in some ways you might be right. Did you know though that the knights, Alex Ferguson, David Attenborough et al are only what’s called Bachelor Knights. It is a notable acknowledgement of their achievements but is considered the most basic and lowest rank of a man who has been knighted by the monarch and rank far below knights of the various orders of chivalry. A sort of ‘undergraduate’ if you will! This has got everything to do with precedence, bloodline and keeping the power status quo as it is; if we were talking of inequities in taxation, education, the law or any other aspect of our constitution, we would be scrutinizing and questioning it far more.

Let me describe how I feel this honeynest works, starting with how it began

Left alone, with no interference, an agrarian society works like this. Farmers take their fish, goat or lentils to market together with say, cotton  for textiles and sesamum for oil-making. Builders quarry local stone, miners excavate ore, prospectors extract gold and woodman fell trees for artisans to sculpt, carve, forge and cast. Localised trading continues as thus, unchanged, unfettered, unashamed.

Then your planners, politicians, entrepreneurs and engineers come along and decide to develop your roads, canals and riverways to connect to other markets of goat, mutton, ivory and bronze. Other cities or lands bring cultural development of joined up taxed thinking in the way of government providing gymnasiums, theatres, infirmaries for healthcare of mind and body, housing and sanitation, a police force to deal with inequities that arise and an army of ‘rabble’ and elite soldiers to defend what you’ve worked hard to produce. Everybody benefits.

Then your elders, leaders, chiefs decide, fuck this co-operative shit stuff, how can I hold on to this power and pass it on, unearned, to my bloodline. Well, see that land up to the mountains, including that river, forest and farmland, I’m now calling it Monarchyland and guess what I’m King, this is our flag and this our anthem and you, you and you can be my kiss-arse dukes. You can be an earl, you can be a prince and you’ve worked very hard for my cause, so I’m going to bestow on you a Knights Bachelor; now fuck off and sit at the bottom of the table with the arse-licking CBEs, OBEs and those fucking do-gooders MBEs. (Their thoughts, not mine, mind). Any critic or body who questions this is simply a traitor. And so it goes on, the theft of wealth (colonisation), the absolute strangulation of meritocracy (class system) and the retention of power (nepotistic oligarchy)

The poor are poor because the rich are rich, they are indisputably connected. The honours system is a tip for the poor, a ticket for the useful compliant low-level aspirant to sit at the table and an inducement for the rich and influential to keep quiet and acquire some patronage. Consider these two principled men who are brave enough to swim against that considerable tide.

Howard Gayle, the first black footballer to play for Liverpool turned down an MBE nomination, saying it would be “a betrayal” to Africans who suffered at the hands of the British Empire. He added,

“Most of you are aware of the work that I do tackling racism and the work I do for Show Racism A Red Card and for that work yesterday I was nominated for a MBE. Unfortunately I had to decline the nomination for the reason that my ancestors would be turning in their graves after how Empire and Colonialism had enslaved them. This is a decision that I have had to make and there will be others who may feel different and would enjoy the attraction of being a Member of the British Empire and those 3 letters after their name, but I feel that it would be a betrayal to all of the Africans who have lost their lives, or who have suffered as a result of Empire.”

Hillsborough campaigner Phil Scraton has just refused an OBE.

“I could not receive an honour on the recommendation of those who remained unresponsive to the determined efforts of bereaved families and survivors to secure truth and justice. I know this might come as a disappointment to some Hillsborough families, survivors and whoever nominated me, however, I could not accept an honour tied in name to the ‘British Empire’. In my scholarship and teaching I remain a strong critic of the historical, cultural and political contexts of imperialism and their international legacy.”

I feel really sad at the death of George Michael; by all accounts it seems he was an extremely generous, loving and talented man who tragically died too young. Same goes for Carrie Fisher. My frustration is always that the general public are unaware and are kept suitably unappreciative of the heroes and great people who give with their lives, every day , and live right under their noses. It’s easy to do a lot for charity when you’re rich, it’s when you do it when you’re poor, it’s impressive.

Now That’s What I Call Integrity

December 30, 2016