To continue my 'Independence' Day rant. I read a blog yesterday on the Star Wars Blogs site, written by someone who was, admittedly, a schoolboy. He compares the victory of the Rebels on Endor to the Revolutionary War. Now, Britain was an Empire, fair enough. George III was, effectively as far as colonies were concerned, an Emperor (though in reality, in Britain his powers were limited under the Constitutional Monarchy - it is Parliament that sets the laws; he was not an absolute monarch in the mould of France). Then he gets all sappy and pictures Yoda saying stupid stuff like 'at an end, your reign is'. Now look. As far as the Colonials go, ok, they wanted to make their own laws, and guarantee their own rights, and set their own taxes and trade tariffs. Fair enough. Now to me, that doesn't sound like the Rebel Alliance, but the Seperatists of the Prequels. Who exactly had freedom and rights after the Declaration of Independence? Women? Black people? Slaves? (And we mustn't forget that Slavery was abolished in the British Empire long before it was abolished in the US, not that the British should have gotten rich from slavery in the first place) And certainly not the native American peoples, who in the two centuries following Independence were wiped off the map. Can you imagine, after Endor, Luke Skywalker turning around and saying, "Well we destroyed the Death Star, but here's what's going to happen. Leia, Mon Mothma, thanks for the help, but you still don't get a vote. Lando, nice shooting, but get to the back of the bus and back to the cotton fields. As for you, Chewie, you can forget it. And murder all these Ewoks and Gungans while you're at it. Han, you and I are free to vote." I'm from Britain, but my ancestry is Irish. My Irish ancestors won their independence from the UK (at least in the South), because they actually were colonised, not colonists. I cannot defend the actions of the British in Ireland, any more than in India or anywhere else. And the British schools should teach all of this. It should be, as the Third Reich is to Germans, a period of shame. Britain was recognised within Europe as an example of good democracy, with its effectively powerless monarchy and strong public rule. It wasn't extended to those it subjugated; but Americans should also remember that they weren't the ones subjugated in the 13 colonies, it was the natives. Those people who, since the utterly ignorant Christopher Columbus landed, have been dismissively called 'Indians'. That shows a complete disregard of their identities. Never mind that there were thousands of ethnically different peoples, cultures and languages: they are dismissed by patronising colonisers as 'The Indian Nation'. I'm sorry, but I though India was the Indian nation. I think there should be another holiday in the US. The 'Day of Apologies' to the native peoples. They have Thanksgiving, well, how about universal mourning for what they stole from the natives. It doesn't matter what day; hell, have it every day. And don't get me started on what extra mourning days Britain should have - the year doesn't have enough days. But back to the point: the celebration of freedom. That star wars blogger said that 'freedom is priceless and should never be taken for granted'. This same freedom was never granted to native Americans. A little more humility at the beginning of July each year would not go amiss.
'Then Conquer We Must'
5.7.05 12:46
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