In the aftermath of the far-right rioting which has recently swept across the United Kingdom, it strikes me that the myths and slogans of today’s rioters were once the catalyst of past evils.
Recently, I went with my wife and her mum to visit a family grave at a cemetery near our home. Whenever we go there, I always like to pay my respects at a small section where a row of military graves, British and Polish, lie side by side.
When I came home I looked up some of my previous posts about this cemetery and came upon this picture which I took in 2017. This is the last resting place of a young Polish Airman who died aged 25, fighting in the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain; given the events here in the United Kingdom over the last few days, I found it particularly poignant.
Britain supported in dark times
In 1940, Britain stood alone, outnumbered, and outgunned, against perhaps the most monstrous evil the world has ever seen. Had it not been for 18 miles of water, Britain would have been defeated. Had it not been for the great material support from the people of the United States, Britain would have been defeated. And had it not been for the Poles, the Czechs and so many others, from so many nations who stood shoulder to shoulder with our people in their “finest hour”, Britain would have been defeated.
And then, in Winston Churchill’s words: “the whole World, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, [would have sunk] into the abyss of a new dark age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”
Rioters’ slogans reflect the past
Those few who remember those dark times are rapidly passing into the annals of history. And today I hear people talk of “taking our country back”, of “putting ‘our country’ first”, of “immigrants coming over here and taking our jobs”, of “strong and stable leadership”, oblivious it seems, to the fact that it was these same slogans which led to the rise of the tyrannies which plunged mankind into the abyss eighty years ago.
I am 66 years old, a father of three, and a grandfather of six. I have never been drafted, never raised arms against my fellow man, never been persecuted for my race, my faith or my opinions. For that, I am grateful to this Pole whom I never knew, to the millions like him, who died before they had a chance to really live, and to those who still defend our freedom today.
The far-right is embedded at home
My worry is that the real threat to that freedom comes not from foreigners beyond our shores, but from the ignorance, bigotry and fear within our hearts. So, to those people who waved the Union Flag and talked of taking ‘our’ country back as they attacked places of worship, destroyed businesses, terrified innocent people and fought with our police force I say this:
That is MY flag. This is MY country. And neither I, nor millions of others, will ever surrender them to people like you and your agenda of hate.
Because as this picture testifies, too great a price was paid for that.
“At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.”
