Writer and academic Siobhan Tolland examines UK Chancellor George Osborne’s recent claim that Britain has got its “mojo back” after bombing Syria
IT’S one of these weeks were you just wake up and feel the whole world has jolted to the right – again.
Like the earth has just shifted 10 degrees closer to the sun. We are ticking along in this right-wing vileness that somehow became the new normal. And then something happens and I am reminded of how genuinely fascist and psychopathic we have become.
The last week has given me third degree burns it’s turned so nasty. The Tories (along with the Blairites) were not only clapping the bombing of Syria, but you had George Osborne announcing they get off on it.
The last week has given me third degree burns it’s turned so nasty. The Tories (along with the Blairites) were not only clapping the bombing of Syria, but you had George Osborne announcing they get off on it.
So let’s break this down a bit. With cheers and claps we become yet another force bombing this country. Syria is about three times the size of Ireland, with a population of about 22 million people.
There have been at least a dozen countries now all bombing away: Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Britain, Germany and on and on.
On what level is this not bullying? All those nations, bombing away, thinking they know best and using innocent civilians as road kill for the Western desire for money and power. This is a war of empire, pure and simple.
Westminster clapped away at this with a whoop and a cheer. Twenty-six people died in an attack a few days ago. A clap for every life: Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Whoop, whoop, whoop. I felt Mhairi Black MP’s pain when she called it the darkest moment in the house.
Feeling the pain of Syrian families who have lost loved ones to the bombs – well, that’s a whole other level of pain. Unimaginable pain. Clap, clap, clap, as the seeds of more hatred for the West increase with every death we cause. Yeah, let’s have a friggen party.
Just when you think our UK Government can’t get any lower, what do we find but George Osborne going across to America telling the world that the bombing of Syria got Britain’s its “mojo” back.
But you know, just when you think our UK Government can’t get any lower, what do we find but George Osborne going across to America telling the world that the bombing of Syria got Britain’s its “mojo” back .
I don’t know where to start with that level of psychopathy. Getting our mojo back? This is beyond a callous lack of concern for human life. This is getting off on their pain. They are getting off on this!
The machismo and sexual connotations of this are clear. The power, the bravado and machismo all wound up together in some slimy grubby little sexual perversion of the empire building billionaires. I miss the days when it was just about pigs getting them off – allegedly.
Britain is revitalised. It’s becoming strong again. George Osborne is treating the bombing of Syria like its Viagra for imperialists. It is a truly sadistic outlook on global politics: a horrific sexualisation of empire violence.
It’s not new from the West. Some Guantanamo Bay detainees alleged deeply violent sexual torture against them during detention, creating sexualised violence and defilement as a weapon in the West’s ‘war on terror’. There were multiple cases of alleged sexual violence carried out by US and British troops during the US-UK invasion of Iraq in 2003. Against that background, Osborne’s comment is a racist defilement of the lowest level.
The machismo and sexual connotations of this are clear. The power, the bravado and machismo all wound up together in some slimy grubby little sexual perversion of the empire building billionaires.
This crude sexual potency that Osborne boasted of the UK was yet another defilement of all those that had been sexually raped and tortured in the name of the war on terror. It is a defilement of those who have died as a result of our bombs.
Imagine standing in the Middle East seeing your family, friends and neighbours murdered by country number whatever’s bombs. Imagine standing in all that grief and seeing the UK Government getting off on it.
This bombing of Syria has clarified the political differences that exist between Scottish politics and Westminster. Seeing this overwhelming desire for bombing broke my heart. Seeing it described as some kind of sexual potency pill made me feel sick.
I was proud though that most of our MPs in Scotland voted against this attack. I was proud we tried to separate ourselves from that Western imperial aggression.
I don’t want to be associated with any government that gets some sick sadistic sexual kick from bombing the shit out of a country that’s already had the shit bombed out of it.
Picture courtesy of HM Treasury