Categories: uncategorized
Date: 17 September 2012 12:13:52
There has been a surge in "anti-Thatcher" feeling recently which has left me cold and feeling a bit sick. Besides the t-shirts which were on sale at the TUC conference and newspaper reports like this BBC one last week commented upon, on FB today I saw a clip of some fans from a premier league club chanting "We're Gonna Have A Party When Maggie Thatcher Dies".
What makes me so sickened by all this is that they are talking about a frail old lady who's suffered from dementia for many years now. In many ways the person who dies will be a completely different to the politician as the film The Iron Lady showed. The person being talked about by those who are awaiting her demise so they can celebrate in some ways passed on the day she left office and certainly when she retired from public life.
I was glad then to read Owen Jones' article for the Independent stating that "Not all socialists want to dance on Maggie Thatcher's grave". In the article he explains that when the death does occur it will lead to an outpouring of sentiment and media coverage which will take over our airwaves. What he implicitly refers to but doesn't say straight out is it will be at that moment we see the writing or rewriting of history in many ways as senior politicians and broadcasters make the statements and programmes which will seal how she is remembered.
The article goes on to talk of the reasons why Thatcher is viewed in the way that she is....both on the left and the right. I want to suggest that the reality is somewhere within there but also differs. What it doesn't recognise is the way that Labour allowed itself to be driven to the right and how Blair was the Labour prime minister who took certain proposals Thatcher considered but with her cabinet rejected because she believed they were a step too far forward (including the introduction of university tuition fees).
Finally the article says "The Iron Lady will die knowing her legacy is stronger than ever". This unfortunately is not the case and takes me back to my initial point. Mrs Thatcher's illness is such that she will be in no position to know this. The shell that dies will not be the woman who did so much damage to / good for the country (delete according to your own political views). Are we really as a group of people saying we want to celebrate when a frail old lady who has suffered mental deterioration over a long period dies? That for me is the problem.
If we really want something to celebrate then I suggest what we need is a proper, electable left-wing alternative to emerge which stands for an something different to: the further restriction of trade union rights, the return to elitist educational policies, the dismantlement of the welfare state and the return of mass unemployment, particularly youth unemployment. We may then be able to have a party and dance on the grave of Thatcherism rather than Thatcher.
In terms of the reality of this it is easy to lose hope and suggest any alternative is a lost cause we are too far down the road but today I saw a small glimpse that hope does still exist and another world may be possible and it is being discussed. The veteran broadcaster Jon Snow has produced this chink of light in the current darkness in this blog post. I know it's not exactly echoing the Internationale but it is saying something in our society is very wrong and we must find a solution.