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To:    Guardian CiF
Re:   Thinking beyond monarchy and the nation state
Date: Friday 1 June  07

 

In response to an article by Peter Tatchell advocating abolition of the British monarchy.

Link to article and thread at The Guardian.

It's ironic that the present heir to the throne, Prince Charles, has a lot more sense, certainly when it comes to environmental issues, architecture and urban planning, than the vast majority of our elected representatives.

For the duration of Charles's reign I think we should revert back temporarily to absolute monarchy, which will impose sustainable policies and sane urban planning on us, whether we like it or not.

I see Peter Tatchell's point, however, about the Royal Family being unacceptably "white".

But all we need do is insist that Prince William marry an African princess (I mean, really black, in order to make the point that "white", even slightly darker shades than we are used to, is totally unacceptable in multiracial/multicultural Britain). If he doesn't want to and his father (as absolute monarch) is not prepared to force him, then it's the next in line until we find someone who is, which will also provide an interesting indication of just how racist/non-racist our Royal Family is.

How exhilarating it would be to know that soon we would have a mixed and multi-racial Royal Family, in place of the "hideously" and embarrassingly white one we have today, that once again, we will ALL be able to be really proud to be British and identify with our head of state.

 
2nd Post
 
In a more serious vein to that of my first post, I wonder whether we need a head of state at all - or, for that matter, the state that goes with them?

Like the economy, this nation state is very much a product of our animal nature and behaviour - unsurprisingly, in view of our evolutionary origins.

Does everything not revolve around "power" (keeping in mind that money is power in its most important, sophisticated and versatile form), as one would expect in any society of apes? And did the power structures and institutions of this nation state and its economy not develop from the struggle for survival and advantage (i.e. for power) amongst its most powerful and influential members?

Perhaps it is time for those amongst us with higher aspirations than to have power over others (whether political or economic), to start organizing themselves into an Alternative, more humane, just, and sustainable (less ape- and rat-like), socio-economic order.

 
3rd Post

It's not about knocking western democracy off its pedestal just for the sake of it, especially in view of the far worse social systems there have been in our own past, and still are in most parts of the world even today, but in order that we should realize that we still have a long way to go to our goal of a more just and humane, sustainable, far less materialistic, socio-economic order.

We are, as it were, still in the foothills of the mountain we have to climb, but the leaders of our expedition (and their numerous lackeys), self-satisfied with their own situation, would have us believe that we are already at, or very near, the pinnacle. They need to get down from their pedestals, the rest of us up off our arses, to continue the journey, which we have to complete in the foreseeable future if our civilization is to survive at all.

The mistake that revolutionaries made in the past (rooted in their animal nature) was to think they had to knock current leaders off their pedestals and force everyone else up off their arses and herd them in one particular direction. The right way forward (rooted in our more enlightened, human nature) is to leave those on their pedestals or sitting on their arses where they are, and to proceed without them, each according to their own, freely chosen, route. When those left behind notice a few of us moving on up the mountain, laughing and smiling, glad to be free of the material burdens that had once distracted us and weighed us down, many, I'm sure, will want to catch up with us, rather than waiting for doom to catch up with them, as it will otherwise surely do.


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