By Karen Barnes
Two of England’s top football clubs, Manchester United and Manchester City, chose to not show a minute’s silence to Margaret Thatcher before the start of their derby game on Monday, April 8, 2013 — the day that she died — probably in fear of the riot it would most certainly provoke.
This was a wise idea seeing as for years now, a party on the Saturday after the former English Prime Minister’s death has been planned for Trafalgar Square; it seems that people throughout the UK just couldn’t wait and took to the streets the very same day. As to how her ‘Ceremonial Funeral’ will be received, we’ll have to wait until Wednesday, April 16, to see.
Public antipathy towards her and towards any notion of an official State Funeral is high. People on the streets can think of far better ways to spend such a vast amount of money, rather than on the public figure-head most hold to blame for countless issues that have not only plagued the UK and their lives personally, but the politics of the whole world also.
On being asked to come up with the three most influential policies and problems surrounding Margaret Thatcher, I replied with a list of 42 that had been posted on a Facebook site called, “David Is A Twat Who Hasn’t Got A Clue.” This is no joke. Furthermore, no doubt this list will get longer still.
Most commonly known as the Iron Lady after a Soviet journalist coined the name in reference to her uncompromising politics and ruthless leadership style, the phrase Thatcherism, which in the US became known as Reaganomics, was also termed to highlight the severity of her ways. Born on Oct. 13, 1925, her final years were spent in a steady decline of dementia and suffering from a string of strokes. She went down in history well before her death and will be remembered for evermore.
Not wanting to seem morbid or lacking empathy, emotion or compassion, I must be honest here and say that I have been eagerly anticipating this moment for many years. Not because I wish illness or death on anybody but because I’m sure this represents a tipping point that we as a country, and subsequently as the world, truly need to see.
Maggie was most notably known as the first ever (and to date, only) woman to lead a major political party in the UK, having already become the youngest woman to be elected to parliament and made Secretary of State for Education and Science. She then not only became Prime Minister but, to this day, remains the longest serving PM also (1979-1990).
In her time, she forged many important alliances, including close bonds with Reagan in the US and Gorbachev in the former USSR. However, for each ally, Maggie made at least 10,000 more enemies. The flurry on Facebook is testament to this.
Her government spanned my childhood. We watched the rich get richer and the poor become poorer. We were told in school to respect life and love our neighbours, yet had to witness countless lives lost be it through the UK’s conflict with the IRA, our unjust invasion of Argentina, or again in the Gulf War. The entire notion of industry and economics shifted under Maggie’s government. Welfare, education and nutrition all plummeted. Unemployment rose to a high, long-term and often violent worker strikes took place, riots occurred and the enforcement of Maggie’s way became the new norm.
I hate to say it, but her politics were and still are a postcode lottery and she was most definitely a driving force for the 1%. Understandably now there is some divide as to the reactions concerning her death, with the right claiming the left to be disrespectful and the left quite frankly past caring for or what the right think.
The perspective I’m gaining from afar is somewhat interesting and I hope healthy and practical dialogues are formed. We’re becoming well aware as to why there is such a high level of discontent towards her but surely the next question is: where do we take that now; what next?
Throughout my lifetime in the UK, I’ve seen the population tear apart and grow disenfranchised. Those who have stood up and protested have been beaten back and left exhausted. The general populace have been moulded so tightly that conforming became the only viable option. I took the alternative route and chose to live in a truck and it really hasn’t been easy — although I know for me to conform would’ve been even harder. Perhaps Baroness Thatcher’s death will act as a much needed wake up call to stand united and say, in the words of Bob Dylan, “I Ain’t Gonna Work On Maggie’s Farm No More.”
To end on a high note, what good can I see that came from Thatcher’s Conservative presence? A lot of great art and a lot of great music. Everyday, ordinary people at grass-roots level maintaining a smile throughout and being forever determined not to be completely beat. We may have been told where and how we can live, what music we can dance to and how many of us may participate — and we had little choice but to listen. As to how much of that we really heard, however…
can’t find any reference to M.T but did find this…
http://www.economist.com/node/18864332
so there’s hope…will keep searching…
searching for Thatcher on Acid…all came back to rural England and Brixton again…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thatcher_on_Acid
Oh gosh, waterjewel, I hope that’s “real” — us old hippy types had an up-close-and-personal relationship with psychedelics for just that reason, it brought us together as one. Maybe that’s why I’ve never been good at, or desired, revenge. What personal experience can’t always do, sometimes chemicals can. I’d love it if Maggie actually GOT IT. That’s would make all the difference!
waterjewel — does your friend have a link to an article? i can’t find anything in a google search. for a second, i thought it must be a satire. if not, it’s quite moving. but i’d love to see the source article — esp since Scientific American just published an article about using psychedelic mushrooms to treat existential anxiety.
A Brit friend of mine posted this on facebook: Margaret Thatcher’s Experience of LSD
During a private conversation in the spring of 2010 the Baroness Thatcher reportedly expressed feeling “bottomless sorrow” for her influence on global culture, and “overwhelming gratitude” at her acquaintance with LSD at the age of 84.
She chose to take the drug as part of a private treatment programme for the management of dementia having developed an interest in it while campaigning for mental health services for ex-servicemen.
“LSD has changed my perspective on many things,” she is said to have stated, “I thought I understood the whole dependency thing between individuals, but actually had only seen this in a needy way before. My recent experience enabled me to appreciate the interconnectedness of everyone and everything in a altogether new way, how each of us shapes the nature of everything, for ourselves and for each other.
“I feel immense regret for the cultural legacy I have left behind. I see now that I viewed prosperity and politics from a narrow window, and though this had its comforts I was missing such essential values that are vital for the well being and exaltation of life. My hope now is that the world moves beyond the motivational forces of the previous three decades, which I’m sad to say I may have significantly contributed towards. There is such beauty in the world I had not seen before. It overrides the drive for centralised economic power, dissolves selfish reasons for going to war and brings to light truly collective means of organising society. Indeed, in general, there is a brilliance beyond reason.”
Though a transcript of the interview was consented to the recordings themselves have been deemed too sensitive for current release. The Baroness was said to feel ambivalent about this.
Maybe there will be the same kind of celebrations in the US when GW kicks the bucket.
Great college, Goldsmith’s! Yes, LKJ is totally brilliant. All this is taking me back to when I was young and British. Thatcher’s reign was terrible, but my god the music was good…
Thanks for the comments and great music links…we could form a playlist to keep us going for years!…as for LKJ…I’m very proud to have studied at the same college (Goldsmith’s) as him-what a legend.
Here’s a bit of what I do… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcDnr06xe4
To correct myself, the funeral is on Wednesday 17th (not 16th as written) and we didn’t ‘invade Argentina’ as such but I simplified it down to the basic gist of meaning…
And I forgot another positive point to leave on…the strength in our communities and the perseverance of individuals to ensure this is so…
this will always be the best pre-death elegy, imo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-BZIWSI5UQ
elvis costello’s “tramp the dirt down,” from his brilliant album, “spike.”
Russell Brand, writing in yesterday’s Guardian (uk newspaper) sums up a part of her legacy perfectly:
“The blunt, pathetic reality today is that a little old lady has died, who in the winter of her life had to water roses alone under police supervision. If you behave like there’s no such thing as society, in the end there isn’t.”
You can read the full article here – http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/apr/09/russell-brand-margaret-thatcher
Talking of the music, here’s a great piece:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-pop-rock-music
Thanks, Karen. It’s nice to see some British representation on here once in a while.
My late mother in law, was born in Ireland in 1909, and lived for 65 years as a naturalized American citizen. This humble, gentle Grandma only expressed hatred for one person that I ever heard: Maggie Tatcher, as she pronounced it. Tatcher’s carrying Reagan around in her pocketbook, she’d say.
You tell it like it is, and was, Karen. In retrospect, it’s still hard to understand how on both sides of the Atlantic, these figures held sway for so long, and were allowed to do so much damage. And the toxic fallout from their legacy continues to this day. May we bury more than her personage this week, but the blindness that made their hegemony possible.