Story the number three - Ming and Such
The raffish yet rather ill-informed and conceited the Honourable Lord Roger Sandhurst was attending an exhibition at the Royal Society.
"A tad trifling is it not?" Lord Sandhurst said, peering through the spotless glass cabinet as he bent over on an angle, commenting on an archaic object consisting of white material and blue paint.
"It is from the Ming Dynasty you realise. This is quite a priceless piece of antiquity before your eyes, here in front of us, Sir." Replied and applied quite quickly a rough and seemingly learned and authoritative voice of a bearded man in a white and crumpled suit with an absence of a tie and presence of a bowtie. His face was evidently weathered by the weather, and his hair bleached by sunlight and most likely Saharan sand.
"Oh come now my good Sir. Is it not a mere piece of pointless pottery, just a ceramic of uncleanness, a trivial and tedious tad of terracotta and so on?"
"How preposterous Sir! It is a predominant and extraordinary discovery. An amazing archaeological find that will help advance our knowledge of the past. Not to mention it is of rather beautiful form and shape. Let me elaborate: crafted during the reign of..."
"Yes, yes, yes." Lord Roger interrupted rudely. "That is all very fascinating, but I assure you I am on the King’s business and such. And as such I must depart, I am terribly sorry. Good day Sir. Now then, where are those damned crumpets, what."
8/30/2009
The Reserved Room
Story the number two - The Reserved Room
"You left?"
"Yes, there were only two rooms, and one of them was reserved for the Toucan with the diabetes and his fellow travelling companion the Nomad from a small village in Kashmir."
"Oh, I quite understand my dear fellow. Cheery-bye. Oh, before you leave would you care for some hundreds and thousands?"
"Oh yes please, how lovely of you."
"How many would you care?"
"How about it I just take a small little handful."
"Oh good idea there, what."
"Cheerio then. Say hello to that wonderful tuba playing wife of yours."
"Will do. Cheerio."
"You left?"
"Yes, there were only two rooms, and one of them was reserved for the Toucan with the diabetes and his fellow travelling companion the Nomad from a small village in Kashmir."
"Oh, I quite understand my dear fellow. Cheery-bye. Oh, before you leave would you care for some hundreds and thousands?"
"Oh yes please, how lovely of you."
"How many would you care?"
"How about it I just take a small little handful."
"Oh good idea there, what."
"Cheerio then. Say hello to that wonderful tuba playing wife of yours."
"Will do. Cheerio."
Mangrove Wildlife
An Anthology of Absurd but Short Stories
I have been composing and compiling an anthology of bits of nonsensical prose and drivel over the past few days. Inspired by snippets of sound bite and various nonchalant groupings words overheard and observed, I have written unrelated works of rubbish essentially.
A Well and its Events
Well if one most know. Standing up is Polish and I am bankrupt. That is why I need the time. You see. I was sitting down behind the hill where the sun hits the ground and makes sunflower and eats jazz and listens to biscuits. And then suddenly, like a Sopwith Camel, a superfluity (and myriad) of flying sporks came and coerced me into a well. They circled above until they got bored and went and become occupied with some green tea. I had to jump up and down like a linesman flinging a piece of string, and then pull out my fingernails and use them as a makeshift ladder. But I ran out of fingernails. So I tried to use my arms to reach up and grab the top of the well. Luckily, but hitherto had not realised was that, the well was actually only one meter high in height. And thusly that is why I am writing a trilogy in five parts and thinking of belly dancing grasshoppers.
I have been composing and compiling an anthology of bits of nonsensical prose and drivel over the past few days. Inspired by snippets of sound bite and various nonchalant groupings words overheard and observed, I have written unrelated works of rubbish essentially.
A Well and its Events
Well if one most know. Standing up is Polish and I am bankrupt. That is why I need the time. You see. I was sitting down behind the hill where the sun hits the ground and makes sunflower and eats jazz and listens to biscuits. And then suddenly, like a Sopwith Camel, a superfluity (and myriad) of flying sporks came and coerced me into a well. They circled above until they got bored and went and become occupied with some green tea. I had to jump up and down like a linesman flinging a piece of string, and then pull out my fingernails and use them as a makeshift ladder. But I ran out of fingernails. So I tried to use my arms to reach up and grab the top of the well. Luckily, but hitherto had not realised was that, the well was actually only one meter high in height. And thusly that is why I am writing a trilogy in five parts and thinking of belly dancing grasshoppers.
8/23/2009
The Rise of Hitler and the Nazi State (selected parts of 4865 word essay)
Under Hitler, the Nationalsozialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party) came to control every aspect of Germany society. The establishment of the Nazi totalitarian state by legislation and legality, in concert with an excessive campaign of terror, coercion and irrational violence, fostered by an extreme sense of nationalism, caused the systematic and comprehensive takeover of the Weimar Republic. Furthermore the Third Reich was dominated by totalitarianism, irrational violence, and nationalism which became progressive dogmatic themes. Initially, prior 1933 they were merely political entrenchment; however they succeeded into mass coercion and the suppression and persecution of monitories. After 1933 the excesses of such emerged in an intensified and escalated comportment and fundamentally, completely lay at the basis of the Third Reich.
On the 20th January 1933, with the backdrop of messy political affairs, Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the head of government of the state. This was a key event, which started the consolidation of his newfound power to implement Nazi ideology and thus to establish a totalitarian state. It was the start of the rise to power of the Nazi Party. Only when the Nazis controlled the Reichstag with a clear majority could they establish a dictatorship by law. The Reichstag fire on the 27th February was a decisive and pivotal providential event, which happened weeks before the coming March general election. By exploiting the fear of communist aggression and rebellion, it enabled Hitler to pass a key legislative bill, the emergency Presidential ‘Decree for the Protection of the People and State’. This entailed the repeal of basic civil liberties and rights, from the right to assembly, speech and habeas corpus. It also lead to over 25 000 arrests in Prussia alone (Boxer 2003), with 9000 executions and more arrests throughout Germany. Even with the outcomes and effects the Decree had, the Nazi Party and its coalition of right wing parties only managed to receive 43.9 percent of the votes, a bare majority in the Reichstag. This was enough for the control of general everyday governing; however was not enough to pass fundamentally changing legislation. Therefore, it was the jumping point for Hitler’s dictatorial powers. Hitler necessitated the passing of an enabling act which would moreover position him in unrestricted power. With the Communist Party being driven underground, and the Social Democrat Party standing firm, Hitler needed further support, which came in the form of the Catholic Centre Party. The act rested on their decision. It was passed. This act was quickly followed by the quick succession of laws defining, and basically, total authority. This following period was known as Gleichschaltung. Gleichschaltung, the process of coordination, was a key period and development from 1933 onwards. It completely coordinated all aspects of the totalitarian state and the establishment of it.
The Third Reich was a highly organised and ruthlessly efficient police state with the “systematic use of terror that was highly effective in silencing resistance” (www.historyhome.co.uk). Terror was an essential and principal instrument in controlling the state. Coercion and violence were key in retaining order, and the suppression and persecution of minorities was also evidently present. “Having won power the Nazis had no clear idea of what to do with it, apart from attacking the Jews, the left, and other ‘enemies of the state’” (Gelletely 2002). “Terrorism was the chief instrument for securing the cohesion of the people” (Robert Howghwourt Jackson, www.loc.gov). And these terror tactics were implemented the Nazi paramilitary organisations. The SS, an elite organisation that became separate from the SA after the purge, numbered 240 000 in 1939 (Mason 2003). It was a key Nazi organisation that employed coercion and terror to control the German people. Along with the Gestapo, which was created in 1933, and the SD the security intelligence service of the SS in 1931, the Nazis had sufficient forces for terrorism and control. “The SS and its associated agencies became a state within the state, responsible only to Hitler and operating totally independently of the Law of any other restraint” (Mason 2003). The SA raged numerous street battles against political opponents. “He who rules the street rules the rules the state” Goebbels stated once (Mason 2003). The brown shirted storm troopers were very brutal and aggressive. Fought Communists frequently time, in particular the communist party’s counterpart to the SA, the Red Fighting League. They exchanged many fights and clashes. Hitler himself relied on force and political coercion to entrench his ideal firmly, which is clearly evident in one of his statements: “The first conditions of power lies in the constant and uniform application of force” (Mason 2003). In June 1932, there were 400 street battles, with 82 deaths. The SA practised violent interference with political affairs and radical employments of violence. It was the organised use of coercion in the political process, with the Nazis employing every weapon and instrument.
The inception of the Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police, the Gestapo, in 1933 highlighted the intention to use powerful coercion methods to control society. Various numbers of the SA and SS were absolved into the Police as so called auxiliaries and deputies, and therefore could carry out many acts of violence for political means. The Nazi Prussian Minister of the Interior Herman Goring stated “It is not my business to do justice, it is my business to annihilate and exterminate – that’s all”. This reflects general Nazi feeling. Goring even ordered the General Police to support the SS and SA regardless of their actions. In one of his orders from the 17th February 1933, it describes the SA and SS as “patriotic associates” and as the “most important constructive forces of the State”. This was followed with, in reference to enemies of the Nazis, “The activities of subversive organisations are on the contrary to be combated with the most drastic methods” and that any actions by the police are to be supported “regardless of the effects” (Mason 2003). By stating so, Goring essentially encouraged the police to participate with the Nazi violence as it was for the good of the nation. This is further corroborated by an account of another Nazi violent event.
“Walking along the pavement ahead of me were 3 SA men. They carried Nazi banners on their shoulders, the banner staves had sharp metal points shaped into arrowheads. All at once the 3 SA men came face to face with a youth of 17 or 28 hurrying along in the opposite direction… I head once of the Nazis shout ‘that’s him’ and immediately all 3 flung themselves upon the young man. In a moment they jostled him into the shadow of a house entrance and were standing over him kicking and stabbing him with the sharp metal points of their banners… Another passerby and myself were the first to reach the doorway where the young man was lying. I got a sickening glimpse of his face – his left eye was poked half out and blood poured from the wound… 20 yards away stood a group of heavily armed police... They magnificently disregarded the whole affair.” (Christopher Ishewood – Goodbye to Berlin; Mason 2003)
This account further corroborates the irrationality of Nazi violence, and clearly shows how the Nazis coerced the German people, without intervention to unlawful acts by the law enforcement service. The suppression of political opposition by force was also present. “There is no longer any police protection against the aggressive actions of the SA and SS at my meetings” Serim Menker, a Socialist Democrat stated on the 24th February 1933, commenting on Nazi political entrenchment, and the police lack to do anything. “… A member of the SA had taken away the 45 year old welfare worker Maria Janovska of Kopenick to a National Socialist barracks, stripped her completely, bound her to a table and flogged her body with leather whips” stated Wilhelm Hoegner a Socialist Democrat in 1933. This event further displays how brutally irrational the Nazis were. Therefore it is further evident that the Nazis were prepared to resort to any means, without repentance or deliberation and furthermore general irrationality of and carelessness of Nazi nature. Thusly it evidently shows that the nature of the Nazis was extremely violent, as they officially authorised force and coercion as political tools. Within days of Hitler’s appointment to Chancellor, Concentration Camps were established under the command of the Party and SA leadership, made to imprison political opposition and any others deemed as an enemy of the or threat to the security of the of the Reich.
“The technique of conduction a successful system of terror is to terrorise the maximum number of people with the minimum amount of effort. It is impossible to listen in to every telephone call or to overhear every conversation, but the art lies in the use of the spot check thereby letting people know when they were not being monitored. This itself was unnerving… One closed the door carefully and conducted conversations in a whisper. One looked over one’s shoulder in a public place before speaking. One did not trust the mail. One chose with great care the rendezvous where one met one’s friend. No one who has not experienced it can image the frighteningly oppressive atmosphere of a totalitarian regime.” (Wheeler – Benett, 1974, Knaves, Fools and Heroes in Europe between the wars; Mason 2003)
This source shows how the suppressive and coercive Nazi state operated. It evidently shows that Germany was authoritarian police state. There were also police informants every apartment block who reported on local neighbourhood activities. From 1993 onwards the general police became more invasive and arbitrarily murderous. Werner Best, the Chief of the SD stated,
“To discover the enemies of the state, to watch them and render them harmless is the preventive police duty of the political police. In order to fulfil this duty the political police must be free to use every means suited to achieve the required end. It is correct to say that in the National Socialist Fuhrer State, the institutions called upon to protect the state possess an authority which is derived solely from the new conception of the state and one which requires no special legal legitimisations.”
Also, the establishment of concentration camps came about to help suppresses political enemies and then progressively social and cultural enemies of the Nazis. Initially the camps were commanded by the SA, but after the purge, the SS created a new unit especially for the administration and control of the concentrations camps; the Totenkoptuerbande, the Death’s Head units. From the Regulations at Dachau Concentration Camp by the Commandant Theodor Eicke from November 1933 stated as a punishment that if any prisoner broke any rules “will be shot on the spot or subsequently hanged” (Mason 2003). From 1934 to 1939 over 200 000 (Mason 2003) people were persecuted and imprisoned in concentration camps. In October 1937 at Buchenwald Concentration Camp 10 prisoners were drowned in a cesspool full of excrement (Boxer 2003). “Under the guise of law, the Nazis suspended regular jurisprudence and substituted arbitrary arrest and imprisonment” (Gelletely 2002). The SS and Gestapo could arrest anyone and hold them indefinitely. “Secret arrests and indefinite detention, without charges, without evidence, without counsel” (Robert Howghwourt Jackson, www.loc.gov) and the method of inflicting inhumane punishment on any whom the Nazis or disliked were regular happenings in the totalitarian state. Helpless victims were carried off and “were beaten temporary prisons and private torture chambers” (Gelletely 2002). Georg Glaser, a communist, stated that as soon as Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, “…dead bodies were found in the surrounding forests… People disappeared without a sound” (Gelletely 2002). This clearly portrays the Nazis as extremely violent, with numerous acts of terror happening. Terror, coercion and arbitrary irrational violence were very evident in the Third Reich. They became progressive dogmas, from prior and up to 1933 political entrenchment and then post 1933 they emerged publically as official decrees implemented by Nazi organisations. The dogmas progressed from political to general population complete control.
The suppression and persecution of minorities was a main part of the Third Reich, with Hitler’s and Nazi ideology forcing it. Coercion and terror was focused against specific individuals and political, social, cultural and religious groups. So called asocials and social undesirables included Jews, the mentally disabled, the feeble minded, gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, beggars, vagrants, the homeless, alcoholics, habitual criminals and prostitutes, along with Communists, Socialists, trade unionists any other political opponents and religious dissenters were all targeted by the Nazis. They were imprisoned, shot, beaten, abused, staved and worked to death. Ruthless, brutal inhumane events were happening day to day. However the Jewish people were in particularly persecuted more so, due to the anti-Semitism the Nazi Party were conveying. Anti-Semitism was a central consistent theme of Nazism. “The most savage and numerous crimes planned and committed by the Nazis were those against the Jews” (Robert Howghwourt Jackson, www.loc.gov). The Nazis were fanatically committed to annihilate all Jewish people, and to suppress all others deemed undesirable.
“The defeat in 1918 did not depress me as greatly as the present state of affairs. It is shocking how day after day naked acts of violence, breaches of law, barbaric opinions appear quite undisguised as official decree. The Socialist papers are permanently banned… I can no longer get rid of the feeling of disgust and shame…”
Victor Klemperer stated on the 17th March 1933 (Walsh 1996).
“We would watch it (persecution of the Jews) grow, from month to month, from year to year, more mindless and inhumane. It weighed on an American correspondent in Berlin more than any other aspect of Hitler’s primitive rule, provoking in me a constant depression of the spirits and often sickness of the heart”
Stated William Shire, an American journalist in Berlin during the 1930s (Swinton 1995). These 2 sources both corroborate the extreme persecution the Jews and other minorities and how the suppression and persecution was progressive. In 1939 5 out of 6 gypsies were killed. Also the mentally ill were sterilised, and killed by poisonous injections, gas and starvation. In Germany in the 1930s, 500 00 Jewish Germans made up the population, accounting for 1% in total. However a very significant percentage of Jews were in important jobs, from commercial businesses and finances to the medical and legal careers.
The suppression of the Jews started as early as 1933. With the April ‘Law Against the Overcrowding of German Schools’, entailing the end of Jewish children enrolment into schools. In April 1933 there was also an official Nazi approved boycott of al Jewish business. The SA vandalised shops with slogans and paintings. In general it was apathetic. In a directorate from Nazi Party Leadership, published in the 30th March 1933 issue of the Volkischer Beobachter, the Nazi newspaper, it stated “…Basic theme ‘Germans don’t buy any longer from Jews’” (Swinton 1995). In 1935 the Nuremburg Laws were passed. The ‘Reich Citizenship Law’ and the’ Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour’ entailed the deprivation of German citizenship for Jews and also the prohibition of marriage between Jews and non Jews correspondingly. 13 decrees thereafter followed, all aimed at the Jews. Jews were expelled from professions, had their property and assets expropriated and were prohibited from cultural life and general society. Jews were prevented from theatres and cinemas, restaurants, public parks, holiday resorts, schools and there were even pet restrictions. Jews were fundamentally excluded from life. After a lull in the anti-Semitism campaign, due to the Olympics in Berlin, “the persecution resumed in 1937 with an even greater ferocity and brutality” (Walsh 1996). In 1937 new economical laws were introduced for Jews and it was the start of the “aryanisation of economic life” as Goring stated (Koch 1985), with regulations on Jewish business. There was special identity papers for Jews and Jewish passports marked with a red J. The anti-Semitism campaign intensified in 1938 after a German legation councillor was murdered by a young Jewish man. In April 1938 11 000 Jews were arrested. The anti-Semitism emerged in extreme violence, known as the Kristallnacht, crystal night, or the Night of the Broken Glass, on the night of the 9th and 10th November it was the systematic attack on Jewish people and their property. SS troops were turned loose, with the authorised destruction Jewish property. Violent anti-Semitism and Pogroms were organised and promoted by Nazi leadership. The SA and SS smashed and burnt Jewish homes and business. 1000 Jewish shops and businesses were destroyed and looted, and furthermore 191 Synagogues were burnt. It was a riot, and severe damage was done. 91 Jews were killed, with 20 000 being imprisoned in concentration camps. Additionally the Jewish community was forced to pay 30 million reichmarks, German currency for the cost of the damage, as well as a further 1 billion reichmarks as forfeiture. At first the anti-Semitism commenced with non violent measures, such as segregation, disfranchisement and discrimination and harassment, but it moved rapidly to organised mass violence of brutal beatings, physical and forced isolation, deportations, imprisonment, forced labour, mass starvation, and extermination and genocide. By 1939 the German Jews and many other minorities were outcasts, deprived of their basic rights and freedoms. Many were in concentration camps; all of them had their lives utterly destroyed.
On the 20th January 1933, with the backdrop of messy political affairs, Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the head of government of the state. This was a key event, which started the consolidation of his newfound power to implement Nazi ideology and thus to establish a totalitarian state. It was the start of the rise to power of the Nazi Party. Only when the Nazis controlled the Reichstag with a clear majority could they establish a dictatorship by law. The Reichstag fire on the 27th February was a decisive and pivotal providential event, which happened weeks before the coming March general election. By exploiting the fear of communist aggression and rebellion, it enabled Hitler to pass a key legislative bill, the emergency Presidential ‘Decree for the Protection of the People and State’. This entailed the repeal of basic civil liberties and rights, from the right to assembly, speech and habeas corpus. It also lead to over 25 000 arrests in Prussia alone (Boxer 2003), with 9000 executions and more arrests throughout Germany. Even with the outcomes and effects the Decree had, the Nazi Party and its coalition of right wing parties only managed to receive 43.9 percent of the votes, a bare majority in the Reichstag. This was enough for the control of general everyday governing; however was not enough to pass fundamentally changing legislation. Therefore, it was the jumping point for Hitler’s dictatorial powers. Hitler necessitated the passing of an enabling act which would moreover position him in unrestricted power. With the Communist Party being driven underground, and the Social Democrat Party standing firm, Hitler needed further support, which came in the form of the Catholic Centre Party. The act rested on their decision. It was passed. This act was quickly followed by the quick succession of laws defining, and basically, total authority. This following period was known as Gleichschaltung. Gleichschaltung, the process of coordination, was a key period and development from 1933 onwards. It completely coordinated all aspects of the totalitarian state and the establishment of it.
The Third Reich was a highly organised and ruthlessly efficient police state with the “systematic use of terror that was highly effective in silencing resistance” (www.historyhome.co.uk). Terror was an essential and principal instrument in controlling the state. Coercion and violence were key in retaining order, and the suppression and persecution of minorities was also evidently present. “Having won power the Nazis had no clear idea of what to do with it, apart from attacking the Jews, the left, and other ‘enemies of the state’” (Gelletely 2002). “Terrorism was the chief instrument for securing the cohesion of the people” (Robert Howghwourt Jackson, www.loc.gov). And these terror tactics were implemented the Nazi paramilitary organisations. The SS, an elite organisation that became separate from the SA after the purge, numbered 240 000 in 1939 (Mason 2003). It was a key Nazi organisation that employed coercion and terror to control the German people. Along with the Gestapo, which was created in 1933, and the SD the security intelligence service of the SS in 1931, the Nazis had sufficient forces for terrorism and control. “The SS and its associated agencies became a state within the state, responsible only to Hitler and operating totally independently of the Law of any other restraint” (Mason 2003). The SA raged numerous street battles against political opponents. “He who rules the street rules the rules the state” Goebbels stated once (Mason 2003). The brown shirted storm troopers were very brutal and aggressive. Fought Communists frequently time, in particular the communist party’s counterpart to the SA, the Red Fighting League. They exchanged many fights and clashes. Hitler himself relied on force and political coercion to entrench his ideal firmly, which is clearly evident in one of his statements: “The first conditions of power lies in the constant and uniform application of force” (Mason 2003). In June 1932, there were 400 street battles, with 82 deaths. The SA practised violent interference with political affairs and radical employments of violence. It was the organised use of coercion in the political process, with the Nazis employing every weapon and instrument.
The inception of the Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police, the Gestapo, in 1933 highlighted the intention to use powerful coercion methods to control society. Various numbers of the SA and SS were absolved into the Police as so called auxiliaries and deputies, and therefore could carry out many acts of violence for political means. The Nazi Prussian Minister of the Interior Herman Goring stated “It is not my business to do justice, it is my business to annihilate and exterminate – that’s all”. This reflects general Nazi feeling. Goring even ordered the General Police to support the SS and SA regardless of their actions. In one of his orders from the 17th February 1933, it describes the SA and SS as “patriotic associates” and as the “most important constructive forces of the State”. This was followed with, in reference to enemies of the Nazis, “The activities of subversive organisations are on the contrary to be combated with the most drastic methods” and that any actions by the police are to be supported “regardless of the effects” (Mason 2003). By stating so, Goring essentially encouraged the police to participate with the Nazi violence as it was for the good of the nation. This is further corroborated by an account of another Nazi violent event.
“Walking along the pavement ahead of me were 3 SA men. They carried Nazi banners on their shoulders, the banner staves had sharp metal points shaped into arrowheads. All at once the 3 SA men came face to face with a youth of 17 or 28 hurrying along in the opposite direction… I head once of the Nazis shout ‘that’s him’ and immediately all 3 flung themselves upon the young man. In a moment they jostled him into the shadow of a house entrance and were standing over him kicking and stabbing him with the sharp metal points of their banners… Another passerby and myself were the first to reach the doorway where the young man was lying. I got a sickening glimpse of his face – his left eye was poked half out and blood poured from the wound… 20 yards away stood a group of heavily armed police... They magnificently disregarded the whole affair.” (Christopher Ishewood – Goodbye to Berlin; Mason 2003)
This account further corroborates the irrationality of Nazi violence, and clearly shows how the Nazis coerced the German people, without intervention to unlawful acts by the law enforcement service. The suppression of political opposition by force was also present. “There is no longer any police protection against the aggressive actions of the SA and SS at my meetings” Serim Menker, a Socialist Democrat stated on the 24th February 1933, commenting on Nazi political entrenchment, and the police lack to do anything. “… A member of the SA had taken away the 45 year old welfare worker Maria Janovska of Kopenick to a National Socialist barracks, stripped her completely, bound her to a table and flogged her body with leather whips” stated Wilhelm Hoegner a Socialist Democrat in 1933. This event further displays how brutally irrational the Nazis were. Therefore it is further evident that the Nazis were prepared to resort to any means, without repentance or deliberation and furthermore general irrationality of and carelessness of Nazi nature. Thusly it evidently shows that the nature of the Nazis was extremely violent, as they officially authorised force and coercion as political tools. Within days of Hitler’s appointment to Chancellor, Concentration Camps were established under the command of the Party and SA leadership, made to imprison political opposition and any others deemed as an enemy of the or threat to the security of the of the Reich.
“The technique of conduction a successful system of terror is to terrorise the maximum number of people with the minimum amount of effort. It is impossible to listen in to every telephone call or to overhear every conversation, but the art lies in the use of the spot check thereby letting people know when they were not being monitored. This itself was unnerving… One closed the door carefully and conducted conversations in a whisper. One looked over one’s shoulder in a public place before speaking. One did not trust the mail. One chose with great care the rendezvous where one met one’s friend. No one who has not experienced it can image the frighteningly oppressive atmosphere of a totalitarian regime.” (Wheeler – Benett, 1974, Knaves, Fools and Heroes in Europe between the wars; Mason 2003)
This source shows how the suppressive and coercive Nazi state operated. It evidently shows that Germany was authoritarian police state. There were also police informants every apartment block who reported on local neighbourhood activities. From 1993 onwards the general police became more invasive and arbitrarily murderous. Werner Best, the Chief of the SD stated,
“To discover the enemies of the state, to watch them and render them harmless is the preventive police duty of the political police. In order to fulfil this duty the political police must be free to use every means suited to achieve the required end. It is correct to say that in the National Socialist Fuhrer State, the institutions called upon to protect the state possess an authority which is derived solely from the new conception of the state and one which requires no special legal legitimisations.”
Also, the establishment of concentration camps came about to help suppresses political enemies and then progressively social and cultural enemies of the Nazis. Initially the camps were commanded by the SA, but after the purge, the SS created a new unit especially for the administration and control of the concentrations camps; the Totenkoptuerbande, the Death’s Head units. From the Regulations at Dachau Concentration Camp by the Commandant Theodor Eicke from November 1933 stated as a punishment that if any prisoner broke any rules “will be shot on the spot or subsequently hanged” (Mason 2003). From 1934 to 1939 over 200 000 (Mason 2003) people were persecuted and imprisoned in concentration camps. In October 1937 at Buchenwald Concentration Camp 10 prisoners were drowned in a cesspool full of excrement (Boxer 2003). “Under the guise of law, the Nazis suspended regular jurisprudence and substituted arbitrary arrest and imprisonment” (Gelletely 2002). The SS and Gestapo could arrest anyone and hold them indefinitely. “Secret arrests and indefinite detention, without charges, without evidence, without counsel” (Robert Howghwourt Jackson, www.loc.gov) and the method of inflicting inhumane punishment on any whom the Nazis or disliked were regular happenings in the totalitarian state. Helpless victims were carried off and “were beaten temporary prisons and private torture chambers” (Gelletely 2002). Georg Glaser, a communist, stated that as soon as Hitler was appointed Chancellor in 1933, “…dead bodies were found in the surrounding forests… People disappeared without a sound” (Gelletely 2002). This clearly portrays the Nazis as extremely violent, with numerous acts of terror happening. Terror, coercion and arbitrary irrational violence were very evident in the Third Reich. They became progressive dogmas, from prior and up to 1933 political entrenchment and then post 1933 they emerged publically as official decrees implemented by Nazi organisations. The dogmas progressed from political to general population complete control.
The suppression and persecution of minorities was a main part of the Third Reich, with Hitler’s and Nazi ideology forcing it. Coercion and terror was focused against specific individuals and political, social, cultural and religious groups. So called asocials and social undesirables included Jews, the mentally disabled, the feeble minded, gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah’s witnesses, beggars, vagrants, the homeless, alcoholics, habitual criminals and prostitutes, along with Communists, Socialists, trade unionists any other political opponents and religious dissenters were all targeted by the Nazis. They were imprisoned, shot, beaten, abused, staved and worked to death. Ruthless, brutal inhumane events were happening day to day. However the Jewish people were in particularly persecuted more so, due to the anti-Semitism the Nazi Party were conveying. Anti-Semitism was a central consistent theme of Nazism. “The most savage and numerous crimes planned and committed by the Nazis were those against the Jews” (Robert Howghwourt Jackson, www.loc.gov). The Nazis were fanatically committed to annihilate all Jewish people, and to suppress all others deemed undesirable.
“The defeat in 1918 did not depress me as greatly as the present state of affairs. It is shocking how day after day naked acts of violence, breaches of law, barbaric opinions appear quite undisguised as official decree. The Socialist papers are permanently banned… I can no longer get rid of the feeling of disgust and shame…”
Victor Klemperer stated on the 17th March 1933 (Walsh 1996).
“We would watch it (persecution of the Jews) grow, from month to month, from year to year, more mindless and inhumane. It weighed on an American correspondent in Berlin more than any other aspect of Hitler’s primitive rule, provoking in me a constant depression of the spirits and often sickness of the heart”
Stated William Shire, an American journalist in Berlin during the 1930s (Swinton 1995). These 2 sources both corroborate the extreme persecution the Jews and other minorities and how the suppression and persecution was progressive. In 1939 5 out of 6 gypsies were killed. Also the mentally ill were sterilised, and killed by poisonous injections, gas and starvation. In Germany in the 1930s, 500 00 Jewish Germans made up the population, accounting for 1% in total. However a very significant percentage of Jews were in important jobs, from commercial businesses and finances to the medical and legal careers.
The suppression of the Jews started as early as 1933. With the April ‘Law Against the Overcrowding of German Schools’, entailing the end of Jewish children enrolment into schools. In April 1933 there was also an official Nazi approved boycott of al Jewish business. The SA vandalised shops with slogans and paintings. In general it was apathetic. In a directorate from Nazi Party Leadership, published in the 30th March 1933 issue of the Volkischer Beobachter, the Nazi newspaper, it stated “…Basic theme ‘Germans don’t buy any longer from Jews’” (Swinton 1995). In 1935 the Nuremburg Laws were passed. The ‘Reich Citizenship Law’ and the’ Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour’ entailed the deprivation of German citizenship for Jews and also the prohibition of marriage between Jews and non Jews correspondingly. 13 decrees thereafter followed, all aimed at the Jews. Jews were expelled from professions, had their property and assets expropriated and were prohibited from cultural life and general society. Jews were prevented from theatres and cinemas, restaurants, public parks, holiday resorts, schools and there were even pet restrictions. Jews were fundamentally excluded from life. After a lull in the anti-Semitism campaign, due to the Olympics in Berlin, “the persecution resumed in 1937 with an even greater ferocity and brutality” (Walsh 1996). In 1937 new economical laws were introduced for Jews and it was the start of the “aryanisation of economic life” as Goring stated (Koch 1985), with regulations on Jewish business. There was special identity papers for Jews and Jewish passports marked with a red J. The anti-Semitism campaign intensified in 1938 after a German legation councillor was murdered by a young Jewish man. In April 1938 11 000 Jews were arrested. The anti-Semitism emerged in extreme violence, known as the Kristallnacht, crystal night, or the Night of the Broken Glass, on the night of the 9th and 10th November it was the systematic attack on Jewish people and their property. SS troops were turned loose, with the authorised destruction Jewish property. Violent anti-Semitism and Pogroms were organised and promoted by Nazi leadership. The SA and SS smashed and burnt Jewish homes and business. 1000 Jewish shops and businesses were destroyed and looted, and furthermore 191 Synagogues were burnt. It was a riot, and severe damage was done. 91 Jews were killed, with 20 000 being imprisoned in concentration camps. Additionally the Jewish community was forced to pay 30 million reichmarks, German currency for the cost of the damage, as well as a further 1 billion reichmarks as forfeiture. At first the anti-Semitism commenced with non violent measures, such as segregation, disfranchisement and discrimination and harassment, but it moved rapidly to organised mass violence of brutal beatings, physical and forced isolation, deportations, imprisonment, forced labour, mass starvation, and extermination and genocide. By 1939 the German Jews and many other minorities were outcasts, deprived of their basic rights and freedoms. Many were in concentration camps; all of them had their lives utterly destroyed.
A Study of Pharaonic Power in Egypt (Introduction)
Amenemhat I - Order is Power (introduction to essay)
The Middle Kingdom was a very important and significant period in Ancient Egyptian history. It witnessed a complete rebirth in culture, especially in literature and has been hailed as a renaissance. The founder of the Middle Kingdom [1] was the Pharaoh King Amenemhat I [2,3], and his succession to the throne signalled an immense change and a beginning to a new era. Amenemhat I restored order, prosperity and stability to a newly united Upper and Lower Egypt, which has just ascended from the chaos and disorder of the First Intermediate Period. Amenemhat I’s reign was exemplified by such features of the centralization of government, the reorganization of the administrative system, co-regency with his son Senusret I [4], as well as the colonization and conquests in Nubia and Libya along with the construction of defensive eastern frontier border forts that prevented Asiatic incursions. Thus Amenemhat I’s reign can be broken into two elements; that of internal affairs and external affairs. Fundamentally Amenemhat I had a firmly established and stable base of power, which remained even after his assassination at the hands of a court conspiracy, with his son and successor being able to avert the attempted coup due to the firmly established order. Henri Amiel [5] once proposed that “Order is Power”. This statement can be readily and straightforwardly applied to Amenemhat I’s reign and his execution of power.
[1]Historians generally begin the Middle Kingdom with Amenemhat I’s 12th Dynasty, as it had more defined changes and is considered more sophisticated compared to the 11th Dynasty
[2]There are numerous variations to the name, such as Amenemhet I and the Greek Historian Manetho’s version Ammenemes I, however for the issue of consistency Amenemhat I shall be used
[3]Not of royal family line, and generally accepted as the same Amenemhat the vizier of the 11th Dynasty
[4]Evidence suggest that Senusret I did not become coregent until year 20 of Amenemhat I’s reign
[5]Henri Frederic Amiel, born 27/09/1821, died 11/05/1881, was a prominent Swiss philosopher, academic, poet and critic. He travelled widely and studied moral philosophy. An illustrious piece of work is Private Journal
The Middle Kingdom was a very important and significant period in Ancient Egyptian history. It witnessed a complete rebirth in culture, especially in literature and has been hailed as a renaissance. The founder of the Middle Kingdom [1] was the Pharaoh King Amenemhat I [2,3], and his succession to the throne signalled an immense change and a beginning to a new era. Amenemhat I restored order, prosperity and stability to a newly united Upper and Lower Egypt, which has just ascended from the chaos and disorder of the First Intermediate Period. Amenemhat I’s reign was exemplified by such features of the centralization of government, the reorganization of the administrative system, co-regency with his son Senusret I [4], as well as the colonization and conquests in Nubia and Libya along with the construction of defensive eastern frontier border forts that prevented Asiatic incursions. Thus Amenemhat I’s reign can be broken into two elements; that of internal affairs and external affairs. Fundamentally Amenemhat I had a firmly established and stable base of power, which remained even after his assassination at the hands of a court conspiracy, with his son and successor being able to avert the attempted coup due to the firmly established order. Henri Amiel [5] once proposed that “Order is Power”. This statement can be readily and straightforwardly applied to Amenemhat I’s reign and his execution of power.
[1]Historians generally begin the Middle Kingdom with Amenemhat I’s 12th Dynasty, as it had more defined changes and is considered more sophisticated compared to the 11th Dynasty
[2]There are numerous variations to the name, such as Amenemhet I and the Greek Historian Manetho’s version Ammenemes I, however for the issue of consistency Amenemhat I shall be used
[3]Not of royal family line, and generally accepted as the same Amenemhat the vizier of the 11th Dynasty
[4]Evidence suggest that Senusret I did not become coregent until year 20 of Amenemhat I’s reign
[5]Henri Frederic Amiel, born 27/09/1821, died 11/05/1881, was a prominent Swiss philosopher, academic, poet and critic. He travelled widely and studied moral philosophy. An illustrious piece of work is Private Journal
The Sun Never Sets
The sun was at its highest point in the sky, signalling the heat to intensify. Walking through the lightened hall with some haste, sweat dripping off his clean shaven face, with his tie loose, his belligerent anxiousness and exasperation grew as he neared the closed door. His lungs seemed to stop breathing, and compounded by resentment his mind was racing like a cheetah at full speed. His thoughts of the previous days came to. “How could they get independence? It is an outrage!” These thoughts were of the haughty mind of Mr Allen Berkshire, a Civil Servant of the British colony Tanganyika, East Africa. He was a Colonialist bureaucrat in other words, who was full of pomp and circumstance and great support of the Imperial British Empire, which was in its dying days in 1962.
Tanganyika had just received its independence and it was an extremely momentous occasion for everyone; everyone except the Colonialists. Africanisation is what it is called, and many are outraged and unamenable by its process. There was cheering and parades in the city streets; a wave of liberation swept the nation, women danced to the native percussion and children laughed and applauded. The White Colonialists however did not share such as joyous response, much like Mr Berkshire.
He had reached the door, which stated in capital letters ‘Governor Sir Cecile Raimsby’. Mr Berkshire’s legs were desperately aching and his head was incensed and dazed, due to the extreme heat and the current happenings. He knocked on the solid wooden door. “Enter.” A strapping raspy voice came from inside the room. As the voice requested, Mr Berkshire opened the door. “Good afternoon Allen my good fellow, well not a good noon for us by any means really is it. How have you been?” Stated a man watering a fern.
“Hello Governor. Indeed not good at all, aside from that I am well thank you. May I ask, what happens now, now that the Empire has no power here?”
“Well I am afraid we have no more business here Allen. We have been instructed by the Foreign Office to fly back to London. A telegram stated all Administrative staff are to remove all personal items, dispose of all nonessential items and turn their housing and transportation arrangements to their new Native replacements. Damned bad affairs, what?”
“What! How can this happen Sir? I lose my house and car, and am expected to travel all the way back to London. Is this the appreciation we get for brining civilisation to Africa?” The British Colonialist led a very privileged life in the Empire, with villas, swimming pools, cars, and servants being supplied by the colony. The Native of the colony however led a very terrible life, and was always at the bottom of the social structure of his own country.
“Yes Allen. It is terrible. I have had my secretary call you a taxi to take you to the airport. And do remember to clear your office out please.”
“Thank you Sir”, Mr Berkshire replied in a hesitant voice.
“You have been a very good staffer Allen, a very good Civil Servant for Her Majesty, and it has been good to work with you. Take care.”
“Thank you very much Sir Raimsby, you too take care.” Mr Berkshire walked out the doorway and passed a young white secretary, who appeared to be smiling as she put photo frames in a wooden box. The sun was very bright shining through the elderly windows and remnants of the past government lay scarred on the floor.
“The end of the Empire Mr Berkshire.” She said, as Mr Berkshire passed. He did not take any notice at all, but did his tie up and stood up straight and portrayed the traditional English stiff upper lip and went to his office to pack his own possessions and luggage in his overwrought mode.
As the cantankerous Mr Berkshire exited the Governor’s Building he was welcomed once again with a swarming aridity, which was in such disparity to his cold, drab and perpetually overcast Manchester weather. As he stood on the sandy bleached cobblestone street corner, he smoothed his dark brown hair, took a deep breath and grabbed a lolly from his right trouser pocket, and proceeded to put it in his mouth. Suddenly a roundish car covered in orange paint, which was peeling off in spots, stopped in front of him. A haze of malodorous smog also stopped in front of him, and a poorly written clump of letters saying ‘Tanganyika Taxi Service’ indicated it was his transport. This was further established by the driver’s friendly hand gestures to hop in. “Are you not going to get the door for me Mister?”
“Who, me Sir?” Was the response in a mixed native and English accent which perpetrated from the smiling black face.
“Yes, you are the driver, and in a civilised world the driver opens the door. Yes?”
“Oh, of course. I am sorry Sir.” The driver said in a malleable voice as he got out of the taxi. He went over to the passenger side door, put his right hand on the handle and opened the door, which squeaked loudly as the rusted metal moved roughly. Mr Berkshire got in the taxi and the driver followed by closing the corroded and whiny orange door and then also entered. Inside was confined and there was no real leg room with the dusty and stained cotton seats offering not much more comfort. “Tanganyika International Airport Sir?”
“Of course driver.” Replied the uncomfortable and moist Mr Berkshire. The taxi’s engine sprang back into life once again corresponding with the turn of the key in the ignition, and the vehicle started to move along the dusty and near melting patchy asphalted road.
“Oh please call me Karume. I am Karume Baako, pleasure to meet you Sir. What is your name may I ask?”
“Well if you must know, I am Mr Berkshire.”
“How good is today, hey Mr Berkshire? We are now free!” Karume’s face lit up with cheerfulness.
“Good? Good?” He yelled. “It is not good at all! We brought you civilisation, and what do you do, you become independent from our great empire. How dare you and your people! You natives were uncivilized and stupid, we came and colonized you and made you respectable and educated. Now you have lost our great power and will once again become uncivilized due to your autonomy. I have lost my job, my car, my house and most of my money due to you selfishness for want of independence. You… you bastards!” Mr Berkshire hit the roof with his left knuckle, which was only a few inches from his head, and closed his eyelids. His forehead was covered by an army of small sweat droplets, which glistened feverously in the sun’s deep glaze.
“Really. Are you so arrogant Sir? You came with gun and flag and take over our land. You ignore our tribal dances and give us cricket. That is awful. You pillage our villages and mine our earth. You oppress us and force us into ghettos. You treat us like an inferior people, you ostracise us from our own county. Greed and oppression all in the name of the imperial Empire, pah!”
Bang! An abrupt mechanical noise sounded out from the engine. Bang! Bang! And with that, the taxi came to a halt on the hot asphalt road. “Oh dear! I do believe we have broken down Mr Berkshire.” Karume said in an unruffled and somewhat apologetic tone.
“Christ!” Mr Berkshire screamed. This was just another event to add to his mounting irritation. Steam started to pour out of the bonnet, and a hissing noise followed in unison. “Where are we driver?”
“I believe we are just south of the airport. We are in a Black district, a slum, one which your imperial government enforced on us.” Karume said. “May I suggest Mr Berkshire, that you have a look. Have a look at what your glorious imperial empire has done.”
“What?”
“Over there. Just walk through this area, and take a look.”
With that Mr Berkshire sauntered away from the broken down orange taxi, and down a back alley way. When one enters the slums, one is rapidly and forcefully slammed in the face by the senses, of sight and smell. Completely opposite to the gilded and artificial White neighbourhoods of the rich areas of the city, the mix of poverty ravaged wretched little houses and traditional clay huts, amount to the slums. The stench rotten fruit, burnt oil and urine fill the air, and wild dogs meander through the rubbish lined streets. Insects of all kind dance around eagerly in the airless environment; there is no electricity, and no easily accessible water. A White man in a back alley was a sensation and spectacle in its self. A taciturn attentive gaze from unemployed men sitting idly in front of derelict houses, their following with eyes dart like in the late sun’s gaze.
A group of young native children aggressively curious, crowded around him as he stood weak, with nothing to say, unable to say anything. He was appalled! In front of him were children, stick figures; their rib bones protruded their dirty, unwashed skin. The children stared with a sense of detestation. “Look, it’s a white man, the man who took over my country, hit my grandfather, killed my brother, raped my mother and left us drowning in poverty. Mr Berkshire felt sorrow and guilt. The children in front of him, staring wildly, were morally superior to him. He put his hand in his trouser pocket, and with an open palm he offered a lolly to them meagre youth.
Wandering around feeling as if he was falling from earth, yet his feet on the hard gravel strewn on the dusty paths re-established his place in reality. The sights he could see in front of him were real. The victims of imperialism, the consequences of greed. With every step he lost confidence, yet with every step he gained insight. An insight into a terrible world of poverty.
“Is this the ‘civilisation’ you talk about Sir, is this it?” Karume said as he appeared from a shadow. “Hunger, poverty, disease. Children who go hungry every night, children who are unable to read or write their own names. Who is responsible for this, I ask you. Now that we are free, we can have a government for the people, by the people. Our independence.”
“It is horrific! I have never seen anything like this. I can’t believe it.” Mr Berkshire yelled in immense shock and horror. “I am so, so sorry! For the good of the empire, it is a disgrace. It’s appalling!”
Mr Berkshire had now come to the realisation that Empire building is a horrible thing. Also it started to dawn on this middle aged Englishmen that the sun would set on the British Empire.
Tanganyika had just received its independence and it was an extremely momentous occasion for everyone; everyone except the Colonialists. Africanisation is what it is called, and many are outraged and unamenable by its process. There was cheering and parades in the city streets; a wave of liberation swept the nation, women danced to the native percussion and children laughed and applauded. The White Colonialists however did not share such as joyous response, much like Mr Berkshire.
He had reached the door, which stated in capital letters ‘Governor Sir Cecile Raimsby’. Mr Berkshire’s legs were desperately aching and his head was incensed and dazed, due to the extreme heat and the current happenings. He knocked on the solid wooden door. “Enter.” A strapping raspy voice came from inside the room. As the voice requested, Mr Berkshire opened the door. “Good afternoon Allen my good fellow, well not a good noon for us by any means really is it. How have you been?” Stated a man watering a fern.
“Hello Governor. Indeed not good at all, aside from that I am well thank you. May I ask, what happens now, now that the Empire has no power here?”
“Well I am afraid we have no more business here Allen. We have been instructed by the Foreign Office to fly back to London. A telegram stated all Administrative staff are to remove all personal items, dispose of all nonessential items and turn their housing and transportation arrangements to their new Native replacements. Damned bad affairs, what?”
“What! How can this happen Sir? I lose my house and car, and am expected to travel all the way back to London. Is this the appreciation we get for brining civilisation to Africa?” The British Colonialist led a very privileged life in the Empire, with villas, swimming pools, cars, and servants being supplied by the colony. The Native of the colony however led a very terrible life, and was always at the bottom of the social structure of his own country.
“Yes Allen. It is terrible. I have had my secretary call you a taxi to take you to the airport. And do remember to clear your office out please.”
“Thank you Sir”, Mr Berkshire replied in a hesitant voice.
“You have been a very good staffer Allen, a very good Civil Servant for Her Majesty, and it has been good to work with you. Take care.”
“Thank you very much Sir Raimsby, you too take care.” Mr Berkshire walked out the doorway and passed a young white secretary, who appeared to be smiling as she put photo frames in a wooden box. The sun was very bright shining through the elderly windows and remnants of the past government lay scarred on the floor.
“The end of the Empire Mr Berkshire.” She said, as Mr Berkshire passed. He did not take any notice at all, but did his tie up and stood up straight and portrayed the traditional English stiff upper lip and went to his office to pack his own possessions and luggage in his overwrought mode.
As the cantankerous Mr Berkshire exited the Governor’s Building he was welcomed once again with a swarming aridity, which was in such disparity to his cold, drab and perpetually overcast Manchester weather. As he stood on the sandy bleached cobblestone street corner, he smoothed his dark brown hair, took a deep breath and grabbed a lolly from his right trouser pocket, and proceeded to put it in his mouth. Suddenly a roundish car covered in orange paint, which was peeling off in spots, stopped in front of him. A haze of malodorous smog also stopped in front of him, and a poorly written clump of letters saying ‘Tanganyika Taxi Service’ indicated it was his transport. This was further established by the driver’s friendly hand gestures to hop in. “Are you not going to get the door for me Mister?”
“Who, me Sir?” Was the response in a mixed native and English accent which perpetrated from the smiling black face.
“Yes, you are the driver, and in a civilised world the driver opens the door. Yes?”
“Oh, of course. I am sorry Sir.” The driver said in a malleable voice as he got out of the taxi. He went over to the passenger side door, put his right hand on the handle and opened the door, which squeaked loudly as the rusted metal moved roughly. Mr Berkshire got in the taxi and the driver followed by closing the corroded and whiny orange door and then also entered. Inside was confined and there was no real leg room with the dusty and stained cotton seats offering not much more comfort. “Tanganyika International Airport Sir?”
“Of course driver.” Replied the uncomfortable and moist Mr Berkshire. The taxi’s engine sprang back into life once again corresponding with the turn of the key in the ignition, and the vehicle started to move along the dusty and near melting patchy asphalted road.
“Oh please call me Karume. I am Karume Baako, pleasure to meet you Sir. What is your name may I ask?”
“Well if you must know, I am Mr Berkshire.”
“How good is today, hey Mr Berkshire? We are now free!” Karume’s face lit up with cheerfulness.
“Good? Good?” He yelled. “It is not good at all! We brought you civilisation, and what do you do, you become independent from our great empire. How dare you and your people! You natives were uncivilized and stupid, we came and colonized you and made you respectable and educated. Now you have lost our great power and will once again become uncivilized due to your autonomy. I have lost my job, my car, my house and most of my money due to you selfishness for want of independence. You… you bastards!” Mr Berkshire hit the roof with his left knuckle, which was only a few inches from his head, and closed his eyelids. His forehead was covered by an army of small sweat droplets, which glistened feverously in the sun’s deep glaze.
“Really. Are you so arrogant Sir? You came with gun and flag and take over our land. You ignore our tribal dances and give us cricket. That is awful. You pillage our villages and mine our earth. You oppress us and force us into ghettos. You treat us like an inferior people, you ostracise us from our own county. Greed and oppression all in the name of the imperial Empire, pah!”
Bang! An abrupt mechanical noise sounded out from the engine. Bang! Bang! And with that, the taxi came to a halt on the hot asphalt road. “Oh dear! I do believe we have broken down Mr Berkshire.” Karume said in an unruffled and somewhat apologetic tone.
“Christ!” Mr Berkshire screamed. This was just another event to add to his mounting irritation. Steam started to pour out of the bonnet, and a hissing noise followed in unison. “Where are we driver?”
“I believe we are just south of the airport. We are in a Black district, a slum, one which your imperial government enforced on us.” Karume said. “May I suggest Mr Berkshire, that you have a look. Have a look at what your glorious imperial empire has done.”
“What?”
“Over there. Just walk through this area, and take a look.”
With that Mr Berkshire sauntered away from the broken down orange taxi, and down a back alley way. When one enters the slums, one is rapidly and forcefully slammed in the face by the senses, of sight and smell. Completely opposite to the gilded and artificial White neighbourhoods of the rich areas of the city, the mix of poverty ravaged wretched little houses and traditional clay huts, amount to the slums. The stench rotten fruit, burnt oil and urine fill the air, and wild dogs meander through the rubbish lined streets. Insects of all kind dance around eagerly in the airless environment; there is no electricity, and no easily accessible water. A White man in a back alley was a sensation and spectacle in its self. A taciturn attentive gaze from unemployed men sitting idly in front of derelict houses, their following with eyes dart like in the late sun’s gaze.
A group of young native children aggressively curious, crowded around him as he stood weak, with nothing to say, unable to say anything. He was appalled! In front of him were children, stick figures; their rib bones protruded their dirty, unwashed skin. The children stared with a sense of detestation. “Look, it’s a white man, the man who took over my country, hit my grandfather, killed my brother, raped my mother and left us drowning in poverty. Mr Berkshire felt sorrow and guilt. The children in front of him, staring wildly, were morally superior to him. He put his hand in his trouser pocket, and with an open palm he offered a lolly to them meagre youth.
Wandering around feeling as if he was falling from earth, yet his feet on the hard gravel strewn on the dusty paths re-established his place in reality. The sights he could see in front of him were real. The victims of imperialism, the consequences of greed. With every step he lost confidence, yet with every step he gained insight. An insight into a terrible world of poverty.
“Is this the ‘civilisation’ you talk about Sir, is this it?” Karume said as he appeared from a shadow. “Hunger, poverty, disease. Children who go hungry every night, children who are unable to read or write their own names. Who is responsible for this, I ask you. Now that we are free, we can have a government for the people, by the people. Our independence.”
“It is horrific! I have never seen anything like this. I can’t believe it.” Mr Berkshire yelled in immense shock and horror. “I am so, so sorry! For the good of the empire, it is a disgrace. It’s appalling!”
Mr Berkshire had now come to the realisation that Empire building is a horrible thing. Also it started to dawn on this middle aged Englishmen that the sun would set on the British Empire.
8/17/2009
in movement
The wind blows like a heavy, deep whisper
Obliging when sighing times come and go
These taken away by this wary blustery whimper
With more the atmosphere will rise up below
In the near distance a wind is carried
Covering a lack of heightened discretion
And over a whining whim which harried
Making suggestions that long for lessen
Obliging when sighing times come and go
These taken away by this wary blustery whimper
With more the atmosphere will rise up below
In the near distance a wind is carried
Covering a lack of heightened discretion
And over a whining whim which harried
Making suggestions that long for lessen
8/16/2009
Animals great and small
Consider the size of an elephant's ties
And peacocks with spectacles to help their eyes
Or the pants of ant and a scarf of a giraffe
Perchance would it make you laugh?
An ostrich in boots to keep quite dry
And a worm on stilts to remain up high
A whale in suit tails going to a wedding
And a mother bird buying some bedding
All the animals of size great and small
Going shopping for material in a mall
Bags full of everything a fox could need
And families of fish going for a feed
A cow drinking water and a sheep in leather
And a crocodile donned head to toe in feather
Animals from all over the lands and sea
Having a nice and peaceful spot of tea
And peacocks with spectacles to help their eyes
Or the pants of ant and a scarf of a giraffe
Perchance would it make you laugh?
An ostrich in boots to keep quite dry
And a worm on stilts to remain up high
A whale in suit tails going to a wedding
And a mother bird buying some bedding
All the animals of size great and small
Going shopping for material in a mall
Bags full of everything a fox could need
And families of fish going for a feed
A cow drinking water and a sheep in leather
And a crocodile donned head to toe in feather
Animals from all over the lands and sea
Having a nice and peaceful spot of tea
Change
He slumps as he rests his slack hands on the wheel
And looks through his expensive car’s windscreen
Outside the shopfronts forlorn, an elderly male starving at a kneel
And so he wept at the desolate, sad scene
Only material and possession to hold
And objects for the system of bought and sold
The assets of life accumulated by amount
That we only want what we can count
At the sight of wealth and gluttony
The towers blow off colour storm for monetary
As capital and currency only matter
And money and luxury comes not latter
The streets are of the homeless and poor
And the rich walk through mansion doors
No fair or equal trade, only open for gain
Yet still hungry and angry masses remain
These destitute masses ask the system
Asking desolately if it will ever listen
Marching and saying change is at need
To counter the public anguished seed
And so he drove away with a new resolution, seeing different out his clean screen
Something to keep hold, something that could not be enumerated
A strong sense of desire to change it after what he had just seen
A new feeling manifested inside, a thought that it was not too late
And looks through his expensive car’s windscreen
Outside the shopfronts forlorn, an elderly male starving at a kneel
And so he wept at the desolate, sad scene
Only material and possession to hold
And objects for the system of bought and sold
The assets of life accumulated by amount
That we only want what we can count
At the sight of wealth and gluttony
The towers blow off colour storm for monetary
As capital and currency only matter
And money and luxury comes not latter
The streets are of the homeless and poor
And the rich walk through mansion doors
No fair or equal trade, only open for gain
Yet still hungry and angry masses remain
These destitute masses ask the system
Asking desolately if it will ever listen
Marching and saying change is at need
To counter the public anguished seed
And so he drove away with a new resolution, seeing different out his clean screen
Something to keep hold, something that could not be enumerated
A strong sense of desire to change it after what he had just seen
A new feeling manifested inside, a thought that it was not too late
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