poet lays smackdown on Blair, Queen & filthy collaborators
Benjamin Zephaniah is my new fucking hero.
Apparently the "done thing" when refusing an OBE is to do so privately, so this may well cause a bit of a row - which I'm sure he intended to do, and good on him. Righteous anger has rarely been so righteous. Zephaniah's explanation for his refusal starts, brilliantly, like this:
I woke up on the morning of November 13 wondering how the government could be overthrown and what could replace it, and then I noticed a letter from the prime minister's office...
...and just gets better from there. Here are the highlights:
I am not one of those who are obsessed with their roots, and I'm certainly not suffering from a crisis of identity; my obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people.
...
I have begged [Tony Blair] to come out and meet me; I have been longing for a conversation with him, but he won't come out, and now here he is asking me to meet him at the palace! I was there with a million people [at the anti-war demo] on February 15...
...
There are many black writers who love OBEs, it makes them feel like they have made it. When it suits them, they embrace the struggle against the ruling class and the oppression they visit upon us, but then they join the oppressors' club. They are so easily seduced into the great house of Babylon known as the palace. For them, a wonderful time is meeting the Queen and bowing before her presence.
I was shocked to see how many of my fellow writers jumped at the opportunity to go to Buckingham Palace when the Queen had her "meet the writers day" on July 9 2002, and I laughed at the pathetic excuses writers gave for going. "I did it for my mum"; "I did it for my kids"; "I did it for the school"; "I did it for the people", etc. I have even heard black writers who have collected OBEs saying that it is "symbolic of how far we have come". Oh yes, I say, we've struggled so hard just to get a minute with the Queen and we are so very grateful - not.
I've never heard of a holder of the OBE openly criticising the monarchy. They are officially friends, and that's what this cool Britannia project is about. It gives OBEs to cool rock stars, successful businesswomen and blacks who would be militant in order to give the impression that it is inclusive. Then these rock stars, successful women, and ex-militants write to me with the OBE after their name as if I should be impressed. I'm not. Quite the opposite - you've been had.
...
You can't fool me, Mr Blair. You want to privatise us all; you want to send us to war. You stay silent when we need you to speak for us, preferring to be the voice of the US. You have lied to us, and you continue to lie to us, and you have poured the working-class dream of a fair, compassionate, caring society down the dirty drain of empire.
You can also read Zephaniah's poem 'Bought and Sold' by following that link, which indicates that whoever decided to offer him this 'honour' had either failed to do their research or was smoking a lot of crack.
I think this is fantastic. What's striking about Zephaniah's stance here is the ferocity of his feelings not only about Blair etc, but also about his more compromised peers. Quite right too. "No use staying on the margins, I'm going to change the system from within!" - sometimes, as indicated elsewhere within the above article, this can have a point, but all too often it's an excuse mouthed to cover up enjoying the luxuries of status while one cosies up to the establishment and slowly forgets whatever plans if any one ever had to change anything... So well done, Mr Z, for this big "FUCK YOU".
(Andrew Motion, please do the decent thing, and kill yourself.)
Benjamin Zephaniah is my new fucking hero.
Apparently the "done thing" when refusing an OBE is to do so privately, so this may well cause a bit of a row - which I'm sure he intended to do, and good on him. Righteous anger has rarely been so righteous. Zephaniah's explanation for his refusal starts, brilliantly, like this:
I woke up on the morning of November 13 wondering how the government could be overthrown and what could replace it, and then I noticed a letter from the prime minister's office...
...and just gets better from there. Here are the highlights:
I am not one of those who are obsessed with their roots, and I'm certainly not suffering from a crisis of identity; my obsession is about the future and the political rights of all people.
...
I have begged [Tony Blair] to come out and meet me; I have been longing for a conversation with him, but he won't come out, and now here he is asking me to meet him at the palace! I was there with a million people [at the anti-war demo] on February 15...
...
There are many black writers who love OBEs, it makes them feel like they have made it. When it suits them, they embrace the struggle against the ruling class and the oppression they visit upon us, but then they join the oppressors' club. They are so easily seduced into the great house of Babylon known as the palace. For them, a wonderful time is meeting the Queen and bowing before her presence.
I was shocked to see how many of my fellow writers jumped at the opportunity to go to Buckingham Palace when the Queen had her "meet the writers day" on July 9 2002, and I laughed at the pathetic excuses writers gave for going. "I did it for my mum"; "I did it for my kids"; "I did it for the school"; "I did it for the people", etc. I have even heard black writers who have collected OBEs saying that it is "symbolic of how far we have come". Oh yes, I say, we've struggled so hard just to get a minute with the Queen and we are so very grateful - not.
I've never heard of a holder of the OBE openly criticising the monarchy. They are officially friends, and that's what this cool Britannia project is about. It gives OBEs to cool rock stars, successful businesswomen and blacks who would be militant in order to give the impression that it is inclusive. Then these rock stars, successful women, and ex-militants write to me with the OBE after their name as if I should be impressed. I'm not. Quite the opposite - you've been had.
...
You can't fool me, Mr Blair. You want to privatise us all; you want to send us to war. You stay silent when we need you to speak for us, preferring to be the voice of the US. You have lied to us, and you continue to lie to us, and you have poured the working-class dream of a fair, compassionate, caring society down the dirty drain of empire.
You can also read Zephaniah's poem 'Bought and Sold' by following that link, which indicates that whoever decided to offer him this 'honour' had either failed to do their research or was smoking a lot of crack.
I think this is fantastic. What's striking about Zephaniah's stance here is the ferocity of his feelings not only about Blair etc, but also about his more compromised peers. Quite right too. "No use staying on the margins, I'm going to change the system from within!" - sometimes, as indicated elsewhere within the above article, this can have a point, but all too often it's an excuse mouthed to cover up enjoying the luxuries of status while one cosies up to the establishment and slowly forgets whatever plans if any one ever had to change anything... So well done, Mr Z, for this big "FUCK YOU".
(Andrew Motion, please do the decent thing, and kill yourself.)
