If a generation which experienced post-war austerity, the Cold War, Thatcher’s assault on working communities, racism, hyper-inflation, banking collapse, pandemic and Brexit thinks things are bad today, they must be. We Baby Boomers, despite this catalogue, have had it good compared to what we are going to bequeath to our children and grandchildren, so perhaps craving better times might be forgiven, But making a nation great again? Is that worth thinking about? What does “great” even mean?
When was America great?
There is serious policy and there is meaningless sloganeering. Across the Atlantic, the “MAGA” slogan launched on a baseball cap is chanted as though from tablets of stone, summing up the vacuity of politics today. What is or was greatness anyway? Is it supposed to refer to military power, wealth, creativity, geographical reach? When was America Great? Anyone trying to answer seriously would have to temper nation-building greatness with the genocide of the indigenous population; economic success with black slavery and discrimination.
The ending of the Soviet threat during a domestic boom would have to be a strong candidate but Reagan, the tariff-hater, was President – anathema in Trump’s world view. Similarly, some of America’s great contributions to the world has been in the Arts: Cinema; TV; Jazz, all surely “woke” to Trump. One doubts if Trump has any idea of what his own slogan means. America has a great story but it is not untarnished and cannot simply be re-created in a highly changed world.
When was Great Britain great?
What about Great Britain, where the slogan has been “borrowed” and modified by Trumpian sycophants? Not being troubled by facts, backward-looking to glory days is a favourite of UK’s far-Right non-historians. Britain’s epithet has nothing to do with its status or success but was initially used by Norman conquerors to differentiate it from Britanny, subsequently morphing into naming the State encapsulating its various nations and islands. As with America, our story can sound great if you omit the downsides.
Victoria as Empress ruled some 20% of the geographical world and 25% of its population, which I guess is pretty great if you admire empires. How it achieved this is perhaps less worth celebrating, when, like the USA, its wealth was won on the backs and bodies of millions of slaves and subjected peoples. Do great military victories like Waterloo and Trafalgar represent national greatness? Perhaps so, according to the way history has long been taught but lets not forget the truism that to engage in war is a failure.
True greatness?
Perhaps our greatest period as a nation was indeed the Baby Boomer years, between 1945 and 2008, when the needs of an increasingly diverse citizenry were attended to in peace and prosperity. This is presumably not, though, the greatness trumpeted by jingoists and racists, including as it did Windrush, Ugandan Asian, and Bengali arrivals and the growth of multi-ethnicity.
Surely the people of any nation would prefer it to be a great place for children to grow up safely, families to thrive, people to develop their talents. Surely greatness does not include interfering in others’ affairs nor belittling others less fortunate? Flying a flag steeped in inhumanity is no sign of understanding or meriting greatness, rather being evidence of simplistic nationalism of the worst kind. This is clearly a betrayal of all those who fought to defend it.
Do not give up hope
Many would agree, reflected in the many messages sent in letters and Christmas cards from friends, mentioning a world “divided, extreme and uncompromising”. A world where the “negative rhetoric against refugees and asylum seekers is prevalent both nationally and locally”, combined with the lack of “leaders of any calibre” from any political party.
There is a genuine need for change for a better future but not a return to an imaginary past. If we cannot see where that change is to come from, we have to find new leaders who truly see and know how to build a better future and follow them rather than self-seeking charlatans whose idea of greatness resides in their own egos and bank accounts. In the words of yet another message, “Its an awful world but I never give up hope.” Let us not give up hope.
Happy New Year.
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