The Darkside of the Jubilee

‎'Royalty,' according to Bevan 'in the propaganda apparatus of society as it is', had four functions: to foster the illusion of national unity; to preserve the hierarchy of honours and titles by which representatives of the workers are subjected to the most insidious form of corruption; to supply a fertile source of diversion; and, above all, to intervene in a time of acute political crisis and exert its influence in favour of the existing social order."


My thanks to Amanda Adlem for this gem of a quote: and nothing proves its continued relevance more than the news that has broken this evening about how the Jubilee Pageant on the River Thames was staffed.

Who wouldn't want to "volunteer" for their big day?

So, while the rich and famous were feted at ceremonies and banquets to celebrate the Queen's incredible achievement of living for sixty years after her father died, the Royal Family lived fully up to what it is all about: exploitation of the weak and poor to buttress the status quo. For while it laid on a spectacle for the masses, it achieved it by using unpaid "volunteers" from a Government workfare scheme to work 14 hour shifts stewarding the crowds of sheeple as they were herded towards the sounds of trumpets and the flashing of fireworks over the Thames.

And not only did it use free labour: it also required these "volunteers" to sleep under Tower Bridge the night before with no access to toilets or washing facilities. But then, in the eyes of our rulers, the Great Unwashed probably wouldn't need such things - after all, there was always the river...

This from the Guardian newspaper:
Two jobseekers, who did not want to be identified in case they lost theirbenefits, later told the Guardian that they had to camp under London Bridge overnight, to change into security gear in public, had no access to toilets for 24 hours, and were taken to a swampy campsite outside London after working a 14-hour shift in the pouring rain on the banks of the Thames on Sunday.

So well done to the Windsors - yet again they've pulled of a taxpayer-funded fest to celebrate themselves and the social hierarchy they represent scrounging off the backs of the least well-off. All the self-congratulatory TV coverage and the smug looks of the Establishment may smother the news, but make sure the truth isn't hidden away: write to your MP and local papers, 

The full Guardian article can be found here.