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Speaking out
Feb. 4th, 2021 03:31 pmI have just sent the following to the Bishop of London and others.
I'm writing to you to express my disappointment in how you have failed to support Jarel in the current media storm surrounding him. My social media (facebook and twitter) feeds yesterday had a number of posts yesterday which offered a critique of the hype surrounding Captain Tom. It is noticeable that the one which has resulted in its author being pilloried is the one by the queer black man. Admittedly, it was probably the most stark and blunt of the comments I saw, but the reaction it has provoked has in fact proved the point Jarel was making.
There are, it seems to me, at least three levels to the story here.
Some people may have seen Jarel's tweet who were in the first group and were genuinely hurt by it coming at a time when their grief was raw and possibly Jarel's timing was off with that. But when can we have this debate and ask these questions?
Systemic racism is part of the situation we are in and the Church of England has shown some signs of wanting to get to grips with that systemic racism and yet, here its instinct is apparently to back down and appease the right wing media. Speaking the truth to power is not popular.
As a pacifist, I've wanted to say something about the everyday militarism of calling a man who left the army immediately after the end of WWII "Captain Tom" but was aware that people would take that as a slur on the man and not engage with the wider issue. Jarel took the decision to risk making the comment about the wider narrative.
The reaction has been predictable and I've been saddened by lack of support from the diocese. What part of the Digital Charter/Social Media Guidelines did Jarel's tweet break? He's been on the receiving end of abuse but he is the one being investigated.
I should say that I know Jarel slightly in person having overlapped in Cardiff a bit and met at events such as the service outside Westminster Abbey while the military establishment met inside the Abbey to give thanks for the service of the submariners on the Trident subs. I hope that his voice will not be silenced.
I'm writing to you to express my disappointment in how you have failed to support Jarel in the current media storm surrounding him. My social media (facebook and twitter) feeds yesterday had a number of posts yesterday which offered a critique of the hype surrounding Captain Tom. It is noticeable that the one which has resulted in its author being pilloried is the one by the queer black man. Admittedly, it was probably the most stark and blunt of the comments I saw, but the reaction it has provoked has in fact proved the point Jarel was making.
There are, it seems to me, at least three levels to the story here.
- The genuine response of many people to Captain Tom and the desire to help the NHS.
- The way the story has played in the media and with the politicians (who haven't been funding the NHS or paying staff well for years). It is a nice feel good story which has been used to divert criticism from the failings in the handling of the pandemic. Where is the outrage over £2.75million a day being spent on consultants by Track and Trace?
- And the wider larger narrative of British nationalism and the legacy of empire. Because he, like most of his generation, was a war veteran, the WWII narrative came into it. But that narrative is often used to obscure questions of injustice now: we can't be the bad guys because we defeated Hitler. Yet you can have a newspaper which tells people off for not wearing a poppy call judges "the enemy of the people" for holding the government to account.
Some people may have seen Jarel's tweet who were in the first group and were genuinely hurt by it coming at a time when their grief was raw and possibly Jarel's timing was off with that. But when can we have this debate and ask these questions?
Systemic racism is part of the situation we are in and the Church of England has shown some signs of wanting to get to grips with that systemic racism and yet, here its instinct is apparently to back down and appease the right wing media. Speaking the truth to power is not popular.
As a pacifist, I've wanted to say something about the everyday militarism of calling a man who left the army immediately after the end of WWII "Captain Tom" but was aware that people would take that as a slur on the man and not engage with the wider issue. Jarel took the decision to risk making the comment about the wider narrative.
The reaction has been predictable and I've been saddened by lack of support from the diocese. What part of the Digital Charter/Social Media Guidelines did Jarel's tweet break? He's been on the receiving end of abuse but he is the one being investigated.
I should say that I know Jarel slightly in person having overlapped in Cardiff a bit and met at events such as the service outside Westminster Abbey while the military establishment met inside the Abbey to give thanks for the service of the submariners on the Trident subs. I hope that his voice will not be silenced.
