"Gentlemanly" warfare. Flickr/Frans de Wit. Some rights reserved.
Last year’s commemorations of the First World War were largely predictable. Politicians “coming together” to honour the sacrifices of those who fought; misrepresentation of the war’s causes; dissenting voices disgusted by the sanitisation of history; even a petty dispute over which party leaders could add a personal message to their wreaths.
There is scarcely anything more political than a nation remembering war. For those in power, commemoration is an opportunity to obscure divisions like class and gender beneath a narrative of unity, to valorise history’s “Great (white) Men”, and to remind citizens of the need to remain vigilant and fearful in the face of lingering threats to their democracy and liberty. The pageantry and mythology also distracts us from the very real and current links between weapons manufacturers, elected representatives and public institutions – which have long historical lineages. As Paul Rogers powerfully wrote, we see the spectacular poppy display, but not the war-makers who stand behind it.
