Bernie Paul asks:- "How far do you want to go back in history?"We don't need to go back in history at all because although General Havelock did his deed in 1857, people like you continue to admire him as a hero even today.Only a few years ago, his statue was in Trafalgar Square. When Ken Livingstone proposed to move it, this caused an outcry among the right wing newspapers whose racist poison fills your head every day.Did you know, Bernie, that here in Southall we have a long street named "Havelock Road"? It also has a school and a family centre named after him.A few years ago, someone suggested that Havelock was no longer an appropriate name for the road and enquired about the possibility of a name change. This resulted in much screaming and gnashing of teeth from people writing to the Gazette letters page who were outraged at any suggestion that the name be altered.Rather like Bernie, General Havelock saw things in beautifully simple terms. He described his mission to defeat the Indian rebellion as a “contest between the barbarism and fanaticism of Asiatic hordes and civilised authority of Christian rulers.” His forces shot, bayoneted, hanged and disembowelled tens of thousands of Indians (many of them civilians).The Chartist Ernest Jones observed, “They (Havelock’s troops) have hit on the refined expedient of tying livings Indians to the mouths of cannon and then firing them off, blowing them to atoms…”Havelock himself boasted: “The unfortunate who fell into the hands of our troops were made short work of – Indian soldiers and villagers, it mattered not – no questions were asked. His skin was black and did not that suffice?”“A piece of rope and the branch of a tree or rifle bullet through his brain soon terminated his existence”, continued Havelock, “and for a righteous cause, the cause of justice, humanity, truth and good government in India”.Ah yes... spoken with the true logic of Bernie Paul.
Robin Taylor ● 5713d