Remembrance Sunday in Bradford
On November 11th at 11 am around the UK, and indeed the world, people use the timing of the Armistice that ended the Great War to remember the fallen and to express the wish for peace.
That Saturday/Sunday I was a guest of C Squadron Bradford 212 Field Hospital Volunteers. My friend Craig (Corporal) Skinner aka “Skinbob” is a member of the Squadron. So I joined them for a curry and pub night before, then on the Sunday inspection and marching before taking part in the Remembrance Parade. And curry afterwards at the Territorial Army centre. Then a curry with Skinbob and some pubs in the evening. If the impression you get is that in England we eat a lot of curries you would be right – the dish is more popular than fish and chips.
The pub that the Squadron went to the night before had Roy Bailey in the basement doing a sing song. In a way I wondered if down there it was a remembrance for socialism, or an attempt to flicker the embers. Dotted around the pub were leaflets for a white poppy ceremony. Needless to say we would not be attending.
He came up our way and I recognised him and shook his hand. I may not agree with his politics, but I agree with many of his criticisms of Labour foreign policy and respected his decision to return his MBE that he was awarded for folk music. Reminded me of people returning their honorary music degrees to my old university for closing down the music department. A gesture that would not make a difference but still made a point.
The Remembrance Sunday service itself was – as you can imagine – very religious. Very is not the word; the whole thing was. About the only thing as a non-believer I could participate in without being a hypocrite was when saying “We will remember them”. The multi faith address for peace, god help the elected representatives was an attempt to show unity but listening revealed otherwise. Especially when the Islamic cleric called for us all to die as believers. There also seemed a bit of confusion with the speakers as to whether there was one community of Bradford, many communities that made up Bradford, or a wish to become one community that embraced one another.
Bradford has had it’s share of confusion and rioting. What can they do when communities mistrust one another and live socially segregated from one another? Religion poisons everything and we have to try and look beyond doctrines and embrace our common humanity. We believed that multiculturalism (that of living separately in a city) would lead to social stability. That has not worked – instead we need to break down the barriers. There will be people on all sides resentful and many will invoke religion and tradition to stop it – we must not let these voices of separation and hate win. Look around the world to see how the separation never removes the hate and mistrust which waits for a time to boil over.
Had a really good time with 212 C Squadron and would like to thank them all for their hospitality. Hope to see you all soon.
More pics on myspace.
