In defence of Guy Fawkes – let’s take it back for the Activist Left
I’m sorry.
I like Guy Fawkes.
I do.
The joy of my younger years running around with double-happys and sparklers and moon rockets have been all but reduced to sparklers these days as we have relentlessly moved to reduce the more dangerous elements of fireworks but the idea behind Guy Fawkes is one so beautiful that I don’t want it to leave us.
Yes, I believe we should celebrate Parihaka Day as a National Holiday as was proposed by the Māori Party and has been respectfully picked up by Marama Davidson for the Greens.
It makes far more sense for us to celebrate as a national day the importance of what happened at Parihaka and it would do more to build us as a people than any other symbolism could.
And yes, I think public fireworks should be reserved for an offical Matariki celebration the way Wellington has decided.
I’m for those two ideas, BUT I do not want us to lose the rebellion that Guy Fawkes represented.
When I burn the Guy on my bonfire, I’m not burning some Catholic zealot from 400 years ago, I’m burning the 1%, I’m burning neoliberalism, I’m burning vested corporate interests, I’m burning the deep state and I’m burning the 5 Fucking eyes.
The symbolism that we the people can blow up Parliament is absolutely essential to activism in a world where thought crimes are now enough for the State surveillance apparatus to start spying on you.
Celebrate the importance of peaceful resistance with a National Parihaka Day, celebrate Matariki with public firework but I refuse to allow our symbolic celebration of outright rebellion against a corrupt Parliament to be lost.
We should as the Activist Left, take back Guy Fawkes Day and make the symbolic burning of the 1%, neoliberalism, vested corporate interests, the deep state and the 5 Eyes a fundamental part of the celebration.
In the words of V from V for Vendetta, ‘People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people”
As a nation of sheep, we need more symbolic rebellion, not less.
You can take my sparkler out of my dead cold hands.
I heartily agree!
When else can I legitimately bad mouth the Papists?
We (UK) used to make a Guy several weeks before November and try and raise funds for fireworks with the old “Penny for the Guy” routine. The better your Guy, the more money you got.
November was always cold, damp and foggy so a roaring bonfire at 7:30 pm was a welcome sight. The Guy on top, potatoes cooking in the glowing ashes and fireworks with names like Squib, Catherine Wheel, Banger, Bengal Flare, Volcano and Jumping Jack flashing and banging away and filling the air with the timeless odour of gunpowder. Sky rockets launched from empty milk bottles. Pater was the official lighter but we ankle biters were allowed to run around wiv (sorry, “with”) sparklers.
But I readily admit to being a dinosaur in an age when we should be extinct…
every busy body is very busy throwing the baby out with the bath water. al the tin pot panderers are out trying to please everybody and they have all taken their eye off the ball. I am not going to lecture anybody here on the importance of democracy and ho wit came into being. thats the job of the education system but it seems as if they are al taking the easy way out too. bring back the bang and for the right reasons.
Love the spirit of it!