The last few weeks have seen crowds on the streets, particularly in Britain to honour the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. We have seen events that have never occurred in most people’s lives: the death of the monarch, the mourning & funeral procedures & amidst all this, the installing of a new monarch. We have also seen people reacting in all kinds of ways. From people standing in the streets crying uncontrollably to others calling for an end to monarchy.
I have
found myself relating to many different viewpoints. I have always been a
challenger of the existence of monarchy, but also a product of my own
upbringing, raised to respect The Queen & imbued with respect for her from
the generations that came before me. The media have been reporting that many
others share these varied ideas: moving on from monarchy & loving The
Queen.
There are
complex issues to consider with monarchy, and while many have written articles
on this topic of late, I think I have some perspectives that are important to
share. I believe there are many issues that will affect our viewpoints: the age
group that we belong to is a huge one, education & nationality &
ethnicity are other issues that influence our views too.
For my parent’s
generation & those preceding it, loyalty to monarchy was generally a given.
I remember hearing stories from my parents, long before documentaries I
watched, detailing the relationship of monarchy to the people during the two
world wars of last century. Especially the stories of WWII. When London was
being bombed by (Nazi) Germany, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth &
their two children Princess Elizabeth (later Queen) & Princess Margaret,
could have left London for safer locations, but instead they stayed & would
go visiting people on the streets, comforting & giving support after nights
of bombing had reduced streets to rubble. They stood in total alliance with
Winston Churchill. For my family in New Zealand, this was their leadership
along with the Prime Minister of NZ. Britain, NZ & Australia came very
close to being invaded by (Nazi) Germany & Japan. The war was probably the
most significant event in the lives of my parents’ generation. The US entering
the war after the attack on Pearl Harbour, saved our nations from defeat &
my parents were totally clear that ‘The Yanks’ had saved the day, but the love
for The Royal Family cemented the nations & along with Mr Churchill, provided
the leadership to endure.
My parents
were a similar age to The Queen. Most of us with parents born in the 1920s have
now said good bye to our parents, so the passing of The Queen reminds us of
that generation and how most of them are now gone. But most people aged over
80, will have clear memories about what role the Royal family played in holding
the nations together as they battled the greatest threat to their democratic existence.
The Royalty
is a strange situation in a modern world.
For me, I
find royalty very interesting because they offer a portal into other times.
Living in the age we do where we can say anything we want about royalty, is a
freedom that many of our ancestors never had. Only a few centuries ago, royalty
ruled absolutely (of course they still do in a few places!), and to speak
negatively against them could see you sent to prison or executed. Not in this
time period though. I have often wondered what the Queen thought of the Sex
Pistols track of the 1980s “God save the Queen; the fascist regime”!
I have
noticed that some progressive people especially here in Australia, have used
the funeral as an opportunity to beat the drums for a republic & raise
interest in topics of colonialism. Tacky feels the best way to describe those
who have used a funeral as an opportunity to talk of ending the existence of monarchy.
Hats off to Anthony Albanese & Jacinda Ardern (AU & NZ PMs) for
sticking to standards & following protocol. Both support a shift towards
some kind of republic in time and especially of recognising the issues &
rights of first nations. They also recognise that The Queen (and now King
Charles) was/is the head of state & you respect their passing & follow
the protocols for the death of head of state. Using such a time to discuss who
should be head of state is poor taste & shows a lack of compassion to those
who are grieving. And there are millions grieving! The funeral of QEII was the
most watched televised event in history with over 4,000,000,000 viewers!
Australia has long had the idea that then when The Queen passed away, this
would be a good time to discuss the future role of the monarchy for Australia.
Some dopes must have taken the idea literally. Queen dead; lets discuss
republicanism! No! Let’s wait a while.
The idea
that all indigenous people see the monarch as a symbol of white supremacy is an
idea, and a flawed one at that. It is actually a form of racism of the other to
classify all people from a minority as being the same or thinking the same.
There will be indigenous people who saw The Queen as a symbol of British
colonialism & there will be those who loved her & are upset at her
passing. And there will be people like me who see both at the same time.
The Queen
herself was a complex person belonging to the most privileged section of
humanity, but the idea that she was the worst is more an idea than a reality.
When the Queen came to power in 1952, her thinking on different issues was more
advanced than many leaders of the time. Back in 1947 during the tour of South
Africa, white leaders insisted the King not shake hands with black people; once
the King was in other areas of southern Africa, The King was adamant that he
would. As The Queen inherited the title of monarch, independence was emerging
for most colonies and rather than resist this change, she moved into a new role
of supporting new independent countries & leaders through the development
of The Commonwealth. She was very keen to stand with African nations to oppose
apartheid in South Africa during the 1980s through CHOGM. As New Zealand
started to face up to its past in the 1980s, realising that land had been
wrongfully taken from Māori iwi, The Queen began to acknowledge that Britain
had done wrong.
I think the
relationship between Britain & Ireland is a story of how The Queen helped
to advance peace & resolution. That Ireland flew its flags at half mast
following her death is very significant. With Mountbatten being assassinated by
the IRA in 1979, it would have been understandable that The Queen would never
move towards peace, but she did. As an Irish friend put it “She listened to us
and our story, she acknowledged wrongs had happened & made it clear that
she understood & showed compassion”. That is an amazing achievement. For
her to visit Ireland in 2011, showed courage & conviction. While the ‘very
proper’ demeanour that The Queen had was all part of belonging to a ‘superior
group’, I have also come to suspect that such ways of conduct ensured a more
controlled manner making her the perfect diplomat. Rather than reacting to
events or conversations, the quiet & controlled “we are amused or not
amused” response helped to handle many situations that could have amplified.
She had the strange role to do nothing, but gently guiding the course. She had
a role of part of the elite in some ways maintaining the historical systems of
exploitation & inequality, while also moving forward with advancing ideas.
A contradiction. Political in a conservative establishment kind of way while
also advancing many issues & groups. Maybe doing it to remain valid, but
also having conviction & wisdom that many advantaged sections of the world gain
from education & opportunity. The Queen also held vast amounts of wealth,
now inherited by King Charles, wealth that was appropriated from colonies &
the work of all working-class people around the world.
Rawiri
Waititi (MP for Māori Party) used his time in speaking of the death of The
Queen to acknowledge that Royalty is connected to the historical wrongs done to
many indigenous people around the world. But he also made clear that now was
not the time to discuss a shift away from monarchy. This is the time for whanau
(family) to grieve. And in the collective sense, many people of all backgrounds
related to The Queen as family.
I watched
the funeral like billions of others, fascinated by the ceremony, realising that
this transition is one that will not be seen again, certainly not on the scale
of The Queen’s funeral.
Through the
period of mourning, it became obvious to me that older people saw The Queen as
a memory to WWII. For those of us born post WWII up until maybe 1980, we heard
stories of the war & how royalty played an important role in maintaining
morale. I think younger people do not grasp this. There is a big difference
reading articles and such compared to being told stories by your parents. It
also occurred to me that many migrant families who came to Australia since WWII
do not connect so well with the ANZAC stories of AU & NZ, so the connection
to the stories of royalty are not so understood. People who served in military
always felt that The Queen stood with them & The Queen & other royals
always attended important ceremonies.
Going
forward, it will be interesting to see what happens to the future of the
British royalty. I believe the British will maintain loyalty for a long time,
but for most of the ex-colonies, change is coming & rapidly. Australia, New
Zealand & Canada have sizeable populations of people whose ancestors came
from Britain, and this holds a connection to origins. In many other ex-colonies,
there has been great love of the royals especially The Queen, but there is also
growing awareness of how racism & exploitation by Britain has lead to a
division of wealth & opportunities. This is evidenced in many nations
realising that a white wealthy person from Britain being their head of state is
not supporting their path towards equality or true independence. Australia, New
Zealand & Canada are increasingly facing their pasts and realising that if
they are to have credibility in supporting first nations or to stand as a truly
independent nation, we can not continue with a British royal as our head of
state.
While the
issues of recognition of equality relate very much to indigenous people &
people of colour worldwide, it would be a mistake to focus on just racism &
colonialism alone. The wealth disparity world wide effects all of us. This
discussion of wealth redistribution has largely been lacking from royals to
date, but people are talking about it now. There was a loyalty to The Queen
because of her age & the time that she belonged to. King Charles will not
find the same situation, but to be fair to him, he has been discussing issues
of poverty & exploitation especially in recent years. 68,000,000,000 British Pounds has
passed to him from The Queen as he becomes the new monarch. How this wealth is
to be handled or shared will be a topic of concern to many ex-colonies, especially
the poorest ones.
The
existence of capitalism is an opposite to the cultures & practices of most
indigenous cultures. The development of capitalism emerged with the
exploitation & pillage of different groups, starting with Scotland &
Ireland and extending to half the world through colonisation. The story of
racism & colonisation is so tied in to this development of capitalism.
Efforts can be better made to address the basics and ensure all people have
basic minimum standards. But to break through the economic divisions created
through this history, we can only have so much success with a system that
exploits so others can gain. In moving towards genuine respect for all other
people, especially first nations, we cannot ignore the fact that capitalism is
about individualism which is the opposite to most original cultures.
Māori
leaders pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth | RNZ News
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