I read an interesting Stratfor piece the other day about Moldova. Some of you may have difficulty in locating Moldova on a globe, but what is happening there is of interest to me because a large percentage of the counterfeit cigarettes that are sold in Romania – and shipped to the rest of the EU – are made there. A link to the article, – a general piece, not about cigarette smuggling – is below, if you might be interested.)
One sentence from the article stuck in my mind:
“There are nations that lack a state, like the Kurds. Moldova is a state that lacks a nation.”
The author explains why he thinks this is so for Moldova and it seems to me that one could almost say the same about England at the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. I say almost, because it seems to me that public policy over the last decade and a bit has been aimed at producing such a result.
Consider. A large, disaffected, minority group, different to the majority in ethnicity, culture, language, religion and social and cultural values has been artificially created in the national territory by mass immigration. (About which, btw, the majority were not consulted.)
The majority culture and social value system has been systematically denigrated and suppressed by statutory laws imposed on the majority population and discriminatory in favour of the imported minority.
The history of the majority, as taught in our schools and presented in the programmes of our national state broadcaster has been revised, de-constructed and dumbed-down to the extent that the majority of the population seem to think that, for example, Magna Carta is an Italian alcopop, the Spanish Armada are travelling football fans and Winston Churchill is a dog that advertises insurance on the idiot box.
The purpose of our schools has been altered from the education of our children to the social engineering of the ‘correct’ attitudes of the time while the principal of equality of opportunity has been abandoned in the vain pursuit of equality of outcome.
The enlightened parsimony of the Parliament has been abandoned in favour of the idea of a limitless supply of (non-existant, of course,) ‘government money.’
The Civil Service has been transformed into a vast bureaucracy, the aim of which is to extend its reach ever further into the lives of the people who, in theory, it is supposed to serve. (Read Richard Booker’s piece on forced adoption.) The national bureaucracy is, to an extent, accountable to elected representatives, but the powers of the national bureaucracy extend to a supra-national body which is, at bottom, accountable to nobody. (Spare me from learned discourse on the European parliament. Look, carefully, at the documented extent of its powers.) To paraphrase that French general with the big nose, (Quelle conque 🙂 ) “L’etat c’est eux”
Add all of this up and what is the result? I suggest that it is the England of today where the state has replaced the nation, where subjugation to official diktat has replaced the protection of the law, where the notion that, if not expressly forbidden it is clearly allowed has been replaced by the notion that if permission is not first obtained, then it is forbidden.
The England where taxes are extorted and then wasted on currently fashionable political chimerae and where public services are managed for the convenience of the organisation, rather than for the efficient provision of service.
The England where subjects of Her Majesty are turned into criminals by proliferating statute laws, (which are not, btw, compulsory – they are contracts and can be refused,) and harried by an army of inspectors, co-ordinators and other officials armed with powers that exceed those of the Police.
In this England, the populace is socially disarmed, deliberately confused and reduced to the status of subjection to the whims of the state and its officials. The idea of the Nation and its culture is repressed in favour of the idea of the state and its many cultures, or none. The result is what you see around you: a mostly unaccountable elite, (including those private citizens who garner advantage to themselves from the system,) an oppressed middle class who provide the funding that keeps the system going – and who could, if only they had the leadership, do something about the mess they find themselves in, (a TEA Party UK?) – and a lumpen underclass kept in their place by the 21st Century equivalent of panem et circences.
Where do you go when you give up?
Geopolitical Journey, Part 4: Moldova is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
PS. I write here of ‘England.’ No disrespect is meant to my compatriots in the other parts of this, (still, just,) United Kingdom. I have never lived in either Scotland or Wales, so am not qualified to comment on what the effects of what I have written might be in those parts of the kingdom. I have lived in Northern Ireland but conditions there are, (duh,) somewhat different.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Seems about right.
Horribly accurate, Bravo.
Afrikaners who have been in Africa for 450 years and who certainly are not Dutch or even European, are a nation without a state. In general all white Africans are stateless just as the Jews were until 1947-9 and the Palestinians are now. Actually, if you think about it, there are a whole host of nations who do not govern the state in which they live; South and North American Indians, Australian Aborigines, numerous African tribes, Tibetans… I think the concept of nationhood and statehood going hand in hand is likely to disappear unless there is major shift away from globalization which will probably only come about as a result of global conflict or some other catastrophe. Nativism cannot survive in the modern world. Even America is becoming multi-lingual.
By the way I believe it was Le ‘Roi du soleil’ qui a dit “l’etat c’est moi”, pas le général avec le nez gros .
Your post seems to me sadly accurate, Bravo. One piece of good news regarding education appeared in today’s Sunday Times. There is a movement trying to get state schools to teach Latin again.
Sipu, you’re correct. It was Louis XIV, le roi soleil, who said that. Of course in his day that was a fact.
Civis Britannicus sum. A proud boast, even today.
Pretty grim when we have to rely on a catastrophe to save us! (#3)
I suppose it’s a perception Bravo, and yes, it does have some sort of validity.
Nice rant; it is not of course entirely true but so what? The English are their own harshest critics, but those who choose to live elsewhere are probably close.
It is understandable, of course.
Araminta, the sardonic, world-weary, smarter-than-thou-‘cos-I-read-the-Grauniad, oh-so-sophisticated barbs are wearing thin. If you want to argue an alternative, pray do so, if not, bugger off and wind Brendano and Daffy up some more, they are too imperceptive to catch on.
Blimey, Bravo, why on earth should I argue an alternative? I live it every day!
I live here, remember, and I repeat, some of your views have some validity, but as I have said many times, life goes on very much as normal in the leafy shires and in many market towns and villages throughout England.
Despite the best efforts of the last Socialist governments, there are some good state schools in this area, no immigrant problems and not much unemployment.
They were not re-elected and the present government are starting hopefully to rid us of the worse of the welfare state dependency culture and some of the more idiotic legislation, and etc.
I am a trifle weary of being told what life is like in my own country; I have some rather unpleasant relatives who play that game, having left the country some seven years ago, they are continually and smugly forever crowing about how wonderful it is in Spain and how lucky they are not to have to live England. They have shut up recently though; they want to come back but can’t afford to, but they come here for Christmas, shopping, and to escape the “dreadful” heat of the Spanish Summer!
Anyway, I am perfectly happy to refrain from commenting on your posts, if you so wish, Bravo.
You just need to ask politely. 😉
Araminta, I do not live abroad permanently – I work where the contracts are. I visit regularly and I have a contract in England starting next Feruary. I will also be living in the leafy shires. because you are fortunate enough to live in an area where there are none of the problems that affect the less fortunate does not mean that those problems do not exist – as you are gracious enough to note.
You should consider how long your good fortune might continue should the problems mentioned here not be addressed.
Comment where you will – but spare me the coy and/or artful little digs which prompted my sharp rejoinder; you can do much better.
Oooh, touchy, Bravo. Are we approaching a ‘game, set and match’ moment, one wonders?
Arrers, I do agree with your assessment. My daughters all live in the real England, none have silver spoons and all work hard to ensure that Britain thrives.
Bravo.
“but spare me the coy and/or artful little digs”.
There were none, Bravo, except perhaps in your imagination! It was a short comment and your response was a bit OTT, in my opinion, but no matter.
I honestly hope that the problems will be addressed but we shall see.
Thanks, Janus.
As do my daughters, and so far, they are thriving, settling down, buying houses and etc.