I’m taking this personally. It’s like this because I care
about all the people who are genuinely struggling in our community. The single
parent of three children who cant afford the electricity for the equipment to
keep her baby breathing, the family that have repeatedly asked me for
information about direct aid to assist with gas and electricity payments and the
hospital worker asking for a charity food distribution service to accommodate her
as she could only get there after her shift.
All of these and many more could have dearly benefited a
share of the estimated £100 million spent on the event. An event for an
individual was already in the super rich of this country who was already king.
Initially Charles Windsor had stated that he personally wished for a scaled back
event and what the country got seemed to be a coronation on amphetamines. After
all what other event focussing on the
monarchy is associated with rushed through legislative change which saw
community safety workers arrested for distributing rape alarms, journalists arrested for filming protesters, and protesters with their placards taken into
police custody early doors after weeks of negotiations with the Police.
It's been reported that Charles is profoundly grateful to
all who helped with the coronation. This is significantly at odds with his lip
read comments reported by Sky news of “We can never be on time. …This is a
negative. There’s always something…This is boring,”. Perhaps it would have been
less boring if he could have seen the protesters who were screened off from him.
Former Tory Leadership candidate and minister Tom Tugendhat has defended new laws hurriedly signed off days before the coronation. They include a 12-month prison sentence for protesters who block roads and a six-month prison sentence or unlimited fine for anyone who locks on to others, objects or buildings. Police will also be able to stop and search protesters they suspect are setting out to cause “disruption”. There has been no clarity on the guidelines to hosting a “non-disruptive protest” so the goalposts are open to movement.
And after the Coronation there is the call to action for the
Big Help out. A rallying shout to all the subjects to volunteer in their communities.
It is as always all about the money. The money on the coronation will translate
to the absence of pay for teachers, nurses and other public sector workers who’s
income after years of austerity simply hasn’t kept up with food or energy
costs. To those who work in the community and charity sector the last few years
has meant low pay and insecure employment. Again disproportionately affecting black and young workers. The coronation costs will come from
somewhere. In the same way that the coronation gems on display were stolen from
the African and Asia, the costs of it will be stolen from the mouths of our
children.
To all those who seek to represent or promote the monarchy,
this is a moment in time when you have chosen which side you are supporting. To
those partying the night away at concerts and street parties or rubbing shoulders with the great and
the good at yet another faith or interfaith focussed coronation blessings, it is
clear that you are colluding against those of us that wish to tackle
inequalities and seek to draw attention to and ensure action to address historic inequalities
and injustices. Whether this about addressing the proportion of Charles Windsor’s
net worth of £1.8 billion was accumulated through the slave trade or the massive
transfer of wealth from the Indian Sub-continent or the subjugation of the people
of Ireland, you have to choose what you care about most. That’s because it does
matter.
