THE DEMAGOGUES

  Of course the true goal of all demagogues is ‘Absolute Power’.  Many have tried it. Most fail. But a few succeed, at least temporarily, but the cost is always paid in the blood of the innocents.  The Muslim, the Jew, the Disabled, the Romany, the Immigrant, the Other.

This is the only path to power for ‘The Demagogue’, for in civil times they are naturally abhorrent to all decent people everywhere.   Thus do they choose their moment to demonise ‘The Other’, to rouse the rabble to their cause and, with a heady blend of concocted fears, they instil cowardice into the hearts of the masses.  First to fall under their authority is the poor, for demagogues always recruit those who are economically weak first.  The poor are ever vulnerable to poisonous words, to the slander and defamation of ‘The Other’. Everybody needs somebody to blame?

And it is always the same set of fears that these malcontents use to gain standing in our communities, for the hearts of men do not change with the passage of time.  Men fear difference, the fear of skin colour is real, as is the fear of sexual orientation, the fear of privation, the fear the Jew, the socialist, the Muslim, ‘The Swarm’.

This vile demagoguery always targets those who are without voice, and sadly it is always the poor of a nation who succumb first to this hate filled propaganda, for none are so fearful as the poor.  But be not confused.  The middle classes, and the wealthy are not immune to this brand of ‘hate speech’ and alas, the more this inciter of hate, the provocateurs of false-odium are allowed to go unchallenged, the more hearts he or she infects with their poison, and the more they are championed, until at last a nation is swayed, then is the fear of the undefined darkness unleashed.

The ‘Fear of the undefined’ is the Demagogue’s primary pathway to success.  ‘Undefined Terror’ is the best recruiter for Fascists, and it always works.  It is and always has been, the preferred choice of the truly successful Demagogue, at least in the very beginning of their climb to power.

So what is their path?  Well firstly they promote some nebulous threat that never quite materialises.  Then, every the opportunists, they latch on to some random event, some unexpected tragedy and yell, “See, I told you!”  But it is never real – not by any empirical measure that any sane man could employ to calculate the truth of their claims... which is of course why their poison works so well.

‘Un-defined Terror’ is the beginning.  It is the perfect tool which can transmogrify their grotesque posturing into faux reality.  It alters to their need anything untowards, any random happenstance, for any shock can adapted to suit their requirement.  If they are too specific too early, their messianic call to arms falls by the wayside, as sane and civil men can easily see through their bullshit, just as men saw through Enoch Powell’s vile rhetoric to leave him in disgrace.

No - the truly successful Demagogue will never clearly articulate the exact measure of the supposed threat to those they are trying to recruit, to a public already stretched by economic circumstance.

Instead this vague threat, this shadowy terror that lurks just beyond the borders of our reality, waiting to pounce on our unsuspecting children; to ravage our wives, to take our jobs, to steal our homes, to spill our life’s-blood upon the pavement of an already broken society, matches our collective desire to blame somebody for our woes and God knows, this engineered blame is never allowed to fall upon the head of those who are the real cause of all our troubles.  That is not the Demagogues goal at all.  Indeed to awaken the masses to the real threat to their economic tribulations, their physical survival, is directly counter to the needs of the demagogue, for such would tear down the Establishment’s apathy to the real threat the Demagogue poses.  No – that comes later when the Demagogue is well and truly established in the hearts and minds of the people.  Only then do they let loose their own brand of terror upon the world.

Hitler did not gain power by saying from the start... “Let’s kill all Jews”.

No - Hitler gained power piecemeal, in careful incremental steps.  From the very beginning he was an abhorrent failure; right up until the moment he wasn’t, and by then it was too late.  By the time the Establishment truly understood what he was, the die was cast, and whatever capacity they once possessed to destroy this demon was gone.  And even then the Nazi’s did not go immediately to the extremes of mass murder.  Instead they took their time, removing one small human right at a time.  One small measure of human dignity removed from one small section of society at a time.  And upon this ill-defined ‘Other’ who always lurked in the shadows ready to wreck a ruin upon the nation, they burned the world

“When Listening To Liars Expect To Hear Lies.”

Today you see similar horse manure being spouted every day by Right-Wing extremists (Fascists) in every country, on every news channel.  And bit by bit our government of Fascists remove your human rights to complain, to protest, to challenge their perfidy.  They do it piecemeal, wearing a nice Gucci suit as they gurn mindlessly for the TV cameras, promising to stamp down on anti-social behaviour; to stop the invasion of so called illegal immigrants.  They promise us a Golden Future, but it is a future built upon human suffering and bullshit, and you my friends are the fodder upon which they feed.

You see this bullshit in the extremes of Vladimir Putin’s brand of Gangsterism today in Ukraine and Russia, and with his agents here in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, aided and abetted by an establishment too stupid, too servile, too corrupt, too greedy to see what he and his servants really are, and the existential threat they truly pose to Decency, Democracy, and Peace.

Your true enemy is not The Poor.

Your true enemy is not The Immigrant.

Your true enemy is not The Jew.

Your true enemy is not The Muslim.

Your true enemy is the Demagogue. The Nigel Farage’s of this world, the Tufton Street Pillaging  Club, the super rich who shit on you from their ivory towers whilst commanding their lackeys to torment you in their rancid newspapers.  Your enemy are those who scream about their patriotism and their love of God, but care not to follow his commands to ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.

These people are Fascists.  They are Post-Modern Nazi’s who slander fellow citizens who dare to give voice to wanting a nation of kindness and tolerance, love and humility, compassion and courage.

Our fathers taught us what to do with Fascists. It is way past time to learn the lesson they handed down to us...

Perfidious Albion

 

Boris Johnson waffled,

his way to Number 10.

But once he’d arrived,

he bumbled and bungled,

coz he’d not a single ken!

 

He watched as Britain burned.

He fiddled like Nero of old.

And all the waffle and cavil,

could not resurrect the dead

he had spurned!

 

His repudiations of improbity were lies,

wrapped up in a web of deceit.

Ten centuries of courage he’s wasted,

Britain a joke on international retreat.

Embers Of War.

I could easily write herein that “Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War is an excellent book," and "that I strongly urge that you should read it!” and that would be an accurate if somewhat short summation of my feelings about the novel.  However, such short-hand recommendation would not be doing justice to either the book or Mr Powell – and so - without giving any plot lines away, I shall attempt to give you some better reasons to part with your hard earned money and purchase this extraordinary novel.

Firstly - the book.

‘Embers of War’ is a thoroughly modern book, and that is an important distinction.  Too many contemporary sci-fi authors are stuck in the past; which is kind of ironic, considering most of the stories they write are set way, way in the future.

By this I mean, I read a lot of books, and in my own personal opinion, too many authors these days follow a rut in the road, up an ever steepening gradient, laid down by those golden authors of Sci-Fi such as Asimov, Clarke, and Aldiss.

This is not a bad thing, and is no criticism you understand.  I myself, having had practically no formal schooling worth a damn; am often asked – “But how then did you learn to write books?” and I always reply with the simple truth of - “By learning from the best!”  As an autodidactic this has always worked for me, but I recognise the trap of predictability one can fall into when writing, and all too often when reading a new novel I find that I can already guess the plotline well before I get to the meat of the story, (mainly because somebody – usually one of the abovementioned smartarses – has already been there and done that).  ‘Embers of War’ does not possess this failing!

For certain there are a few familiar Sci-Fi tropes contained within its pages.  The laws of physics for example, do not give a hoot about an author’s artistic narrative, and these laws must be gotten around with believability for the reader, or the story collapses, becomes just another nickel and dime novel that you can throw away without compunction.

What Gareth L. Powell does, and very cleverly too I might add; is to take the greatest limitation of the Laws of Physics when writing a space opera, ‘the speed of light’, and turn it into a major part of the plot.

I won’t go into detail here; I do not want to spoil your surprise.  But you only get a real sense of the power of this intrigue in the second novel (which I am currently devouring) and that in this writer’s experience is new.

The first novel ‘Embers of War’ could stand alone - and does, even if you never progressed to book two, you would be satisfied.  But within its cleverly crafted pages, the story sets out a plot which is only ever hinted at, but never explored; even whilst it pursues its current story with thrilling vigour, leaving us thirsting for more.  It is a desert in need of hydration and, as I am currently discovering, it is a thirst quickly quenched as book two's plot thrusts you straight into the meat of the story, with something akin to savagery.

What is particularly fun in ‘Embers of War’ (for me that is,) is it that Mr Powell has mastered something so many current author’s fail at - the art of dialogue.

Too often I find characters in modern (and some classic) novels to be stilted in their language, their interactions with others trite or too explanative.  It is as though some authors imagine the reader to be too dense to understand, that not every single thing needs to be spelled out.  John Steinbeck was a master of this, as was Raymond Chandler.

Mr Powell too avoids these traps with easy grace, and a subtle humour.  His writing style reminds me greatly of one of my all time favourite authors, the late Julian May - who sadly passed in 2017; but that is opinion only.  What I can say for certain, what is not opinion, is that Gareth L. Powell is a great writer, far better than I, and somebody as an autodidactic I in turn will be learning from.

His prose is easy and loose, yet he olds tight to his story.  There is a steady feel of accomplishment to the work that sucks you in.  I am particularly pleased by the fact that unlike some, he is not afraid to say the word “Fuck,” when the story calls for it, but never over does the expletives for the sake of shock.

If I had to give ‘Embers of War’ a mark out of ten – and I suppose I really must – I would have to give the novel a 9.5 out of 10.  The remaining 0.5 of a mark I withhold, simply because the clever bastard might get big headed if I gave it the TEN it deserves.

Oh by the way –

"Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War is an excellent book, and I strongly urge you to read it!”

"THE HARDEST ROCK"

(a lament)

In Azovstal, Kalyna stands,

alongside his fallen comrades.

Yet unbowed, unbroken,

and faithful to his duty,

he remains until relieved.

For his is a heart

made out of the

purest Ukranium,

and upon this rock

the lifeblood of

Russia will crash,

and the white stork

will soar once more

across these fertile lands!

For all the heroes of Azovstal.

Sniping in the Donbas

Sniper in the eternal night

you hunt your prey

and avoid the light.

Ready to fight

in any Oblast,

you squeeze your finger

and an Orc is past.

Sniper in the eternal night,

please end a Russian's

will to fight.

The Heroes of Snake Island.

 

The amount of personal fear people are trying to disguise (with what they deem sensible arguments) for us ‘not fighting Vladimir Putin's Barbarians’ is understandable, but it is wrongheaded.

"We are all going to die."

The 'when & what' that kills us does not really matter; all that matters when the time comes, is the 'why and how' we face that moment!

Now some – perhaps many, will dismiss this idea as silly rhetoric, and that's okay, I don’t hold it against you, it's just fear talking.  Fortunately, most of you have never faced imminent violent death, nor willingly and deliberately put yourself on the line for anything, after all - that's what you have us warriors for isn’t it?  But sometimes the choice for war comes to your doorstep, unbidden, forced upon you by madmen and their almost inhuman wickedness.

This is one of those times!

"VLADIMIR PUTIN WILL NOT STOP UNLESS WE STOP HIM."

The sooner we do, the sooner we in the West stand and draw a proverbial line in the sand – and importantly - 'give Putin an out' - the less likely it is he goes nuclear – (or is allowed to by his Generals who remember - all want to survive).

In combat or when facing down evil, you know that not everybody will come out of it unscathed, or even survive.  But you fight anyway and take your chances; not because you want to be a hero, or for some idealised notion of honour - but because to do otherwise invites disaster for your tribe.

The Ukrainian soldiers on Snake Island understood that, and the whole of Ukraine, both civilians and soldiers alike - have learned that!  For them this is a war of survival, a war about their right to exist at all.

Nothing is certain, but our fate is our own, it is not predetermined.  We in the West can choose to run and hide or - like our fathers before us - we can challenge this Fascist who rapes women, who with wonton abandon murders children, destroys cities, who vanishes whole communities to his death camps in Siberia.  A future under the dominion of such a man, under such an empire of evil, is not worth the living.

Our fathers fought Hitler's evil not knowing they would win.  Not knowing they would survive.  How can we ever hope to face their shade if we do not do the same as they, now that it is our time to fight?

This is not rhetoric; it is simple self preservation logic. 

Had Britain and France acted after Guernica in 1937, actively opposed Hitler’s ambitions and stamped down hard on Franco’s cruelty, World War 2, might never have happened.  Our inaction then saw 66 million people die later.  This war in Ukraine is no different. 

Vladimir Putin will not stop unless we stop him, and the longer we wait the more convinced he becomes that we are too weak, too self-indulgent to oppose his villainy.  Already his voice boxes are daily calling for a purging of Europe and a literal destruction of the UK.  How long before our Leaders take his word for it, how long before they believe him?

This war in Ukraine is not some localised conflict which does not, will not affect us here in the West.  Ukraine’s harvest feeds over half of us.  Do you seriously believe Vladimir Putin, whose own people go hungry because of his greed and mismanagement, cares one hoot about ensuring we are fed, when he needs to secure food for his own people before they turn on him en-mass?

This is not a localised war that we are not involved in, the consequence of which will leave us untouched. This is the Anschluss.  This is the annexation of the Sudetenland, the annexation of Bohemia, the annexation of the Czechoslovak Republic all rolled into one.  This is a re-enactment of ‘The Phoney War’ (unless you live in Ukraine where it is all too real), that moment that exists between Peacetime and all out Terror, and we are all of us - LIVING IN THAT MOMENT.

World War 3 has already begun, and too many of our Leaders are making all the same mistakes as Chamberlin.  If we stand by and refuse to fight – to oppose the Fascists with all we have as we did after Guernica, the same outcome will befall the world now as it did then. Not everybody is fated to survive the war –but that is the choice that lays before us - and the Heroes of Snake Island knew that.

"Go tell to Sparta, thou who passest by, that here, obedient to her laws, we lie."

The Dnieper Defence.

 

Across the golden fields

Of corn and wheat and rye,

Where the Dnieper runs eternally:

Comes a Ukrainian battle cry.

 

“Remember Bucha my brothers,

Let our legions unleash their wrath,

for all of our lost mother’s

in whose blood the Orcs have washed.”

 

And down in destroyed Mariupol

The Azov, they make their final stand,

Whilst the Russian Orcs rape Ukrainian women,

And torment the very land.

 

They burned a city and rejoiced

In their bleak and blackened hearts,

As NATO watched silently

Afraid to do its part?

 

Blood flows in the Dnieper now,

Turning its blue waters into red,

And all the heroes of Ukraine

Silently bow their head.

 

But soon they will rise, and Putin fall

And their flag will once again fly,

Across all Ukraine’s golden fields

Of corn, and wheat, and rye!

ZELENSKYY

This is a Husband

This is a Man,

a Patriot, a Believer,

a Soldier who Stands.

 

This is a Hero,

Who refuses to run,

He prefers kind words

but will carry a gun.

 

This is what Love is,

through sorrow

and pain, and with him

as their Leader, Ukraine will rise

once again! 

BUCHA

 

The streets of Bucha

echo now, to the caw of

carrion crow,

and the dead lie

in the gutters,

Russia's liberation

so we're told...

"is a de-Nazification"

carried out by

Putin's brand of the SS,

wearing Neo-Nazi logo's,

across their soulless

Nazi Chests.

THE WORMS INSIDE NADINE DORRIES’ SKULL.

 

This fool, this blockhead,

this halfwit dimmed.

This dunderheaded misanthrope

whose mind is full of sin.

 

This clodpoll, this nincompoop,

this schlemiel, this useless prat,

should surely sit in a corner

and wear the dunces hat.

 

This fathead, this cretin,

this clown, a disgusting liar too.

This ignoramus, this pilgarlic,

An object of ridicule!

THE LIAR

 

Like a lie within in a falsehood

like a con within a scam,

he spins his blatant untruths

directly live to cam.

 

They never end, and

have no beginning,

but they make your

head spin round.

 

This bottled blondes falsehoods,

turn reality all round,

making what we universally

called up, and framing it as down.

 

And his pet reporters gurn with him,

letting the shyster off the hook,

because truth is past irrelevant

to those who don’t give a fuck!