There is nothing better in these times than reading the words of , the Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader, executed by the British firing squad on May 12, 1916.
The weirdest thing right now are the otherwise progressive commentators who still seriously intone that βNow is not the timeβ to criticize; that we should βstill show respectβ; or that βShe did some goodβ.
Even if all the claims about Mrs Windsorβs good works and intentions were true, itβs as if they cannot grasp the fact that the only reason any of us even know she existed and was in a position to perform all that βserviceβ is because the British royal family is an institution.
Why would we even want to forget that feudalism and colonialism ever happened and drift into Disney stories about princes and princesses?
Certainly Mrs Windsor and the people around her βmodernisedβ the monarchy.
They made it fit for contemporary capitalism by perpetuating the notion that some people are βborn leadersβ and others are not and, of course, providing fodder for celebrity distraction.
However, despite the media adulation, I donβt think the capitalist state and media will be able to carry over the reverence for Mrs Windsor to her successors.
The current outpouring and nostalgia is not entirely manufactured; itβs partly tied up with the fact she took the throne when she was young in a period coinciding with rising prosperity in the Global North, including for workers.
Iβm not sure that βKingβ Charles is going to provide much distraction from the grinding austerity of neoliberalism.