I take no joy in writing this particular blog post. Unlike my previous posts I have a degree of sympathy and an affinity with the politics of the party this man represents. Even taking this into account, I cannot find it within myself to not criticise the man for his foolishness. His foolishness in believing that taking to social media to share his strong views on the British Soldiers on Armed Forces Day was anything other than harmful to his party. Having spent much of this spring/summer lamenting the overwhelming amount of air time the four big British right-wing parties were getting on the BBC in the run up to and after the European elections, all whilst the Green Party were being ignored, I was hoping for some publicity for real and sensible politics. Then out of the blue came publicity, gained through an ill-thought-out tweet that was sent off into the melting pot of fury and indignation that is the internet. What a fucking idiot!
Don't mistake this posts as condemnation of his opinion, I really do feel for Ben Duncan, he was only expressing his views which also happen to be the views of many within this country. What I am criticising is the very public arena they were expressed in, coupled with the timing, and the lack of consideration given to the nature of the arena to which he felt the desire to release them into. For those who have perhaps missed the tweet he wrote "Armed Forces Day has certainly brought the hired killers onto the streets of #Brighton today", I find that hard to agree with. What are soldiers, sailors, marines and bomber or fighter pilots if not hired killers? They are after-all hired by the British government to kill the real or increasingly fictional enemies of the nation.
More importantly, I believe they were an ill-timed and poorly worded comment on the other parties use of the armed forces. Whilst it may be true that the soldiers are hired killers, it is not them as individuals that authorise this killing, they are primarily designated as a defence force. A force designed to defend this sovereignty of the British nation but increasingly being used aggressively in what could be described as US/UK petro-imperialism. This I feel is given weight beyond my own interpretation of what his tweet said by the Green Parties stance on the armed forces. In their manifesto which hasn't been amended since 2008 and viewable here, the Green Party's policy on defence expresses the belief that ""Defence" is the protection of homeland against attack and does not justify pre-emptive strikes against nations and organisations. Military intervention for peacekeeping or conflict prevention cannot be justified unilaterally. It is irrational and immoral to continue activities that exacerbate threats to international and local security". This seems like a perfectly reasonable manifesto point and one that looks (at least on the face of it) to support what Ben Duncan had tweeted in a moronic manner. I admit I could be completely wrong and he really could have been having a dig at the servicemen, but I am not convinced that is what he had intended to do.
Either way this was an idiotically timed comment from a representative of a party which has been struggling to gain a proportional amount of air time (particularly referring to the pre-euro election political broadcasts) on the BBC and in other media outlets when compared to their popularity. They are simply ignored, unless something negative happens (thanks Ben!) or the media can put a 'loony left' spin on things. I mean it was Armed Forces Day mate, a day that celebrates the veterans of justifiable wars alongside those who have served in our imperialistic conflicts. You just cannot be that insensitive and get away with it, not in the public spotlight and especially as someone in the public spotlight when you lack basic internet common sense.
There has been an apology and he has today been 'removed' from the party but I fear the damage has already been done.
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