4 Mar
Michael Foot R.I.P.
There is so much that can be written about Michael Foot who died yesterday aged 92.
Few will encapsulate his humanity as well as Neil Kinnock does in the Guardian obituary.
Michael was a supreme parliamentary democrat who used his great gifts as an inspiring speaker and writer to urge peace, security, prosperity and opportunity for humanity and punishment for bigots and bullies of every kind.
His bravery and generosity were unsurpassed. He used both to ensure that the Labour party survived as a political force when self-indulgent factionalism could have doomed it to irrelevance.
He was a resolute humanist with profound faith in the ability of “free men and women using free institutions” to secure irreversible advances in standards of living and liberty for every country and community.
He was a friend to all who strove against want and injustice, an inveterate enemy of exploitation and greed. He was ferocious and funny, principled but never precious, courteous but never deferential, provocative but never vindictive, creative but never abstract. “Describe the challenges by all means,” he said, “but don’t confuse analysis with action. The one must lead to the other if it is to be useful to people.”
His passions stretched from his adored wife to Plymouth Argyle, through poets and polemicists of every romantic and rousing kind, and from Mozart to the bouncy melodies of the 1930s – although he was a lousy dancer and a truly appalling singer.
Michael gave love and earned love as few politicians do in any age. He was wonderful company, a marvellous comrade, a magnificent man, a great socialist and libertarian. The only tribute that he would want, the only memorial that would do him justice, is enduring application of his values in the cause of progress.
Let us give him that.
Amen to that.
What a shame that there are few, if any, Indonesian politicians with similar qualities.
Although my comments on this post would be definitely on topic I don't think you'd appreciate them, suffice to say we'll agree to disagree on the character and achievements of Michael Foot. I don't remotely believe that he was the fine, humanitarian, principled statesmen his obituarists are currently painting him. Let us just say that the 1983 election showed that the British people understood only too clearly what a dangerous man he really was.
No matter, Miko, but do note that he is generally mourned, which Thatcher certainly won't be.
In beating him in the general election, she ushered in a 'me' first regime, the effects of which are still sadly being felt today. It was Foot's misfortune to be in the middle of a Labour Party power struggle having been elected as leader of the Labour Party as a compromise between the far left of Tony Benn and the right wing epitomised by Denis Healey.
The election of Thatcher was not a vote against Foot per se.
(Incidentally, I voted for the Ecology Party candidate in preference to Jack Cunningham.)
He is mourned, not generally, but merely by those who supported him, precisely the same as will be the case when Margaret Thatcher dies. The only difference being that Foot's opponents have the good manners to express their dislike of the man in considered terms which will most certainly not be the case with the foam flecked, vitriolic drivel that will accompany Mrs T's passing.
As regards 1983 you're indulging in a wee bit of historical rewriting, Michael Foot was seen, rightly, as a political incompetent and a bit of an oddball who presided over a party he was unable, or more probably unwilling, to control and who stood for election with a mandate described by one of his own senior colleagues as "the longest suicide note in history".
Ultimately the buck stopped with Foot, the electorate distrusted him and his party and rejected them both resoundingly at the polls, they had very good reasons for doing so.
J; You still feel that Indonesian Politicians (any) should emulate Foot?
In many ways, yes, V.
I'm not advocating a socialist state, merely one that serves its citizens rather than its self-serving politicians.
Who is most worthy of respect – Foot or Bakrie?
I don't think that Foot's relative failure as party leader in any way diminishes his stature as a humanitarian "who strove against want and injustice, an inveterate enemy of exploitation and greed."
J: I'll be honest with you. I actually do not know too much about Foot, but you can bet your last rupiah that I would never consider giving Bakrie (Mr. Cobek.) an ounce of respect. I detest this man for what he is. Allow me then to sit on the perimeter for this one.
"Cobek" – in Indonesian meaning those with elongated chins. The bugger sure has one!
He wasn't terribly concerned about the exploitation by Socialist dictatorships of tens of millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union. Indeed his biggest idea concerning the enslavement of half of Europe by the Soviets was for Britain to unilaterally capitulate before them.
Ask the Poles or the Czechs (the sane ones) or the Hungarians or the Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians etc who did more for freedom from exploitation and liberty, Michael Foot or Margaret Thatcher, and you will find that they have a special place in hell reserved for western socialists who were happy to condemn them to rot for decades in their Soviet prison.
But then it was always easy to be a socialist when, like Micahel Foot, you lived in a very comfortable house in Hampstead.
bad math
Former Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Burhanuddin Abdullah will be conditionally released from prison on Saturday after serving his jail sentence since October 2008 for graft.
An official said Friday that Burhanuddin would be allowed to leave Sukamiskin penitentiary in Bandung after he paid Rp 200 million in fine.
“The payment was made through the Corruption Eradication Commission prior to his transfer to Sukamiskin prison,” Tony Nainggolan, chief of security guards at Sukamiskin prison, told tempointeraktif.com.
The Corruption Court sentenced Burhanuddin to five years of jail sentence at the end of October 2008 for his part in the misuse of Rp 100 billion in BI fund in 2004. In February last year the Jakarta High Court upheld the lower court’s verdict and extended his imprisonment by six months.
However, the Supreme Court reduced his jail term to three years in August 2009.
Tony said Burhanuddin would have to report to the Bandung correctional agency every mont
Saturday 6th March 2010
Thanks to Miko's recent comments, including those above, this seems to be a good place to identify with novelist Ian McEwan who describes himself as being part of the "anti-totalitarian left …. always aware of the daftness of people who thought there was anything good to be said about the Soviet Union".
Bit like Michael Foot then.
Er, except for the rather embarassing fact that Foot was in all probability a paid agent of the KGB, let me quote Charles Moore, a conservative journalist who does not "generally mourn" Foot's passing but who can still do so with decency (as I said watch out for the cranks and nutters crawling out from under the stones when Margaret Thatcher dies and we can judge which side of the debate is the more humanitarian);
"There is an honest democratic Left in this country, which rightly believes that its version of social justice is compatible with defending Britain against exterior threats. There is a hard Left which hates everything about our culture and nation and works to subvert both. And then there is a sentimental Left which, while not violent or totalitarian itself, makes endless excuses for those who are. It is full of what Lenin called “useful idiots”.
Michael Foot came in this third category. He lived to a very great age, but he never grew up. Luckily, his defects meant that let his own party split, and made this country safe with Margaret Thatcher."
Pretty much sums it up for me.
Fair enough, Miko. To each his own, eh?
(Though I always thought you were more green than blue.)
Death is the great leveller. The dead deserve our respect and condolence, be they saints or sinners. When Margaret Thatcher goes, it is what she did to our nation that I shall mourn.