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Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Remembrance or Nationalism?




Feeling somewhat overwhelmed at the out pouring of powerful emotions at this time of remembrance and, remaining deeply respectful to all the soldiers killed, wounded and missing during WW1, I’m left with some uncomfortable questions.                 

I originally wrote this piece on 12th November 2014 with a promise to follow up when the numbers were published. Now, some 6 months later here is the promised *update, situated at the end of this editorial piece. This is a substantial piece - go get coffee! x

Mindful that ‘our’ remembrance is happening in many other parts of the world, I’m reminded to bear respect for the millions of souls killed, wounded and missing in action.  Whilst the numbers are somewhat disparate (to do with different methods of counting in different countries) worldwide, this atrocious war took the lives of some 16 million soldiers and civilians with the total number of losses, injured and missing around the 30-37 million mark.  It doesn’t matter how you carve up the losses (Allied Forces or Central Powers) or even where your loyalties lie, it matters that we remember these precious terrified souls together.  It matters that we remember the service men and women, wives, children and extended families as a holistic organism.  We are all human and we all feel loss in deeply similar ways; this shared loss is what connects us and my question is “Are we merely perpetuating a Nationalistic approach in how we remember ‘our’ dead?  Did we not fight to the death to prevent this ideal from taking hold?  Is there another way to remember those dead and injured whilst also giving joy to the celebration of life?  Would you want generation after generation to mourn your passing and not know how to feel safe enough to heal and move on?

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

Tom Piper, the designer of the installation at the Tower of London recently defended his creation following comments by art critic Jonathan Jones.  Now, whilst I might find JJ a little pompous or even smug, I can see his point and my awkward question is “where does remembrance stop and marketing take over?”

When I read Tom Piper’s website, I get tones of Wow and Ping, lightly peppered with big numbers and pressurised deadlines and oh how grand we are but what’s conspicuous by its absence is his sense of sombre humility. Is what I’m missing in fact Tom’s own connection to the enormity of what he’s taken on?

Standing in front of those 888,246 dead UK soldiers and asking “Have I held you in the correct esteem with my artwork?” and “have I represented you in a meaningful way?” Would he be absolutely certain he’d done an appropriately good job?  Marketing and aesthetics aside (because as an art installation, it’s stunning), is Tom best representing those who died in horrifying circumstances?  When you commemorate the dead, surely you involve their families?  When we attend burials or cremation services, we celebrate the life of the loved one.  We may even share one or two amusing stories to connect the whole audience to that humanness; to that life.  Yes, it’s impossible to do this 888 thousand times but where are the families in our remembrance?  How are they honoured by the MOD, by the government?

Clearly I’m not the only person who is struggling with this year’s installation....... 
  
                 
                                                                                                           
The actress outlined her novel idea – which would also serve as a reminder of the brutality of the First World War – on the Andrew Marr Show (Independent.co.uk)

She said that the art installation should be “shattered and broken” to remind those who went to visit of the number of lives lost by servicemen and women fighting for Britain and the Commonwealth.

“I know there’s all this discussion about what happens to it,” she said.  I think what should happen is a tank should mow down the poppies and leave them shattered and broken like the bodies of the guys that died. “I think it would be an amazing image. It would take away any danger we have of thinking ‘Oh it’s so beautiful, isn’t it wonderful,’ and it would remind us.  “Have the beautiful thing, and then destroy it.”

The installation won’t be destroyed.  Instead 8000 volunteers will dismantle the installation on 12th November.  The weeping window and wave segments will remain on display until the end of the month and then begin a 3 year tour of the UK beginning in 2015 (and funded by The Backstage Trust, Clore Duffield Foundation and the government (via yet more LIBOR money, £500K).  The tour finally comes to rest on permanent display at the Imperial War Museums in London and Manchester.  The event organisers are 14-18 NOW.


 Show Me the Money!

Watching the coverage of the Poppy installation, I’m delighted at the potential to raise so much money for the 6 named charities.  I’m somewhat curious though about the numbers because I have cynicism around fundraising and the effect of too many hands in the ubiquitous administration ‘broth’.  I also have cynicism around governments getting involved in charity work months before a general election. Although hours of research have offered up some answers, the ‘net’ amount to be donated still evades me and any reference to its value is woolly to say the least.
My questions are.

1) Who has paid for this installation and how much did it cost?
2) Who will benefit from the funds raised from poppy sales?

I trawled through the news sheets and got conflicting answers, “monies raised in excess of £10 million” to “in excess of £15 million”.  As a gal who used to manage her own P&L, that’s a £5 million forecast slip!

Here are simpleton sums, based on the information out there.
  • 888,246 poppies have been installed
  • All poppies have sold for £25 each
  • So, 888,246 poppies x £25.00 = £22,206,150.00
  • The installation at the Tower was funded by monies raised from the LIBOR fines although I can’t find the actual cost of the installation.
  • The Chancellor also agrees to donate, in addition, the equivalent net VAT of up to £1.1 million, using some of the LIBOR fines.
  • All net proceeds to be split equally between these 6 charities:

Great, wonderful and amazing; £22m raised, less cost of installation and any ‘admin’, plus an extra 10 % (vat), divided by 6 =?  I remain cynical and curious about exactly how much money these charities will receive and will follow up when this is published.

The Crimson Moat - A Delectable Paradox?


At the end of the month, in the same spot as the Queen and other dignitaries wandered amongst a sea of ceramic poppies, the staff of London’s biggest banks and leading corporations will celebrate their festive season in a tented venue called The Pavilion.  Their Christmas festivities will be designed on a ‘Downton Abbey’ theme, allowing guests to enjoy a favourite fantasy staple; ‘upstairs downstairs’.

This ‘installation’ has to be built by the 27th of November, hence the prompt dismantlement of the poppy memorial. The HRP is after all a commercial enterprise.

Now, if I were being ironic I might observe that a century ago men from both sides of this ‘upstairs downstairs’ social divide found themselves lying among the dead of WW1. I might also observe that a century later, these same men would be remembered by a single poppy in a sea of poppies, paid for by fines levied against these bankers for interest rate fixing and dressed up as a ‘donation’. Crime paying for crimes against humanity?

I might also ask what, in the absence of one of the biggest crimes of the century, would our commemoration day have looked like without the millions in LIBOR fines available to throw at it.   


Delectable Paradox?

Within just one week of the declaration of WW1, bankers, lawyers, financiers and other city workers had arrived in their hundreds to volunteer for service.  These men would become known as "the stockbrokers' battalion". 

They had arrived in such vast throngs that they caused the recruiting office to be temporarily closed due to their overwhelming number.

These City men later called themselves the ‘Ditchers’, because they had joined up and received their training in the Tower ditch. The battalion was sent to France in July 1915, and would suffer 2,647 casualties over the next three years.


Systemically, I can’t help but marvel at this historical fact.  The bankers and stockbrokers who were the first to respond and who closed a recruiting office because of their willingness and determination to be of service, will now be the last to commemorate the dead as they revel in their Christmas celebrations in what’s left of a sea of poppies. 


*The Update

TODAY is 13th May 2015 - And I ask the question (and phrase it 6 different ways) of "what happened to the money raised from the sale of the ceramic poppies?"

The 2015 headlines available are:


And a couple of oldies from 2014
  • 30th December (2014) - Paul Cummins appointed MBE
  • 13th September 2014 - Just a third of Tower poppy cash is going to help our heroes: So who WILL be pocketing the rest? 

Can you see where this is leading yet.....??
Most of the headlines regarding the final split STILL date back to last Autumn when everyone was gesticulating and making wild guesses to get much needed press coverage.

I challenge everyone reading this blog (and if you've stayed with it to the end you are indeed a soldier of the highest order and to that end, I salute you!) to check the links and updates, do more searching and maybe add another chapter to this story.

The bottom line seems to be that the poppies raised in excess of £22 million and yet less than £7 million seems to have been confirmed as 'awarded' in the press so, the question remains.... 

What happened to all of the money raised from the Tower of London Poppy Installation?

C x



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