Caution: rationalisation in progress.
My politics comes from Marxism and feminism; it’s republican, it’s gay and it’s green… The survival of an honours system clothed in royalism and imperialism is a reproach to New Labour’s craven sentiment about pomp and power… That creates a contradiction in moments like this… You ask yourself the question: how can I accept anything from this horrible imperial regime?
Why, it’s former Communist Party member and all-purpose agitated person, Beatrix Campbell. Sorry, Beatrix Campbell, OBE.
"Being conferred a Queen's honour means my country needs me – a republican with politics rooted in Marxism and feminism"
If that ego falls on her, she's a goner.
Posted by: James S | June 17, 2009 at 14:05
Egalitarian self-regard. It’s a wonderful thing to behold.
Posted by: David | June 17, 2009 at 14:08
What, she couldn't even pull a Zephaniah?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/nov/27/poetry.monarchy
Posted by: Anna | June 17, 2009 at 14:24
After her sterling work in uncovering assorted satanic child abuse conspiracies she deserves to made Queen. ( A republican, lesbian & feminist queen of course).
Posted by: Ross | June 17, 2009 at 14:35
From the CiF comments: "Surely Beatrix and her fellow 1960s subversives ARE the establishment nowadays."
Posted by: mlrosty | June 17, 2009 at 14:38
“What, she couldn’t even pull a Zephaniah?”
Now there’s another mighty talent.
“Surely Beatrix and her fellow 1960s subversives ARE the establishment nowadays.”
Quite.
Much as it’s funny watching poor Bea gnawing at her own elbows, let’s not forget this is a woman who subedited the Communist “Morning Star” newspaper, who spoke fondly of that Stasi nightmare, the German Democratic Republic, and who insisted that, “the victims of September 11 are the architects of a mess of their own making.” It’s always good to see symbols of national appreciation being handed out to a nasty little harpy who believes that the men, women and children incinerated en masse, or filmed falling to their deaths, somehow brought that horror upon themselves.
Posted by: David | June 17, 2009 at 14:46
The comments have been pretty much the only thing worth reading on that CiF article. Again.
"..who insisted that, “the victims of September 11 are the architects of a mess of their own making.” "
The UK's very own Ward Churchill. Nice.
Posted by: JuliaM | June 17, 2009 at 17:12
But will Bea actually curtsy before her sworn class enemy?
Posted by: Anna | June 17, 2009 at 17:12
Although, on reflection, Bea Campbell is probably more authentically Native American...
Posted by: JuliaM | June 17, 2009 at 17:13
Isn't this just a roundabout way of letting everybody know SHE'S GOT AN OBE…?
Posted by: sk60 | June 17, 2009 at 17:20
“Isn’t this just a roundabout way of letting everybody know SHE’S GOT AN OBE…?”
I think Trixie wants us to know she has an OBE while she simultaneously jiggles her ideological titties. As it were.
Posted by: David | June 17, 2009 at 18:46
The claim by Communists that they are the precursors to Greens takes some Orwellian chutzpah. In the mid C19th the socialist movement had several competing wings. One of which was indeed the pastoral version that was driven by Malthusian ideals and sought to bring man back "in harmony" with the land. Marx was totally opposed to this vision and thought that socialism should tame nature. That's why the Russian and Eastern European versions were so bloody destructive in their pursuit of industrialisation. Marx's version was communism but only a communist ignorant of the past could claim that Marx as being Green.
Vaguely relevant link here http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Always-in-the-wrong-place-4112
Posted by: TDK | June 17, 2009 at 19:48
If she's going to call herself a republican, I think the RNC should sue.
Posted by: Trimegistus | June 17, 2009 at 20:02
"while she simultaneously jiggles her ideological titties. As it were."
LOL
Posted by: Anna | June 17, 2009 at 20:41
It’s a fair enough comment though, isn’t it? As well as the [cough] OBE [cough], she’s waving her ostentatious political credentials. “Marxism, feminism, radicalism, gay, green...” See how they catch the light as she jiggles? And she’s doing it for the people, “for the good of society,” because “the country needs her,” etc.
Though I hadn’t realised being gay was in and of itself an ideological credential.
Posted by: David | June 17, 2009 at 20:47
"Though I hadn’t realised being gay was in and of itself an ideological credential."
Come on!
Even when I was at uni, there was a type of feminist who proclaimed that to be a heterosexual woman was to allow yourself to be colonised by the opposite sex.
eg. here: http://www.human-nature.com/free-associations/Nashnotesc3.htm
"The sexual colonisation of women’s bodies is a material reality"
see Andrea Dworkin in toto.
The corollary of that theorem, is that to choose to be a Lesbian is to engage in an ideological act of resistance against the patriarchy. I'll risk going out on a limb now to guess that being a lipstick Lesbian (a la Katy Perry) doesn't count.
Posted by: TDK | June 17, 2009 at 22:53
TDK,
“Come on.”
Well, yes, I know. The identity politics pantomime goes on regardless.
What I mean is, in 2009 in the developed world, the assumption that being gay should automatically denote a particular ideological or party political affiliation seems a tad… quaint. Old-fashioned. Cartoonish, even. The preoccupation with such things suggests to me credulity and witless regurgitation, not “progress” or autonomous mental activity.
Posted by: David | June 18, 2009 at 07:17
Ed West in the Telegraph:
"Beatrix ("Bea") Campbell, ex-Communist Party of Great Britain stalwart and campaigner on feminism, social justice and inequality, who used to turn up on the Today programme every morning with her catchphrase, "racism"…"
Posted by: SG | June 18, 2009 at 10:22
The favourite theory in the comments was that she accepted it just so that she could flamboyantly and publicly send it back when a convenient event occured, e.g. the Conservatives winning the General Election. Double publicity, double ego-massage.
Posted by: Rob | June 18, 2009 at 11:12
It's got to hurt when even Guardian readers turn on you.
Posted by: pt591 | June 18, 2009 at 12:53
Bear in mind that in Whitehall slang, OBE stands for 'Other Buggers' Effort'.
Posted by: sackcloth and ashes | June 19, 2009 at 10:35