WE have just witnessed British Colonial celebrations taken to unprecedented levels of vulgarity, an ugly and extravagant endorsement of the English monarchy and all the sectarianism, greed, inequality, snobbery and military jingoism that comes with it. 

But who would have thought that English aristocrats would become so crazed with power and control that even English people would be arrested at dawn, interned without trial and publicly handcuffed in the streets of London, to facilitate this pervasive orgy of depravity, albeit held for only twenty-four hours.

And throughout this entire ritual the Christian God was invoked many times and petitioned for his blessing on this obscenity by an army of clergy of all denominations. And yet these pathetic characters are still commanding schoolchildren to honour, obey and respect Christian commandments which forbid murder, theft and disrespect for other humans, under pain of sin and damnation.

The highlight of the occasion was the crowning of the king and his wife. 

The two crowns are embellished with priceless jewellery and the biggest diamond on the Camilla crown was stolen in India during British military adventures at the heyday of their Empire. The others were stolen during military invasions throughout Asia and Africa. Britain has mineable mineral deposits of tin and lead and other ores, but no known mineable deposits of gold or diamonds. So we can only speculate on the origins of that golden carriage. 

And when that priceless stolen jewellery was placed on his head, the new king was officially inaugurated as the Head of a Christian church (you couldn’t make it up). In fairness to the nationalist and republican leaders who attended, they did explain the reasons for their attendance and they certainly needed to explain them.

It is most disturbing though that no explanation was offered for the attendance of the Catholic Primate of Ireland. He must know that the ceremony was itself an endorsement and re affirmation of the exclusion of Catholics from the highest office in the land. He must also know that sectarianism kills Catholics in this part of Ireland, and sectarianism is the raison d’être of the Orange Order. He must also know that if he had lived in the middle of the 17th century, he might have been publicly hanged by Oliver Cromwell and his church might not have been the first to burn with a packed congregation inside.

Jack Duffin, Belfast

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