On Our Knees

Today, after the Rwanda vote, I heard on the news someone talking in favour of the Bill. She talked about how we are (the U.K.) a “country on its knees.” and therefore supports the decision to deport refugees

Meanwhile, in Gaza, people are being slaughtered in their thousands. Swathes of Ukraine are still occupied by Russia. Iranian citizens continue to flood out in search of a life worth living after sanctions imposed by the West.

Are we a country on our knees?

Children in African nations continue to starve. And we all know this but hey, old news, right? Large amount of New Orleans remains under water since 2005; A disaster that showed the world a blatant discrepancy on how we treat race, class and wealth.

But the U.K. is on its knees...

Those in rural North Korea continue to starve and live under an ever-increasingly oppressive regime. They are continuously watched over by the North Korean Military. Those living in cities, particularly Pyongyang, are censored in a way that they are not only scared for their life (like the rest of the country) but are regularly part of a showcase in an attempt to show a desired image to the world.

The U.K. fuel prices are pretty high right now...

Sweatshops still profit hand over foot in places like India, Vietnam and Romania. By the way, countries such as Indonesia still have sweatshops, but the big names like Nike have moved out so we don’t care anymore. Chinese workers continue to be exploited in increasing severity; usually so western countries can live comfortably.

The UK is struggling

Russians have fled their country in their thousands after the conflict began, fleeing conscription, persecution or out of discontent for the actions of their government. Not to mention those living in rural Russia after unprecedented sanctions put on their country. We will not know properly about their situations for a long time, when information is allowed to move freely across their borders.

The price of the U.K.s supermarket groceries continue to rise

One of the most severe humanitarian crises is still in full swing in Congo, with no media coverage, no humanitarian aid and any military presence usually results in rape and pillage. This is twinned in many ways in Yemen after ongoing conflicts, it is estimated that 21.6 million people are in need of help to acquire the most basic of rights. (21 600 000 humans, 66% of the population. And that is those who are still alive)

The UK is a nation in distress

Rising temperatures have increased the severity of central African drought and desertification. Leaving more and more without drinkable water

Our free healthcare system has unacceptable wait times

Due to lack of education and lacking health care, there is a belt of children in Kenya who have been orphaned by HIV, bought in through the trucking routes.

Our highways have not been maintained and now we have potholes

Most American women have been stripped of their right to make decisions on their own body. Many countries continue to kill people for homosexuality

Trains in the UK are very unreliable.

Let make this very clear. I absolutely think that this country could be something far greater than what it is today. We are seeing patients die in ambulances as they wait outside a hospital for a bed. Children are going to school hungry because there isn't food at home. Education is failing every child as they leave school knowing how to find the hypotenuse but never knowing how to do their taxes. Cost of Gas, Petrol and electricity remains high while the providing companies turn billions/trillions in profit.

This is not a country on its knees. This is a country where the population is fully at the mercy and disadvantage of its own government, making bad turn after bad turn. Whether that’s through self-serving, not caring, or down right incompetence. And just as we – the UK population – are at the mercy of them, so is every country that does not have the power to self-determine without help of western countries.

And perhaps, if Rishi Sunak spent as much time on seeing to his people’s needs as he did to trying to dehumanize the people who are the disadvantage of the actions of western countries including the UK, perhaps we wouldn’t consider ourselves “on our knees”.

The world stage is shifting. Every empire falls eventually. The UK is not far from being at the mercy of every country it has deemed inferior and not worthy, even today in 2023. And when another country holds us accountable for what we did today, yesterday and for hundreds of years just with different names, I only hope that our current politicians are still alive. I will stand and watch them be dragged from their homes, sent to another country where they will face more horrors than UK citizens have ever experienced before. And I will stand with so many other people, saying “they have no right to be here”

Then I’ll see if there is any fancy wine left in their cellar.

Sorry if you felt that this was a bit performative. But with everything going on right now... get over it.