The Glory of Bach and the Grotesque Ugliness of Trump's America & Netanyahu's Israel

The glory of Bach. Can there be anything more uplifting and beautiful than this - part of the Credo from Bach's B Minor Mass, one of the defining (if not the defining) work of all vocal music.

In our contemporary race to the bottom society and in a world obsessed with hate and war we need solace and space to reflect on where we are going as a race - it is difficult anymore to describe ours as a civilization. The most powerful man in the world, leader of the richest nation in the world and aided by Netanyahu's Israel seek to reduce us all to unfeeling thugs in their own brutal image. Trump is an evil mad man - there have always been such people - and it is our responsibility and especially America's to get rid of him: if they do not then they are giving their consent to his evil and thus complicit in it. But Israel is more worrying. Israel is a nation whose Jewish population should, more than any other, recognize the evil abomination of what they are doing for they have with the holocaust and throughout history suffered great loss and injustice. But, it seems that rather than learn the lessons of hatred and crude violence against their neighbours they prefer to take on its mantle, and reproduce the sins of those, like Hitler, who sinned against them; they should not be easily forgiven for they show no forgiveness. In such times as these we need rescuing from the grotesque ugliness of Trump, Netanyahu and their evil followers and what they are seeking to impose upon mankind. We need to think of and experience great beauty and inspiration more and more if we are to survive as true human beings with the feelings and emotions that recognize beauty, truth, dignity, justice so that goodness might prevail over the evil that now stalks the world.

Bach's B Minor Mass is often the last thing I hear before falling asleep at night; listening to it and especially this glorious Credo is fundamental to my life and my being. Bach's exquisite working of the Credo - affirming the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith - is a canon, a musical form that together with the contrapuntal form Bach was and is the master. I make no apology for saying that anyone who cannot listen to this without getting shivers down the spine or shed a tear is in my view emotionally and spiritually damaged for, like so much of Bach, it speaks to our humanity and reaches into our very soul - and surely we need that in these times.

Being Governed By The Basest Of Instincts

Tony Benn was right in 1991 when speaking of the Iraq war and his comments are just as right and relevant this weekend as America once again makes war and brings death to innocents. Iran may well be a dreadful state with terrorist links, Trump and Netanyahu may well feel they have a strong case for their actions but war is not and can never be the solution; in short it is an admission of the failure of mankind to reason, to talk, to try to understand others and incontrovertible evidence that mankind is governed by the basest of instincts - to kill to get what he wants. Even if I accept the argument that Iran and its leaders had to brought to justice I cannot condone America and Israel's war - and for one simple reason. Iran might well be a threat, they might well sponsor terrorism but if we in the west are to have any moral justification we have to be better than that. If we are not then when he sends our drones and our missiles we are no better than the terrorist acting on Iran's orders.

This would abhorrent, immoral and unjustifiable even if it carried out on the orders of a responsible president following the best advice from America's greatest minds. As it is, what we are seeing is the death and destruction of mostly innocents, a world stepping several steps nearer to the precipice, and all promoted and carried out on the orders of arguably the world's two greatest madmen playing a nightmare game of brinkmanship and terror for their own distorted ends. Trump and Netanyahu claim that this action is justifiable - I trust, therefore, that both of these gentlemen will be travelling to Iran in the next day or two to lay flowers at the graves of the innocents killed by their drones and missiles. And that they hug, empathise with, and explain the moral and political justice of their actions individually to each and every one of the mothers of dead children, and the families of dead brothers, sisters, wives, husbands and grandparents and say why their loved ones had to die or suffer such treatment; surely these "great leaders" could and will do no less - it's called being human.

Sadly, I won't hold my breath on that one, but it is what should happen, for if it doesn't it tells us much about the immorality of Trump and Netanyahu and. the justification for their actions. The peoples of the USA and Israel should be ashamed of what they have wished upon the world.