A Damning and Terrible Indictment Upon the world and America

 

Earlier this week Pat and I went along to Nottingham’s Theatre Royal to see Miss Saigon. We had last seen the show almost 40 years ago soon after its premier in London’s West End. On that occasion 12 of us - Pat’s family - had gone for our annual New Year’s Eve trip to the London theatre. When we arrived at the theatre - on that occasion the Theatre Royal Drury Lane - a lifetime ago we did not know what to expect; the idea of a musical about the Vietnam War seemed surreal. I knew, of course, that it had strong links with Puccini’s opera Madam Butterfly but that was about all. I was unprepared for the next three hours. From the moment that Drury Lane Theatre lights went down and the auditorium reverberated to the terrifying sound of helicopter rotor blades which seemed to penetrate one’s very being, to the desperate and ill fated love story of the young 17 year old Vietnamese girl Kim and American Marine Chris, to the dreadful chaos of the helicopter evacuations from the American Embassy roof top in Saigon and to the tragic climax when Kim, in order to give her three year old son Tam a good future in America, shoots herself leaving his father Chris to care for his son Tam in America, the land of opportunity and wealth I remember sitting transfixed, heart racing; at the end emotionally drained. I know that I was not alone. On that long gone night the whole theatre sat in stunned silence as the final curtain descended, as Chris knelt on the floor holding Kim’s dead body close to him.

The events depicted in Miss Saigon on that 1990 New Year's Eve were pure theatre but they were at the same time all too real; the Vietnam War was still relatively fresh in the minds of people of my generation. I had followed the War, in my Guardian newspaper, read of the carpet bombing by American war planes, seen photographs of the dreadful burns injuries inflicted by napalm, I had watched successive American Presidents wring their hands and promise to end the war soon as the body bags filled with US service men were returned home, and I had seen on the TV the increasing unrest and dissatisfaction of the American public at what was happening in their name. When the war had at last ended in ignominious “failure”, like many others, I believed that lessons must have been learned. How wrong I was.

So, this week we went to Nottingham’s Theatre Royal to see the show again. I didn’t have any great expectations believing that what I would see would not have the impact that the original had had upon me. I knew the plot, I knew what would happen, I knew the songs, I knew many of the words……..I was prepared. And anyway, I reasoned, however good these actors of 2026 were they could not, would not reach the dramatic and emotional heights that the great Jonathan Pryce had in his portrayal of the Engineer or that the previously unknown but soon to become a super star Lea Salonga had as Kim in 1990. How wrong I was.

From the moment the house lights dimmed and the reverberating terror of helicopter blades filled the theatre and my senses I was back in time, back to 1990, my heart again racing, As the story progressed on its tragic journey, the tears streamed, my heart felt it would burst out of my chest, my fists were clenched in both terror and now rage, for I knew with certainty that the lessons of Vietnam had not been learned; the American war machine was again on the rampage. I found myself wanting to turn away from what was happening a few feet away from me on the stage, but unable to take my eyes and my mind away from what I was witnessing and what I was now knowing. This was every bit as dramatic and devastating as the show I had seen almost 40 years ago; like Shakespeare’s King Lear, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and other great dramatic works its power and message spanned the years. To describe Miss Saigon as a “rock opera” trivialises it; this is indeed high and powerful drama, musically and dramatically marvellous but now, as I sat in the theatre's darkness witnessing the events on the stage a great and sorrowful regret filled my thoughts, a rage dwelt in my heart – this was a damning and terrible indictment on our times and upon America.

Have we, has America, learned nothing? Vietnam was a lifetime ago and it should have taught America and all nations a lesson but it didn’t and it hasn’t. Over the 50 years plus since the Vietnam War ended America (and too often we its allies) have felt the need to make war or impinge on the life and government of other sovereign nations on the pretext of “saving them from themselves” or making a “war on terror”. Iraq, Rwanda, Congo, Liberia, Cuba, Venezuela, Afghanistan………..and now Iran. Few, if any, have gone well for anyone. As Miss Saigon approaches its terrible climax, Chris the well meaning and desperate Marine, cries out in anguish to his wife Ellen as he tries to explain to her what it was like in Vietnam and how he came to fall in love with Kim: “Christ Ellen, I’m American. How could I fail to do good” he cries “But I made a mess just like everyone else, In a place full of mystery That I never once understood”. Mmmm – most of America’s foreign incursions were founded in the hope of “making things better” and were thought through by what I might term sensible well intentioned Presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Clinton, Bush (both of them!) and Obama and as Chris sobs “I’m American, how could I fail to do good” they, too, I sincerely believe, were "trying to do good". But all of these past, well intentioned Presidents and their administrations, like Chris in the story, never once understood the mentality and the aspirations, the “mystery”, of these far off countries and peoples – hence their failure. Had they understood, had they followed the advice of Atticus Finch in the great American novel To Kill a Mockingbird and put themselves in the “skin” of others, of Afghans or Iraqis or Rwandans or Iranians and sought to see things from their perspective, to come to terms with their life and the mysteries of those far off cultures then just maybe they might have thought twice before taking action. But sadly empathy and understanding doesn’t stand much chance in the hearts and minds of America, a nation that shoots first and ask questions afterwards, a nation that feeds upon violence, a gun obsessed nation that weekly kills so many of its own citizens on the streets, so many of its own school children in their classrooms and playgrounds, and treats its most vulnerable with uncaring harshness. We should not be surprised that what it allows to happen to its own citizens in the name of what its Republican politicians, adherents and outriders call "freedom" it can happily do to other nations across the world.

So, as the tears ran down my face and my weak heart pounded in the darkened theatre and the helicopter rotors drowned out the screams of people on the Embassy roof top desperately trying to reach safety I cried. I wept not only for Kim and Chris but for America and what we, the world, have allowed America to become under the malign and mad leadership of Donald Trump and his cohorts – a man who delights in talking of “obliterating” other human beings, a man who bombs Iranian schools, who lies to the world, a man who doesn’t even try to cover his evil inadequacy for his high office with at least a patina of understanding, empathy or grace. Miss Saigon is not just a wonderful, yet terrible, piece of theatre, it holds up a mirror to what it is to be human amidst the horrors of violence and war. Given America’s undoubted propensity to shoot before thinking, both on its streets and in the wider world and to not seek to understand the “mysteries” of other nations and other beliefs I fear that Trump and America’s latest excursion into gun boat diplomacy will end not just in what Chris called “a mess” but in a terrible and long lasting Armageddon for the world. As we have seen in the past, America's actions will be remembered and perhaps retribution will be sought by these injured and violated peoples - and who can blame them? And when the next terrorist revenge attack happens – another 9/11 in America or 7/7 in London - I’m afraid I will have little sympathy.

America has not learned the lessons of history and has chosen this evil, hateful, amoral and unpredictable man to lead them and are doing nothing to stop his madness. And we, the rest of the world, have done nothing, we have not said “This shall not be”. Almost three millennia ago Athenian philosopher Plato cautioned "Qui tacet consentit" (He who remains silent gives his consent) – we and our leaders have not heeded his words and have been silent, and thus condoned the actions of mad and evil men. Both Trump and Israel's Netanyahu have tried to justify this latest war by saying that they are seeking to destroy an "axis of evil"; the only axis of evil here is that of America and Israel and without America Israel is nothing. Quite frankly if we allow Trump and America to carry out these unprovoked, illegal and amoral actions against other nations, cultures and beliefs then both America and we, who have looked the other way are culpable by our silence and deserve both their anger and perhaps their retribution.

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

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.

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.

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.