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"New Respect for Benjamin Zepheniah"

The poet who has turned down an OBE, saying he has spent his life trying to fight empire, and he writes poems for people not honours.

Go on my son!

Lucas Badoa is obviously Luca Badoer, the F1 driver.

"Benjamin Zepheniah" - that was my mate's jazz name in the band I was in at school! Now I know where it comes from, maybe I am the ignorant one out of all of this.

*runs off to check Danbrisco Benoni, Ali Badali & Lucas Badoa*

In my opinion the best part of his reason for turning it down was this:

"It gives OBEs to cool rock stars, successful businesswomen and blacks who would be militant in order to give the impression that it is inclusive."

On the one hand I think he's right about the whole Empire thing: it was crappy, nothing to celebrate and we don't have it anymore, so why not just make the honour an OB? On the hand his view of history is stupidly simple and it IS racialised. Yes, slavery was horrible but it wasn't an idea suddenly imposed on black people by white people. Before the Europeans arrived Africans were already enslaving other Africans, and Africans were already selling other Africans. The first European slave traders actually bought slaves in one part of West Africa and sold them in another. Saying 'ooh, it was all the fault of the white man!' is just moronic.

This is my point. The modern Empire does not, and so he is attacking modern Britain based on a history of which very few are proud. I'm fairly certain that the Queen doesn't sit in a dimly lit room muttering wishes for the "good old days" of abusing black slaves.

The simpleton should get over it. He's just a sad little hippy living in a world which is no longer reality.

Insane Bartender wrote:
> Pandaemonium wrote:
> But not now. The monarchy and what it was built on is what he finds
> abhorrent. We didn’t become a world power by offering cups of tea
> and
> having a nice game of cricket with the natives.
>
> He's not being offered a plethora of Jamaican slaves and a few
> hundred acres of cotton farm.

No, he's being offered an OBE, "Order of the British Empire."

The Empire dealt in slavery, he doesn't want to accept it.

(shrugs)

His choice.

I'm never eating Pasta or Pizza again. Those damn Italians and their Roman Empire...

Pandaemonium wrote:
> But not now. The monarchy and what it was built on is what he finds
> abhorrent. We didn’t become a world power by offering cups of tea and
> having a nice game of cricket with the natives.

He's not being offered a plethora of Jamaican slaves and a few hundred acres of cotton farm.

Pandaemonium wrote:
> He's Jamaican, his ancestors were Jamaican, the British used Jamaican
> slaves.
>
> I really don't see the problem. His ideals, his beliefs.

Yes, and I can see how they are clearly in line with the modern British "Empire", because of the large number of slaves currently used by the British the world over.

No wait...

The sagacious one wrote:
> If he finds the concept and history of British Empire so abhorent, why
> does he live in Britain?

But not now. The monarchy and what it was built on is what he finds abhorrent. We didn’t become a world power by offering cups of tea and having a nice game of cricket with the natives.

Because Britain is no longer about the Empire. And having an OBE is showing that we're still proud of it, Ben doesn't agree with it, so he refused it.