(the
disillusionment of a campus follower)
boasts
the banner
meaning
business
in
the usual manner
it's not a revolutionary situation
just an exercise in confrontation
concessions are all we can hope to get
there's no place for utopia yet
come back in a couple of centuries
society changes by degrees
please show far more self-restraint
defacing walls with rainbow paint
lacks political perspective
one must try to be objective
of course we're quite at liberty
to stand for election to the committee
if we want to have a say
democracy will rule O.K.
so much for spontaneity
& good old insurrectionary gaiety
where did the joy go
have you seen it recently
this is no occupation
for someone like me
In Autumn 1972, during the
notorious visit of the Queen to the University of Stirling in Scotland
drunken students went on the rampage & mobbed Her Royal Highness, (revolting indeed!)
In protest at the expulsions of the worst culprits/scapegoats, a barbarian horde of overzealous undergraduates stormed then occupied the Admin. Building.
Right on! Tomorrow the world!
Revolution was in the air & bliss was it in that dawn....
Unfortunately, all too soon, mundane reality kicked in & the status quo was restored.
The above verses, specifically inspired by this event & written contemporaneously, probably apply more generally, alas.
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| Interesting historical footnote: John 'Rottweiler'* Reid, now U.K. Home Secretary (2006), was also a student at Stirling Uni during that tumultuous period. As a pretend member of the Communist Party, he was considered right wing compared to hardcore International Socialists & International Marxist Groupies. (Ironic how the label 'international' was applied to the parochial struggles of student politics.) Anyway, John call-me-Doctor Reid, ambitious & politically ruthless even then, became President of the Student Union. Quasi-Kabouter/ libertarian of the hippy |
* This is, of course, unfair to dogs.
Actually, it's a reference to the description of Reid
by Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman
as Labour's 'attack dog' (8 March 2005)
tendency that I was & probably
still remain, Yours Truly used to blow bubbles during those very earnest & otherwise
humorless Union meetings.