Brian Haw: conscience for the world
Brian Haw: “roaring out his truths to the world”
I went to the Brian Haw memorial gig at the Whitstable Labour Club on Friday (8/11/13). In case you don’t know, Whitstable is raising money to make a bench in celebration of Brian’s connection to the town.
Not only did Brian live here in his teenage years, but his brother, Richard, remains here to this day. Richard also has a connection to the Labour Club, having been its chairman for many years. Richard was at the gig, along with Brian’s children, Pete, Catt and Naomi.
I listened to speeches by Pete and Catt. They weren’t political speeches. They were stories from Brian’s former life, when he was just an ordinary Dad, bringing up his family in Birmingham. He was a tradesman, a craftsman, and Pete referred to the beadwork on his cabinets, how delicate and fine it was.
This was very touching because of course he became such an international figure in the end, recognised by people all over the world.
This is what made Brian’s protest so powerful. He was an ordinary man, who, by an unwavering commitment and a fierce belief, became the conscience for the whole world.
He was a deeply spiritual man, but he wasn’t like so many spiritual people, content with just praising God. He saw that he also had a duty to God, to fight against the injustices of the world.
Pete told us about the time when Brian first moved to Parliament Square to begin his protest. The children drove him down, little knowing that this would be the last he ever spent time at home with them. They drove away leaving him there on the pavement, with all his camping equipment, his banners and stuff. This was on the second of June 2001.
Brian’s one-man campaign started in protest at the sanctions against Iraq, which had, by that time, killed in the region of half a million children under the age of five.
There is no greater injustice than the murder of innocence. Brain Haw left his own family and by this act threw off the shackles of tribalism. He gave up his own children to become a father for all children.
As we know, Tony Blair has also often claimed to be a Christian. But what a different kind of Christianity this must be to the one that Brian practiced.
One form of Christianity revelled in its power and influence and was able to justify the invasion of a sovereign state and the murder and mayhem that followed. The other stood in fierce condemnation of this, like an old testament prophet, roaring out his truths to the world.
One became immensely rich, cosseted and protected by the state, while the other lived his life out in the open, in opposition to the state, often being beaten up late at night, giving up everything – including his life – to create something much more meaningful.
From The Whitstable Gazette.
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