Remember, Remember the 5th of November

420 years ago Guy Fawkes was arrested for attempting to overthrow the government and assassinate the King and his family by blowing up Parliament. The Gunpowder Plot was created because of the religious intolerance and persecution towards Roman Catholics by the Protestants. Guy Fawkes and the other conspirators were basically fighting for religious freedom BUT also trying to restore Catholic leadership.

While I don’t think ANY religions should be at the helm of ANY governance of people, I do think about the dedication and courage it takes to fight for what you believe in. In the movie V for Vendetta, the main character, V, wore a Guy Fawkes mask as a symbol of the lengths he was willing to go to overturn the fascist, police state government that was ruining everyone’s life.

In the film, Great Britain banned freedom of speech and assembly, held public executions for those who were openly against the authoritarian rule, controlled the media, had a secret police force that controlled information and killed political opponents. In a nutshell, they led with fear. All of this was done in an effort to force national unity and order. Sounds familiar because that’s exactly what the current president and his merry band of evil idiots are implementing throughout the USA.

Everyday there is breaking news and sometimes all throughout the day. The news reported is chock full of things that Chancellor Tangerine is doing to oppress every marginalized group he can affect. It’s exhausting to watch a petulant, man baby purport himself as a great leader. I find no joy in anything he’s doing or being a part of and I’m trying not to let it ruin my November.

I think about the amount of people that Guy Fawkes was working with to overturn Britain. It was 13 men who successfully placed about 36 barrels of gunpowder underground directly underneath the House of Lord. This location was the upper chamber of Great Britain’s legislature (approximately 670 seats) so on the right day, Guy Fawkes and his co-conspirators could have wiped out a HUGE chunk of the government. Unfortunately for them, their plans were foiled and the Catholics were further persecuted. In V for Vendetta there’s one guy doing a lot of the pushback but he eventually recruits a young lady who believes in his cause. While V for Vendetta is fiction, it still serves a good purpose of reinforcing that you don’t need a ton of people to effect change.

And now we come to why I chose to write this… I hear a lot of people talking ad nauseum about what they think needs to be done with our current government. However, I don’t think any of these people are willing to mobilize like Guy and his homies. Those men knew that if they were to go through with this, there was a great chance of being caught and made an example of through public execution for their terroristic acts and treason. They didn’t give a fuck about that because IF they succeeded, a shift would happen immediately. They were well aware that fear and violence moves people in desired directions much quicker than passively and politely asking for freedom for oppression. V was also willing to put his life on the line so that at the very least it could be a catalyst to everyone else implementing an uprising.

What all of these men knew, fictional or otherwise, is that even though the majority of people CAN effect immediate change, it will always be just a “few” with enough courage to kickstart everything.

I don’t consider myself to be anywhere near as resourced, clever, or strategic as V. I’m probably more like Guy who was one of 13. They all had useful skills for overturning Parliament. I too have useful skills that could compliment others in permanently dismantling the current evil regime threatening to make life worse for everyone. Also like Guy, I have a relationship with fear that’s reasonable but also just irrational enough to follow through on things that would paralyze others oppressive actions. I think anyone who signs up for pivotal movements must understand that while we want to effect immediate change, we aren’t doing it solely for personal benefit. Anyone willing to go against any machine knows that what they’re doing is for the future just as much as present day.

So, you must be prepared to die for the cause. Without THAT level of dedication and determination, we’ll continue to be ushered solidly into a society that mirrors the one V was fighting against. My hope is by this time next year, I’ll be reading this and happy it’s a thing of the past versus not having access to it because our freedom of speech will be completely gone.

Here’s to our future November being better.