A bee in the bourgeoisie's bonnet

One of our sympathisers - who posts as "Fred" on the ICC forum - sent us this article, exposing the British bourgeoisie’s cynical response to the “bee crisis”. But as Fred would certainly agree, the issue of “bee die off” is a global problem and not just a British one, and is yet another sign that capitalist production is incompatible with the health of the planet. 

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It isn't only proletarian workers under attack from a greedy bourgeoisie. Our friends and comrades, the hard working bees. are also under attack  and in danger of extinction in the UK. This as a result of the bourgeoisie's love of insecticide as a means of upping food and flower production. It is thought - mainly on the continent of course, that great centre of crackpot and "foreign" ideas - that the spraying of gallons and litres of poisonous insecticides, meant to ensure the improved growth of  food products for sale,  could be hazardous to the bees. But what about the profits which accrue from the production and sale of these agricultural products? How would "no spraying" interfere with this? Never mind the bees!  Not that the food and flowers are intended for those our rulers exploit. The working class wouldn't know what to do with flowers even it got some. But in the EU the idea has spread that the mass spraying of insecticides is dangerous.  Does this mean that those of us with shares in the chemical producing industry are suddenly at risk?   

Though reliant on the exploitation of workers including bees for their profit, the bourgeoisie also resent and "have it in" for those who produce their life of leisure; and seek to make all workers' lives as hard and as miserable as possible while retaining them in exploitable chains. This tendency may stem from guilt feelings hidden somewhere in the bourgeoisie's consciousness, whereby they angrily dislike that on which they depend.  So our UK ruling class displays little in the way of affection for either the human working class, or our hard working bees, without whose effort we would soon be in material difficulties, particularly in regard to food. 

 Recently The Independent newspaper commented on the bee crisis as follows:

"'Victory for bees’ as European Union bans neonicotinoid pesticides blamed for destroying bee population ... 15 of the 27 member states voted for a two-year restriction on neonicotinoids despite opposition by countries including Britain"

So plucky little UK, always ready to tweak the EU's tale, stands alone, so to speak. It's just like 1940 again.  Remember those hellish days?  Well...probably not. But the right wing of the Tory Party certainly does, and a challenge to 'socialist' Europe, especially as it goes to the defence of worker bees, is just the ticket. Win this one, these Tories think, and we'll have fox hunting back in no time; for no one loves the countryside and its furry creatures more than the British ruling class.

So while Europe bans the sprays, Britain goes it alone.  Spraying will continue. Elimination of pests that eat or destroy our rulers' profits before the goods even hit the market will not be tolerated, even if it threatens the existence of a few measly bees.  And of course, good old bourgeois science hasn't actually proved that insecticides kill the bees, anymore than it's proved that global warming  (a) is a reality and (b) is caused by capitalism anyway.  If we all succumb to glacial entombment, or disappear under encroaching oceans, well isn't this the Deity's, or Mother Nature's fault; nothing to do with the bourgeoisie and their maniacal economic system, whereby they are privileged now  to enjoy almost permanent wars of one kind or another, and impose the most appalling way of life on the majority of the planet's human population, and all the animals too, including bees. 

By the way, thinking again of the bees, it is to be noticed that the inner cities of London and Paris are centers of flourishing bee life. The roof of the Chamber of Deputies in Paris is a veritable bee keeper’s paradise. The Parisian surroundings of parks and avenues, glowing bright with a flowering display, are absolute heaven for our bee friends, and they love it. The happy contented buzzing on the roof of the Parisian parliament, as the bees do their work, is in sharp contrast to the loud mouthed bellowing and cacophony of the elected deputies below, as bourgeois democracy plays out its useless role.  

So the EU takes on an experimental period of "no spraying" and hopes to save its bees. The UK, however, is inclined to think of bees in the same way it thinks of all outsiders; immigrants legal or otherwise; and essentially anyone who missed the blessing of being born in the UK, and born white, and, if working class, born permanently submissive.   It's hard to say where bees fit in. Are they sufficiently submissive? They're all very well as long as they stick to the job, don't cause trouble, and don't complain.  That they are interfering in matters that don't concern them, like the profits that appear to accrue from a good spraying campaign in the countryside, is inconvenient. That they are now dying off is inconsiderate and tantamount to treasonable activity. 

Fred 22/6/2013