London 1605 vs 2020

...but by far the most nefarious conspiracy, the Jesuits set forth during the Middle Ages, was the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. This plot came about because when Elizabeth I died in 1603, Rome was very interested to have a catholic monarch on the throne. Pope Clement VIII sent the Jesuit provincial father of England Henry Garnet two bulls, which set out this strategy and urged him to ensure no-one should ascend the throne of England unless they declare themselves to be a faithfull Roman Catholic. What happend offcourse was that James I, ascending the throne, he declared himself to be a Protestant. Therefore Rome decided that he had to be removed. The instrument Rome would employ to get rid of the new king was a Spanish soldier, named Guy Fawkes, a man whose name is remembered every year to this day, as the English burn effigies of him on Guy Fawkes Bonfire Night, why? because Fawkes planted some 36 barrels of gunpowder in the undercroft beneath the Houses of Parliament, intending to blow up king James and the entire government of England. Out of the chaos that would follow, Rome and her Jesuit order, had planned to re-establish control of the country. Guy Fawkes was a Jesuit co-agitator, not a priest, as such to my knowledge but a professional mercenary alférez who had fought in the Catholic army of Spain. Fawkes was discovered just moments before detonating the gunpowder; in what the English people clearly saw as an act of God. Guido Fawkes, guilty of high treason, was  tortured and puclicly executed as were his fellow cospirators [...] Tupper Saussy writes that  Macbeth (1603-07) by William Shakespeare was actually a so called powder play, commemorating the gunpowder plot and that Macbeth is an elaborate condemnation of the Jesuits as satanists, murderers and witches. The year before the Jesuit plan was overthrown, Puritan leader John Reynolds had proposed that a new bible translation be set forth. King James gave his approval and the famous Authorized King James Version of the Bible came to completion.

Quotes by Fawkes

-A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy.

What was your intension with such a large amount of gunpowder?

-to blow you Scotch beggars back to your native mountains.

(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes)

(..during the 19th century, the word "guy", which initially denoted the burning effigy of the day, came to mean an oddly dressed man, but in American English it lost any pejorative connotation, and was used to refer to any male person...)

a popular doggerel

Remember, remember, the 5th of November

The Gunpowder Treason and plot;

I know of no reason why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes,

'Twas his intent.

To blow up the King and the Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below.

Poor old England to overthrow.

By God's providence he was catch'd,

With a dark lantern and burning match

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, let the bells ring

Holloa boys, Holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip Hoorah !

Hip hip Hoorah !

A penny loaf to feed ol'Pope,

A farthing cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down,

A faggot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar,'

Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head,

Then we'll say: ol'Pope is dead!

William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 historical romance "Guy Fawkes" portrays him in a generally sympathetic light, and transformed the traitor in the public perception into an "acceptable fictional character". Fawkes subsequently appeared as "essentially an action hero" in children's books and penny dreadfuls such as "The Boyhood Days of Guy Fawkes"; or, "The Conspirators of Old London", published in about 1905.

(V for Vendetta 1982 comic)

(V for Vendetta 2006 film)

http://youtu.be/6JXz-GYGFhc
greek subs
..what's wrong with the telly?..

Good evening, London. Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of every day routine — the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration, whereby those important events of the past, usually associated with someone's death or the end of some awful bloody struggle, are celebrated with a nice holiday, I thought we could mark this November the 5th, a day that is sadly no longer remembered, by taking some time out of our daily lives to sit down and have a little chat. There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into the mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the now high chancellor, Adam Sutler. He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent. Last night I sought to end that silence. Last night I destroyed the Old Bailey, to remind this country of what it has forgotten. More than 400 years ago a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness, justice, and freedom are more than words, they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek, then I ask you to stand beside me one year from tonight, outside the gates of Parliament, and together we shall give them a fifth of November that shall never, ever be forgot.

(1812 Overture Tchaikovsky)

("Defend the Children of the Poor & Punish the Wrongdoer")