EDITOR – While I totally agree with Mr John Davison’s view with regard to the necessity of continuing to commemorate the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November, 1605 with noisy fireworks, I must take issue with his statement that, “Guy Fawkes was a terrorist leader in British history”.
Guy Fawkes was undoubtedly a misguided man, but a terrorist leader he was not. He was a member of a small group of equally misguided young men who were attempting to influence what was a government applying draconian and repressive measures aimed at a certain loyal section of their population. Indeed, the government itself could hardly be termed democratic as we understand the term today.
Thereafter 5 November, popularly named “Guy Fawkes night”, was instituted by the government of the time by an act of parliament as an annual celebration of the thwarting of the plot. To this day the cellars of the Palace of Westminster are searched for barrels of gunpowder prior to the State opening of parliament.
But why continue the tradition in South Africa? Some years ago I questioned a group of young people as to the origins of the custom. The closest answer I was given after much hesitation was, “Wasn’t he some guy who tried to blow some building up…?” Surely the answer speaks for itself.
I will not go further into the troubled history of Europe and, more particularly, England in that era. I will however commend to Mr Davison Antonia Fraser’s excellent book, The Gunpowder Plot. Lady Fraser is an internationally acclaimed author and historian. Her brother is Thomas Packenham, author of both The Boer War and The Scramble for Africa. Her mother, Elizabeth Longford, authored, Jameson Raid, so she has an impeccable pedigree as a historian.
Democrat
Pinetown
