In case you’re not familiar–
Eleven days after the British commenced their invasion of Zululand in South Africa, a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors attacked a portion of the British main column consisting of about 1,800 British, colonial and native troops and perhaps 400 civilians. The Zulus were equipped mainly with the traditional assegai iron spears and cow-hide shields, but also had a number of muskets and old rifles though they were not formally trained in their use. The British and colonial troops were armed with the state-of-the-art Martini-Henry breech-loading rifle and two 7-pounder (3-inch, 76 mm) mountain guns deployed as field guns, as well as a rocket battery. Despite a vast disadvantage in weapons technology, the numerically superior Zulus ultimately overwhelmed the poorly led and badly deployed British, killing over 1,300 troops, including all those out on the forward firing line. The Zulu army suffered around a thousand killed.
The battle was a decisive victory for the Zulus and caused the defeat of the first British invasion of Zululand. The British Army had suffered its worst defeat against an indigenous foe with vastly inferior military technology. Isandlwana resulted in the British taking a much more aggressive approach in the Anglo–Zulu War, leading to a heavily reinforced second invasion and the destruction of King Cetshwayo’s hopes of a negotiated peace.
On the other hand, live on your feet or die on your knees. Sometimes life presents you with cruel choices.
And sometimes, you win. Highlighting the positive points of the North American Colonial Rebellion, the British were driven from the heights around Boston and had to abandon it. Likewise George Washington was displaced from New York. An attempt was made to divide the Colonies which was defeated by victory at Saratoga (bringing in the French and Spanish as allies) due to Lord Howe’s distraction of temporarily siezing the National Capital at Philadelphia, a meaningless triumph.
In the South the loss of Charleston threatened to ensure at least a partial British success, but Cornwallis was lured into a futile chase by Daniel Morgan and Nathaniel Greene which left his army, the only striking force available, surrounded and doomed to surrender.
Oh, the war continued for years after Yorktown. British loyalists were shipped to Canada and the West Indies, the ones who weren’t executed.
Now if you’re the patriot I am you tend to view this event, warts and all and despite negative subsequent developments, as generally positive and good for humanity though the truth is that like the invention of fire it is ‘too soon to tell’.
Perhaps individual freedom and a commitment to ensuring that not only is there an equal opportunity to succeed but also a basic level of support and a uniform standard of justice are not ideas worth defending, however I do not agree.
I think they’re very important.
Jeremy Corbyn tightens his grip on power over shadow cabinet elections as defiant MPs dig in for a fight
by Joe Watts, Rob Merrick, The Independent
9/25/16
Jeremy Corbyn is preparing to tighten his stranglehold over Labour by appointing his own shadow cabinet and cementing his control over the party’s ruling executive.
Critics claimed he had shelved a plan to give MPs a chance to elect his shadow cabinet members, which many saw as the price he must pay for a truce in the party.
But having smashed the challenge to his leadership from Owen Smith and seen off a bid to impose the elections, sources began to report that Mr Corbyn would conduct his own reshuffle.
At the same time a string of high-ranking MPs prepared for a fight, making speeches at meetings across the party’s conference in Liverpool calling for resistance.
Battle lines were being drawn less than 24 hours after calls for unity came from all sides of the party in the wake of Mr Corbyn’s victory. But one senior backbencher laid them to rest, saying the leader only wanted “the unity of the graveyard”.
Leading MPs had said the elections plan drawn up by deputy leader Tom Watson was the only way that Mr Corbyn could regain the trust of his party.
…
Mr Corbyn hinted at a limited number of deselections of MPs, as he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr that the “vast majority” of Labour MPs had nothing to fear.He also vowed to give grass-roots Labour supporters more say over policy-making, which could sideline the MPs who oppose him – calling it key to building a “more equal and decent society”.
If the leader does appoint his own shadow cabinet it means the crucial seats its members take on Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee could all be held by his backers – further strengthening his control over that crucial decision-making body.
One longstanding MP said: “Tom’s plan was delayed to November which suits his backers just fine. They can then decide on it after a reshuffle, when Jeremy’s people could well have an extra seat on the NEC.
“Once they have the NEC, they have the party.”
At the Progress rally where those from the right of Labour gathered, Alison McGovern MP brandished a Militant newsletter she said she had been handed on the way into the conference.
The MP claimed Militant had “ruined her childhood” in Liverpool, adding: “I will not stand by as they ruin the next generation.”
…
At a conference fringe meeting one former minister Vernon Coaker said the stakes could not be higher, telling delegates: “Our policies have to change. If we don’t change we will die.”At the meeting staged by the Labour First group, which calls itself the voice of “moderates”, Mr Coaker added: “The real task, of course, is changing the membership and winning the party back to the views of electability as well as principle.”
…
Heidi Alexander, the former Shadow Health Secretary, said Mr Corbyn still had to prove he is “a competent and capable” leader of the opposition – after a “dysfunctional” first year in office.She warned: “What people like me are determined to do is to continue fighting for a Labour Party that speaks to and for the whole of the country, and one which is capable of winning the next general election.”
But the daunting task facing them became clear when it emerged there had been a further membership boost even in the hours since Mr Corbyn’s victory, with a further 15,500 people joining the party.
The dark mood among the defeated Owen Smith supporters was summed up by Conor McGinn MP, a whip, who joked that Labour was in a “much worse position” than the doomed British troops in his favourite film Zulu.
Oh, you are so intolerant of the majority that wish to sell our liberty for slavery! Why won’t you give us a voice and a choice so we can include your souls in the bargain?
Fine. Leave. I’ll have no living enemies behind me. And you privileged pampered assholes are not a majority- stop being in denial about facts.
Did I hurt your fee-fees? I’m not a diplomat.
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