Love Conquers Hate

Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate romance and love  But the origins of this festival are actually  rather dark. From Feb. 13 to 15, the Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia. The men sacrificed a goat and a dog, then whipped women with the hides of the animals they had just slain.Young women would actually line up for the men to hit them.. They believed this would make them fertile.

The ancient Romans may also be responsible for the name of our modern day of love. Emperor Claudius II executed two men , both named Valentine. on Feb. 14 of different years in the 3rd century A.D. Their martyrdom was honored by the Catholic Church with the celebration of St. Valentine's Day. The brutal fete included a matchmaking lottery, in which young men drew the names of women from a jar. The couple would then be coupled up for the duration of the festival, or longer, if the match was right. 

Later, Pope Gelasius I muddled things in the 5th century by combining St. Valentine's Day with Lupercalia to expel the pagan rituals. But the festival was more of a theatrical interpretation of what it had once been. Around the same time, the Normans celebrated Galatin's Day. Galatin meant "lover of women." That was likely confused with St. Valentine's Day at some point, in part because they sound alike.  

As the years went on, the holiday grew sweeter. Chaucer and Shakespeare romanticized it in their work, and it gained popularity throughout Britain and the rest of Europe. Handmade paper cards became the tokens-du-jour in the Middle Ages. Eventually, the tradition made its way to the New World. The industrial revolution ushered in factory-made cards in the 19th century. And in 1913, Hallmark Cards of Kansas City, Mo., began mass producing valentines. February has not been the same since and today, this commercialization has spoiled the day for many.

Despite all this I am  reminded by Martin Luther King Jr that .“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that” Hate can fog visions, making people do unforgettable things, killing people for example. 

The events in Knowsley last Friday night were horrific and inevitable.  A large group of far-right rioters gathered outside a hotel where people who are going through the asylum system are living. The group was extremely hostile and violent, setting a police van on fire. The residents of the hotel, looking on to these scenes, were of course terrified, especially after many of them had already fled unimaginable violence.  For years, people in positions of power have been warned that the words they use will increase the number and severity of racist attacks against refugees.

The dehumanising language of hate, racism and hostility used by the Government, its ministers, and its departments against refugees is fuelling far-right violence against people who have asked us for safety.  What happened in Knowsley is a direct result of the dehumanising language used by the government and in particular by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons.

This language is used daily by MPs and Ministers to target migrants and people seeking asylum. They are all too happy to whip up hate and then identify the hotels where people, including men, women and children, are living. This recklessness is putting lives at risk. The Government must stop empowering the far right with its language and policies. If they do not, the consequences could be fatal.  The Nationality and Borders Bill has further bolstered this hostile agenda and it is  anticipated that the new legislation announced by Rishi Sunak before Christmas will only make this hostility worse.

The crisis in the asylum system was entirely designed by the Government prioritising deterrence and cruelty rather than a workable system grounded in compassion.  We know that neither these attacks nor the governments overwhelmingly hostile narrative reflect what most people in the UK believe.

So  let us not let the forces of darkness, fear and hate overcome, remember that Love Conquers hate. Racism breeds hate and separation in the world  and  leads to much anger and people being killed. Love is the answer because  it conquers all fear. Lets live like brothers and sisters. Roses are red, violets are blue  refugees are welcome here. .