时间:2024-09-20 06:09:25 来源:网络整理编辑:休閑
As the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle approaches, you're bound to see lots of posit
As the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle approaches, you're bound to see lots of positive, feel-good stories about the royals popping up on your feed. You may like these stories, but statistically you probably feel totally indifferent.
SEE ALSO:Denmark hired a tech ambassador. After what happened with Facebook, maybe every country should.But there are some people who would like to see the monarchy -- and with it royal clickbait -- abolished.
Republic is an anti-monarchist group, with 5,000 paying members and 40,000 supporters. Their mission statement reads: "We want to see the monarchy abolished and the Queen replaced with an elected, democratic head of state."
Mashable spoke to head of Republic Graham Smith, to ask what motivates him to oppose the monarchy so actively.
"It’s very simple," he said, "we think that we ought to take democratic principles seriously."
For Smith, the reason the monarchy exists is largely down to public indifference.
"Most people don’t care that much," he said. "The idea that the British are in love with the royals is complete nonsense. Most people are completely indifferent and couldn’t care less, but they’re happy to go along with it for the time being because they haven’t really stopped to think about why they should get rid of it."
Credit: YougovHowever, Smith also believes an ascension to the throne could shake things up a bit. "A lot of that is bound up with the fact that almost none of us now can remember a time when there wasn’t the Queen," he said. "When we witness a succession, that’s going to make people sit up and think about how that works."
Charles in particular is seen to pose a potential political problem. In the past he has been criticised for trying to influence public policy by privately corresponding with ministers, and some commentators speculate that if he continues that trend he could potentially trigger a constitutional crisis.
Smith believes that a hereditary monarchy has no place in a modern society, but there's also more complex political reasons for wanting the institution dismantled. "It’s about not only changing the person at the top," he said, "but also changing the way in which our constitution works and making it genuinely democratic."
The UK has an unwritten constitution, which means it is made up of lots of different laws and conventions. The crown remains an integral part of that constitution, and in theory the Queen has the power to refuse any bill passed by the other two houses of Parliament (the House of Commons and the House of Lords). However she has never actually refused a bill; in fact, the last monarch to do so was Queen Anne in 1707. In practice she acts as a figurehead, because were she to use her authority to go against the government, she would risk Parliament dissolving of the monarchy.
To Smith's mind the monarch's involvement in our political system poses a big problem to democracy in the UK, as it essentially confers a lot of crown powers (e.g. the ability to award lordships) upon the prime minister. This is called power of patronage.
Crown powers wielded by the Prime Minister also include the power to go to war. This was in the news recently as pundits speculated whether Theresa May would consult Parliament about going to war in Syria.
Mashabletalked to a few more members of Republic to find out why they joined up.
For32-year-old Dani Beckett the issue is a mixture of symbolic and political.
"All the things I care about changing in society; economic inequality, gender inequality, racism and poverty, seem to be epitomised by the monarchy," she said. "It seems ridiculous to me that in 2018, a diverse and democratic country should have an unelected head of state who holds enormous power over the decisions that are made that affect everyone's day to day lives.
"They're far from it. The media like to make out that we all love the monarchy and can't wait for the royal wedding when actually over half of young people say that they couldn't care less."
Credit: Dani beckett
"Many people say the the Queen never really interferes with the decisions of elected representatives, but the systems have no transparency so we really can't be sure of that. And I feel certain that when Charles inherits the throne he will jump at the chance to get involved."
Beckett also finds the media representation of the royals troubling. "I find it frustrating how harmless the monarchy are portrayed to be in the British media," she added.
For Beckett, the coverage of the royal baby encapsulated her concerns about the relationship between the media and the royals.
"It's the epitome of hereditary privilege," she said. "There are parts of the UK where over half of children are living in poverty and yet there's been masses of saccharine coverage of this one child in the media. It's easy to get swept up in because a new baby is a lovely thing for the family, but you have to ask how many other babies were born [on April 23rd] without the privileged access to power that the royals have."
Credit: juan leahy34-year-old Juan Leahy was a "casual republican" up until 2012. "The 2012 Jubilee blew my mind," he said. "I couldn’t believe the adulation and flag waving for such an archaic institution. The monarchy doesn’t reflect me at all and I couldn’t get my head round the fanfare."
"Its existence hammers home the message that we are not equal," he said, "that we are not born equal and that some people deserve more power and respect than others."
"That message filters down and all of a sudden we have a Cabinet stuffed with Eton-educated university chums who have long benefited from the privilege denied to everyone else."
For 27-year-old Matthew Reillyanti-monarchism is a matter of political principle.
Credit: Matthew Reilly "No-one in a proper functioning democracy should enjoy the privilege of unchecked hereditary power. It's just not on. No-one should be 'born into' a position of such importance as head of state. And I am afraid there is simply not one good reason to keep things the way they are.
"We should be trusted to elect our own head of state who acts as our ambassador around the world. Simply, we can do much better than a monarchy!"
So as the royal wedding approaches, in midst of the usual media feeding-frenzy and interviews of tearfully excited visitors to Windsor, there'll be a substantial number of Brits turning off their televisions for the day.
TopicsPolitics
Major earthquake and multiple aftershocks rock central Italy2024-09-20 05:34
C羅因傷缺席朗尼克曼聯首秀? 竟因標誌性慶祝動作2024-09-20 05:25
巴薩明夏免簽目標 :卡瓦尼領銜 切爾西雙星在列2024-09-20 05:21
津媒:明年中超16家俱樂部總投入 可能還不及當年一家2024-09-20 05:19
Chinese gymnastics team horrifies crowd with human jump rope2024-09-20 04:56
埃芬博格 :梅西不配進金球三甲 投票機製有問題2024-09-20 04:27
西班牙人VS巴列卡諾首發:武磊替補 德托馬斯出戰2024-09-20 04:26
搶戲!胡梅爾斯成天坑 多特三個丟球均與他有關2024-09-20 04:18
Two astronauts just installed a new parking spot on the International Space Station2024-09-20 04:16
羅馬VS國米首發:哲科先發戰舊主 巴雷拉恰球王登場2024-09-20 04:00
Tributes flow after death of former Singapore president S.R. Nathan2024-09-20 06:01
李鐵足球人生 :從中國足球先生到英超 輔佐裏皮勤奮敬業2024-09-20 05:41
巨人殺手 !西漢姆“錘死”藍軍 神仙球絕殺太驚豔2024-09-20 05:38
多特VS拜仁首發 :哈蘭德PK萊萬 羅伊斯穆勒出戰2024-09-20 05:28
Tributes flow after death of former Singapore president S.R. Nathan2024-09-20 05:26
武磊第三次進大名單未出場 西甲293分鍾0球0助攻2024-09-20 04:59
西班牙人VS巴列卡諾首發:武磊替補 德托馬斯出戰2024-09-20 04:00
多特VS拜仁首發:哈蘭德PK萊萬 羅伊斯穆勒出戰2024-09-20 03:55
The U.S. will no longer have the final say on internet domain names2024-09-20 03:51
不配金球?萊萬榜首大戰梅開二度 2021年已攻入66球2024-09-20 03:41