Britains most notorious traitor and his links to the modern anarchist movements.

How many of you have seen this "character" popping up all over the place recently?
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ac3b62badc14.jpg[/atsimg]
Most people may know of this as character from the V for vendetta series of comic books. (which was also made into a movie)
Due to the original storyline of the comic books he has now become a symbol for the modern anarchist movements, especially here in the UK.

V for Vendetta is a ten-issue dystopian comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s to about the 1990s. A mysterious revolutionary who calls himself "V" works to destroy the totalitarian government, profoundly affecting the people he encounters. Warner Bros. released a film adaptation in 2006.

en.wikipedia.org...

But did you know this character is actually inspired by a real person, the most notorious traitor in British history..
Guy Fawkes[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b3eb1f381931.jpg[/atsimg]

Guy Fawkes (13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606) was born and educated in York. His father died when Fawkes was eight years old, after which his mother married a recusant Catholic. Fawkes later converted to Catholicism and left for the continent, where he fought in the Eighty Years' War on the side of Catholic Spain against Protestant Dutch reformers.

en.wikipedia.org...

He later met a man named Thomas Wintour and they returned to England together. Wintour was the one who introduced falwkes to Robert Catesby
A group of thirteen conspirators took shape, under the leadership of Catesby. Catesby felt that violent action was warranted to return a catholic monarch to the throne. The was plan to assassinate King James I The Gunpowder Plot was born.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/8333650eafbc.jpg[/atsimg]
Indeed, the thing to do was to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
Commonly known to most as this building
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cbfb194fda54.jpg[/atsimg]
Although this one has been rebuilt from one that was destroyed by fire it 1845, the building that would have existed during the gunpowder plot would have been this one.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b2bd338e351e.jpg[/atsimg]
The plan was to get 36 barrels of gunpowder and store them under the house of lords.
But as the group were working on the plot, it was becoming clear that many innocent people would be hurt or killed in the attack, including some of those who were for fighting the rights of the Catholics. Some of the conspirators started having second thoughts.
An anonymous letter was sent to Lord Monteagle, warning him to stay away from the Parliament on November 5th. The letter eventually reached the king and plans were put in place to stop the conspiracy.
In the early hours of november 5th 1605, Guy Fawlkes was found in the cellar of the house of lords with 36 barrels of gunpowder.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9aad89057c82.gif[/atsimg]
He was captured and subsequently tortured to reveal the names of his co conspirators, which he eventualy gave up. The trial of Guy fawlkes and 8 co conspirators started on 27th january 1606.. The outcome was inevitable.

On 31 January 1606, Fawkes and three others – Thomas Wintour, Ambrose Rookwood, and Robert Keyes – were dragged from the Tower on wattled hurdles to the Old Palace Yard at Westminster, opposite the building they had attempted to destroy.[53] His fellow plotters were hanged, drawn and quartered. Fawkes was the last to stand on the scaffold. He asked for forgiveness of the King and state, while keeping up his "crosses and idle ceremonies", and aided by the hangman began to climb the ladder to the noose. Although weakened by torture, Fawkes managed to jump from the gallows, breaking his neck in the fall and thus avoiding the agony of the latter part of his execution.[37][54] His lifeless body was nevertheless quartered,[55] and as was the custom,[56] his body parts were then distributed to "the four corners of the kingdom", to be displayed as a warning to other would-be traitors.

en.wikipedia.org...

So every year here in England on November the 5th, people light fires everywhere around the country and burn an effigy of Guy Fawkes to the chant of..

"Remember, remember, the fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason
Why Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot",…..[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/cf01227f1ff7.jpg[/atsimg]

And we have parties everywhere with people letting of fireworks in celebration at the failed attempt to blow up the house's of parliament and assassinate the king.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0d5932e8d8ad.jpg[/atsimg]

So there you have it.. The story of Guy Fawkes.. and the inspiration for some modern anarchist movements..

whilst making this thread, i did a search and found something with similar points, created by eMachine, although are threads are completly different. id still like to leave a link.
you can find it Here

reply to post by Misterlondon


Love it, flag for you- I am very partial to the V for Vendetta movie, as its slight twist has unique bearing on our current political environment here in the states. And to be truthful the movie itself is a darn good watch.

As someone with rather Anarchistic tendancies, I don't get it.
Anarchists are traditionally against religion, Fawlks was pretty much a Catholic extremist, not an Anarchist.
I have never met an Anarchist who's beliefs were based on a movie, and any Anarchist that did, would, in my eyes, be a numpty.
The movie "V" is a work of fiction, and bloody good movie, but a movie none-the-less.
The Fawlks connection can only be the fact that he supposedly tried to blow up the houses of parliament, but the reasons were NOT Anarchistic in the slightest, so the connection petty much fails beyond that point.
IMO.

I take it that this thread has been put up for those who were not schooled in the United Kingdom, although I was unaware of the jumping from the gallows part so I suppose you deserve a star and flag for that bit of info.

reply to post by Misterlondon


Saw the movie didn't think it was that good. What i find alarming is all the revolution stuff coming out even in non middle eastern countries all at the same time like its some kind of plan. I believe in revolution but not a world revolution the idea is utterly frightening to me

Originally posted by BrianDamage
so the connection petty much fails beyond that point.
IMO.

the connection is that the main character in v for vendetta is based on guy fawkes.. (he wears a guy fawkes mask)

this same character from v for vendetta, is used as a symbol for many of these anarchist movements.. that is the connection.
it has doesnt matter whether guy fawkes intentions were anarchistic or not, He still connects to some modern anarchist movements in the way explained above

for example [atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/73e68d6765c7.gif[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7969ef6f5465.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b0d76534f937.jpg[/atsimg]

What I find fascinating about this, which has never occured to me before is;

If he'd succeeded in assassinating king James in 1606, then there'd be no King James Bible in 1611.

I believe King James made amendments when translating to fit in with his vision Of England. So I wonder how different things would be with out that particular translation?

Originally posted by lewman
I take it that this thread has been put up for those who were not schooled in the United Kingdom, although I was unaware of the jumping from the gallows part so I suppose you deserve a star and flag for that bit of info.

yeah mostly... almost everyone here should know all about guy fawkes..
i wanted to show the connection between the v guy, for those who dont know about fawkes.

What worries me is the Fawkes links to Roman Catholicism it almost seems the anarchists are the face of the Vatican..
(tho going on the number of conspiracy theories thrown around about the Vatican and how all road lead to Rome it wouldn't be surprising )

Tho, Fawkes is not going to the face of anarchists down here... both, the Pope and Fawkes along with the whole political elite (left and right) end up on the bonfires around here...

But then again, no one really does the 5th like Lewisians taking any excuse the blow things up..

Originally posted by TheOffGridKid
What I find fascinating about this, which has never occured to me before is;

If he'd succeeded in assassinating king James in 1606, then there'd be no King James Bible in 1611.

I believe King James made amendments when translating to fit in with his vision Of England. So I wonder how different things would be with out that particular translation?

Good point, I never thought about that..
Second

Originally posted by thoughtsfull
What worries me is the Fawkes links to Roman Catholicism it almost seems the anarchists are the face of the Vatican..
(tho going on the number of conspiracy theories thrown around about the Vatican and how all road lead to Rome it wouldn't be surprising

)

Tho, Fawkes is not going to the face of anarchists down here... both, the Pope and Fawkes along with the whole political elite (left and right) end up on the bonfires around here...

But then again, no one really does the 5th like Lewisians

taking any excuse the blow things up..

You make a valid point.. Generally when you look at history, especially alot of the darker stuff..

Originally posted by Rossa
reply to post by Misterlondon

 

Love it, flag for you- I am very partial to the V for Vendetta movie, as its slight twist has unique bearing on our current political environment here in the states. And to be truthful the movie itself is a darn good watch.

its funny, ive never actually seen the film. definitly one to add to my list though..
2nd

When I was 5-8 I lived at Bentwaters-Woodbridge in England and one of my fondest memories was this remembrance. First seeing a massive pier of wood with a chair and a "Straw Man" sitting on it in the middle of a giant clearing with lots and lots of people singing and dancing and walking around. Then at dusk the pier set ablaze to light the evening and night sky. WOW!! It is an image that is fondly burnt into my memory. Everyone should experience this at least once in their life.

Originally posted by Agarta
When I was 5-8 I lived at Bentwaters-Woodbridge in England and one of my fondest memories was this remembrance. First seeing a massive pier of wood with a chair and a "Straw Man" sitting on it in the middle of a giant clearing with lots and lots of people singing and dancing and walking around. Then at dusk the pier set ablaze to light the evening and night sky. WOW!! It is an image that is fondly burnt into my memory. Everyone should experience this at least once in their life.

Sounds cool..

I always did think in later years, it is strange that once a year we all gather and light a big fire, then burn an effigy of a man, whilst chanting the same rhyme and setting of fireworks..
Always wondered if there is a deeper ritualistic meaning to it all, but maybe that's just the conspiracy theorist In Me..

reply to post by Misterlondon


In my opinion Guy Fawkes and all the modern movements that use his image are "revolutionary" and not anarchist. Guy did want to put a catholic king on the throne...not very anarchistic. (spelling sorry) I love anything revolutionary. If it's not good for the majority or it's no good at all....blow it up!!!

Viva la Revolucion!

reply to post by Misterlondon


The irony of course, is that Fawkes was himself absolutely not any sort of anarchist - he wanted a theocratic Catholic monarch in place of the protestant-with-Catholic-minority parliamentary system. Which is just about hte opposite of anarchy.

But hey, there are people who think Che Guevara is an icon of peace, too.

Yeah because I believe Catholics were being persecuted at the time and had been since Henry VIII broke away from the Catholic church and set up the Church of England denomination so the plot was to end that too.

Worst part? I don't actually remember the last time we had a bonfire to celebrate this because they banned them years ago on health and safety grounds and before that I don't remember a guy being burned on it nor has anyone in my 27 years of life ever said that rhyme, I only know the first line thanks to written media and television.

Oh and just to add, Guido Fawkes was actually a Spanish immigrant too which is how he was able to secure a night watchman type job and sneak the gunpowder under the Houses of Parliament because those who worked in the area had never seen his face before nor did he have any official papers to show who he was.

something you dont understand

We do not copy,we create

We do not copy, we rebuild and redesign our concepts

We do not copy, we use a symbol to rally under our ideals

But stay in your bubble and dont try to understand what you see.

Your mind is definitively locked into your fantasy world made of conspiracies

At least, us, are trying to fight thems

I'm curious, why do they still celebrate the 5th?
What are they celebrating? The preservation of the monarchy and Church of England?
Or is it just become so traditional that it's just a thing you do.

reply to post by dethduck


To be honest nobody much cares who Guy was.

In Scotland at least its just an excuse to have a bonfire and light off a large amount of fireworks. Great for kids.