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“Ding dong the witch is dead,” the British people sang, and they did so with good reason.  The witch in this case is former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who died.

No political figure in recent British history generated such deep hatred than Thatcher has. Understandably since her death, many protests were organized throughout the country. She was even burned in effigy.

Many blame her for creating wide unemployment, reducing many government subsidies, ruining job prospects for generations and starting a war that cost hundreds of soldiers lives.

Thatcher never received a mandate in any of her three elections. She took office in 1979 with only 44 percent of the vote in the general election with her percentage falling sharply in subsequent elections.

To the blue-collar British worker, Thatcherism became a synonym for breaking the back of hard working people. She once referred to them and their organizations as “the enemy within.”

Thatcher’s thuggish union busting methods became the norm throughout the country, all to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. Older generations are still crippled by the heartless policies she inflicted on them.

Thatcherism allowed discontent to fester for year after year, not just for one winter. Let’s not allow the right-wing conservative propaganda machine rewrite history.

“After 11 years in power, government spending was still high and the rate of economic growth during the 1980s was little better than during the 1970s,” said David Cannadine of The New York Times. “She negotiated the transfer of Hong Kong to China and opposed the reunification of Germany,” he said.

She found herself on the wrong side of history when she referred to Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress as “a typical terrorist organization.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron had to apologize in 2009 for Thatcher’s 1988 Section 28 law, which banned local authorities from portraying homosexuality in a positive light. “I’m sorry for Section 28. We got it wrong,” said Cameron in an article by Andrew Pierce with the Telegraph.

“Thatcher was an extraordinary woman, but she was extraordinary for the wrong reasons. So many of her policies were wrong and heartless,” said human rights activists Peter Tatchell of SDGLN.com.

Those who refuse to rewrite history and remember the Thatcher years should join the British people and sing-a-long: “Ding dong the witch is dead.”

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