So for the last couple of years now the Tories have been dealing with various protesters from extinction rebellion, just stop oil et al blocking traffic, spraying orange paint at various events and otherwise making a nuisance of themselves. Similar protests have started happening in other countries too, notably the US. I’ve previously discussed how I think some of these protests are counter productive. But even so, people do have a right to protest and such rights should be respected. Only a complete fascist would crack down on a peaceful protest…..
….which has been the exact response from the authorities, with heavy handed policing and new draconian laws to clamp down on said protests. Up to the point of considering whether or not to declare them as terrorists (for mildly disrupting traffic!).Why? Because they are causing a disruption. Ya, I suspect the same was true for the marches in favour of workers rights in the 19th century, civil rights in the 60’s & 70’s, or against the Vietnam war, or the suffragette’s, the anti-communist protests in Eastern Europe, or practically every protest movement in history. And these movements were successful because the protests were disruptive and forced the topic onto the political agenda. That’s sort of the whole point of protesting.
By contrast, we have people vandalising ULEZ camera’s in London, over 500 of them being attacked in a few months. Destruction of public property, is surely a far more serious crime than standing in a public place with a placard (if that counts as a crime at all). Is the government proposing to declare them terrorists too? Are they going to set up a new task force to go after them? Nope, the government is actively cheering them on, as are many others on the right.
And keep in mind, we need to avoid a false equivalence here.The main reason green groups are protesting is because the Tories have reneging on the net zero promises they made in their manifesto (then again, what fool would believe the Tories would keep their promises), which included the ULEZ btw. And the Tories know this to be true, so much so that fishy Rishi is going to skip the UN General assembly summit, as he doesn’t want to risk getting told off by the UN for reneging on commitments made at the Glasgow climate conference.
The London mayor was also elected with ULEZ in his manifesto. So these ULEZ saboteurs are violently opposing a policy that the majority of people have voted for, at both national and local elections. And this minority is doing so, just so they can kill people who have chronic breathing problems, cos they can’t be bothered to get a more fuel efficient car (or take the train, or god forbid walk/cycle!). But apparently this is okay as far as the Tories are concerned.
We’ve also seen drivers assault protesters or drive at them with their vehicles. This is, at the very least, dangerous driving, if not assault with a deadly weapon, yet no charges are forthcoming. Interestingly, someone drove a truck at police the other day and was done for attempted murder (its only a crime when plod get hurt, they also sent seven officers to arrest an autistic teen when she said something one of them took offence too).
In fact this vandalism occurred in the middle of “crime week” a Tory crack down on crime….aside from vandalism, racism, corruption, fraud (the later two often left off crime statistics….I wonder why?), oh and prison escapes or spying. Conservative logic, don’t even try to figure it out. They are doing a great job….of wrecking the country!
Welcome to the world of right privilege. Which alongside white privilege is the belief of the right that everyone should do what they say, but don’t do as we do. The January 6th insurrection being a good example. Yes some of those who took part have gone to jail. But their treatment is mild compared to how the BLM protesters were treated by the same DC cops, just down the street, a few months earlier. Then, peaceful protests were violently suppressed and even journalists arrested (I’ll let you guess which ethnic group they belonged to and the possible real reasons for their arrest).
And to be clear (again false equivalence), BLM are protesting the violent attacks and murder of minorities by both the police and white supremacists. Plus the fact that the perpetrators frequently go unpunished.The Jan 6th “protesters” were attempting a violent overthrow of the US government and to overturn the democratic will of the American people….otherwise known as “treason”. So in that context, that they weren’t shot on sight and the survivors sent to ADX Florence, I think we can safely say they got off easy. And would probably received no punishment at all, if the Republicans could have prevented it (indeed this is sort of their policy for 2024).
Of course Trump himself is now facing charges and suddenly that’s labelled as politically motivated….yet the multiple attempts by republicans to impeach democratic officials, for blatantly political reasons is okay. In fact they’ve been trying to impeach a Wisconsin justice before she could even be sworn in (while ignoring very serious charges of corruption levelled against a pro-republican supreme court justice Thomas). And again, even this is a false equivalence, as the charges against Trump relate to real evidence of actual crimes, rather than baseless charges fielded by republicans for political reasons.
And its not just in terms of political protest we see this, but many other areas too. For example drugs. Police are quick to crack down on drugs in poorer neighbourhoods (especially if it gives them the excuse to bash a minority). Yet at parties held by the elites drugs are often free flowing. The UK police a while ago found evidence of cocaine in nearly all the bathroom’s in Parliament. Did they start a policy of stop and search of MP’s? Of course not!
In fact I remember reading about a US police chief who decided to start doing drug raids in middle class neighbourhoods and college campuses rather than in deprived areas. Two things happened pretty quickly, word got out and there was a noticeable drop in drugs on the street and the associated crime. And secondly he got fired. Like I said, do what we say, don’t do what we do.
And who were the biggest drug dealers of the last few decades? The Sackler’s. And are they in ADX Florence like El Chapo? No, don’t be silly, they are living in their nice mansions. Drug laws are for poor people, not rich white men. Meanwhile, in the republican debate several candidates talked openly about bombing Mexico…so, given that the bulk of opioids have gotten onto the street from US drug companies, when are they going to start bombing big pharma?
The main achievement of the republicans over the last few decades has been to take away women’s right to choose. And then they lecture the rest of us about the bible and the importance of the family as well as bashing gay’s. Its so important to them, that’s why they regularly get caught having numerous affairs (indeed republicans are more likely to cheat on spouses than democrats) , or sleeping with prostitutes, including pastors sleeping with other men. And we can’t have any books in our school libraries that might indoctrinate young impressionable minds…..now off to bible study….oh, wait!
As some commentators have pointed out, the republicans in the US (and the Tories in the UK) are faced with the problem that demographics are against them, with voters turning increasingly against their policies. But rather than abandon their conservatism, they’ve chosen instead to double down on it and abandon democracy instead.
There is a word to describe someone who believes that they have absolute authority and you must obey them, or else – fascism. And that is exactly what much of the right has lurched towards. Now the thing is, history tells us, fascists are going to fascist. They will never be happy until they have all the power and any opinions other than their own are stamped out.
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