THE DOUBLE CHILLING ….
Chill No 1. Reading the proposed list of attacks on democracy in the May 2021 Queen’s Speech and the increased empowerment of the oligarchic class, that through the 4 far-right media billionaires that now control our democracy, sent a deep chill through my heart.
Chill No 2. But even more chilling is the lack of opposition or media exposure of this assault on what is left of the UKs democracy. Hardly a single news outlet headlined this in today’s publications. Starmer, Davey Labour and LibDems are utterly invisible. It is clear Keir Starmer has decided on a path to not upset the far-right media oligarch’s no matter what. So let us look at the list:
1. ATTACK ON RULE OF LAW The most alarming Bill is the assault on the Courts and on the fundamental basis of our rule of law. Johnson failed to take dictatorial powers to ram through Brexit, without parliamentary approval by simply shutting parliament down, because the Supreme Court ruled he had to follow the law and did not have to power to shut parliament down, because it would not do what he demanded. Johnson is now legislating to weaken those powers by the Supreme Court that can force the government to obey its own laws. This is a terrifying removal of one of the very few remaining key checks and balances in our battered democracy and leaves all of us vulnerable to illegal attacks on our rights by the Murdoch controlled executive, with radically weakened protections in the law.
2. ATTACK ON FREEDOM TO PROTEST The new Murdoch demanded Crime Bill makes it criminally illegal for protestors to be “seriously annoying” or too loud with punishments of up to 10 years.
3. ATTACK ON VOTING RIGHTS By introducing compulsory photo ID checks for voting, it discriminates against the poorest millions in the UK who do not drive and do not fly abroad for holidays. Thus helping remove crucial group of voters who may vote Labour, as the Tories constantly target them for cuts. This could swing many Parliamentary seats permanently in favour of the Tories in seats where they do not have a majority.
4. ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY In many large cities, there is a significant majority of voters who oppose the Tories. The AV proportional system allows that majority to win most of the big city Mayoral elections. So the Tories are abolishing it, to allow a minority backed Tory to defeat the combined majority opposition. This would remove one of the few remaining sources of power not in control of the Murdoch controlled Prime Minister. It will also disenfranchise millions of Green & LD voters, forcing them to vote for one of the two big parties, to have any influence over who their mayor is. In addition Brexit has removed the automatic rights of millions of local tax-paying people to vote in local elections, as EU residents no longer are automatically entitled to vote in them (The right was extended to the 2021 local elections due to delay of elections from before Brexit).But the Queens Speech allows foreign based non-tax paying long term ex-pats to vote in local and national elections, even when gone over 15 years. These again are likely rich older Tory voters, further entrenching bias in the systems to a permanent Tory majority.
5. ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH The imposing of the right for far-right speakers to sue Student Unions and Universities for not agreeing to allow them to promote their hate at student union events is a vile assault on freedom in our universities.
6. DESTRUCTION OF LOCAL DEMOCRACY One of the few remaining powers of elected local councils, that are not dictated by central government are the limited powers over planning decisions in our local communities, where the public has a right to object or influence new developments that hugely impact their lives. The new Planning Destruction Bill obliterates all such democratic powers for most areas. other than those where rich people live, which will retain some protections. But for the rest of us, the bill hands all powers over to billionaire and millionaire developers to do what they want, with NO input from the public or their elected councillors.
It also ends the requirement for developer corporations to contribute to the building of community infrastructure for their developments. It is local tax payers who will now have to pay for the new roads, community centres, doctors offices, schools etc to service the billionaire developments but no democratic say.
7. PERSECUTION OF MINORITY WAY OF LIFE The Crime Bill likewise criminalises the Gypsy way of life, with punishments of home confiscation if they transgress. We all know who else attacked the Gypsies…. Let us not forget Boris Johnson is our prime minister for one reason and one reason only. He was the highly paid propagandist for the far-right billionaire media oligarchs for decades. Johnson literally was paid millions to gush out a stream of lies and propaganda for decades by the owners of The Sun, Telegraph and Daily Mail. His deliberately posed tousled posh man of the people persona was promoted and turned into celebrity by these four owners. With their propagandist now duly installed in Downing Street and with Corbyn, the only national political opposition willing to stand up to them destroyed, they can now proceed with their joint manifesto to dismantle all remaining opposition to their oligarchy. It will be interesting to see how and when they try their next move to destroy the remaining powers of the Welsh & Scottish Parliaments…
If I were the Scots, I would grab the referendum opportunity to escape Murdoch’s far-right oligarchy and return to the arms of Europe’s family of liberal democracies, imperfect though it or they may be. Yesterday’s Queen’s speech was a truly dark day for democracy.
A SPARK OF RESISTANCE IN THE DARKNESS
But on the same day as the Queen’s Speech, those brave rebels from Extinction Rebellion who dared to stand up to Murdoch by blockading the entrance to his power base in Broxbourne last summer, were in court, exposing his destruction of our climate and ecology.
Maybe they are the spark that could reignite genuine democratic opposition to the Murdoch / Johnson oligarchy?
Love n courage Donnachadh x
PS if any XR supporter wants to know how Murdoch and 4 media billionaires hijacked our democracy, email [email protected] and I will send you the ebook version of The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought – for free.
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