Palestine Action: who will they blame when protest is banned?
Partisanism the world over, at least in the once-considered civilised western democracies, is increasingly encroaching upon the spaces where decency, debate and decorum once held court.
The tanks of Trumpianism are parked on the lawns of common sense, tolerance, rule of law, even, with those who have chosen their side unwilling to give quarter to their perceived enemies. The breakdown of mutual respect in this country is a concern.
Enmity, then, has become a commodity; sold by the snake oil salesmen of social media – to the point where the world’s richest man and most prominent purveyor of said snake oil, Elon Musk, had something to say about the race riots in Rotherham – to customers whose only thing in common is anger.
Hostility, antagonism – blame games – are built into the algorithms that narrate, nudge and influence our lives to the point where reason has withered on the vine and where fundamental freedoms are being compromised. This weekend, almost 500 protesters were arrested in London. Valuable, costly is a better word, and scarce law enforcement resource deployed to monitor and control a demonstration held in support of a proscribed terror group.
Protest, then, is on the up because people are being exploited. The exploitation of disenfranchisement is materialising on the streets, increasingly so, and consequences now are beginning to emerge.
Those who have taken the police oath, a solemn declaration to serve the reigning monarch and the public with fairness, integrity, diligence and impartiality, in order to protect us from harm, can’t cope.
The rule of law, and more pertinently, our ability to enforce it, is under duress and when that happens, freedoms, liberties and rights are reassessed.
The right to protest in this country – a fundamental freedom in the United Kingdom – is now itself under threat. Who will they blame for that?