Judged

When the Brexit vote came in we had a bit of a gloat. Not a massive, in-your-face, dance-on-your-grave affair just a jubilant punching of the air and a relatively quiet, satisfied sigh of relief. Despite all the might of the establishment – every part of the establishment – we held our nerve and won through. Our celebrations were cautionary because we knew that it wasn’t going to be game over – the biased ref wasn’t going to blow the whistle for full time, he was just going to add injury time to insult and give the opposition time to wear us down.

But now, after three and half years of extra time we are still at one-nil despite penalty after penalty being awarded against us. They have challenged the legality of the Leave campaign and continue to insist it was rigged when all the evidence for rigging points to their side. They have impugned our intelligence, our motives and our very right to even cast a vote, but we are still clinging on to that full-time result, all those months ago. When David Cameron said this would be our decision and that Parliament would enact it he wasn’t lying, he just didn’t expect to have to honour that promise.

And then came yesterday, the day the law took sovereign power for itself. Of all the people who should worry about yesterday’s blatant flouting of any respect for democracy, Jeremy Corbyn stands head and shoulders above the crowd and he ought to be thoroughly ashamed of himself. ‘Parliamentary sovereignty’ was supposed to be the people’s weapon against the might of the throne, the might of the establishment. But parliament only borrows its weight from the people and the question of whose interests are protected should never arise.

The rule of law held that nobody was above or beyond justice and no matter how many times we saw that this wasn’t true, that justice was for sale, we held a last bit of hope that when it came to the crunch, the law would protect us, every one, as equally as if we were a lord or a prince… or a former public servant who lied and took us to war or ruin. Well, let that lie now be exposed to the world. You can argue until you are blue that the supreme court judges were basing their decision purely on the law and nothing else, but it won’t wash, any more than OJ Simpson’s glove or Alastair Campbells weapons of mass destruction.

Labour was founded on the principles of social justice, to fight for the rights of those who could not afford the expensive, legal kind. It is pledged to be on the side of that common law wish for equality and recognition. It is supposed to be the champion of the downtrodden masses but now they call their expressed wish 'populism' – they spit the word as if it offends their very being – the will of the masses. But look where labour is now; it is on the side of a fanatical, jingoistic nationalism whose entire purpose is to ride roughshod over democracy.

 The EU isn’t democratic, no matter what its apologists pretend. It would eradicate the franchise in a heartbeat if it could. In place of national pride they instil a sense of belonging to some dream project for peace and prosperity when really it is about power; the kind of power the supreme court has just grabbed for itself and given to speaker Bercow to wield as he sees fit. Those who cheerlead for the EU, for the judges, for the deposing of a genuinely popular Prime Minister are stoking the fervour of be-flagged, starry-eyed devotees of a despotic regime, where Big Brother provides everything, including your vote.

"Old people stole our future"*

Look at the mobs. Look at the noisy, bellicose, arrogant, sneering throngs, chanting and beseeching and wallowing as if in the throes of a divine intervention. These people are beyond reason and beyond truth, just as the supreme court is above and beyond the common law. They call Brexiters self-harming fanatics, but with few exceptions what I see are ordinary people, who normally take little interest in politics, now aghast at the way in which their assumptions of freedom and rights have been violently taken from them. Who are the real extremists here?

(*Credit to @MarcherLord1 on Twitter)

New World Order?

There are disturbing stirrings across the developed world reminiscent of central Europe in the 1930s, or so they say. Millions of ordinary people are telling each other stories about ‘the other’ and there is a rising tide of extremism emerging from slumber. Families are becoming divided as some members succumb to a vision of how they believe the world ought to be; the way it is currently headed runs directly contrary to their memory of how we were and their hopes for how we will be. Telling themselves that their instincts are simple human nature helps them maintain their course despite the clear threat they pose to stability and peace.

As they find more and more people who think like them they grow ever bolder in facing off against the opposition. What were once maybe small clusters of bigoted opinion-holders is once again mobilising as a mass movement under marching banners proclaiming their righteousness and condemning those who they blame. Cleverly using the mass media they sow seeds of dissent among the grass roots and embolden others to join their cause, claiming that they alone understand the popular mood and rejecting the legitimate concerns of millions.

He who controls the narrative controls the course of history, they say, but he who controls the language controls the narrative. And just look at how they are twisting the meaning of words as the lexicon of fascism rises to the surface. Fit in or fuck off, they are shouting; you are with us or against us. Prove your credentials by chanting the chant and no longer hide your hatred, but get it out there. Gather, protest, change the world; threaten violence if it advances your cause. Since the Brexit vote there has been a noticeable ratcheting up of hateful language, of verbal hate crimes and the rule of the mob.

These people are using the result of the referendum to legitimise their aims and elevating their flag-bearers to the status of demagogues. The followers despise the establishment yet are happy to demand that this same establishment recognises their cause and challenges their enemies. The older generation. The racists. The Little Englanders. The uneducated.  The too-thick-to-know-what-they-voted-for. As ever the young recruits to the cause adopt its lazy stereotypes with the greatest alacrity. Despite their rejection of binary gender identity, they are only too ready to accept simplistic political labels.

Youth Cult members worship at the EU altar

As the Supreme Court sits in judgement at the behest of the mob, for whom democracy has become a dirty word, let us hope that wiser counsel prevails. The spokesmen for Remain complain about the tyranny of the majority, yet use their own enthusiastic numbers to push forward their own agenda. The irony of their accusations against that majority – their parents, the old order – and their insistence that their youthful protest is the future - tomorrow belongs to them - can neatly be summed up in one phrase; Hitler Youth. We must combat the rise of a new fascism, they say, but who are the real Nazis here?