What do you mean Mussolini ended uo something like this?
"The people have the power to redeem the work of fools..."
Patti Smith, Poet & Rock Icon
WHEN DOES THE GOVERNMENT'S BETRAYAL OF DEMOCRACY JUSTIFY TAKING TO THE STREETS TO TEAR IT DOWN?
Westminster has fallen victim to a coup.
Politicians really should have seen it coming. We all should have seen it coming. But we didn't. A sizable number of us understood full well about the mechanism - the anachronism - known as prorogation. Or we thought we did. I must acknowledge that I was one of them. So why did it happen and what, if anything, can the British people do about it now at 11.59 Brexit time?
The 'why' aspect is pretty simple to explain - not that it offers any kind of excuse for the politicians at Westminster in particular.
The fact is that lazy, incompetent, lying, cheating, racist, apparently coke-snorting, elitist, far-right, pretend-Churchill clown that Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson undoubtedly is I really don't think any of us politicos really, deep-down imagined that beyond the bluster Johnson would risk sending the United Kingdom crashing in to the Second division.
And maybe even lower?
A very stupid boy actually...
Doing so just to, by hook-or-by-crook, achieve the mad Little England dream of the pinstripes and brogues army of Captain Mainwarings, Colonel Blimps, Reece-Moggs and other assorted Johnny Foreigner haters who yearn for the mythical days of a Golden Empire.
A mad dream Johnson also simply must know can, and will without fast and drastic action, end in disaster which will continue for years - decades to come. And one to boot from which only the super-wealthy like him and so many of his motley band of nanny-loving loons will emerge relatively financially unscathed.
Like the cautionary legend of Nero what all in Britain now have to wake up to as the first flames begin to smoulder and Emperor BoJo de Pfeffel gets out his fiddle is the fact that the madman now just has to be stopped and the only way to achieve this may have to be drastic - a rebellion in fact the like of which we have not seen since the Poll Tax Uprising took down the Wicked Witch of the West.
"Trust me - I have a very exciting agenda..."
In truth it may have to be a whole lot more extreme?
For what are the genuine political or judicial remedies on offer when the people are simply being ignored? Indeed, are there actually any?
Option 1: No-Confidence Vote leading to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as temporary Prime Minister & General Election
As an advocate of 21st Century Socialism, that I believe this would be the best outcome of all will come as no surprise. It would also be the easiest way out of the mess whether one supports the Corbyn project or not. It would by definition be a temporary, time-limited solution ultimately ending with a General Election that would, I challenge anyone to say otherwise, offer the best opportunity to salve the Brexit wounds no matter what was the outcome.
Not that I am suggesting even this, a new government and a new vote, will mend the division David Cameron set in motion before scuttling off to the million-dollar after dinner speakers circuit and some serious sunbathing.
Jeremy Corbyn - the PM Britain needs - receives a raptuous welcome at Glastonbury
Yet the sad thing is that it won't happen because even those Tories who know Johnson is in the throes of destroying Britain for a generation or more; and their party possibly for ever, are so hardwired in to doing anything but that which might risk the first truly Leftist government since that of Atlee after the war - and the first genuine alternative to neo-liberal greed and forced austerity for the poor - would rather see Britain go down in flames.
It is the sort of scorched earth; condemn everything and everyone to oblivion if we can't have our way mentality that Hitler and the Third Reich pursued as the tanks rolled in to the Fatherland. But that, I am afraid, is bottom-line Conservatism for you.
Throw in the pathetic Lib-Dems of non-entities such as new 'leader' Jo Swinson and Chuka '3 parties' Umunna who will all react in exactly the same 'anyone but Corbyn' way and even then the chances are remote to say the least. Just remember Clegg who happily supported a cruel austerity just for a minor lick on the lollypop of power: leopards really don't change their spots!
There should be greater co-operation with the Greens
Yes, there is small hope with the Greens - who we of the Left really should be encouraging closer co-operation with in my opinion. Maybe the SNP too - even if it is partly in the interest of their wider agenda. But trust me - best way out of the malais as it is by far Option 1 just ain't happening!
If there is to be a General Election those Socialists who believe in a world for the many not the few have got to find a way to force it ourselves.
Option 2: Bringing Theresa May's Brexit deal back from the dead
Least we forget in the prorogue turmoil this was rejected not once, not twice but three times! It also brought about the downfall of one of the worst Prime Ministers in Britsh history - it was that bad. Could any self-respecting politician who had voted it down for the festering cowpat May's proposals were really just hold their noses and vote for it now; just because they might view it the 'least worst' option?
The Brexit deal of the dancing robot should stay in the dustbin where it belongs
I think not. And I desperately hope not.
Option 3: Overturn Prorogation through the courts
Some people I have spoken to over the past couple of days really think there is a chance of salvation here. I hope that they are right but unfortunately I don't believe it myself for a minute. And the reason that it won't happen in my view is quite simple: Johnson has shamelessly but quite brilliantly dragged the Queen in to the mix.
As I see it unless the Queen can be shown to have been legally misled over the prorogation - which I would wager that she has not - then whatever some initial ritual posturing for appearances sake it just won't be happening either.
Her Majesty indicates that we need a political swing to the Left
For I just do not believe that the Judiciary would go up against 'its' Monarch in a million years.
So what are the alternatives - Follow the lead of the gilet jaune?
Anyone who is old enough to remember the demonstrations, mass public disorder and downright rioting that arose back in 1990 when, drunk on a decade of power, Margaret Thatcher deluded herself that she had become Untouchable, knows that even in a politically restrained country like Britain, mass rebellion and taking 'people power' to the streets really can work.
Indeed, having only a short time ago lived in France we only have to reflect upon the so-called gilet jaune phenomena to see that such mobilisation - if not allowed to become hijacked and slide in to wanton destruction for the sake of it - can shock the Untouchables in to thinking again. Has Britain now reached the time for such action, I ask?
In times past both Zapata and Che were attributed with the famous saying: "Better to die on your feet than live on your knees!" Why do I highlight this? Simply because one thing is quite clear to me after the events of this week.
"People liberate themselves..."
If Boris Johnson's abuse of Office as a petit sawdust Caesar mandated by less than 3/4 of the tiny Tory Little England party membership - and just 0.13% of the UK population - is left to roll on down the Highway to Hell of one thing alone we can be quite certain. By the time Halloween and Brexit comes around democracy and any chance of a quick-fire salvation will be crawling down the burning streets on its hands and knees.
So I ask readers the question: gilets jaunes, mes ami?
Or given the true 21st Century Socialist revolution that we need perhaps the offer of bonnets rouges is more in line?
The Bonnets Rouges - all the best revolutions are Red!
Thanks to Boris the need to storm our very own Bastille could be very near at hand...
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