Obligation To Remain Silent
Crackdown on republican opinions reveals U.K. to be fascist police state.
The death of Elizabeth II has revealed the United Kingdom as a fascist police state. Fascism is characterized by:
A dictatorial leader;
Centralized autocracy (viz., a system of government by one person with absolute power);
Militarism;
Forcible suppression of opposition;
Belief in a natural social hierarchy;
Subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race; and
Strong regimentation of society and the economy.
All of the typical characteristics of fascism are clearly observable in the U.K. today.
First, the government is a centralized autocracy ruled by a dictatorial leader. This is evidenced by the fact the monarch is explicitly above the law. No one can sue the monarch in civil court and no criminal proceedings can be brought against them. Further, the monarchy is exempt from all taxation, and all expenses are paid for by the taxpayer. The monarch also secretly vets legislation using King’s Consent. (See “God Damn The Queen: Elizabeth II's racist legacy of tyranny and terrorism leaves £72.5 billion, 6.6 billion acres to Monarchy PLC.”) Specifically, Elizabeth II used her unparalleled influence over Parliament to lobby the legislature more than 1,000 times during her reign. Using her hitherto secret powers, Elizabeth blocked the passage of a law that would have revealed the scope of her family’s wealth to the public. Additionally, the monarch is the commander-in-chief and the prosecutor-in-chief; is the ultimate owner of all lands throughout the Commonwealth; and their image is on all money and coin. While others speak of their nation’s sovereignty, the English accurately refer to their monarch as the sovereign.
Second, in terms of militarism, in addition to being the commander-in-chief and object of oaths of service, the monarchy has a long history of using military force to subjugate the peoples of the world. Chris Hedges summarized the Crown’s crimes in a recent post on his Substack.
The cries of the millions of victims of empire; the thousands killed, tortured, raped and imprisoned during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya; the 13 Irish civilians gunned down in “Bloody Sunday;” the more than 4,100 First Nations children who died or went missing in Canada’s residential schools, government-sponsored institutions established to “assimilate” indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture, and the hundreds of thousands killed during the invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan are drowned out by cheers for royal processions and the sacral aura an obsequious press weaves around the aristocracy. The coverage of the queen’s death is so mind-numbingly vapid — the BBC sent out a news alert on Saturday when Prince Harry and Prince William, accompanied by their wives, surveyed the floral tributes to their grandmother displayed outside Windsor Castle — that the press might as well turn over the coverage to the mythmakers and publicists employed by the royal family.
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In 1953, Her Majesty’s Government sent three warships, along with 700 troops, to its colony British Guiana, suspended the constitution and overthrew the democratically elected government of Cheddi Jagan. Her Majesty’s Government helped to build and long supported the apartheid government in South Africa. Her Majesty’s Government savagely crushed the Mau Mau independence movement in Kenya from 1952 to 1960, herding 1.5 million Kenyans into concentration camps where many were tortured. British soldiers castrated suspected rebels and sympathizers, often with pliers, and raped girls and women. Her Majesty’s Government inherited staggering wealth from the $ 45 trillion Great Britain looted from India, wealth accumulated by violently crushing a series of uprisings, including the First War of Independence in 1857. Her Majesty’s Government carried out a dirty war to break the Greek Cypriot War of Independence from 1955 to 1959 and later in Yemen from 1962 to 1969. Torture, extrajudicial assassinations, public hangings and mass executions by the British were routine. Following a protracted lawsuit, the British governmentagreed to pay nearly £20 million in damages to over 5,000 victims of British abuse during war in Kenya, andin 2019 another payout was made to survivors of torture from the conflict in Cyprus. The British state attempts to obstruct lawsuits stemming from its colonial history. Its settlements are a tiny fraction of the compensation paid to British slave owners in 1835, once it — at least formally — abolished slavery.
During her 70-year reign, the queen never offered an apology or called for reparations.
Moreover, the monarchy uses imagery of military regalia to reinforce their claim to rule in the public mind. Neither Charles nor Anne ever served, while Edward served four months and never saw action. In most of the developed world, playing dress-up with medals that one did not win through meritorious service would be considered stolen valor.
Third, forcible oppression of political opposition in the wake of Elizabeth’s death is rampant. Police arrested a 22-year old woman in Edinburgh for holding up a sign saying, “Fuck Imperialism, Abolish Monarchy.” The Crown Prosecution Service charged her with breach of peace, which, when prosecuted by indictment, carries a prison term of up to 5 years on conviction. (If you think that is bad, the Treason Felony Act of 1848 is still the law in the U.K., meaning anyone calling for the abolition of the monarchy can be punished with life imprisonment.)
Police arrested a 22 year-old man for heckling Andrew in Edinburgh, calling the pedophile a “sick old man.” He is also charged with breaching the peace.
Elsewhere, police threatened a lawyer and climate catastrophe activist, Paul Powlesland, with arrest if he wrote “Not My King” on a piece of paper because it “might offend someone.” Powlesland told the Guardian the threat of arrest chilled his freedom of speech.
“Normally, you can get into trouble for shouting, but if you have something written that is super-factual and which is not abusive, then you would normally think that you are protected. It’s pure free speech.”
I think the idea that he could arrest me and that there could be a conviction under the Public Order Act was ludicrous, but interventions like that are having a chilling effect,” Powlesland added. “I didn’t hold up the sign in the end because I have to work tomorrow and could not afford to be detained. A lot of other people might simply be chilled into not protesting.
In Oxford, police arrested a man who shouted, “Who elected him?” in reference to Charles.
Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, identified an incident in Oxford on Sunday in which a man was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence, under section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986.
Thames Valley police said they had subsequently de-arrested Symon Hill, who said he had been arrested for shouting, “Who elected him?” when the proclamation of the new king was read out in Oxford.
Hill, 45, said he had come across the event by chance as he walked home from church. The history tutor said that after he shouted the words, some people nearby told him to “shut up” and he responded by saying: “A head of state has been imposed on us without our consent.”
Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, police arrested a man for carrying eggs in the vicinity of the procession of “Lizzy in a box.”
Then, two police officers in Scotland stalked a young woman who held up a blank piece of paper to protest the monarchy. Video shows the officers attempting to follow the woman back to her house to discover where she lived.
Fourth, with regards to belief in a natural social hierarchy, Hedges argues the monarchy reinforces white supremacy and classism.
Monarchy obscures the crimes of empire and wraps them in nostalgia. It exalts white supremacy and racial hierarchy. It justifies class rule. It buttresses an economic and social system that callously discards and often consigns to death those considered the lesser breeds, most of whom are people of color. The queen’s husband Prince Phillip, who died in 2021, was notorious for making racist and sexist remarks, politely explained away in the British press as “gaffes.” He described Beijing, for example, as “ghastly” during a 1986 visit and told British students: “If you stay here much longer you'll all be slitty-eyed.”
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Royals, to the ruling class, are worth the expense. They are effective tools of subjugation. British postal and rail workers canceled planned strikes over pay and working conditions after the queen’s death. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) postponed its congress. Labour Party members poured out heartfelt tributes. Even Extinction Rebellion, which should know better, indefinitely canceled its planned “Festival of Resistance.” The BBC’s Clive Myrie dismissed Britain’s energy crisis — caused by the war in Ukraine — that has thrown millions of people into severe financial distress as “insignificant” compared with concerns over the queen's health. The climate emergency, pandemic, the deadly folly of the U.S. and NATO’s proxy warin Ukraine, soaring inflation, the rise of neo-fascist movements and deepening social inequality will be ignored as the press spews florid encomiums to class rule. There will be 10 days of official mourning.
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The point of social hierarchy and aristocracy is to sustain a class system that makes the rest of us feel inferior. Those at the top of the social hierarchy hand out tokens for loyal service, including the Order of the British Empire (OBE). The monarchy is the bedrock of hereditary rule and inherited wealth. This caste system filters down from the Nazi-loving House of Windsor to the organs of state security and the military. It regiments society and keeps people, especially the poor and the working class, in their “proper” place.
The British ruling class clings to the mystique of royalty and fading cultural icons as James Bond, the Beatles and the BBC, along with television shows such as “Downton Abbey” — where in the 2019 film version the aristocrats and servants are convulsed in fevered anticipation when King George V and Queen Mary schedule a visit — to project a global presence. Winston Churchill’s bust remains on loanto the White House. These myth machines sustain Great Britain’s “special” relationship with the United States. Watch the satirical film In the Loop to get a sense of what this “special” relationship looks like on the inside.
It was not until the 1960s that “coloured immigrants or foreigners” were permitted to work in clerical roles in the royal household, although they had been hired as domestic servants. The royal household and its heads are legally exempt from laws that prevent race and sex discrimination, what Jonathan Cook calls “an apartheid system benefitting the Royal Family alone.” Meghan Markle, who is of mixed race and who contemplated suicide during her time as a working royal, said that an unnamed royal expressed concern about the skin color of her unborn son.
Fifth, there is overwhelming evidence individual interests are being subjugated for the ‘good of the nation’ during the enforced period of mourning. Authorities have cancelled thousands of hospital appointments and funerals scheduled for this Monday because they coincide with Elizabeth’s funeral. The Premier League canceled all football matches this past weekend and three more in London scheduled for this Saturday and Sunday. Roads in central London will close on Monday. Rail workers and the Post Office canceled planned strikes over pay and working conditions. The Trade Union Congress cancelled its congress. Even Extinction Rebellion postponed the so-called “Festival of Resistance.”
Lastly, as for strong regimentation of the society and economy, the mainstream news in the U.K. has been unbearable since Elizabeth’s death. The cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine receive no mention in daily programming. Airwaves are flooded around the clock with a hysterical mourn-fest to enforce conformity and drown out criticism of the royal family. Loyalist social media platforms are banning users who participate on republican and left-wing forums. Football clubs are giving life-time bans to fans who denounce the monarchy. Monarchists are calling for university professors who criticize the establishment to be fired. And a “wave of business closures” threatens to halt people’s daily life.
In conclusion, a mash-up of the BBC’s coverage of the death of Kim Jung-il, overlayed with video of the same organization’s coverage of Elizabeth’s death, is as hilarious as it is alarming (and definitely worth watching). At least North Koreans can point to pain of death to explain their support for the Kims; the English are so completely brainwashed that most of them are willing servants of Dear Leader.
This is Law and Politics. Until next time . . . .