The Denial Of The Right To An Opinion – Britain’s Inexorable Slide Into Fascism
By Julian Rose
ActivistPost.com
MARCH 20, 2018
In Britain, during this last week, something very nasty made its presence known to the nation. And it was not Putin or Russia. It was a coldly executed , psychologically loaded attempt to silence those who wished to express an opinion, other than the one held by the government.
Those who believe that the notion that Vladimir Putin is responsible for the poisoning of a Russian double agent and his daughter in the town of Salisbury, England, is unproven.
The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, stated outright “There is no alternative to the conclusion that Russia was responsible.” This was an order, not a statement of fact. An order to step in line and not court controversy.
It capped months of hysterical anti-Russian rhetoric and vilification, which in more ways than one, strongly echoed the George Bush and Tony Blair tirades of 9/11/2001. Tirades deliberately directed to make Saddam Hussein fit the role of the number one villain of that particular moment of time, as the unquestionable holder of non-existent ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ Now Putin is being given the 9/11 treatment. A chilling reminder that this is a repeat of a direct incitement to war.
But those who control the political course of events so as to achieve their sinister goals, know that people forget. So Theresa May no doubt feels quite secure in proclaiming Putin to be the new Mr Evil, and the undoubted purveyor of this particular version of a weapon of mass destruction.
Quite secure in inciting arguments that the Country should be prepared to go to war with this ‘Russian monster’, all because some obscure Soviet double agent had been poisoned with a nasty organophosphate product on British soil.
And yet, ironically, and in direct contrast to buffoon politicians like Theresa May and Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin has emerged over the past decade, as the leading statesman on the world stage. A thoughtful, cool head and a genuine diplomat.
But the lather of House of Commons ‘rent a crowd’ fury directed against the Russian President, carried with it a warning that the Russian media outlet ‘Russia Today’ (RT) might be closed down in Britain, because it dared to ask questions that the British media dared not ask.
God forbid that anyone should raise their voice in suggesting that this might be a rather over-the-top response to an offense not untypical of things that go on in the obscure and shadowy world of secret agents. But someone did – and that someone happened to be the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbin, who stood up in the House of Commons and challenged the Prime minister’s opinion on the unsubstantiated facts behind this crime, and the premature pinning of the blame for it on the Russian President.
This entirely sensible challenge drew a howl of dissent from government MPs and even some members of Corbin’s own opposition party. No, this was, after all, ‘appeasement’ and only the weak and stupid would consider offering any form of olive branch to Mr Evil.
If all this had been part of some TV drama series one could at least have turned off the set. But it wasn’t. It isn’t. And that makes it a blood chilling experience for anyone hoping for some form of rational, measured discussion, to put matters in their proper perspective.
No such human qualities were on display in this witches cauldron of vitriolic accusation and barely hidden call for blood. The British Houses of Parliament.
It sends a shiver down the spine of all sentient human beings when they realize that what is on show is nothing more or nothing less – than the denial of the right to an opinion. That any mortal who dares to ask a logical question is shouted down and accused of working for the devil.
For that was the sentiment of this occasion. And it amply illustrates the pervasive, creeping rise of the fascistic state; every day more strident, more dictatorial, more authoritarian. An ever more threatening sword held over citizens who have not fallen. Who have refused to be slaves. An ever more sinister clamoring and broadcasting of the vitriol of war.
Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are they key components of a democratic constitution. We have seen them both being methodically eaten into – drip, drip, drip, during the last two decades. We are so close to the full-scale return of the doctrinaire, totalitarian dictatorship which many once believed had been buried for good under the rubble of two world wars.
The Rest…HERE
