The 'Downing' Speech
Rishi Sunak's speech, not only misses the point. It shows he misunderstands the public's mood and misjudges the risks ahead. He suggests that the demonstrations are the problem. That extremists are hijacking the demonstrations and aim to tear Britain apart. That more policing is the solution. That threats of jail and deportation will restore calm.
To be clear, there are extremists, including Islamists, in Britain
. One would be dishonest in saying otherwise. And they would naturally try to exploit the situation and hijack the demonstrations. Like any other country, there are people far from the center, in various directions, whose views and choices would therefore, be considered extremists.
But the vast majority of the protesters are just ordinary people, appalled by the criminality of their governments, which are aiding and abetting a live-streamed genocide.
Degrading Legality
When those in power become murderous, they degrade legality.
The difference between 'right' and 'wrong' becomes blurred. All wrong-doings become different shades of darkness. A certain evil action may start to look good by comparison to a darker, more sinister crime, such as bombing of people trapped in a sea of tents in a refugee camp, starvation, deliberate killing of children, bombing of hospitals and ambulances on their way to save a child like Hind, mowing hungry people trying to get food with machine guns such as what happened in the #FlourMassacre, pushing people towards a wall and hoping killing a few more thousands will open the borders to complete a 76-year process of stealing the land of a Palestinian-free Palestine, aka Israel. In short, genocide with the hope of ethnic cleansing. And the scary nightmarish pictures and videos do not end. The genocide is in progress and it is live-streamed for all to see.
Fearing that a country, like Britain, may descend into chaos is not that far-fetched, but for reasons different from what Sunak suspects. And since he doesn't understand street politics, and wants to use 'policing' and fascist laws to 'contain' the situation, his lack of understanding and erroneous response will make things actually worse, as I will explain below.
The Schisms
The forces driving the world into chaos are not demonstrations. Demonstrations are reactions from people who feel they couldn't remain silent while innocent children are starved, maimed and slaughtered by 2000-lb bombs which their tax money buys (would we want anyone to be silent watching this?).
Aaron Bushnell's Self-immolation is, as he put it, 'an extreme act of protest'. It is also a response from an honorable soldier who might had joined the army with high ideals of defending one's country, but when he got close to the picture, and the intel; felt that his affiliation with a murderous organization made him complicit in an unfolding genocide. There is no need to make guesses or interpretations about why he set himself alight. He explained it clearly himself.
There is a schism that has quickly grown between public opinion and the ruling elite. For instance, while 76% of Democrat voters strongly support
or somehow support a ceasefire, their Democrat president Biden has, for the third time, cast a veto to stop a UNSC ceasefire resolution. Aaron Bushnell's words
point to this schism: "This is what our ruling class decided to be normal".
The UNSC vote was 13/1, with the UK abstaining. That points to another schism: the West against the Rest
of the world.
A third schism manifests itself in the double standards, the difference between what the corporate-controlled media and the ruling elite say and reality. For instance, A congressional committee accuses universities of allowing calls to genocide on campus, because protestors chanted for an uprising, while the same congress approves funding of an actual genocide. Mainstream media fabricate, inflate and regurgitated Israeli propaganda about Oct 7, where actual atrocities were committed by Hamas and others, while ignoring massacres occurring against Palestinians everyday after and before Oct 7, in an effort to justify the unjustifiable: genocide and killing of innocent men, women and children.
These schisms fracture the fabric of society in the worst manner, because they portray those with power and influence as criminals. When this happens, legitimacy of the State starts to erode fast, inviting a "parallel state" to grow to fill the void, with chaotic results.
Change of Course
An immediate change of course is needed. And not in the direction which Sunak suggests. I will explain why. Sunak thinks this should be controlled by denialism and policing. "We are a reasonable country and we are not on the wrong side of history.", Sunak suggests, and I am paraphrasing here. But this will create a most undesirable, explosive situation: Denialism will lead to more anger, resentment, loss of credibility, loss of legality while more policing will lead to a smaller public space to bleed this anger. The result is self-combustion. This is how revolts start.
The opposite is what will bleed the pressure: an acknowledgment of the wrongs. Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, etc., have caused a lot of suffering to the rest of the world in general, and to Arabs, Muslims and Palestinians in particular. Apologies and amends must be made. It wasn't Sunak who issued Balfour declaration, but the catastrophic results and suffering as a result of his predecessors' policies still shutter the lives of Palestinians, Arabs and Israelis. This is self-evident and needs no further explanation. If they can't see it they're blind or pretending to be blind. It won't help.
Second, Israel, in its current Apartheid format, is unsustainable and will no longer work, no matter how many Palestinians it kills, simply because the warfront has shifted. The battle is no longer inside Palestine only. It is not even the 'West against the Rest', it is the ruling elites of the West against the rest.
The details of what should be done requires wider discussions with those involved and experts of international law. But the fate of an apartheid regime can be predicted. Whether a resolution is reached soon or after many years will determine the amount of suffering, for Palestinians, Israelis, and for us all. The sooner, the less suffering.
The Consequences
The police derive its ability to keep the peace not from batons or tear gas cannisters. But from the wide consensus which see its actions as legitimate. In fact, the very concept of the State, comes from its 'monopoly over legitimate use of violence.' Note the word, legitimate. Once violence is seen as illegitimate, there is no police force in the world which could face angry masses. Prudent police and army commanders know this fact and it has been proven by failure of massive police force, even in the cruelest and most oppressive regimes, in stopping popular uprisings. Tunisia and Egypt provide good examples to learn from.
So, don't.
Return to legitimacy. In this case, it lies in the letter and spirit, not only of International Law, but human conscience.
It's what protects everyone. Everywhere.
