Violence: after far-right Israelis marched through Jerusalem shouting ‘Death to Arabs’ it didn’t take long for violence to happen. Who do you think suffered the most harm as a result?
This is what happens when a country’s government demands that anybody not belonging to a particular ethnic/religious group must be second-class citizens.
The right-wing government of Israel has enacted laws to put Jewish citizens above anybody else who lives there – and has actually walled off Palestinian settlements (until such time as Jewish settlers can turf out the residents and take their homes).
It was only a small step from there to the scenes we witnessed in Jerusalem’s Old City, when hundreds of far-right activists took to the streets, shouting “Death to Arabs”.
It is an insult against their own history. After the Nazi Holocaust, Jewish people should be on the side of the oppressed, never that of the oppressors.
But it does conform to a very sad social phenomenon – that a proportion of people who suffer abuse go on to become abusers themselves. It is well-documented among individuals; now we see a society going the same way.
Let’s see some of the evidence. I present it with comments from Twitter users who provided it:
Hundreds of right-wing Israeli Jews are roaming the streets of Jerusalem tonight, chanting "Death to Arabs" and searching for Palestinians to assault. Their actions echo the racist and violent rhetoric of Israeli government officials:pic.twitter.com/Ag9hHGAhNs
Horrific. Over a 100 people injured by a bunch of far right thugs chanting "death to Arabs". No surprise things like this happen when there's already Israeli state sponsored violence against Palestinians occurring on a regular basis.#FreePalestinehttps://t.co/xHUfVgy7D9
The obvious response to the young woman in the last clip is that her sentiment was shared by people in Berlin in the 1930s and 40s – but they were referring to Jews.
In fairness, this was just one gang of far-right racists. Other Israelis have been lining up to condemn what happened.
But the only reason it happened at all is because their government created the conditions that allowed it.
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I was going to avoid reporting on anti-lockdown protests, because in a time when wearing a mask and having a vaccination injection could save many thousands of lives, I would have hoped anyone with sense could see that these people are wrong.
But some of the protesters who were out in London today (and elsewhere, I dare say) took the opportunity to take their silliness across the line into the unforgivable. I refer to this:
It is bad enough that people like this … lady … have chosen to mock the memories of more than 150,000 victims of the Covid-19 virus by announcing their ignorance of its threat all over our streets.
But then they had to pretend that measures designed to safeguard their lives are somehow similar to the systematic persecution and extermination of Jews by Nazi Germany.
It isn’t very often that I agree with David Baddiel on matters concerning anti-Semitism but this was an offence, not only against the 150,000 who have died over the last year or so but also against the six million Jews who were murdered in the Nazi Holocaust.
In that context, I think his tweeted “Take. That. Off.” was remarkably restrained.
Others who took to the social media to express their outrage were more explanatory. I won’t publish the actual tweets because they feature the full image, including the woman’s face, and I don’t want to give her the publicity.
The Auschwitz Memorial Twitter account stated, “Instrumentalization of the tragedy of Jews who suffered, were humiliated, marked with a yellow star, and finally isolated in ghettos and murdered during the Holocaust, in order to argue against vaccination that saves human lives is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decline.” This was also remarkably restrained, in my opinion.
Heather Rufus tweeted: “To anyone wearing the Star of David as a lockdown protest, you’re totally lacking in awareness. Millions of Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust and you are likening lockdown to that. You should hang your head in shame. Gross.”
Ian Moore went further: “If you wore a Yellow Star today to protest against facemasks that protect others, you are a stain on humanity. You ignorant, privileged morons. Whatever your perceived grievances are, how is that Holocaust level? Vile.”
Benjamin Cohen, CEO of Pink News added: “If you really want to be a crank and protest about the Covid lockdowns that have saved lives, do not then appropriate a symbol from the Holocaust that led to the murder of six million Jews and permanently diminished Jewish population, destroyed Jewish culture and history.”
There’s this, from @HowardA_Esq: “Being asked to wear a mask or be vaccinated is not like having your family burned alive, gassed to death, starved to death or worked to death because of their religion. This is the symbol of our religion and our persecution. Take it off, bigot.
“My family were murdered by people who force them to wear the Star of David. Playing holocaust victim because you were asked to wear a mask, it’s reprehensible on every level.”
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Sulky: Boris Johnson thought he could gaslight us all with a report on racism that pretended it doesn’t exist in the UK’s government and institutions. He was wrong. Will he grow up, throw it away and make a start on tackling race prejudice? I think we all know the answer to that.
Boris Johnson is facing demands by more than 20,000 people to withdraw a report claiming there’s no institutional racism in the UK.
Instead, they say in an open letter that he should implement recommendations from previous investigations, to combat the institutional racism that Johnson’s report claims isn’t there.
Organisations including Charity So White, Liberty, the National Education Union, The Runnymede Trust and, yes, Black Lives Matter called on Johnson to “repudiate the … findings immediately and withdraw [the] report”.
Recommendations by Johnson’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities included:
Forcing school children from disadvantaged areas into extended school days to catch up on missed learning caused by the Covid-19 lockdown.
Better quality careers advice for children from disadvantaged backgrounds – to be funded by university outreach programmes (This Writer has a few doubts about whether this would happen in any case).
Research on why children from some communities do better than those from others, in order to replicate conditions that help all children succeed (again, this seems unlikely to happen).
Retirement of the acronym BAME because minority ethnic groups should be recognised for their differences rather than their mutual disadvantages (but doesn’t this open them up to discrimination because of those differences, which is exactly what the report should be avoiding?) and an end to unconscious bias training.
People named as contributors to the report have distanced themselves from it, with some saying government representatives used false pretences to secure their participation, or misrepresented their contribution.
An expert on race-related health inequalities said the report used outdated references and notably underplayed the impact of structural racism in health outcomes.
Sir Michael Marmot said there are health differences between races that are not fully explained by class, and so therefore racism must play some role.
And these are just some of the criticisms that have been lined up against Johnson’s report.
That’s why its lame recommendations have been dismissed by the more-than-20,000 signatories of the open letter.
They want recommendations from previously-published reports to be put into practice instead, like:
The Home Office appointing a Migrants Commissioner, develop a programme of cultural change for the department, and establish a race advisory board.
The justice system introducing targets for a more representative workforce, to reduce race-related bias; allowing low-level offenders to “defer” prosecution and opt for a rehabilitation programme before entering a plea; and gathering more data on the ethnicity and religion of offenders.
Firms with more than 50 workers publishing a breakdown of their workforce by race and by how much they are paid (to establish any disparities between the different races).
To be honest, to This Writer, even these ideas seem like pussyfooting around the subject.
Those other reports, and Marmot’s work, and no doubt many others, have already established that the UK’s institutions are racist, and if measures to combat that racism haven’t been devised already, then I have to ask what all these commissions, organisations and pressure groups have been doing with their time.
So let’s have a bit of honesty about the real situation in the UK.
And then let’s have a bit of real action to put the prejudice in the past.
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Kate Hoey: either she did not understand what Brexit would mean to Northern Ireland or she didn’tt care. But the people her influence has harmed will not forget.
This has been a long time coming – and not just to Kate Hoey.
The Brexiteer and former Labour MP has been trying to defend her support for the UK leaving the European Union in the flame-light of the burning vehicles in Northern Ireland.
Her reception has been – well, see for yourself. Here’s her tweeted assertion:
The Protocol has destabilised Northern Ireland. Placing a border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland without the consent of the pro Union community has been the trigger for this unacceptable violence. @davidfrost@BorisJohnsonhttps://t.co/xJBtcIqVVG
Kate Hoey, who backed Brexit. had said It wouldn't cause problems in Ireland! Didn't back Corbyn deal which would have meant no borders ! She distances herself now from the war she help reignite #Brexithttps://t.co/h4QBEkFuS4
Yes indeed – Hoey stated in a Telegraph article that Northern Ireland had much to gain from Brexit, despite the province having voted against leaving the EU (because people there knew it would jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process):
As Kate Hoey watches the scenes of rioting in Northern Ireland it's time to remind her of this piece she penned for the Telegraph in May 2016. Not for the first time has it been proved she speaks utter drivel when it comes to her beloved Brexit. https://t.co/Xf2QEinJYT
Now people have simply connected her words then with her words now, and found that they are not persuasive:
I don’t like it when politicians are described as “evil”.
But I’m struggling to think of another word for Kate Hoey who didn’t care one jot about the consent of N Ireland when they voted to remain in EU…now trying to justify the violence she was warned her actions would cause. https://t.co/fZeFhJNnaE
But Hoey should not feel that she is the only one feeling the force of Northern Ireland’s (and indeed the rest of the UK’s)… ire:
When you see Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland, Thatcher, Fish, Irish Sea, Sinn Fein, Kate Hoey, Alex Jones, George Galloway, Troubles and Project Fear are all trending on here at once. You know things ain't going to well. pic.twitter.com/uCmeQ5Ef8C
… when we seek compensation for what has happened.
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Masks and molotov cocktails: Northern Ireland has gone back to this because of Boris Johnson’s Brexit. We can only conclude it’s what the UK prime minister wants.
Is Boris Johnson delighted that his lies have stirred up more Troubles in Northern Ireland.
This Writer reckons he must be.
Why else would he have promised to everybody who would listen that he would make sure they got what they wanted out of Brexit – and then reneged?
Here’s Peter Stefanovic to explain:
Boris Johnson sold his Brexit deal to the public & Parliament on the promise there would be NO CHECKS on goods between Great Britain & Northern Ireland
It was a BAREFACED LIE
Why is UK media afraid to remind him of this? When will he be held to account? pic.twitter.com/0SU1s3XCp6
Here’s Johnson himself, lying to a gang of Northern Ireland Tories:
Your occasional reminder that Boris Johnson that he’d never sign up to a border in the Irish Sea and that if people in NI are told to fill in customs forms, they should ring him and he’ll tell them to throw those forms in the bin. pic.twitter.com/54knGRa7br
Pictures from TODAY in Northern Ireland. Not 1971. Not 1981. Not 1991. But 2021. Where is the front page coverage in mainland UK of a peace project cracking at the seams? Because it seems the media have taken the view: what happens in Northern Ireland, stays in Northern Ireland. pic.twitter.com/0r5Vt3OSxz
— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) April 6, 2021
Note the comment about the UK’s Tory press ignoring this. In fairness, they might have been slow on the uptake but I found a piece on the BBC website easily enough. Under a bland image of the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Stormont, it reported:
The Northern Ireland Assembly is to be recalled early from its Easter break on Thursday to discuss the violence in some loyalist areas.
A petition tabled by the Alliance Party to bring MLAs back to the chamber has secured the 30 signatures required.
Politicians are united in calling for the violence to end, but are divided over why it has erupted.
NI’s first minister, Arlene Foster of the DUP, has flown a kite suggesting that poor policing of the funeral of Bobby Storey, which attracted 2,000 mourners who didn’t socially distance, has caused a collapse of confidence in the province’s Chief Constable, Simon Byrne.
She’s a supporter of Brexit, of course.
Here’s a tweet that answers her claims:
When Remainers said Brexit could lead to a return of The Troubles, Brexiters including the DUP called it "project fear". Well, here it is. pic.twitter.com/3Pr8M5CXPx
Yes indeed. What Brexiters labelled “Project Fear” is now a reality of life in Northern Ireland. Again. And those of us who warned the rest can only point out the obvious:
— Tig James Esq #FBPE #NotmyPM #Econocide (@tig_james) April 6, 2021
But somebody clearly did want them to – and he’s sitting in 10 Downing Street.
Boris Johnson knew what would happen – just as he knew what would happen when he refused to take the big decisions about Covid-19 that were needed between November 2019 and March 2020.
There can be no denial of the facts. He was told this would happen; he ignored the evidence; and now it is happening.
It won’t go away, because unlike those in mainland Britain, people in Northern Ireland are used to expressing their anger in highly visible, public, and violent ways.
And they won’t care about any laws Johnson might pass that ban demonstrations, parades, rallies and marches either!
For This Writer, it is extremely depressing. I’m old enough to remember the Troubles. I remember being ordered out of a shopping centre because of an IRA bomb in a shop there.
That device was discovered and defused, but I also remember seeing the results when bombs elsewhere were allowed to detonate.
I remember the deaths, the injuries, the recriminations and the resentments.
I know Boris Johnson remembers them too.
But he seems hell-bent on stirring them all up again. So can someone please remind us all why anybody thought it was a good idea to elect him? “But Corbyn” won’t cut it because Corbyn would never have done anything that could lead to this.
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Police at one of the Easter Saturday ‘Kill the Bill’ demonstrations: who do you think is being more violent here?
Dozens of demonstrations against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill took place across the UK on Saturday (April 3).
I held off reporting on them because I wanted to see how the national media covered the protests first.
Remember my article on how the media try to turn the public against ordinary people by slanting their stories, from a few weeks ago? Here’s a reminder:
First the press [respond] … by reporting it in ‘passive voice’. Reports stated ‘clashes occurred…’ or ‘clashes between protesters and police’. Words carefully chosen to not indicate who had started the clashes (the police) and who had been on the receiving end of the majority of the violence (those attending…)
They will report on any police injuries ‘six police received medical attention due to the protest’ they might say… It is very rare that figures are collected for how many protesters were injured, and the assumption may be that this means that number is zero, and the police were thus on the receiving end of more violence than they dished out.
Many news outlets chose to term everyone present as ‘protesters’.
Politicians… chime in condemning the ‘violence’ caused by ‘protesters’.
Now let’s have a look at some reports from the police and the mainstream media.
At least one officer has been injured after clashes between police and demonstrators at a "Kill the Bill" protest in central London.
Today’s policing operation is still ongoing and arrest numbers may rise, but at this time, 26 people have been arrested for a variety of offences. Ten police officers received injuries during the operation; none of these are believed to be serious.
— Metropolitan Police Events (@MetPoliceEvents) April 3, 2021
Two police officers were sent to hospital in Bristol after a protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. https://t.co/k2XBJix758
— Twitter Moments UK & Ireland (@UKMoments) March 22, 2021
How many members of the public were injured?
Manchester Kill the Bill march ends in disorder as fight breaks out amongst crowd and police swarm on protesters sat on tram trackshttps://t.co/OGsFMdegHz
Agents provocateurs? Police plants? We’ve seen evidence of those in recent demonstrations.
Members of the public saw matters from a different angle – such as the following, showing a policeman very clearly kneeling on the neck of a member of the public. Shades of George Floyd?
A slightly clearer angle of this incident, sent to me by someone else, that appears to show a police officer with his knee on the neck of a #KillTheBill protester in Parliament Square. pic.twitter.com/wCeCSMj4gU
The best that could be suggested is that the Met’s spokespeople may have been accidentally looking at a different incident in which somebody was indeed kneeling on a person’s back. Of course, this would imply that they make a habit of attacking members of the public in this way. Not a good look!
And their images of protests around the UK were similarly divergent from the impression being pushed by the police and the press:
— The Churchill Project (@WinstonCProject) April 3, 2021
The ‘Kill the Bill’ protests (which are about terminating the Police Bill, not the ‘Old Bill’ which is a colloquial name for the police themselves) have been supported by opposition MPs like Jeremy Corbyn…
Mr Corbyn said the bill would prevent protest without police approval.
Speaking in Parliament Square in central London, Mr Corbyn invoked figures such as the suffragettes and Nelson Mandela as he urged the crowd to oppose the bill.
“Stand up for the right to protest, stand up for the right to have your voice heard,” he said.
“I want a society where it is safe to walk the streets, where you can speak out, you can demonstrate and you don’t have to seek the permission from the police or the home secretary to do so,” he said.
… and Zarah Sultana:
Our rights were won through protest, from the right to vote to anti-discrimination laws.
The Tories know there’s power on the streets. That’s why they’re attacking the right to protest.
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Whistleblower: this image is representative (the revelations in the article were made by a woman). Many whistleblowers suffer for their principles, in spite of assurances that this won’t happen. It will be interesting to see what happens to Alice O’Keeffe’s career from now on.
The timing is exquisite.
On the day This Site published an article about allegations that a report on institutional racism was scripted by the Tory government to support a lie that there isn’t any in the UK, a whistleblower attacked another report – on the policing of protests – saying it was scripted by the Tories too.
The claim is a huge blow to the credibility of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. Another blow to its credibility is the fact that it will apparently examine whether there is any truth to it.
For clarity, whistleblower Alice O’Keeffe has said
The official policing inspectorate showed repeated bias in favour of the police and against peaceful protesters…
[The report] was skewed in favour of the government view, with conclusions reached before evidence was gathered and assessed.
The civil service code was breached.
HMICFRS told the home secretary in a private letter it backed the need to change protest laws five months before its report was published.
Some in the inquiry team… likened peaceful protesters to the IRA, which waged a terrorist campaign against the UK.
Ms O’Keeffe’s written complaint was made as HMICFRS worked on a separate report on the policing of a vigil for Sarah Everard. She said the biases she had seen left her fearing a report into the policing of the vigil would be a whitewash.
That report totally exonerated the police and found fault with those of us who criticised police violence against and manhandling of women at the Clapham Common vigil.
HMICFRS has defended itself by claiming independence – based on nothing more than reputation. But reputations can be broken by facts.
And Ms O’Keeffe has spent five years working for the police inspectorate, so it is reasonable to believe she may know her subject.
Well, I hope she made copies of her evidence and put them in a safe place because if HMICFRS holds any information corroborating her claims then you can bet the hard drives have been wiped and the hard copies shredded already.
The upshot of all this is that in the short term we have another reason to distrust a police service that seems to be working for a totalitarian Tory government – and against us.
And in the long term?
We can expect another report that whitewashes the Tory-supporting inspectorate and gives us even more reason to live in fear of our government and the police force that smashes our heads in its name.
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Is anybody surprised that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) has cleared the Metropolitan Police of any inappropriate behaviour at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard?
The review said the force “was justified in adopting the view that the risks of transmitting COVID-19 at the vigil were too great to ignore”.
So that made it reasonable to kettle these people – crowd them into an ever-smaller space, making those risks much greater, did it?
That made it reasonable to arrest these people, did it? Were they crammed like sardines in police vans? Were they crammed like sardines into cells?
Forcing people into close contact with each other seems an extremely odd way to combat a disease that is spread by close contact – especially people who had been very recently injured.
The review said “officers remained calm and professional when subjected to abuse” and “did not act inappropriately or in a heavy handed manner”.
So this wasn’t heavy-handed?
How about this?
Clashes broke out between police and crowds gathering on Clapham Common.
The Metropolitan Police is facing criticism for its handling of the vigil in memory of Sarah Everard.
#BREAKING: Several people arrested at Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham Common, south London; police say vigil is violating coronavirus-related restrictions pic.twitter.com/5lTmiMWmDV
Like many others, I notice that there was no problem with the Duchess of Cambridge attending the event that Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick branded illegal.
Why wasn’t Kate Middleton attacked with a baton and bundled into a White Maria?
Ah, but she attended during daylight. The police didn’t move in and start hurting people until after dark. Now, why was that, do you think?
The report by Sky News makes it clear that the atmosphere did not turn hostile until the police started kettling people. Oh, the cops were telling people to leave, were they? How could they do that when the uniforms were cutting off their ability to go?
The bandstand was soon almost surrounded by officers and the atmosphere started to become more hostile. It was at this point that a number of women appeared to be shoved and people starting shouting at the police.
It seems clear to me that HM Inspectorate of Constabulary came to the conclusion it usually reaches – that the police can do no wrong.
How many attendees at the event were consulted during this review?
None, I’m betting.
No wonder the result was one-sided.
Let’s have a proper, public inquiry – then we’ll hear some uncomfortable facts (but of course, that will never happen).
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Sound and fury from 2011: discontent with the government of the day boiled over into riots – and for much less reason than might present itself in 2021. Boris Johnson is hastily banning large protests – but will anybody care?
Here’s a disturbing truthbomb from Richard Murphy:
He makes good points.
Boris Johnson is promising a much better summer than we had in 2020 but the early indication are that he will disappoint us yet again.
As matters stand, history is sure to remember him as the prime minister who promised us the world and then took our world away from us instead.
So he reckons Covid-19 will be under control. Why are our health experts planning for another surge in cases, to hit us around July?
At the moment, half of the UK population is half-vaccinated, and there will be shortages from April onwards. That’s the reason variant strains of Covid are appearing; the virus is mutating to beat the defences of a half-protected population.
Johnson reckons we’ll all be able to resume our foreign holidays. How can we, considering the state of foreign nations’ vaccination regimes?
And Johnson reckons the UK’s industries are going to bounce back – what’s the phrase? “Build back better”? – with a boom during the summer. But post-Brexit problems indicate that any such economic explosion is likely to be a damp squib.
He knows all this.
Why else do you think his government has legislated to restrict protest events to the point where anything that is actually noticeable is to be punished with imprisonment?
It is exactly the wrong response. But he’s a Tory and doesn’t know how to do anything apart from punish the poor.
His decisions are all wrong. They are equivalent to clamping the lid on a pressure cooker and turning it up to maximum. What do you think will happen?
I hope I’m wrong.
If I’m not, I just hope that anyone resorting to violent protest remembers that indiscriminate vandalism won’t do anybody any good – 2011 taught us that. It is pointless harming the innocent.
If you’re angry with the government, make sure it’s the government – and its enforcers – who feel the brunt of that anger.
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It’s hard to tell which was the worst disgrace – the way the Bristol protest against an unjust piece of legislation was perverted into a riot or the way the media manipulated the story to blame the protesters.
I touched on this in my article about those events, much of which was based on what I saw on the social media. But it seems I was at least mostly right.
This means it is possible to reverse-engineer the ‘toolkit’ used by the mass media to convince us that these events were the opposite of what we have seen.
I’m grateful that I don’t even have to do much work on it – somebody has already done it.
(By the way, the author of the article is an anarchist. This means he’s someone who believes we should all take control of our own political lives and not hand that control over to members of political parties who are likely to be corrupt – and not someone who wants to reduce the nation to lawlessness, as certain media elements would like you to think. See how this works?)
So how do the media gaslight you into believing the police are the victims of a riot they have instigated? Let’s see…
First the press [respond] to the attack … by reporting it in ‘passive voice’. Reports stated ‘clashes occurred…’ or ‘clashes between protesters and police’. Words carefully chosen to not indicate who had started the clashes (the police) and who had been on the receiving end of the majority of the violence (those attending…) Whilst not technically a lie, the intention here is to avoid blaming the police, or to imply that the protesters were at fault. Of course had the protesters actually instigated the violence, the early reports would say exactly that, ‘crowds attack police’.
The article notes that reports use emotive language to describe members of the crowd, no matter what the event may be. So attendees at the vigil for Sarah Everard on Clapham Common were “protesters”:
People attending a vigil don’t sound very threatening or unlawful. Vigil invokes images of flowers, grief stricken speeches, candles, sadness. An accurate description of what had taken place on Clapham Common, but not the most useful if you want to paint the police positively. So many news outlets chose to term everyone present as ‘protesters’. Politicians, such as home secretary Priti Patel were quick to chime in condemning the ‘violence’ caused by ‘protesters’ at an ‘unlawful gathering’, and the press dutifully repeated these claims, often uncritically.
You’ve seen it; you know it’s what they do.
Next are the comments:
First they will report on any police injuries ‘six police received medical attention due to the protest’ they might say.
In the case of the Bristol protest, it was 20. I even commented on it in a tweet:
It's been reported that 20 police were injured, and there were seven arrests. How many protesters were injured by the police? It's alleged that they charged out of the Bridewell and used their truncheons to attack people who were SITTING DOWN. #PoliticsLive
Were they knocked out by an enraged protester with a bat… or did they feel faint from dehydration, trip over and crack a rib on a shield, catch their hand in a car door or break a finger bashing someone over the head?
Two more elements to take from the tweet: we were told that there had been arrests, and this immediately implies crime – or at the very least, the suspicion of crime.
And then there’s the fact that we never get statistics showing injuries among the crowd:
It is very rare that figures are collected for how many protesters were injured, and the assumption may be that this means that number is zero, and the police were thus on the receiving end of more violence than they dished out.
Another element is the othering of the crowd:
They’ll agree most of the thousands of people present were peaceful, support the cause, and shouldn’t have been attacked by the police. Then they will, in hushed tones, point out that there were a minority of THOSE PEOPLE present.
THOSE PEOPLE are, of course, the bogeypeople of the day: Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion, ‘hardcore feminists’.
Labelling these people means they are othered – they aren’t us, they’re them – and this means they can be demonised:
They weren’t people like you and me, people rightly concerned about violence against women, and about police over reach. They were…
… well, they were whoever the media (and their political masters) want us to believe is “the enemy” of the day.
You will also see attempts to blame the victims of police violence:
They will talk about how the protesters stared shouting when police marched in.
Clapham Common and Bristol.
How there were swear words on placards.
“ACAB” – meaning “All Cops Are Bastards”. So, not even swear words on placards – just an acronym of which a swear word is a part. Politicians attacked protesters who used these at Westminster (protesting against what happened on Clapham Common) and Bristol.
“#KillTheBill” could be seen as brutally provocative – suggesting that we should murder police officers, perhaps?
How the event was an ‘unlawful gathering’.
Clapham Common and Bristol, again.
They will under no circumstances admit that the police may have escalated a calm situation or otherwise acted to make things worse.
After that, the article states, we get the opinion pieces that throw away the ambiguous language and push the narrative on us wholeheartedly. I’m waiting for the headline Feminazis hijacked protest to castrate cops.
(That is one of the claims about Bristol, by the way:)
Dogs were repeatedly [deployed] throughout the night [despite] how dangerous that is for the protesters, for the dogs, and even for the police, at least one of whom very nearly got castrated by his charge.
Of course, it’s all very well for me (or a member of the Anarchist Federation) to say this happens. Can we see actual evidence of it?
Yes. Yes, we can:
'Kill the bill' protest in Bristol condemned as 'thuggery and disorder' https://t.co/m6EjKeT2vT
The headline is Demonstrators against policing bill class with officers in Bristol. Almost exactly “clashes between protesters and police”, wouldn’t you say?
The BBC report on which I based my previous article is riddled with examples of the techniques listed above. Passive voice:
Protesters clashed with officers
Arrests and police injuries:
Eight people have already been arrested after 21 officers were injured.
(Clearly the report has been updated with an extra arrest.)
Othering:
Home Secretary Priti Patel accused some protesters of “thuggery”
Avon and Somerset Police Chief Constable Andy Marsh said the protest had been “hijacked by extremists”
Victim-blaming:
demonstrators scaled the station, threw fireworks into the crowd and daubed graffiti on the walls.
At times there were as few as 50 police officers, facing 100 or more violent protesters.
Denial that the police escalated an otherwise calm situation:
Horses and dogs were used to great effect, but their numbers have been cut in the last decade.
Let’s just remind ourselves of what happened, from eyewitness accounts:
Police had a choice, line up defensively by their station perhaps, even pull back a little, or escalate and create a dangerous and increasingly violent situation. They chose the latter, and sent in the dogs, literally in the case of the canine units who would soon deploy, and metaphorically in the case of the human officers who baton charged the crowd, striking at the heads of those standing, kicking folks on the floor, and even hitting a young woman sat on the floor hands raised telling them this was a peaceful protest. [Afed article]
During the chaos someone let off a few fireworks in the crowd. Potentially dangerous, but less dangerous than those police dogs who did get taken away at this point, spooked by the loud noises (its unclear if this was deliberate). [Afed again]
They horse charged people who were sitting down peacefully and then there was a w***er with a baton randomly hitting people and things escalated from there. I was watching the live feed for most of the event. [Annabella, Vox Political commenter]
You see how it works?
Well, now you know how it works, and you’ll be able to identify it when they do it again.
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