Democracy!

                                               Image courtesy of Crowdfunder.

       Democracy has never seen the light of day in this patch of land known as the United Kingdom. We have moved from divine rights of monarchs to a so called constitutional monarchy, where a person elected by the people goes to the monarch to ask permission to form a government. That same monarch signs the death warrants of individuals in certain places known as crown dependencies. So it should come as no surprise that the subservient elected government should continue this system of control to keep the power and wealth where it is. This requires total control over the population. Hence all the draconian measures to ban protests, make strikes illegal and censor what you can say or read. The following quote gives some idea of how UK democracy works.

                                        Image courtesy of Hertfordshire Mercury.

The decline of free speech in the United Kingdom has long been a concern for free speech advocates. A man was convicted for sending a tweet while drunk referring to dead soldiers. Another was arrested for an anti-police t-shirt. Another was arrested for calling the Irish boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend a “leprechaun.” Yet another was arrested for singing “Kung Fu Fighting.” A teenager was arrested for protesting outside of a Scientology center with a sign calling the religion a “cult.”

Recently we discussed the arrest of a woman who was praying to herself near an abortion clinic. English courts have seen criminalized “toxic ideologies” as part of this crackdown on free speech.

                                     Image courtesy of The Guardian.

              All this makes it easier for the state to shut you down if it doesn't like what you are saying or doing, hardly the hallmark of democracy. Of course all this clampdown on freedom of expression requires a massive surveillance system, which the state already has but wishes to push this further in their favour. They are now calling for the end of encrypted messages, so that they can snoop on anything and everything you might wish to send to friends and family. It is all backed up by those boys in blue, known for racism, homophobic attitudes and abuse of power.
          If we want a democracy then we have to get rid of the state system, the power structure that reinforces that system, we have to end this system where wealth means power. Democracy can only survive in a free and equal system of mutual aid and co-operation a system without borders, leaders and the profit motive. We could try the one system that stands for these things, it's called anarchism.

 

Image courtesy of Nation News Hour.

 

Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info    

The Monarch Democracy!!!

       The establishment and its mouthpiece, the mainstream media keep referring to the UK as a democracy, but a democracy with a monarch. This edifice to imperialism may get labelled as a “constitutional monarchy”, but a democracy? I’m sure anyone with a modicum of rationalism must see this as a contradiction, who voted them in, how do you vote the monarch out? Built on that template only an idiot would refer to the UK as a “democracy”. Somewhere else this fantasy democracy falls down is in how it treats it citizens. I would imagine that in a democracy those in most need would receive the most care. Well how does the UK “democracy” fair in that aspect? Well for starters we have lots of privileges heaped on those with lots of money, while at the other end, those in need suffer in poverty. 

         In this UK “democracy” while wealth and plenty is displayed for all to see, it is out of reach for the majority. The fact is that more than 14 million people live in poverty in the UK. Of that army of disadvantaged, 4.5 million are children, while a further 1.4 million are pensioners. Mired in that swamp of avoidable poverty, 7.7 million are deemed to be in persistent poverty, meaning that they have suffered this deplorable condition for four years or more. Then there is those with greater needs, the disabled. Of the unacceptable army of poverty stricken, 6.9 million are in families with a disabled member.
       If you live in this fantasy UK "democracy" and you are a family with a disabled member, you are far more likely to be living in poverty than a family with no disabled member. In fact approximately half of those living in poverty in this land of milk and honey, are disabled, or living with a disabled person.
        Now how do we equate these facts with the word and idea of “democracy? It seems that in this UK fantasy “democracy”, the greater your need the deeper you sink into poverty.
     If we want a "democracy", a real "democracy", we have to get rid of the pompous circus of monarchy and privilege, we have to get rid of the party political system and its inherent corruption, self interest and privileges, we have to dismantle the capitalist system that fosters and is fostered by a brutal, callous, greed driven indifferent drive for profit and growth for the few, at the expense of the many. Or we can continue to live in the self destructive illusion that we are equal participants in a democracy, and that getting shafted is part of the deal.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk