We Waited For
A Contest In Britain, We Got A Massacre
Saeed Naqvi
The evening began disastrously not only because
Boris Johnson won by a landslide but because our host, Lord Meghnad Desai,
could not cook us a meal, having hurt his right hand (it is in plaster); our
collective viewing of the election results was thrown into further disarray
because his TV burnt out. Inexhaustibly stocked row of three refrigerators came
in handy: smoked salmon, Italian bread and pizzas. At 10 pm he switched on his IPad.
Exit polls had given Boris the biggest victory since Margaret Thatcher in 1987.
A member of the Labour party for 49 years, one would
have expected him to become quiet and reflective. Instead he broke into song,
wriggling what in leaner bodies would be the waist. We asked for a mini cab. The
driver turned out to be a big, burly, black young man with a beard which I find
disagreeable when it comes without a moustache. He was from Conakry, Guinea,
the peaceful West Asian country that I have travelled through in the past to
reach Sierra Leone. He opened up because of my name. “We have lived peacefully
here” he said, taking one hand off the steering wheel. “Now we shall live
timidly.”
London remains the cosmopolitan hub, where Boris has
not made much of an impression. Scottish nationalism always had a mellowness of
single malt, lilt of the bagpipes and the quaintness of kilts. This nationalism
is not claustrophobic because it also reaches out to the EU. In Northern
Ireland, Republicanism has gained – so Dublin becomes closer, not farther from
Belfast.
The very first to greet Johnson has been Donald Trump,
his business cohorts smacking their lips at the prospect of a burgeoning Anglo Saxon
club, particularly now that France’s Emmanuel Macron is thumbing his nose at
Trump’s America. And Macron is not alone.
The scale of Boris Johnson’s victory boosts what I call
Bannonism sky high. Let me explain. George Soros and Steve Bannon who is a
friend of Trump and the KKK, have been shuttling around Europe trying to divert
popular anger away from socialism which contemporary capitalism paints in lurid
colours. It is McCarthyism to its tips. While Soros, a liberal capitalist,
seeks an integrated Europe to thwart “leftism”, Steve Bannon, Trump’s conscience
keeper, is keen for Italy’s Matteo Salvini, France’s Marine Le Penn, Spain’s
Santiago Abascal and Britain’s Nigel Farage to clasp hands and shift Europe so
far right as to be teetering on Fascism. This school received a boost last
night.
It would be irresponsible to describe Johnson as
closet fascist but his friend Farage is. If one surveys the rise of anti migrant,
anti semitic parties from Victor Orban of Hungary to leaders in Austria,
Germany, Poland – it is a depressing list. In the presence of Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo, Benjamin Netanyahu and others, the Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael
Katz accused the Polish leadership of antisemitism in almost abusive language: “Poles
suckle anti-Semitism from their mother’s milk.” This, from a public platform in
Warsaw.
The Warsaw incident came to mind as soon as I saw
Tory leader Michael Gove appear behind the microphones at the Tory headquarters
to prime up the mood before Boris Johnson made his first appearance after the
historic victory. It was the sort of time in the morning when people want bed
tea. Suddenly, a stern looking Gove is brought slowly into focus. And, lo and
behold, the only community he mentions are Jews. “Through this campaign, our Jewish
citizens have been living in fear.” Then a Churchillian pause: “no longer will Jews
live in fear”, he thundered. Why this outburst?
There is a background to this inexplicable
intervention. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, former Co-Chair of the Conservative Party
has been fairly regular in complaining that “anti Muslim” prejudice had “poisoned”
the party. The principal “culprits” in her line of fire were Boris Johnson,
Michael Gove and Zac Goldsmith. Gove’s generosity of expression in favour of
Jews, at the moment of Tory triumph, is designed to send a message to the Warsis
in the party: like it or lump it. How can the Tories have forgotten Gove’s
brazenly anti Muslim book Celsius 7/7 published in 2006? Corbyn was battered
and bruised not only through this campaign but over the years as a “danger to
Britain”, “traitor” a friend of Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and other “devilish”
characters. By sheer incantation, some of it sank in. Ofcourse, Johnson’s
message was simpler: “get Brexit done.”
What the mainstream media will keep mum about, alternatives
like London Economic, a digital newspaper, publishes and with increasing credibility.
The news portal exposed that one of Britain’s leading barristers, Jolyon
Maughan QC, director of Good Law Project, alleged that the BBC indulged in
showing “coded negative imagery” of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn since his
election in 2015.
It is universally proclaimed that Johnson, lies,
fiddles expense accounts, is seen at European airports in a daze after late
night parties but he remains the darling of the electorate, as result 2019 has
shown.
Another London Economic analysis shows that people
generally have another perspective when presented with policy options but the
very same people vote in a completely different direction. Why? Because the
media is bombarding the voter with high level, right wing propaganda.
Lord Rothermere, a billionaire living in France,
owns the Mail and the Metro. Rupert Murdoch, billionaire US citizen own the Sun,
Fox News, B Sky B, News corp. Alexander Evgeny, ex KGB Russian billionaire,
owns the Independent, Evening Standard. Richard Desmond, a billionaire, did own
the Daily Star and if it has passed onto someone else, it certainly is not to the
socialist international. In brief, 80 percent of media is owned by billionaires.
For those of us grieving in India on this score, is there not a pattern? As the
late Bobby Talyarkhan used to sign off his column: “Do you get me, Steve?”
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