Is Britain on a Slow Road to Totalitarianism?

Friday, January 22, 2021 / 10:37 AM / OpEd by AhmedOlayinka Sule, CFA / Header Image Credit: Mises Institute/Ken McEwen PR

The COVID-19 Pandemic is a once in alifetime phenomenon that impacts millions of people across the world. Manypeople have died from the virus, others have been hospitalised, unemployment isat unprecedented levels, businesses have shut, and borders closed. SinceBritain is a part of the global community, it is not exempt from the pandemic'sside effects. However, in its attempt to tackle the virus, the Britishgovernment is slowly moving along the road to totalitarianism.

Before I continue, let me make my stance on thepandemic clear so that people will not misunderstand me. I believe thatCovid-19 exists and is dangerous. I wear a face mask and maintain socialdistance to protect myself and others. I know loved ones who have beenafflicted with the virus. I believe I contracted the virus early January lastyear, although testing was not readily available.

However, I think that those sceptical of the virus orthe science behind it should be heard and not persecuted. Over the past coupleof months, I have noticed the government's high-handed tactics. Still, it wasnot until the British Police arrested my friend Max Garry at Speaker Corner,Hyde Park on 2 January 2021, that it dawned on me that Britain was on the roadto totalitarianism. Some background information on Max would be useful. MaxGarry is a man of strong convictions. He is sceptical of the science behind thevirus and has a viewpoint contrary to mainstream understanding. Garry is wellversed in the science of epidemiology and has participated in severalanti-lockdown protests in London.

On that fateful day, Max was at Speakers corner totake part in another protest. A lawyer was having a conversation with a policeofficer about the need not to harass the protesters when Max joined the conversation.He came to the lawyer's defence and asked if she wanted to have a hug, sheobliged, and they hugged. Max walked away, and with his arms outstretched, heexclaimed, "Who wants a hug?" Five other protesters wenttowards him and willingly hugged him. As Max continued walking, two policeofficers handcuffed him and arrested him. To put it succinctly, police officersdetained Max Garry because he was hugging amid a pandemic.

The irony of his arrest is that it took place atSpeakers Corner, a place with a long history of protest and free speech. It wasthe focal point for the protest against the war in Iraq and has provided aplatform for people like George Orwell, Tony Benn, and Harold Pinter todemonstrate free speech. Max Garry's arrest is not an isolated case; hundredsof other anti-lockdown protesters have been arrested in the past couple ofmonths.

As we move towards totalitarianism, the British publicappears oblivious to this emerging trend. Fear of the pandemic has made thegeneral public overlook the erosion of civil liberties. Martin Luther King oncesaid, "It is wrong to use immoral means to attain moral ends."It is equally wrong for the British government to use the immoral means ofrepression and tyranny to achieve the moral ends of stopping the pandemic.

As a keen student of history, I often always wonderedhow totalitarianism could thrive in Hitler's Germany, Joseph Stalin's Russia,Mussolini's Italy, and Mobutu Sese Seko's Congo, but with what is happening inthe UK, I now understand how. Some of the tactics used by these despots aretaking shape in the country that gave us the Magna Carta. According to BigBrother Watch, the British civil liberties and privacy campaigning charity, theCovid-19 emergency laws are the most draconian powers in peace-timeBritain. Schedule 21 of the Corona Virus Act of 2020, gives the police the power to detain anyone (including children) andforce them to go to a place for screening and assessment, if they have "reasonable grounds" for "suspecting" one is potentially infectious.

The government and the media have created anatmosphere that stifles an alternative approach to tackling the virus. Thoseopposed to the government's position are demonised. People sceptical of takingthe vaccine and against wearing face masks are dismissed as anti-vaxxers andanti-maskers. Paradoxically, those supporting the vaccine and mask-wearing arenot described as pro-vaxxers and pro-maskers. The media does not provide aplatform to hear both sides of the argument; neither does it feature scientistand other medical professionals who other an alternative analysis of thegovernment's position on epidemiology.

A snitch culture has been encouraged wherebygovernment officials encourage citizens to report on each other for breachinglockdown and social distance guidelines. When the government came up with a"rule of six" limits on social gatherings in September 2020, thepolicing minister Kit Malthouse said concerned neighbours should ring the non-emergency police phonenumber to report violations of the restriction. After the government introduceda Christmas bubble rule which restricted gatherings during Christmas to thosewithin one's social bubble, Priti Patel, the Home Secretary urged people to report neighbours who flouted the bubble rules. When people are arrested, scolded,or sacked for breaching social distancing guidelines, some individuals flock tothe online media's comment pages expressing their satisfaction.

In December 2020, Douglas Courthouse was sentenced to four weeksimprisonment for crossing the Irish Sea fromScotland to the Isle of Man on a jet ski to visit his girlfriend in what hasbeen described as a breach of Covid-19 Laws. In Maidenhead, policeofficers stopped drivers outside of Tesco handing out leaflets stating, 'Whyare you here?" A few days ago, four men were fined ?é?ú800 for travelling inthe same car on their way to McDonald's while the police arrested 28protesters, including 92-year-old Eric Levy. Scotland Yard has given its officerpermission to ask people why they are not in their homes. West Midlands Policeand Crime Commissioner David Jamieson urged, the British government "Togive officers power of entry to homes, to help 'enforce the new regulationsmore easily." The Home Secretary also supported the police confrontingpeople on benches stating, "The police have been asking individuals whyare they out and about, and should they be out and about, when the messageright now is stay at home'."

Big Technology has been engaging in online censorshipby silencing those critical of the government's position. When TalkRADIOcriticised the UK government's recent lockdown policy, Google removed the TalkRADIO channel from its YouTube platform.

The repression of civil liberties that we are experiencingtoday is similar to the repression which occurred after 9/11. Under the guiseof the "War on Terror," the US government began a mass surveillanceprogramme, engaged in an unjust war and illegal detentions. Just as people'sfear of a terror attack in the 2000s allowed the US government to harvestencroach on their liberty, people's fear of a virus in the 2020s enables the UKgovernment's human rights abuse to go unquestioned. When I interviewed MaxGarry on his ordeal, he told me, "We are frogs being boiled. I did notstay silent. I did not acquiesce. I did not and will never consent."

To understand Britain's slow march to totalitarianism,Naomi Wolf's book The End of America: A Letter ofWarning to a Young Patriot written in 2007comes in handy. She identified the ten steps it takes for a country totransform from a functioning democracy into a fascist state. In the next coupleof lines, I will briefly compare how today's Britain fits with Naomi Wolf's tenfascism pointers.

1. Invoke a terrifying internal andexternal enemy: Those sceptical of the virus and theso-called anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers have been identified as theenemy. People who violate the lockdown and social distancing guidelinesare also included in the enemy category.

2. Create secret prisons where torturetakes place: This stage is yet to occur.

3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitaryforce: The government has mandated the police enforce toCovid rule breaches.

4. Set up an internal surveillance system: British citizens have been encouraged by senior Britishpoliticians to act as pseudo secret police spies by watching and snitching ontheir neighbours.

5. Harass citizens' groups: As Max Garry's example demonstrates, those opposed to the lockdown arebeing arrested.

6. Engage in arbitrary detention andrelease: The latest lockdown rules make it easyfor police to harass and detain anyone for merely walking, sitting on a bench,hugging, sitting on a train or driving a car. Some anti-lockdown activists havebeen arrested and released several times.

7. Target key individuals: people face the sack for breaching lockdown restrictions rules. Asenior official at a Premier League broadcaster called for the sacking of footballers breachingthe restrictions. A nurse who attended an anti-lockdownprotest was sacked from her place of employment.

8. Control the press: As the removal of TalkRADIO from YouTube demonstrates, expressing acontrary view has serious consequences. The media houses present only one sideof the argument. Some journalists have advocated for the removal of freedom rights for Covid Sceptics.

9. Dissent equals treason: Historically, in repressive regimes, dissent is assumed to be treason.In present-day Britain, those critical or sceptical of the government's Covidrule are criminalised and demonised. They are denounced as enemy combatants andlocked up if necessary.

10. Suspend the rule of law: TheHealth Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 3) and (All Tiers) (England)(Amendment) Regulations 2021 gives the police sweeping powers to interrogatepeople on the street and fine or jail them if found to be in breach.

Britain's slow road to totalitarianism is almostcomplete. We are witnessing an increase in police overreach and the growth ofthe surveillance state. Can things go back to normal? History tells us notlikely.

As we sleepwalk into totalitarianism, itis time for the citizens to straighten their backs and say, "Not under outwatch." I conclude by paraphrasing Naomi Wolf, "We need to look athistory and face the "what ifs". For if we keep going down this road,the "end of Britain" could come for each of us in a different way, ata different moment; each of us might have a different moment when we feelforced to look back and think: that is how it was before - and this is the wayit is now."

Selah.

Aboutthe Author

Ahmed Olayinka Sule is a CFACharterholder, photojournalist and social critic. He is an Alumnus of theUniversity of Arts, London; where he obtained a Certificate in Photojournalism.He has worked on various photojournalism projects including Obama: TheImpact, Jesus Christ: The Impact, The Williams Sisters etc. He can becontacted via e-mail at [email protected] and via Twitter @Alatenumo