There is one certainty about the English mainstream media, when push comes to shove they always side with the political and business elites. This was demonstrated last Friday when Tony Blair intervened to lay down a marker for a second Brexit referendum.*
The Independent newspaper led with an editorial under the header Blair’s position on Brexit makes sense: Corbyn should have considered it. To understand just what fawning twaddle this was, the first paragraph sums it up perfectly:
The return of The Master. That respectful nickname, conferred on Tony Blair by David Cameron and George Osborne, in thrall to his political prowess when Mr Blair was a kind of sun god in British politics, came to sour by the end of Mr Blair’s time in office. The Iraq War will continue to damage Mr Blair’s public reputation, perhaps forever. Still, in the context of his three disastrous successors, in other respects Mr Blair’s record looks much rosier. He was, after all, the last leader of the Labour Party to win a general election, more than a decade ago.
What this is basically saying is yes, Blair may have been wrong about minor trifles like Iraq, but no matter he is right about the EU so he deserves support. Never mind the almost five hundred thousand Iraqis who had their lives stolen, and that one of the most secular countries in the Middle East was left in ruins, a wash with Islamic fanatics when once there was none. The ease which these scribes wipe away these crimes explains why the British people have never had a reckoning with the British Empire and it's legacy.
In 2003 we saw how little if any respect for democracy Blair had when he dismissed so lightly the two million people who marched against his filthy war. Since he retired he has toured the earth hovering up money from some of the most despicable dictatorships in the world.** What type of democrat does that?
Any decent social democrat or liberal would not give house room to Blair, for not only did he help set the Middle East aflame; when his government deregulated the City of London he along with the Banksters were partially responsible for the crash of 2008. In his blind rush to support the enlargement of the EU, (many of these State's could not legally meet the criteria for membership) he set in motion the disillusionment which millions of Britons now have with the EU.***
But our media is so corrupt and politically pliable it worships at Blair's feet, Take the Guardian editorial on the same day:
In 2003 we saw how little if any respect for democracy Blair had when he dismissed so lightly the two million people who marched against his filthy war. Since he retired he has toured the earth hovering up money from some of the most despicable dictatorships in the world.** What type of democrat does that?
Any decent social democrat or liberal would not give house room to Blair, for not only did he help set the Middle East aflame; when his government deregulated the City of London he along with the Banksters were partially responsible for the crash of 2008. In his blind rush to support the enlargement of the EU, (many of these State's could not legally meet the criteria for membership) he set in motion the disillusionment which millions of Britons now have with the EU.***
But our media is so corrupt and politically pliable it worships at Blair's feet, Take the Guardian editorial on the same day:
If the test of a speech is how effectively it generates headlines and dominates conversations, Tony Blair’s call for a Brexit rethink today was a resounding success.
Mr Blair always commands attention as the only living British politician to have won three elections and served a decade as prime minister. That experience furnishes insight deserving of an audience.
It is possible to believe that some of the opprobrium is earned, yet also to think that the argument advanced by Mr Blair on Brexit is sound. His case is that Britain voted to leave the European Union without an account of what that would involve in practice.
Let me run part of that last paragraph past readers again; "It is possible to believe that some of the opprobrium is earned." If any man deserves the nation's contempt and opprobrium it's Blair, but as far as the Guardian's editorial floor is concerned what's sending young service men and women to war on a wicked lie, or five hundred thousand dead Arabs, when it comes to defending the reputation of a former British prime minister?
Within those words alone the in built superiority and class prejudice of the media and political elite comes shining through. In his speech it's clear Blair implies those who voted leave are all idiots, ignoramuses or racist bigots who cannot be trusted with a vote to settle complex problems which they are far to ignorant and foolish to understand.
The Editorial continues: 'In a less febrile atmosphere, Mr Blair’s argument would hardly be controversial.'
Within those words alone the in built superiority and class prejudice of the media and political elite comes shining through. In his speech it's clear Blair implies those who voted leave are all idiots, ignoramuses or racist bigots who cannot be trusted with a vote to settle complex problems which they are far to ignorant and foolish to understand.
The Editorial continues: 'In a less febrile atmosphere, Mr Blair’s argument would hardly be controversial.'
What is really being said here?
If Blair were in power they would have been a second referendum and possibly a third until the British people voted to remain. This is not a fanciful suggestion: on two separate occasions in Ireland after EU referendums have gone against the political elites, the EU bullied and badgered pliable Irish government ministers to hold a second referendum, first on the Nice Treaty and again on the Lisbon Treaty. ‘Yes campaigners' learned from previous referendums and developed an approach that reframed the issue by emphasising concessions gained from the EU and the risks of rejecting a treaty for a second time.
The democratic will of the Irish people in a democratic ballot never came into the equation.
This type of political chicanery did not only happen in Ireland, it occurred in Denmark on the Maastricht Treaty. It's anti-democratic and throws excreta in the face of the electorate, yet the mainstream media hardly raised a ripple in opposition to such Tammany Hall behavior.
In this case it isn't about manipulating party politics at a local level, it's Europe wide and the real beneficiaries are neoliberal, political, media, and business elites who refuse to accept the democratic will of the people. If not stopped what Blair and his media and political cronies are proposing is a slippery slope to dictatorship.
The majority voted for Brexit, deal with it, make the most of it, and try and get the best deals. You never know it might turn out to be a good thing. After all the social Europe of Tony Judt and Jacques Delors is long gone. EU political bureaucrats like Peter Mandelson have turned the EU into an undemocratic neo liberal community where the multinational corporations have their fingers in every pie.
Ensuring this continues is Tony Blair's true game plan.
* Given Blair's timing it was also clearly an attempt to sabotage the LP candidates in the Copeland and Stoke Central by-elections. Both constituencies that voted by a large majority to leave the EU.
** New members included the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria, Romania
*** Tony Blair gives backing to Egyptian military coup.
Tony Blair's willingness to prop up the brutal Kazakhstan regime
Good article. Tony Blair is right at home in the neoliberal, undemocratic, warmongering, bureaucratic EU. He knows where his bread is buttered, where his cravings of power, secret organisations and mass slaughter can be satisfied. With Brexit could there be a smidgen of hope that he may not be that protected because of a groundswell of hatred for him, albeit not the mainstream media. Brexit would be worth it for this alone.
ReplyDeleteIs it a case that Blair's Opus Dei feels its power being undermined by the Rothchild Illuminati?
ReplyDeleteAgree about Blair, but regarding the media: Leave was supported by the Sun, Mail, Express and Telegraph.
ReplyDeleteAgree absolutely Mick, thanks Amthony for posting same.
ReplyDeleteThe Manchester Guardian, quoted above, appears guilty of what the present US President refers to as 'false news' in that, Blair did win three terms in power and did so for ten years bit, Thatcher, and he was often referred to as'son of Thatcher', beat him by a year.
Those euro elites whom brought financial destruction to our nation, and britain and europe, must take the blame and de-election of their political puppets in europe should be the norm, the alternative does, in certain instances, appear distasteful but, they're unlikely to send your children to continue Germany's unfinished war with Russia.
Tory Blair wants to ignore the will of the people and bow down to his corporate paymasters.
ReplyDelete*unt should get the rope!
Its often said by newspapers his reputation is damaged with the public, he has made £100m in the public sphere since leaving office.Cameron and Obama Govts have inflicted equally bad casualties on North Africa and the Middle East, but im guessing there death toll is added on to Blairs by the same newspapers.From memory Iraq was a Labour fiasco (with notable exeptions Corbyn,Galloway,Cook...), not about one man.Its almost like the £100m is a payoff for carrying the cross.
ReplyDeleteFor the reasons outlined in the article, I was highly skeptical of Brexit being realised, particularly longer than one election cycle. Its not the way the EU works, but the Dutch election in two weeks, followed by France will give a better indication if there actually will an EU to remain in for the UK.