Democracy Under Attack: From the Capitol to the Mash Report

 2021 hasn't been a good year for democracy. On January 6, we saw the appalling invasion of the US Capitol by anti-democratic demonstrators who could not accept the result of the bitterly-contested US Presidential Election. I have a lot of good friends in the US, and I know that many Americans thought this disgraceful event made them a laughing stock around the world. As far as I was concerned, there was nothing to laugh at; this attack on American democracy heralded the rise of an organised force that was willing to resort to violence for political ends. What I did not realise was that this was the beginning of an assault on democratic freedoms around the world. 

Dawn on February 1st saw an even more violent onslaught against democracy: the military takeover in Myanmar which saw the deposing of the democratically elected government headed by Aung San Suu Kyi, who was forcibly detained, along with around 400 MPs. To the credit of the people of Myanmar, there have been widespread protests, both within and outside Myanmar. The military regime has responded by using lethal force. 38 protesters were killed on one day, the BBC reported on March 3rd. So far, despite internal opposition and foreign condemnation, the regime has not relaxed its grip. As the BBC says:

"The coup and the violent suppression of protests that followed have led to international condemnation, which Myanmar's military has so far ignored."

Switching continents, we don't need to look too far to find a parallel to the Myanmar repression in the land of Venezuela. I had already been told that Christians were being victimised, but Human Rights Watch has stated this year, following a visit from the United Nations Human Rights Council in September last year:

"The government of Nicolás Maduro and its security forces are responsible for extrajudicial executions and short-term forced disappearances and have jailed opponents, prosecuted civilians in military courts, tortured detainees, and cracked down on protesters. They used a state of emergency implemented in response to Covid-19 as an excuse to punish dissent and intensify their control over the population."

Now, of course, there are many other states around the world that violate human rights. Off the cuff, I can think of far too many - starting with Iran. However, these countries have continuing histories of such violations; the three countries mentioned above were regarded as exceptions. Venezuela was celebrated as a shining example of socialist democracy; Myanmar was regarded as an emerging democratic Asian state; the USA is thought of as  the world's great home of liberty and democracy. Fortunately, the anti-democratic forces in the USA are (hopefully) held in check. We can only hope that matters improve in Myanmar and Venezuela.

If what I have written above sounds like finger-pointing, it is meant as nothing of the kind. There is a fourth country where democracy is under pressure, and that's here in the United Kingdom. We were brought up sharp over the weekend by the clumsy police action against the London vigil for the tragic young murder victim, Sarah Everard.

Unlike most commentators, I regard the events of last Monday as a PR disaster, rather than a direct assault on democratic rights per se. Unlike other vigils, the London protest was badly handled, as opposed to vigils elsewhere which went well. Nonetheless, images of the police action now stand as images of the right to protest being trampled upon.

Far more concerning for civil liberties is the Police Bill, which is currently passing through Parliament. Some of the new laws are not repressive in principle, but could well become  so in practice. As The Good Law Project says:

"Clauses 54 and 55 amend sections 12 and 14 respectively of the Public Order Act, which deal with public processions and public assemblies. These raise two grounds for concern – first, they significantly expand the police’s ability to place conditions on the right to public processions and assemblies and second they leave entirely open what those conditions can be."

My understanding of the public order sections indicates that the police will have the right to close down a protest if it becomes too noisy. Anyone who has attended a demonstration knows that this is absurd; chanting slogans is an integral part of public protest.

The interpretations of these new laws will be very much up to the police officers on the spot. The implications of this are huge:

"As Professor David Meads (who specialises in the law of protest and public order) observed: “Th(e) real problem for protesters and activists is not (always) so much the law – the legal rules and position – but how this is implemented and interpreted on the ground by officers; generally speaking the wider framed the law, even more widely used will be the operational power”.

Turning to the TV programme, "The Mash Report", which is being axed by the BBC, it might seem almost frivolous, compared to the outrages perpetrated in the Capitol and the shooting down of unarmed demonstrators in Myanmar. It might be the thin end of the wedge, but is still part of what I regard as a right-wing campaign against public dissent. The Mash report is a satirical programme, and is hated by the right-wing press. The Sun says it is:

"preachy, self-righteous [and] left-wing".

Knowing "The Sun" like we do, it is the last of those three that concerns them the most. Now, this government does not like criticism, and regards the BBC as a thorn in its side (if only it was!). The new director-general of the BBC, Tim Davie, was favoured candidate for the job by Boris Johnson, and seems to be showing us why. As the "Daily Telegraph" said last year:

"The BBC’s new director-general is planning to tackle perceived Left-wing bias in the corporation's comedy".
 "Have I Got News For You", a star programme for 30 years on BBC 1, which satirises political figures of all hues, will inevitably be a future target for Johnson and Davie. It will not stop there, but will continue until the present government renders the Beeb "impartial" (aka, neutered). 

All told, then, a bad year for democracy, and we need to consider: how can we protect it?