Probably not a coincidence New Labour rose around the same time as the US Democrats Third Way neoliberals, whodid much of the same in regards to gutting socialists from the party.
Comment on UK | Man arrested in dawn raid after sharing Facebook posts backing Palestine Action
Zombie@feddit.uk 1 day ago(New) New Labour got back in power.
Labour are meant to be the left wing workers party. Old school Labour are socialists that brought in such things as the NHS (free healthcare) and The Open University (non-elitist university education open to anybody) in the mid-1900s.
New Labour first came into power in 1997 and left in 2010, they got back in last year (2024). They are not socialist by any means. They pretend at times to be socialist because of the image and reputation of Labour but in reality they’re capitalists. These are the people that introduced privatisation into the NHS (so you can only get healthcare for certain things if you are rich enough) and started the Iraq War 2 with Bush. They have always had an authoritarian streak but the socialists still within the party generally managed to hold them off. They had plans for mass surveillance and mandatory ID cards, but never managed to implement it by the time they lost the 2010 election.
Now they’re back, and the socialist elements of the party have been shunned ot kicked out, so the authoritarians can near do as they wish now.
In one year they have:
- cut winter fuel payments for the elderly
- cut disability benefits
- continued with austerity for public services, making everyone poorer
- cosied up to banks by saying red tape needs cut
- declared nature protections to be in the way
- helped Israel commit genocide by providing equipment and intel
- proscribed a protest group that spray painted 2 planes as terrorist organisations
- given a racist speech to pander to the far right
- brought in draconian restrictions on the internet
- want a vast increase in facial recognition cameras
- announced plans to implement a mandatory digital ID
I’ve been sitting on the toilet too long writing this now so that’ll do, but here’s some more reading if you wish:
tribunemag.co.uk/…/new-labours-authoritarianism-i…
scotsman.com/…/palestine-action-ban-reveals-labou…
stringere@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Twig@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
They didn’t cut winter fuel payments. They just made it means tested, as these things should be.
Slovene@feddit.nl 23 hours ago
I’ve been sitting on the toilet too long writing this now so that’ll do, but here’s some more reading if you wish:
🤣
I bet your legs have fallen asleep.
thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 21 hours ago
Fuck me, it’s got to be pretty miserable being British at the moment?
It’s not like the Tories were doing anything to better their lives, but hold crap Labour are definitely on world record pace speed-running Fascism any%.
Zombie@feddit.uk 20 hours ago
Even more miserable being Scottish knowing we could have escaped all this in 2014.
…wikipedia.org/…/2014_Scottish_independence_refer…
Our devolved parliament is more left wing than Westminster but it has limited powers so our sanctuary is minimal.
There’s also the times where Westminster has ruled on things that should be devolved and when it has overruled Scotland.
youtu.be/29-LRuuqFT0
urandom@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
To think the message against independence was something like “keeping the union strong”, while at the same time the message for brexit was “better alone” or some shit like that.
thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
Not all that surprising, typical Conservative double-speak (or is it talking out of both sides of their mouth?).
We had something similar here in Australia in the early 2000s, when we voted on a referendum on whether to ditch the Monarchy and become a Republic:
All of the Stay/Remain advertising focused on the message that “this [proposed] Australia’s Not The One”, and inferring that we could have another referendum in the near future with a different form of revised Government. Suffice to say, that was utter bullshit - and we haven’t revisited the topic since.
By then again, we wouldn’t even pass a referendum to allow the Aborigines a Voice in Parliament a few years ago - so we’ve probably rolled backwards also.
stringere@sh.itjust.works 14 hours ago
Aye, but what kin ya dae?
Zombie@feddit.uk 14 hours ago
Join the IWW
Join the Scottish Greens
Protest
Discuss these things with your friends and family. Get them on board. Don’t be combative, ask questions, provide information, suggest solutions. Let them think and mull things over, changing views takes time and self reflection
Speak up when you see injustice. Many people are scared to be the first voice to speak up, but it’s surprising the support you can get once you do.
Beat the bastards.