Sparringett

a law was recently passed that deemed any kind of protesting as disruptive and able to be punished by the police, alongside giving the police more power.

we all watched the police storm the PEACEFUL VIGIL for sarah everard - a woman raped and murdered by a police officer.

PEOPLE ARE CURRENTLY BEING ARRESTED FOR OUTWARDLY EXPRESSING ANY SORT OF DISPLEASURE WITH THE MONARCHY.

A WOMAN WAS ARRESTED FOR HOLDING UP A SIGN. JUST HOLDING IT.

PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED FOR BOOING.

everything in britain has been put to a standstill. hospital appointments have been cancelled. funerals have been cancelled. we can’t do anything about it.

many of us will be unable to pay our energy bills this winter. we will freeze. we will starve.

it has been demonstrated to us time and time and time again that protests simply make people talk about how we were protesting and never why. and now the police has increased power to punish us for any public opinion that they don’t like.

we have been under tory rule for 12 years. 12 years of the same people - hey americans, can you imagine that?

we are tired, no, we are exhausted. we are struggling. we are scared. and it has been made clear to us that our government does not care.

The Lib Dems put a different voting option than First Past the Post to a public referendum back in 2011. Only 42% bothered to vote. Yes, AV isn't quite PR, but it could have got the ball rolling towards a very different electoral system (and consequently a very different setup of political parties in power) than what we have now.

The fact we have an entrenched Tory Party on steroids is partly due to the fact that the current ilk are moving fast to cement their power base (using the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 amongst others to achieve this) and partly due to the fact that still so many of us Brits are being reactive (and have been for years) to all this bleak news rather than proactive.

Here are a couple of points to consider, rather than venting off steam and getting more upset/angry online:

Mass civil disobedience works better than protesting (and leads to less violent outcomes). Support strikers. Criticise newspapers that tell us not to support strikes.

Communicate with your local MP more. Email them, you can get direct access to their email on this site: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

Sign petitions. Attend community surgeries. Raise your concerns with local and elected representatives. If you've got the time to watch the latest episode of some drama on Netflix, you've also got the time to send an email and begin to engage in the political process.

Refuse to pay for goods and instead share second-hand resources (books, films, clothes, surplus food, home appliances, baby goods, etc) freely within your local community. Bypass the capitalist system. Bleed the big companies dry of their money. We don't need more of their products. We have everything we need already if we band together. True power resides in the people.

Make friends with individuals within your local police force, within your local political parties, within every institution you can think of. Have rich friends, have poor friends. Recognise that the priviledged in society operate on fear just as much as the oppressed do. Break that cycle of apathy. Do not succumb to hate. Build understanding of what is more important: we either work together as humans or we destroy each other.

And don't get me wrong, I don't say this to discourage anyone from trying to make that ideal world. Quite the opposite.

I feel like it's very naive to continue to approach these big changes we want to make in the world as if there's an "after it's all over" when we don't have to worry about it anymore.

Oh my god

"The end justifies the means. But what if there never is an end? All we have is means."