Politicians Encouraging Hatred of Politicians are Playing With Fire
Days after the socially liberal Polish politician, Pawel Adamowicz, was assassinated on stage at a charity event, zealous Brexiteer MP Liam Fox suggested on British television that the UK parliament is attempting to “steal Brexit”.
Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Liam Fox said: “You’ve got a Leave population and a Remain parliament. Parliament has not got the right to hijack the Brexit process.”
“What we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the result of the referendum trying to hijack Brexit and, in effect, steal the result from the people.”
There are several problems with this statement, including the fact that polls consistently indicate that the UK would now vote to remain and would like a fresh referendum now that realities of Brexit are clearer, the country was split almost 50–50 in 2016, and parliament does have the right — and duty — to ensure that the UK is not damaged by the imminent threat of a no-deal cliff-edge Brexit.
But the biggest problem with Liam Fox’s statement is the suggestion that elected politicians are “stealing” Brexit. Mr Fox made his comments in a country where a pro-EU MP, Jo Cox, was assassinated by far-right, EU-hating Brexit fanatic Thomas Mair. And in a febrile context in which the bubbling up of dangerous far-right fanaticism has led to numerous other murders, and one group, National Action, being outlawed as a terror organisation by the very administration Fox represents.
Fox would — or should — as he spouted a dangerous narrative on the popular Sunday morning BBC show, have been mindful of the time that Tory media described judges as “enemies of the people” for ruling that parliament should have a vote on the UK starting the Brexit process, rather than it be pushed through by Theresa May’s government, with no vote.
US Readers will be very aware of the attempted murder of Democrat politician Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 near Tucson. Her attacker, Jared Lee Loughner, also shot 24 other people, killing six of them. Donald Trump does not appear to have learned from this awful event, as he has shamelessly demonised politicians and whipped up overt hatred of critics during his rallies and through social media.
Some of Trump’s more easily triggered supporters have been involved in politically motivated murders and attacks. These include the 2017 murder of civil rights campaigner Heather Heyer by James Fields, a participant at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. There were 28 other people injured when Fields deliberately drove a car at a group who were opposed to the far-right event.
Donald Trump has encouraged violence towards his critics and press several times — and has even said he would pay the legal costs of those who attack protestors.
Cesar Sayoc, who is awaiting trial for a mail-bombing campaign against Democrats and critics of the president, is an ardent Trump supporter. He faces 30 criminal counts, including using weapons of mass destruction. Mail bombs were sent to former President Barack Obama and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as well as other public figures and media outlets. His trial is scheduled for July.
It is important that we learn as much as we can from each of the above cases, to understand how political narratives influence the actions of violent extremists. While there may be, as in the case of Anders Breivik (the far-right extremist who murdered 77 people in Norway), a complex interaction between personal history, personality disorder characteristics and radicalisation by political narratives, the latter is nevertheless an important driver of violent extremism.
It should not take recent examples from the US, the UK and elsewhere in Europe to know that politicians whipping up hatred of politicians — as well as judges — is a foolish and dangerous political game. It was the staple of the Nazi Party in Germany in the 1930s and we know what happened there. It is a staple technique of tyrannies generally.
