The racialisation of British politics and the Tory descent into totalitarianism.

It has been a while since I have uploaded a blog article. There were months of disengagement from politics and the lack of inspiration. Fortunately, thanks to Priti Patel’s Policing Bill alongside the Nationality and Border’s bill, my political curiosity has been set alight again!

Despite choosing to deliberately disengage with politics (for my sanity), there was still a buzz occurring in the back of my mind. Since the Conservative party took to government, there has been numerous racist events proving to us that not only is the UK institutionally racist, but there is a strong intolerant agenda that is being pushed through the minds of Patel’s alike. These thoughts are now taking form as legislation and have eased their way through the third reading with the sound of applause from the current government. What I am going to try and do in this post is connect two central issues in today’s political landscape, hoping that those who read this, see it too.

George Orwell’s classic novel 1984 describes totalitarianism perfectly. “If you want to picture the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face- for ever.” Although a dire description, it’s evident that this is what is occurring under this current government. If you need convincing, we only need to reference the great words of Hannah Arendt herself when she said that totalitarianism deprives individuals of “the right to have rights.” The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill does exactly this and was firstly introduced earlier on in the year. Despite opposition shown through “Kill the Bill” protests, the rather draconian Bill returned to the House of Lords. This bill effectively hands powers to police to shut down protests in England and Wales. Whilst this not only clearly violates international human rights standards, it is also the greatest widening of police powers. Undemocratic and inhumane; this bill will disproportionately affect minorities in the UK. To make this clearer, protests emerge due to disapproval of something, more often than not under the current government, protests are led by minority groups after the infringement on their civil liberties. How does one say this demonstrates the racialisation of politics? Well, it is clear that representative politics is a myth, we can see this as we edge towards exclusion rather than inclusion. Not only is the Policing Bill an attack on the general public’s right to protest, I for one, see it as a way the government is repressing minority voices; rather chilling and rather totalitarian. It’s interesting to also note that in a totalitarian government political participation is necessary, especially voting. Furthermore, the ‘ruling party’, in this case, the Tory party controls all aspects and functions of the government (including the use of a secret police to brutally suppress dissent). In reality, we can see that Patel does not need a secret police - only the current police equipped with the Bill as their arsenal, to suppress any and all discomfort and opposition to the current regime.

Now, the Policing Bill is not the only deprivation of “the right to have rights’. I wholly believe that the Nationality and Border’s Bill is one of the most egregious pieces of legislation to have seen the doors of the House of Lords. Not only is the power to make someone stateless a complete abuse of her power as Home Secretary, but the powers which apply to “naturalised Brits” (those who have secured their citizenship through immigration), is shocking. What we have here is a rather grey extension to the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 and the Immigration Act of 2014 under May’s government. Patel has scoped out the Bill in such vague terms so that citizenship could be revoked without notice for reasons such as “public interest”. This is so broad and it doesn’t just affect ‘terrorists or jihadists’. This Bill will apply to those born overseas, or if you have family that was born overseas or a friend, it will affect you all. What worries me most is the racial implications which arise from this, the most common applications for citizenship outside the EU are from Pakistanis, Nigerians and Indians. This Bill is making politics racialised, creating a second-tier category for British citizenship and will affect 2/5 people of colour in Britain. These two Bills have been seen in the Lords shortly one after another, what I fear is a future with continued repressive and exclusive legislation and I worry that this may only be the start. These Bills are totally totalitarian and racially fuelled; this government is failing my people, and other people of colour.