Kit Knightly – Off Guardian Aug 2, 2024

Those outside the UK might not have heard, but it’s been a violent week in the UK. Here’s a quick rundown of the official story so far:

Four days ago a 17-year-old allegedly walked into a children’s “Taylor Swift dance class” (whatever that might be)  in Southport and started stabbing little girls, wounding 10 and killing 3.

It was initially reported the boy was a muslim immigrant.

This story was, however, reversed within hours, the new story “revealing” that he was actually born in Cardiff, the son of Rwandan immigrants. He was named as “Axel Muganwa Rudakubana” late yesterday.

His  religious affiliation, if any, seems not to have been firmly established.

Another young man was, allegedly,  arrested later while in possession of a machete and balaclava at  a vigil for the victims. He was, again, reportedly Muslim.

This, allegedly, resulted in what are described as protests and riots, the destruction of a brick wall outside a mosque and the burning of a police van.

Further alleged riots subsequently sprang up in London and Hartlepool.

This is the current narrative. None of the details has been substantiated as yet, so how much you decide to believe is your personal preference at this point.

At OffG we reserve the right to be sceptical. Of everything.

There are a lot of unanswered questions, and the current level of  “mourning” by government institutions and groups in no way directly affected  by the tragedy always has a taint of the performative that shouldn’t be too quickly conflated with  insincerity or worse.

And, of course, all of this is coming hot on the heels of the Manchester Airport incident, where police officers and Muslim youths allegedly clashed violently in as yet obscure circumstances.

Plus the violence in Whitechapel and Leeds a couple of weeks ago.

Then, as now, both sides were provided with adequate rage-bait to get them worked up.

Whatever the truth of this latest incident, and whatever long term aims it might be used to further, this “strategy of tension” has an immediate political agenda already becoming clear – and it’s as predictable as ever.

1. Further limit social media/free speech
2. Normalise constant surveillance

Attacking free speech is the ever-present, eternal agenda that comes before everything else and it’s been a real pile-on the last few days.

The Hill headlines “Misinformation floods social media in wake of breakneck news cycle”, Sky News went with “Southport attack misinformation fuels far-right discourse on social media”

ABC News reports: “Online misinformation fueled tensions over the stabbing attack in Britain that killed 3 children”

The Byline Times collectively scolds society’s negligence: “‘We All Need To Consider Our Role in the Wild West of Social Media Hypercriminality’”

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (an NGO funded by the usual suspects) has timelined it all for our convenience: From rumours to riots: How online misinformation fuelled violence in the aftermath of the Southport attack

The BBC asks “Did social media fan the flames of riot in Southport?” and Telepgraph answers very much in the affirmative, cutting right to the heart of the matter [emphasis added]:

Unregulated social media disinformation is wrecking Britain – Free speech must come with accountability

The Times skips past establishing the problem right to apportioning blame: “Who is behind Southport social media storm — and can they be stopped?”

The Guardian has decided the answer is TikTok (and AI): “How TikTok bots and AI have powered a resurgence in UK far-right violence”

The New York Times demands to know what social media companies are going to do about it:

The U.K. Riots Were Fomented Online. Will Social Media Companies Act?

One particularly drunk uncle decided the whole thing is Putin’s fault, for some reason, but most of the fire is directed at Twitter/X.

Writing in Prospect, former-Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger claims “Elon Musk’s misinformation machine made the horrors of Southport much worse”, while Forbes wails “Elon Musk Isn’t Stopping Misinformation, He’s Helped Spread It”.

This is dual-purpose propaganda, it attacks the idea of free speech but also reinforces Musk/X’s totally false reputation as the savior of free expression.

You cannot begin to fathom how irritating it is to the ruling class that ordinary people are allowed to just say whatever they want whenever they want – including having the audacity to fact check the media in real time, with no repercussions at all.

That, more than anything else, has stalled the Great Reset in its tracks.

So it has to go.

Finally and forever.

It’s why  almost everything in the news cycle – from disease to climate change – can  allegedly be “solved” with censorship.

Because once free speech is abolished everything that comes afterward gets so much easier – including the second agenda being pushed right now: Mass surveillance and facial recognition technology.

When it comes to this secondary goal the media are yet to reach the “call for action” phase. They are still locked into “fearmongering”, with widespread warnings about nineteen future “far-right” marches and calls to proscribe Tommy Robinson’s EDL as a “terrorist organization”

Which, again, has the useful secondary effect of making this gentleman look more like a genuine force for opposition.

Funnily enough, UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was already discussing giving police “new powers to crackdown on antisocial behaviour” just a day before the Southport attack occurred.

But it fell to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to formally lay it out in his address yesterday afternoon [transcript].

Pledging to counter the “far-right” with a new police division, and increased use of surveillance and facial recognition technology to “limit their movements”:

Wider deployment of facial recognition technology…And preventive action – criminal behaviour orders…To restrict their movements…

And firing a warning shot across the bows of social media:

And let me also say to large social media companies and those who run them…Violent disorder clearly whipped up online…That is also a crime. It’s happening on your premises. And the law must be upheld everywhere.

He even pointedly made clear his response wasn’t just about now or about countering the “far-right”, rather it was about ALL civil disobedience, for any reason:

A response both to the immediate challenge which is clearly driven by far-right hatred. But als “all violent disorder that flares up […] whatever the apparent cause or motivation – we make no distinction…Crime is crime.”

That means everything.

It means pro-free speech rallies, it means “bladerunners” cutting down ULEZ cameras. It means any potential anti-lockdown and/or anti-vaccine mandate protests during “the next pandemic”.

This is the beginning of a new crackdown on digital free speech and real-world protest…

and people are cheering him on, of course. Because they believe the State is our only shield from the nasty brick throwing baddies of the far-right.

To sum up the last three days in British politics for those not well versed in reading past headlines  and propaganda:

For the cost of one broken wall and a burnt out police van, the new “Labour” government have just won public approval for new police powers and open season being called on  what remains of our free speech – and they get to distract from the now-inevitable tax raises too.

Not a bad trade.

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