Why politicians don't need to listen
Published: Mon, 10/22/18
On Saturday there was a huge protest rally in London demanding a second referendum on the terms of Britain finally leaving the EU. The government has always maintained that there is no need for a second referendum on the grounds that the result of the first one was conclusive. Obviously not everyone agrees with this point of view, hence the massive protest. It is notoriously difficult to estimate with any degree of accuracy how many people are actually present at a protest such as the one on Saturday. The organisers will talk up the number present, detractors will suggest half this figure. The police, who actually manage the public order at such events, seem to have no reliable method of measuring the size of a crowd at all. However, apparently the numbers marching were at least as many as those who protested against the war on Iraq in 2003. Should have a similar effect on political decision making then. Effectively none at all.
It is good that we live in a society where ordinary people feel able to take part in mass protests without fear of reprisals or state sponsored violence against them. It is good that there seems to be combination of civilised self-restraint by those protesting and professional and well organised policing which means that such events generally pass off in a peaceful and orderly manner. Is it also frustrating for those people who protest in large numbers that the influence on decision makers is apparently zilch. Very frustrating indeed for those who make the effort to attend and are convinced of the rightness of their cause. When surrounded by tens of thousands of people who are there for the same reason as you are, your cause seems not just to be right, but a divine mission of the ultimate importance.
When then prime minister Tony Blair was asked why he didn’t take the march against going to war in Iraq seriously he replied that a couple of weeks previously there had been a similar sized protest (possibly even bigger) by the Countryside Alliance sparked off by the ban on Fox hunting and he had ignored that too. Tony Blair’s message was essentially that when he was right about something then a few hundred thousand people marching in the streets was not going to change his mind. Current Prime Minister Theresa May probably has a very similar attitude. I am not arguing the rights and wrongs of the very different issues that prompted the three protests, what I am more interested in is the effect on politics and political decision makers.
Democratic politics is a very complex and long term process. It is easy for ordinary people to cast their votes every four years and, if in a motivated minority, perhaps protest occasionally. A smaller minority still will actually join a political party and try to exercise influence that way. Yet, out of a population of 60 million plus people, the number of people who actually make the essential decisions can be counted on the fingers of one hand. I don’t mean that our senior politicians are dictators with no limits on their power, other people have to be persuaded to agree whether it is the cabinet, members of parliament, senior civil servants or the voters in the country as a whole every few years. The power is in deciding the choices that people are actually offered. This means that most of the time people who think they are making decisions are deciding between options which are pretty much equally acceptable to those offering
the choice.
The Brexit vote was an interesting exception in that none of the mainstream parties was really willing to offer the voter the straight choice on remaining or leaving the EU. This is simply not the kind of choice you give if you are intent of wielding power while maintaining the illusion of democracy. The problem for David Cameron was that a genuine choice democratic choice for voters had emerged at the 2015 election between UKIP with its absolute commitment to a leave referendum and the other parties which were not offering such a commitment. So, David Cameron tried to create a false choice at the 2015 election by putting a commitment to a leave referendum into the Conservative manifesto. The Torys managed to win the election but then had to give the population the referendum as promised. In a sense the rest is history. However, the game is not over yet and we may see a second referendum with a choice between leaving with a deal
that ties the UK to the worst aspects of the EU without political influence in Brussels, or not leaving at all. Which is simply those in power controlling the options while lesser mortals make the actual (non)choice or simply abstain.
Going on marches and protests can be great fun, especially on a nice sunny day like Saturday. Just don’t expect the real decision makers to be the slightest bit impressed. If they do seem to ‘give in’ to protest it will be for their own reasons.
So, are ordinary people effectively powerless and helpless? We are as long as we are ignorant of how politics actually works. I don’t just mean government. All those who have social, cultural, ecconomic or religious power use the same methods if they have achieved sufficient knowledge and sophistication to do so. So long as we are ignorant we will collude with making non-choices or abstaining. With knowledge you can decide what you do or do not collude with, that is the basis of personal power and responsibility. However, you have to gain knowledge of how the world works and develop a sophisticated understanding of the principles underlying the reality we usually take for granted.
How? By learning to really see and genuinely hear what is going on around you. Then assess what you learn according to fundamental principles. Stav training has always been intended to cultivate awareness of reality if you are prepared to work at it.
regards
Graham
PS The next self-defence course will take place on the 15th of December in Beverley. The emphasis will be on uncovering the principles of self-defence, or rather working with the principles of Stav to determine the best methods of self-defence details here http://www.beverleystav.uk/sd151218.html