“I am concerned for the understanding of my reader when I tell that the possessors of power are ever on the watch to encroach; that a nation which slumbers over its rights, will be fortunate if it awake not in fetters.”
Thomas Beddoes, Defence of the Bill of Rights, against Gagging Bills, Bristol, 1795, p. 3
It has been over 200 years since these words were printed, and yet, in 2020, they are no less accurate.
I have always attempted to steer clear of sharing my own political opinions, having not the inclination to debate that which I have little knowledge, nor the skin thick enough to withstand criticism. Increasingly though, there has been a little voice inside me that is asking to be heard.
Thomas Beddoes was, in 1795, speaking out against the so-called ‘Gagging Acts’. Acts of Parliament which prevented public gatherings of more than 50 people. This act was preceded by the Habeus Corpus Suspension Act in 1794. Simply put, it allowed people to be arrested and detained upon suspicion without appearing in front of a judge. It was enforced out of fear… a fear of a rebellion that would echo the terrifying French Revolution.
There is nothing more frightening to the ruling classes than a mob of poor people finding a voice and speaking out against the injustices that unite them.
In 2020, we are very much in a period similar to the decade of enlightenment. The legitimacy of the state is being challenged in ways it can not comprehend. For too long, we have hidden behind the sham that is British democracy. A democracy that doesn’t work for the majority. The people are beginning to find their voices. The strength of the relatively recent Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter movements have sent ripples of anxiety through them.
I will say now, that I am not a COVID denier, nor am I a conspiracy theorist - I don’t believe that wearing masks strips us of our liberties, nor do I feel that lockdown was a way to keep us quiet. I do know, understand, and accept that we have an invisible enemy capable of picking us off by our thousands. This enemy is, however, not as deadly as the epidemic of poverty that has swept across the UK for the last ten years.
We will never know how devastating poverty is. Nor will we note precisely how many people have died as a result of the Conservative government, because “poverty”, “budget cuts”, and “Disability Benefit refusal” are not valid causes of death. We will never know how many people felt so entirely hopeless in their impoverished position that they felt suicide was their only way out. These statistics are far greater than the loss of life to COVID.
The global pandemic appears to be a welcome distraction for BJ and his cronies. While poor people are focusing on outwitting an invisible enemy, the Tories are privatising more public services and plotting how to decimate further the very backbone of services vital to the survival of the poor. The public is so distracted by the virus that they forget about the shambles of Brexit… and that it is looming and no-one knows what will happen next… (Oh, and it means few people notice how much of a cock-up that is!).
The last ten years have been a hellish pit of devastation for the poorest in our society, and it won’t be getting any better. People unable to work will continue to be penalised and forced to justify their illness in front of a panel of people who have no idea what it is like to live a day in poor shoes. There is much more to come in the name of ‘austerity’.
I am one of the fortunate few – as a working-class, self-employed, mum to 5, I have been fortunate to have not been hit by the worst of the cuts.
We are in a global pandemic, but we face a much bigger disaster on our doorstep that will, like death, creep up slowly and before you realise it’ll be too late to change it.
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