Thread by @paddydocherty

A thread about the English Establishment, state psychopathy, #COVID19… and why it really matters how people in power think. 🧐✊🇪🇺🇻🇳#history #ToriesOut #resist 🦠

The popular idea of a colonial official during the British Empire days was of a paternal figure dispensing justice and spreading civilisation, as in the 1935 film “Sanders of the River” (see pic), a grossly patronising tale set in colonial #Nigeria... 😬🇳🇬 #BritishEmpire #Korda

The reality was, of course, very different. Consider the work of Charles Callwell, a British soldier with much colonial experience, pictured here on the WWI Caucasus Front as a Major-General in 1916. #Callwell #SmallWars #ColonialViolence 🇹🇷🇷🇺

Callwell was a prolific author on military subjects, & is best known for his book “Small Wars: Their Principle & Practice”, a guide to colonial soldiering. It is brutally revealing about the methods of the British Empire on the ground. 😧#Callwell #SmallWars #ColonialViolence

Callwell is writing in particular about “pacification” operations in Africa and on the North West Frontier of India. He does not have sufficient self-awareness to acknowledge it, but it should be remembered that the British were in these places as invaders… #ColonialViolence

It’s quite shocking to read this British officer so casually advocating the wholesale destruction of homes, and what is in fact the introduction of starvation into an area supposedly under his care. #Callwell #SmallWars #ColonialViolence

There are numerous references to the destruction of villages and food supplies; this is not an accident, since they were frequent resorts of British colonial soldiers and officials. Callwell also demonstrates a love of violence not atypical of his class and era. #ColonialViolence

Again, it must be remembered that the “guerrillas” of whom he writes were in fact the populations of places occupied by the British, who had no doubt previously been minding their own business… He is apparently determined to destroy their homes and food supplies. #BritishEmpire

In a particularly gruesome section, Callwell is open-minded about destroying villages containing women and children. 😳 #ColonialViolence

Callwell does not consider the human cost of this kind of brutality, only revelling in the ‘punishment’ of people who had the temerity to object to their conquest. The impact was, of course, profound social dislocation, starvation and death. #BritishEmpire #ColonialViolence

In this respect, Callwell’s strategies are not far removed from those of General Lothar von Trotha. He arrived as the commander of forces in what was then German South West Africa (modern #Namibia) in June 1904, with orders to crush the rebellion of the Herero people.

Von Trotha issued his shocking “Extermination Order” in October 1904, declaring that all Herero would be killed on sight. His goal was to destroy the Herero people, a literal genocide.

The appalling story is told in full by @DavidOlusoga and @caspererichsen in their book “The Kaiser’s Holocaust”, in which they link von Trotha’s racist policies directly to ideological currents leading to Nazism and the Shoah. 😔🇳🇦

So, with his extremist ideas, was Callwell a fringe lunatic, writing weird manifestoes in a smelly basement apartment? No, he was fully endorsed by the Establishment, and “Small Wars” became a standard part of the colonial soldiering toolkit. 🧐 #ColonialViolence

The preface to the third edition of “Small Wars” was written by General Sir Neville Lyttelton, Chief of the General Staff (pic), who recommended it to officers as a valuable contribution on the subject. #ToriesOut #SmallWars #ColonialViolence

Lyttelton was from the extensive family of that name, his father being Lord Lyttelton and his brother later Viscount Cobham. In one of the many routine outrages against democracy with which our system is embedded, his father entered the House of Lords at the age of just 21.

Amongst his siblings and cousins were numerous peers, bishops, generals and civil servants, so we can say without hesitation that his endorsement was the endorsement of the Establishment. #ToriesOut #psychopaths 😖

This kind of thinking – a callous lack of regard for other people – has direct and often tragic impacts. Could the Amritsar Massacre of 1919 have happened, for example, if General Dyer had not been possessed by this kind of state psychopathy? (please see earlier thread ⬇️😐)

https://twitter.com/paddydocherty/status/1117005387042033664

Sadly, this remains as a legacy of Empire: continuity in the people occupying positions of power (often with colonial fortunes to protect), and continuity in attitudes. 😖✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #ColonialViolence #ToriesOut

Take, for example, the Conservative fruitcake Roger Scruton, seen here being rewarded by the Establishment for decades of service promoting regressive causes. 🙄 #Scruton

Scruton was close friends with the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán (pic), and had a long history of homophobia, anti-Semitism and attacks on immigration. Unsurprisingly, he was a supporter of #Brexit. 😖✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #Orbán #Scruton

He was also a defender of the British Empire... Here ⬇️ he remembers a teacher at school, who had been a colonial official in Nigeria. Scruton died only in February 2020, a reminder that people of our own era still have a personal connection to the Empire. #history #BritishEmpire

Clearly this is a delusional view of colonial history, and deeply patronising. Not least because the “Ibo tribes” (properly Igbo) mounted a resistance against the British invaders that lasted for decades and became very costly in life and property. 😠✊🇳🇬 #Nigeria #Igbo

As it happens, I wrote recently about another English Establishment figure who was one of the worst despoilers of Igbo life and limb, and yet still has a statue on Victoria Embankment (please see thread 😖⬇️). #Trenchard #RAF #Nigeria #ColonialViolence

https://twitter.com/paddydocherty/status/1248394361248731145

We can safely hypothesise that Trenchard absorbed his Callwell enthusiastically, for he certainly burned villages with glee. This illustrates the link between colonial values and the current Tory party… 😖✊🇳🇬🇪🇺🇻🇳 #Nigeria #Igbo #ColonialViolence #ToriesOut

…Just as Trenchard’s grandson is still – absurdly – in the House of Lords, Scruton was knighted by David Cameron for his services to regressive causes. 😖✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #Brexit #ToriesOut

Were this all just a matter of harmless old codgers quietly enjoying their memories and private racism, it would be unpleasant but of no concern. The problem is caused because people with these values currently besmirch Downing Street. 😠✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #resist

It REALLY matters what people in power think, and HOW they think about other people. The #COVID19 pandemic, and Boris Johnson’s woeful mishandling of the crisis, has illustrated this very brutally. 😔✊🇪🇺🇻🇳🦠 #ToriesOut #JohnsonMustGo #coronavirus

Thousands of people in the UK have died because of Johnson’s cavalier approach and callous attitude to regular people. He has prioritised capital interests (and his own holidays!) over protecting human life. 😠✊🇪🇺🇻🇳🦠 #JohnsonMustGo #ToriesOut #COVID19 #coronavirus

It is well-established that Johnson is woefully racist and dishonest; he is also in favour of inequality and worship of the rich, as he explained in a speech in 2013… 🤦‍♂️ #gross #ToriesOut #resist #Thatcher

theguardian.com/politics/2013/…

In this Margaret Thatcher Lecture, Johnson celebrated greed as a motive force… 😖✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #gross #ToriesOut #JohnsonMustGo #CapitalismKills

…and added a hint of eugenics, something of a dog-whistle for the far right. His gibberish about cornflakes should not distract us from the fact that he is on alarming territory. 😳🇪🇺🇻🇳 #eugenics #racism #ToriesOut #FFS

This is especially troubling in the context of Dominic Cummings dominating Downing Street and apparently setting Johnson’s agenda (at least until #COVID19 took over). Cummings has had some dangerous/creepy views for years… 😖✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #Cummings #freak

theguardian.com/politics/2013/…

In his confused and rambling paper from 2013, Cummings also wrote this ⬇️, which is suddenly all the more disturbing given that we are in the middle of a global pandemic. Ethnically-targeted mass murder is a strange subject for a paper on education policy… 😧 #eugenics #racism

In the same paper, #Cummings talks appreciatively about Robert #Plomin, a psychologist & geneticist. Plomin has serious credentials and isn’t a fringe nutjob like some of Cumming’s friends BUT he has attracted controversy for his views on genetics... 🤨

theguardian.com/science/2018/s…

Further demonstrating that there is some alarming ‘thinking’ going on in Downing Street, Cummings of course hired the white supremacist Andrew #Sabisky. He swiftly resigned when his extreme views were revealed by the press… 😠✊🇻🇳🇪🇺 #ToriesOut #resist #JohnsonMustGo

Sabisky presented a paper at the far right “London Conference on Intelligence” in 2015, and has espoused racist views on mental capacity. He also thinks that welfare claimants are “less conscientious and agreeable than the average person…” 😖✊🇻🇳🇪🇺

theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

One of his most notorious ideas was compulsory contraception at puberty in order to prevent an increase in the “underclass”… This choice of word can only be intended to reflect the favourite Nazi term, “untermensch”, meaning subhuman. (pic from 1942) 😖✊🇻🇳🇪🇺 #racism #Sabisky

Happily, #Sabisky didn’t last long in government, BUT the scary thing is that #Cummings hired Sabisky precisely BECAUSE of his disturbing views: they accord with his own, and that should terrify us all. 😠✊🇻🇳🇪🇺 #ToriesOut #eugenics #freaks #racism #COVID19🦠

This kind of racism and eugenics is just the first step to moral outrages, as we have seen from the colonial days. The ‘othering’ of people, turning them into faceless categories, leads to gross abuses. 😠✊🇻🇳🇪🇺 #racism #ToriesOut #ColonialViolence #COVID19 🦠

The disgraceful, negligent Johnson has shown a callous lack of concern for human life in his botched handling of #COVID19, bringing the mentality of a snobbish colonial official to the question of national priorities. 😠✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #liar #crook #JohnsonMustGo #ToriesOut 🦠

To date, the UK reports 15,464 hospital deaths from #COVID19, while Germany reports 4,377 (both figures April 18th). That alone shows the value of having a government of decent, compassionate people rather than fashy incompetents wallowing in colonial nostalgia. 😔🇪🇺🇻🇳

Most stark is the comparison with New Zealand. Early, decisive & compassionate action by Jacinda Ardern has been extremely successful in containing #COVID19. NZ has now had just 11 deaths (April 18th). 😔✊🇳🇿 #ToriesOut @jacindaardern #NZ 🦠

It is clear that @jacindaardern is a decent, compassionate person & deeply regrets every one of those 11 deaths. The diferent #COVID19 experiences of the UK & NZ is a *stunning* demonstration of the profound importance of the attitudes of the people in power. 🧐✊🇪🇺🇻🇳🇳🇿🦠 #resist

If @jacindaardern was running the UK (or Angela Merkel, or @NicolaSturgeon…) we would have had *many* fewer deaths. Compassion and decency matter, and our “ruling class” are short on both. 😔✊🇪🇺🇻🇳🦠 #ToriesOut #COVID19 #resist

If you remain unconvinced, please try this thought experiment ⬇️… Please let me know what you decide… 😠✊🇻🇳🇪🇺 #ToriesOut #JohnsonMustGo #COVID19 #resist #ColonialViolence 🦠

Please vote on the thought experiment above... If he had been born in 1864, @BorisJohnson is most likely to have been...

😖✊🇪🇺🇻🇳 #ToriesOut