Thread by @paddydocherty

Peaceful revolution in the UK: some personal thoughts on the need for #SystemChange and the potential for making it happen. [thread] 🤨✊🌹🇪🇺#ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors #resist #revolt #remove #JohnsonMustGo

In the wake of the #RussiaReport ⬇️ & the ongoing #COVID19 & #ToryCorruption scandals, there has been a noticeable increase in talk about protest against this obviously compromised “government”… 😠✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove

https://twitter.com/paddydocherty/status/1289202608213819393

For many, the flagrant corruption of the new “honours” list feels like the last straw. We can let this anger & stress gnaw at us, or we can harness it against these disgraceful crooks… 😖✊🌹🇪🇺#ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors #resist #revolt #remove

theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

England doesn’t have much of a history of taking to the streets (different dynamic in Scotland, of course… ☺️✊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 #SaorAlba), though Engels saw some potential… ⬇️ Reasonable people might ask first if our systems of accountability are working. 🧐✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist

Firstly, is Parliament holding the executive to account? No: the Tories lied their way to a majority through our absurd FPTP system and are using #COVID19 measures to attack the limited agency of the lickspittle mediocrities filling their benches. 😖✊

itv.com/news/2019-12-0…

The House of Lords, never democratic, is now being reduced to a grossly corrupt laughing stock, with actual friends of Putin, Brexity cricketers, confused RCP paedophile supporters and beshitted family members being packed in. 😖 #gross #ToryCorruption

thesun.co.uk/news/12281010/…

Parliament has also chosen to neuter itself on the most pressing issue of the age: we are still hurtling towards a ruinous No Deal #Brexit and yet it’s hardly discussed in either house. 😧#ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors #resist #revolt #remove

The press is also failing to hold the “government” to account: some billionaire fash rags are cheering on the tax-efficient Brexit ruination, others are seemingly cowed into treating this bunch of crooks as regular politicians. 😖✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove

Most disappointingly of all, the BBC has been wrecked by Cameron’s politicisation of its senior roles, and now functions as the most dismal regime propagandist. 😔✊🌹🇪🇺#ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors @BBC #resist #revolt #remove

https://twitter.com/evolvepolitics/status/1289272439554203655

Law enforcement appears to be absent: investigations shelved or sidelined (Arcuri, the Darius Guppy affair, Mark Field) and obvious cases ignored altogether (what the hell is Jenrick still doing in Cabinet?!)… 😠 #ToryCorruption #resist #revolt #remove

theguardian.com/politics/2020/…

I knew the Tories were atrociously corrupt, so the most shocking thing for me about the #RussiaReport was that the Security Services are not doing anything to protect us either. Whether through incompetence or corruption, they’re not on the case. 😐✊🌹🇪🇺 #MI5 #MI6 #wtf

Finally, we can at least say that the judiciary is holding up, and is still doing its job: it was of course the Supreme Court that prevented the Cummings/Johnson regime from shuttering Parliament last year… 🤓✊🌹🇪🇺🕷#StopTheCoup #Unlawful #resist #revolt #remove

The judiciary is, however, under attack. With its outrageous plans for curbing judicial review, the “government” is literally attempting to put itself above the law. Even the Telegraph seems mildly exercised by this Hitlerian power grab… 🧐 #RuleOfLaw #resist #revolt #remove

Other papers, of course, have been happy to use the most disgracefully fascistic of language in their attacks on the judiciary. 😖✊🌹🇪🇺 #HopeNotHate #ToriesOut #RuleOfLaw #ToryCorruption

With the exception of the threatened judiciary, therefore, our systems have failed, and I don’t see any prospect of them suddenly finding their mettle. Nobody is going to save us: we must do this ourselves. We must remove this crooked “government” by peaceful protest. 🤨✊🌹🇪🇺

My feeling, however, is that we won’t get the critical mass until *after* a ruinous No Deal exit, and the attendant job losses and food shortages. Such is the diabolical power of the RW press, too many people are lulled by the fashy propaganda. 😐 #resist #revolt #remove

I hope that I’m wrong, but until the worst economic impact kicks in, and until Kent is one big lorry park and supermarket shelves are empty, I think #Brexit is too much of an abstract to get people on the streets in the numbers required. 😕

The GOOD NEWS, however, is that we CAN do this. It doesn’t take all that many of us to eject a crooked government: just 3.5% of the population, if the protests are *sustained*… Jolly Saturday marches every few months are useless. 🧐✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove

This number is based on the highly regarded work of Professor @EricaChenoweth.... ⬇️ Please note that NO CAMPAIGN FAILED if it got at least 3.5% of the population involved on a sustained basis… 😃✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove #ToryCorruption

For inspiration, please watch this TEDx talk by Professor Chenoweth, summarising her path to this powerful discovery. Note also that *peaceful* action is more powerful than violence. 🤓✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove @EricaChenoweth @TEDxBoulder

Also, for full detail on the data and analysis of the methodology, this is an authoritative read… 🤓✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove #ToryTraitors #treason

Another urgent, mobilising read is “On Tyranny” by @TimothyDSnyder, which is strongly recommended for giving to any friend or family who doesn’t see what is going on here and in the US... 🤨✊🌹🇪🇺🇺🇸 #resist #revolt #remove #OnTyranny

This is a stark warning... ⬇️ Systems of accountability are failing, so it’s up to us to step up and do something about it... 😠✊🌹🇪🇺 #ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors #resist #revolt #remove

We don’t need to look only to books for inspiration and guidance: there are numerous examples of sustained peaceful action bringing down crooked governments. This ⬇️ shows Seoul in 2017, when mass protest kicked out a corrupt president. 😃✊🌹🇰🇷🇪🇺 #revolt

Moreover, still happening right now are the amazing #BlackLivesMatter protests in Portland and many other places in the US and elsewhere… ☺️✊🌹🇺🇸🇪🇺#Portland #PortlandProtests #BLM #resist #revolt #OregonUprising

The powerful scenes – and the fascistic Federal reaction – drew in numerous allies to support the #BlackLivesMatter protest… Taking action is inspiring… 😊#Portland #PortlandMoms #BLM #resist

The tactics of Federal stormtroopers have been violent, but the crucial point is that the #BlackLivesMatter protests can claim victory: after two months in the streets of #Portland, they have forced the Feds to withdraw… 😃✊🌹🇺🇸🇪🇺 #resist #revolt

uk.reuters.com/article/uk-glo…

This shows the power of sustained, intersectional protest: even Kevlar-clad fashy goons can be beaten. A grand alliance of groups is our best hope in the UK, whenever the protests begin in earnest. 🙂✊🌹🇪🇺 #ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors #resist #revolt #remove

We need #BlackLivesMatter, XR, Antifascists, Remainers, Leavers who feel betrayed, the jobless, grandmas, mums, and everyone else. I would strongly urge that we unite around the immediate goal of ejecting the crooks from No 10 by peaceful means. 🤨✊#resist #revolt #remove

Once that central aim is achieved, then comes the long process of deciding what happens next… But progressive aims of racial justice, antifascism, climate justice, anticorruption etc are ALL best served by ridding us of this corrupt “government” first. 😀 #resist

A crucial point: don’t wait for leadership or organisation. Leadership emerges from unexpected places… Or it won’t, which is fine: the great strength of protest is self-directed action. Everyone can be Spartacus. 🤓✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove #IAmSpartacus

Distributed leadership & self-direction makes protest unmanageable & ultimately invincible. Just put yourself in the streets when you judge the time is right. There’s safety in numbers, & please remember @TimothyDSnyder’s final lesson… ⬇️☺️✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove

I am convinced that we will have to take it upon ourselves to remove this corrupt government through peaceful action... I suspect that we’ll get critical mass only early next year, but I hope I’m wrong... 🤨✊🌹🇪🇺 #resist #revolt #remove #ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors

We need to make a stand, though, sooner or later, so I’m putting this out there: anyone who is appalled at this bunch of Tory goons, I’m on @telegram (independent, fully-encrypted) as @paddydocherty... 🤓✊🌹🇪🇺 #organise #resist #revolt #remove #ToryCorruption #ToryTraitors