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| Proletarian issue 48 (June 2012) |
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| Editorial: An example to us all |
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The unexpected appearance of David Lawley-Wakelin at the Leveson Inquiry did more to reveal the corrupt and warmongering essence of British imperialist society than had all the many hundreds of hours of painstaking discussions and interviews that preceded it. The great British inquiry is a hoary and well-practiced establishment game in which, despite an impressive display of forensic thoroughness and attention to minute detail, the participants somehow always manage to miss the elephant in the room. In this august assembly the unvarnished truth can only appear as an uninvited guest.
The stink around phone hacking posed a problem for the capitalist state. It was feared that the initial scandal over nosy hacks might spill over into a growing public awareness of the vast and intricate web connecting media corporations, financial institutions, capitalist politicians, war profiteers and the police – a web at whose centre squats the deadly spider of monopoly capital. To steer interest down a less perilous track, Leveson was given a narrower brief: to investigate the culture, practices and ethics of the press. Murdoch was ritually sacrificed to save the skins of the rest of his class.
Blair’s appearance at Leveson had been planned as a damage-limitation exercise, with criticism of this extremely well-connected war criminal limited to the suggestion that he had been ‘too close’ to Murdoch. Asking whether Blair was too close to Murdoch is rather like asking whether Hitler was too close to Goebbels, and the inquiry’s exclusive focus on this red herring afforded Blair a golden opportunity to present himself as the hapless victim of an over-powerful and ‘feral’ media. Meanwhile, his vast and bloody war crimes remained unaddressed.
At least they did until Wakelin walked into court number 73 and announced in a clear, calm voice: “Excuse me, this man should be arrested for war crimes.” Hanging onto the furniture to slow down the efforts of three security guards to expel him, and raising his voice to be heard above the hubbub, he added that “JP Morgan paid him off for the Iraq war. Three months after he invaded Iraq they held up the Iraq bank for 20 million. He was then paid $6m every year, still is, from JP Morgan, six months after he left office. The man is a war criminal.” Long after he was bundled out of the chamber, his words hung in the air whilst all the officials muttered “How did he get in?” and scuttled about like headless chickens.
But such bald truths as these cannot forever be suppressed or sidelined by our rulers. Such courageous interventions as Wakelin’s are a nightmare for the bourgeoisie and a wake-up call for all who oppose imperialism’s predatory wars.
Without the acquiescence and cooperation of working people, none of these wars could be fought. The brave journalists who walked out of Al Jazeera in protest at the lies being told against Syria should inspire every journalist under pressure to regurgitate war propaganda. The Spanish strike slogan “Not a wheel shall turn” should be embraced by every worker engaged in the manufacture and transport of war materials.
And if a lone documentary filmmaker is able to prove such an embarrassment to the establishment, imagine what could be achieved by the organised working class acting collectively and released from bondage to the Labour and social democracy. The working class, united behind the perspective of proletarian revolution, can bring these criminal adventures grinding to a halt, along with imperialism itself.
The Leveson inquiry
Tony Blair war criminal - ProletarianTV (YouTube)
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