1984

GEORGE ORWELL SAW himself as a man of the Left - as those on the Left  still see him. He was part of the of the International Brigade that fought in the Spanish civil war against Franco’s fascists. In his book Homage to Catalonia however, he targeted and chastised his own side with as much rage as he felt for the fascists. The Left as always, were split into ideological groups; anarchist, socialists, and communists…the latter being sub divided into Stalinist and Trotskyite. The Stalinists took their orders from Moscow and loathed the Trotskyites as much, or even more so than the fascists; and under orders from Stalin would not hesitate to kill what they would have regarded as counter revolutionaries.

                Orwell fought with the POUM; the Trotskyite faction against Franco. One would have thought that the dystopian vision of 1984 would have been a vision of fascist domination. But Orwell perceived that the greatest threat would come from the Left. He understood how the Left thought and behaved; he not only had practical experience of its behaviour in Spain, but also the  Big Brother template that was the Soviet Union.

                Such a world vision, he believed, would come from the Left side of the political spectrum. Orwell was an English patriot who understood his country and its people better than anyone at the time. When war broke out he worked tirelessly on behalf of his country to defeat Hitler. His work for the BBC during the war (having been wounded in Spain) was patriotic propaganda; which many journalist’s today would be repulsed by. He believed in his country, if not its colonialism.

                Today Orwell would sit comfortably on the Right. He would see the idea of a European super state evolving over time, into the very entity described in 1984.

YET THIS IS WHAT IS ABOUT TO happen in Europe, and our (that is British) politicians are being panicked into seeing it come to fruition.

                Over the past few weeks we have seen two democratically elected leaders of two of Europe’s nations overthrown and replaced by what are being referred to as technocrats. On top of which both Italy and Greece have been told they must form a national government. Were these leaders replaced by the people democratically? Was it the people of these nations who demanded such a national government?

                No, they were the victims of a coup. The coup was led by Germany and France, because they objected to George Papandreou, for allowing his people a referendum on whether to make the sacrifices in order to remain part of a single currency, or to vote to leave.

                If this was not a forewarning of what was to come, then it has gone unnoticed by the journalistic benefactors of Orwell’s legacy. I find it outrageous that two European nations can be dictated to and ordered to comply by two other European nations. This could only have happened in the past if Italy and Greece were defeated in war and occupied. For this is what Germany and France’s demands amount to…an occupation.

                We are on the brink of an Orwellian nightmare. Politicians, unelected by anyone, are in control of the European machinery of government, that effectively governs us all. They are called commissioners and their power goes unchallenged by national governments. The very people whom the people elect are impotent to act.  Through treaty after treaty, they have consigned, bit by bit, our national sovereignty to the dustbin of history.

               

NOW IT IS ALL OUT in the open. The sovereign debt crises has forced, not as it should have done, the closure of the nightmare that is a Federal Europe, but encouraged its most enthusiastic proponents to demand its speeding up.

                There is now talk of our prime minister abandoning yet another promise to the electorate; that of renegotiating our relationship with Europe. Remember, this was meant to replace the call for a referendum. It was meant to appease the Eurosceptic British people and they took him at his word.

                Now the unfolding events suggest that Cameron will finesse, once more, a reason suitably desperate enough and dire in its rhetoric to hopefully frighten even the Eurosceptic British into the Orwellian nightmare.

WHAT IS FAST becoming the survival of our nation state is taking place. Its survival at one time would have been determined by Napoleon and Hitler. It never entered anyone’s mind that a few unelected European bureaucrats could orchestrate the defeat of our nation state with the blessing of our leaders… via the implementation of treaties that the British public were never given the chance to vote on.

                Remember the Lisbon Treaty which we were told by our politicians was a mere technical adjustment and needed no referendum to implement; remember the Maastricht Treaty, also dismissed on such grounds. For how much longer are we going to trust our politicians when the ‘ideal’ of Europeanization seeks to cantonise every nation within Europe led ultimately by a reinvigorated Germany?

                Hundreds of thousands of our people were killed during the last war in order to defend the nation-state. It was this sense of nationhood  that our fathers and grandfathers were prepared to die for - not to see their nation dissipated into a Federal Europe by arrogant, disingenuous, and at times mendacious politicians.

                Europe is on the brink of something cataclysmic. The troubled single currency should be done away with; instead, the unfolding tragedy has actually whetted the Eurocrats appetite for immediate monetary union. Of those 17 members of the euro, some will have to be sacrificed, and we have no need to ask who will be booted out. Among the remaining, monetary and political union will forge ahead, leaving those 10 countries who never joined to become part of  a two speed Europe.

                Although the euro will survive, it will do so because of Germany’s economic power; and with such power comes control and authority. It was seen at the time of this great European union’s birth, that Germany would be brought into the European family after two attempts at trying to rule the continent and become an equal partner in the European family.

                Now Germany once more stands on the brink of dominating Europe. She will be the piper that calls the tune in this new slimmer monetary union. No wonder a French politician has described Angela Merkle as another Bismarck.

EVER SINCE ITS creation, the European union has had, to paraphrase Ann Widdecombe, ‘something of the night about it’. It has sought its legitimacy, not through democratic procedures, but through a bureaucratic commissariat of commissioners who dispense their demands throughout the continent; and legitimately elected national governments are forced to heed their directives. They have power over national sovereignty because our politicians have salami-sliced it away through signing those nefarious treaties that the people have never had any say in agreeing to.

                We are fast approaching a time when we can legitimately ask the question; what are our elected politicians for? Having deferred so many of their powers to Brussels, their primary task as law makers is being made ever more sterile by their need to take cognisance of Europe when writing our laws – especially when it comes criminal and human rights law.

                If European federalism is not an Orwellian construct, then the Pope is not a Catholic. It is incredible that we have, though a misplaced idealism, allowed this to get so far without even being aware of its dangers.

                But of course there were people who were regarded as party-poopers who did indeed warn; first of all about the direction that European Union would take us in, as well as flag up the dangers of a single currency being created among so many divergent economies.

                At the time such people were considered as swivel-eyed fanatics. These ‘Eurosceptics’ belonged to what was regarded as the xenophobic Right. They, once Thatcher was gotten rid of, were an irritant to the Tory leaders that followed her, but never managed to stop the contagion. The Tory Left, which got rid of Thatcher, thought at the time that they had not only driven a steak through the ‘vampires’ heart but, as Europhiles, had saved the country from isolation.

                Then came the  Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM)crises, that the chancellor Norman Lamont allowed his prime minister to talk him into joining in the first place. We were humiliated on a day when Germany preferred to stand by the French and allow us to sink or swim. We should have learned from this experience but in the Tory Party the Europhile torch never dimmed. As a Labour Party supporter at the time, the sight of Norman Lamont’s humiliation in front of the media as he announced our withdrawal from the ERM, after interest rates had surged to 15 per cent during the course of the day, brought me untold joy.

               

GEORGE ORWELL knew what the Left were capable of. Today in Europe (including the UK), there are no parties that could describe themselves as Conservative. In Europe both socialists and Christian Democrats, are social democrats. For if there were a truly Conservative Party in Europe today, it would oppose political and monetary union.

                In other words, the Left dominates the European union and are determined to solidify the whole continent through political and monetary union, and are doing so by waving away any attempt at allowing the people to vote by referendum on the course of their wisdom.

                The modern European politician (including the UK’s) reminds one of the Divine Right of Kings in the way they so easily dismiss the electorate. To our modern generation of UK politicians, when it comes to Europe its people are a nuisance.