The war on freedoms continues to expand across the planet, particularly the west.

Y’know, the west that pontificates about its moral standing, and claims the nations they are bombing back to the stone age, “only hate us for our freedoms”.

Trust me, it ain’t that they hate us for, mate.

It’s slightly more likely, that they hate us for all the children we’ve bombed for sport over the last few decades. Just a hunch.

And actually, in the most part, they don’t hate us at all. They hate our governments.

The same page I think you’ll find we’re all firmly bookmarked on.

The UK and EU are jumping on the banning under 16s from social media bandwagon. Of course they are framing it as a measure to protect the youth from harmful content, but to believe that’s the real reason, I would need to believe the UK and EU care about the wellbeing of children, and sorry, I can’t go that far down the rabbit hole.

I’m not a crazy conspiracy theorist.

It is far more likely that the true reason for disconnecting the kids from alternative views and opinions, is just that. To disconnect them from alternative views and opinions.

As Aristotle famously said, “Give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man”.

Well, give me the child through state school programming and mainstream media propaganda until he is sixteen, and I’ll show you a mouldable vessel without an original thought.

A perfect little serf with just enough education to perform.

Good lad.

It’s worth remembering however, that none of this is coming from a position of strength. This isn’t signing the leagues best striker when you have already won the league, this is desperately fumbling around the transfer market for a journeyman goal scorer that might just keep you in the league.

No nation it seems, is more desperate to cling on to narrative control, than the UK.

Sure, the US is refusing visas for students that criticise Israel and spying on their own citizens. France is planning to criminalise speech against Israel, as is the little wall licking action man figurine in Ukraine. But the UK is already there.

Dr Ranjeet Brar has this week, became the latest NHS doctor to be arrested in his own home… for words.

His vocal opposition to the genocidal maniacs in Tel Aviv is now considered illegal in a nation that claims to be one of the historical cornerstones of freedom and self sovereignty.

What is worth noting here, with all these nations, and many many others that are all trekking down the same authoritarian path, is that criticism of their own nations is still permitted, at least for now.

So in France, it is legal to criticise France but not Israel. In the US, calling out the US Government won’t land you in hot water, but criticising Israel will.

I would say the same for the Ukraine, but the Home Bargains action man would probably send his henchmen to bundle you into a money laundered Bentley, to be sent to the front line meat grinder, if you questioned him.

But it’s certainly true for the UK.

If Dr Ranjeet Brar had exercised his freedom of speech to post on social media about Sir Keir Starmer, or David Lammy, or Ed Miliband, or the King of England, the two lemmings in police uniform fancy dress, would not have been knocking at his door.

Does this not strike you as odd?

Whatever your politics may be. Even if you are a avid Zionist, with “Israel has a right to defend itself” tattooed on your forearm, is it not odd that nations across the world prioritise the feelings of a slither of land in the Middle East, over their own nations?

Many will claim that is because Israel is more than just a nation. It is representative of the Jewish people, and so protecting Israel is really about protecting a religious minority from persecution.

But is that claim not clearly linking the actions of the State of Israel to Jews as a collective?

Does that not go against the IHRA’s working definition of antisemitism?

Is it not somewhat bizarre that boycotting Israel is illegal in many US states and the government has even blocked federal disaster relief, unless the would be recipient, swears an oath to Israel, a country thousands of miles away?

That not make you think? Not even a little bit?

Well, maybe this will.

The UK have this week, stepped up their use of the dark arts, in their bid to silence and squash dissent, and to deter direct action and protest.

Again, it’s not to protect themselves. It rarely is. But it does set a very dangerous and sinister precedent.

Six Palestine Action activists are about to stand trial in the UK accused of committing acts of criminal damage against Israeli arms manufacturers in England.

Now whether you support Palestine Action or direct action groups in general, is largely irrelevant when I explain what the UK government are doing here.

The activists are facing charges of criminal damage.

Fine.

The jury will be told they are passing judgement on whether or not these six activists are guilty of criminal damage.

Fine.

But if found guilty, they won’t be facing charges of criminal damage at all, and won’t be given sentences reflecting a guilty verdict on the grounds of criminal damage.

If found guilty, they will be charged as terrorists under UK terror laws, and sentenced as terrorists.

The jury will not be told this, and the mainstream media, because they are in the pocket of the state, are not reporting on this gross manipulation of the law.

The Grayzone broke the story, and MP Zarah Sultana used her parliamentary privilege to bring this up in the House of Commons, this week.

Now whatever your political views here, whether you despise Palestine Action, whether you dislike Zarah Sultana and her politics, or anything else, this is dark, and is yet another step down a path to the dystopian nightmare famously predicted by George Orwell.

The state is actively misleading a jury into believing they are merely passing judgement on whether someone is guilty of a crime with a jail term of around three to six months, when in fact, if they are found guilty, the terrorism jail term could be anything from a few years, to life imprisonment.

And what makes this even darker, is the media are complicit through their silence.

A real journalist would be all over this.

A real political opposition would be grilling the Prime Minister at PMQs about their abhorrent underhanded weaponisation of law fare, and the bastardisation of the justice system.

But instead they are all silent, because they are all ultimately guilty of their role in the destruction of our nation and the freedoms of its citizens.

As a population, we are allowing this to happen every time we look the other way.

I don’t support Palestine Action, so sod em.

I don’t support anti-vaxxers, so sod em.

I don’t support conspiracy theorists, so sod em.

Well, that’s how you guarantee you are sodding yourself in the end.

Because today they may come for people you disagree with, but tomorrow they will come for someone you find reasonable, are supportive of, even.

And the day after that, you best be listening out for the doorbell, because they will be coming for you.

We must speak out and fight for the freedoms and rights of those we vehemently disagree with.

Fighting for our own side isn’t moralistic, it is easy.

The real morality comes when you fight for those who’s views you oppose.

If you believe in freedom of speech and a fair trial, unless it’s someone you disagree with, then you don’t believe in freedom of speech or a fair trial, at all.

You’re an authoritarian at a masquerade party, and a massive part of the problem.