It couldn’t be any clearer, in light of Trump’s re-election in the US, Israel’s ongoing western backed genocide in Gaza and the UK government’s craven capitulation and complicity with regard to both these things, that supposedly democratic elections in ‘The West’ are really just symbolic exercises in the manufacture of consent for the continuation of long established colonial / imperial norms.
One of the primary concerns of colonialism/imperialism is the need to pacify and subdue the domestic population at all times. This is achieved through various means in the modern age (distraction, confusion and division being key) but consistently, throughout history, all empires have relied on a domestic illusion of freedom and fairness to aid this. The lie of western democracy is a text book example of that.
‘The West’, with the US at the helm, is an empire. The US was literally founded on genocide and slavery. It eventually absorbed what was left of the British empire, then later what was left of the attempted Nazi empire, then set about getting Europe and as much of the rest of the world either on side or unable to mount any kind of viable alternative to US aims. The original founders undoubtedly deluded themselves that their brand of conquest and enslavement was somehow noble and just, and that they were creating something virtuous and progressive. Most ethno-supremacists do.
In reality, they were simply creating a slight variation on the age old theme of top down, authoritarian, hierarchical power (masquerading as freedom and enlightenment) – and called it ‘democracy’. That’s all western imperial ‘democracy’ is and all it has ever been. Plutocracy and oligarchy better describe the political systems that typify empires and their colonies: government of / for powerful vested interests.
The logical starting point (and systemic leverage point) for installing true democracy remains inclusion of a mechanism that allows citizens to formally reject all that’s on offer at elections and withhold their consent, AKA: None of the Above (NOTA) / VETO / Re-Open Nominations (RON).
No such mechanism exists in any modern ‘democracy’. There are token symbolic informal versions (Nevada still has toothless NOTA for certain elections, for example), but nowhere has an actual formal and binding veto option that can affect the result ever been implemented. There’s a reason for that: it would be a game changer. NOTA UK’s definitive white paper explains this in more detail.
But we have bigger problems than that right now. Inevitably, as empires burnout, start to crumble and lose control of the all important imperial narratives, they become more overtly authoritarian and fascist. That’s what is happening in ‘The West’ now. Complete with industrial scale, western empire backed genocide.
This was all inevitable. The architects and current managers of western empire will have anticipated this years ago. The first Trump presidency will likely have been seen as a trial run to see how far they can push overt authoritarianism and still maintain an illusion of democracy. What they will have learned is that the more fragile that illusion seems, the more people cling to it and believe it will save them.
So – who better to usher in the inevitable final dark days of western imperialism than Trump 2.0? While it’s singularly most important proxy Israel slowly unravels under the weight of it’s contradictions, taking out an entire people along the way? It writes itself from there. With plausible deniability and ‘lone wolf’ / ‘rotten apple’ fallacies baked in.
If humanity is to survive the collapse of this unprecedented nuclear armed empire, the western civilian population is going to have to collectively figure out all the ways it’s been lied to for decades, fully unravel the illusions (and delusions) that living in the shielded heart of a brutal empire naturally fosters, and then, somehow, dismantle and take control of the levers of power. Dismantling the lie of western democracy will be key to that and NOTA / VETO would have to be a central part of any emerging system.
Personally, I think that human survival instinct, alongside the exponential democratisation of technology that is occurring, indicates this shift could very well happen in our lifetimes. Whether it happens in time to save us from ourselves remains to be seen.
I’d say it’s about 50/50 currently. It could be worse…
Jamie Stanley
NOTA UK
22/05/2025
NOTA UK will, as always, keep banging the drum for inclusion of NOTA / VETO on ballot papers, as much as our extremely limited resources allow. If you’d like to support our efforts, please consider making a one off or regular donation via our paypal.
SIGN THE PETITION HERE:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/inclusion-of-an-official-none-of-the-above-option-for-all-uk-elections-2
DONATE TO THE CAUSE HERE:
https://tinyurl.com/25cfed94
NOTA UK online:
https://www.notauk.org
https://www.facebook.com/groups/notauk
https://twitter.com/NOTAcampaign
None of the Above UK 