Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Freedom Rider: How to Protest Trump
Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
05 Jun 2019
Freedom Rider: How to Protest Trump
Freedom Rider: How to Protest Trump

If the British really oppose Trump’s policies they should dump their own government, which backs Washington to the hilt – and then they should apologize to the world for Britain’s crimes.

“Floating giant Trump baby balloons is much easier than making an effort to challenge the system which gives him legitimacy.”

Once again, Donald Trump’s presence in the United Kingdom sparks protest, sneers, and theatrical outrage. There are countless reasons to take offense at Trump’s presence anywhere in the world. He has inspired and encouraged violent racists in the United States, given Israel more leeway to persecute the Palestinians than any other president, and his foreign policy team brag about starving Venezuelans and Iranians in the service of attempting futile regime change plots.

Of course Trump can’t stop being Trump and he insults the American member of the royal family by calling her “nasty” and then denied the statement that was caught on tape. His bigotry, ignorance and vulgarity make him an easy target. 

But the Trump baby balloon and images juxtaposing Trump and Obama approval ratingsshould not be the focus of protesters. They have weightier issues to address. Instead they show the hollowness of their politics and put their lack of seriousness on display for the whole world to see.

“Trump’s bigotry, ignorance and vulgarity make him an easy target.”

The British government is nothing but a United States vassal. When George W. Bush chose to invade Iraq, U.K. prime minister Tony Blair sent troops to assist in the aggression. When Syria was bombed in 2018 the two countries worked together to carry out the attack. The U.K. does only what the U.S. tells it to do. That is what the British ought to be angry about.

Both nations are among the most criminal that ever existed and if protesters want to show their bona fides they should not shrink from pointing out this easily provable fact. When London Mayor Sadiq Khanexpressed opposition to Trump’s visit he proclaimed that it was “un-British to roll out the red carpet.”

“The U.K. does only what the U.S. tells it to do. That is what the British ought to be angry about.”

Apparently Khan is unfamiliar with British history. His grand-parents were forced to leave their home after the disastrous British partition of the Indian sub-continent. Britain’s colonization of that region resulted in war and famines that killed millions. The sun never set on the empire that wrought lasting damage to millions of people. From the slave trade to colonization, Britain has committed thousands of atrocities over many years. Celebrating criminality is in fact quite British.

If Khan and others want to pretend that Britain is somehow superior to Mr. Trump they have more worthwhile ways of showing it. Britain has joined the U.S. in sanctioning the elected government of Venezuela. They have recognized an illegitimate head of state and they have even stolen Venezuela’s money. Some $1.2 billion worth of Venezuelan gold sits in the vaults of the Bank of England and Britain refuses to return it. Sanctions and the craven acquiescence of the U.K. and other countries have killed 40,000 Venezuelans in the last two years by depriving them of food and medical care.  

“From the slave trade to colonization, Britain has committed thousands of atrocities over many years.”

Julian Assange sits in a London prison cell after experiencing what a UN Rapporteur described as torture. But the foreign minister publicly attacks the rapporteur and states that he will hand Assange over to a country that is seeking to criminalize journalists anywhere in the world. If the British want to go out into the streets they might consider doing so on Assange’s behalf.

The two nations are partners in crime. Both stay on the path of austerity and endless war. Anyone who challenges the system on either side of the Atlantic ocean is beaten down and slandered. The intelligence agencies of both countries are implicated in spying on Trump and other presidential candidates. Instead of protesting Trump the British need to protest their own MI6 in the fake Russiagate scandal and its role in subverting the 2016 elections. The British media, like their American counterparts, are either government assets or cynical institutions who go along to get along. Because of their collusion with the deep state both the British and American people are lied to and rendered powerless by deliberate misinformation.

“Some $1.2 billion worth of Venezuelan gold sits in the vaults of the Bank of England and Britain refuses to return it.”

Perhaps British protesters can demand to know the whereabouts of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The former double agent and his daughter were allegedly poisoned by the Russian government but they are now kept hidden by the British. If the British want to protest they could ask why they haven’t been seen in public. But those questions are hard and go to the heart of the crisis in the U.S./European axis of evil. Floating giant Trump baby balloons is much easier than making an effort to challenge the system which gives him legitimacy.

If Trump had better social skills he would be like his predecessors, a respected killer. But because he is a boorish, mean spirited, racist man he is targeted for doing nothing worse than any other world leader. It is a sorry state of affairs when trivialities are elevated to such a degree. If the British are concerned about fascism they would demand that their government cease doing whatever Americans tell them to do.As Julian Assange shouted when he was dragged out of the Ecuadorean embassy, “The U.K. must resist.” But it doesn’t. It picks the low hanging fruit for derisionwhile happily continuing centuries of bad behavior.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains a frequently updated blog as well at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com . Ms. Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.       

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at [email protected]

begging bowl

2020 Election

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles. Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Joe Biden is a White Supremacist War Hawk, Too
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Joe Biden is a White Supremacist War Hawk, Too
03 February 2021
No one in the Biden camp has spoken out against the past, present, and future war crimes which will undoubtedly shape the administration.
Biden’s Proposed Cabinet – A Kinder and Gentler Imperialism
Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
Biden’s Proposed Cabinet – A Kinder and Gentler Imperialism
02 December 2020
Biden, et al are planning to take us back to a romanticized Clinton and Obama eras.
Freedom Rider: The Real Trump Coup
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: The Real Trump Coup
18 November 2020
Trump puts whiteness first and that means he will always have support and Republican leaders know it.
Biden-Harris and the Diverse Faces of U.S. Imperialism
Tye Salandy
Biden-Harris and the Diverse Faces of U.S. Imperialism
18 November 2020
From Obama v McCain to Biden v Trump, the good cop/bad cop drama of US imperial politics, continues.
Don’t [Mourn] Celebrate, Organize!
Riva Enteen
Don’t [Mourn] Celebrate, Organize!
18 November 2020
The same “injustice” system that unlawfully locked up the Central Park Five will continue unabated with Biden and his “top cop” sidekick.
Black Voters: “Contrarian” Men and “Communal” Women
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Black Voters: “Contrarian” Men and “Communal” Women
12 November 2020
A significant portion of Black males are “contrarians” that take positions at odds with the general Black political consensus – while Black women t
Freedom Rider: The Real Resistance Begins
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: The Real Resistance Begins
11 November 2020
“Kamala Auntie” and Joe from Scranton will do as little as possible so that “nothing will fundamentally change” that would halt endless wars and th
Joe Biden’s Victory is Still a Loss for Humanity
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Joe Biden’s Victory is Still a Loss for Humanity
11 November 2020
The Biden-Harris administration is good news for corporations, cops, war profiteers and banks too big to fail, but offers nothing to save the peopl
The Elusive Quest for Justice in Black America
Bashir Muhammad Akinyele
The Elusive Quest for Justice in Black America
11 November 2020
We as Black people must keep pushing, organizing, and demanding a Black agenda centered on reparations.
Now that Trump Has Been Defeated...
Popular Resistance
Now that Trump Has Been Defeated...
11 November 2020
We need to continue building power from the bottom up through organizing, political education and community assemblies.

More Stories


  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Ryan Coogler, Shedeur Sanders, Karmelo Anthony, and Rodney Hinton, Jr
    07 May 2025
    Black people who are among the rich and famous garner praise and love, and so do those who are in distress. But concerns for the masses of people and their struggles are often missing.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    LETTER: Thank you, Mr. Howe, Ama Ata Aidoo, 1967
    07 May 2025
    Ama Ata Aidoo lands a knock-out blow to white neocolonial anti-African revisionism.
  • Jon Jeter
    The Only Language the White Settler Speaks: Ohio Police Say Grieving Black Father Avenges Son’s Slaying By Killing One of Theirs
    07 May 2025
    The killing of Timothy Thomas in 2001 ignited Cincinnati’s long-simmering tensions over police violence. This struggle continues today, forcing a painful question: When justice is denied, does…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment
    07 May 2025
    "DOGE— Department Of Grifter Enrichment" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Brittany Friedman’s Book, “Carceral Apartheid”
    07 May 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Brittany Friedman. Friedman is assistant professor of sociology at the University of…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us