There's No Solidarity In 'Sovereign Citizen' Protests -- Only Incoherent Rage

[appalachiablue]

- The Guardian, by George Monbiot, Feb. 17, 2022. Ed. - Protests such as the Ottawa truck blockade are sweeping rich nations. But the movements are based on capitalist delusions. -

When a group in black fatigues called Alpha Men Assemble began practising paramilitary manoeuvres in a park in Staffordshire at the beginning of this year, it looked pretty threatening. These men, we were warned, were about to launch an insurrection against vaccines and in favour of “the sovereign citizen”. Since then, silence. It wouldn’t be surprising if the group had dispersed: a society of self-proclaimed alphas is bound to fall apart. This was just one example of the incoherent protests now sweeping rich, English-speaking nations. Others include the truck blockade in Ottawa & its duplicates in Australia, New Zealand & the US, and the angry men outside the British parliament, waiting to pounce on passing politicians.

By incoherent protest, I mean gatherings whose aims are simultaneously petty and grandiose. Their immediate objectives are small and often risible, attacking such minor inconveniences as face masks. The underlying aims are open-ended, massive and impossible to fulfil. Not just politically impossible, but mathematically impossible. Listening to these men (and most of them are men), it seems that every one of them wants to be king. The “sovereign citizen” theory is a powerful current running through these movements. Its adherents insist that they stand above the law. Some of them refuse to buy vehicle licences, or pay taxes or fines. They believe they are exempt from public health measures, such as lockdowns and vaccine passes.

They arrogate to themselves sovereign powers that not even the monarch enjoys. They produce elaborate pseudo-legal documents to justify these claims. The “memorandum of understanding” published by two of the leading organisers of the Ottawa blockade, which makes impossible legal demands of the government, looks like a classic of the genre. It was supposedly signed by 320,000 people before the organisers withdrew it. What explains the appeal of this movement? Such claims of individual sovereignty arose in the 1970s with an antisemitic, racist agitation called Posse Comitatus. They appear to surge in hard times. Some people believe they can annul their debts or tax arrears by renouncing their citizenship. But I suspect it’s about more than money. The promise of capitalism is that one day we will all be alphas- just not yet.

It is a formula for frustration & humiliation. The less equal the economic system becomes, the wider the gap between the promise & its fulfilment yawns. Humiliation, as Pankaj Mishra argued in his excellent book Age of Anger, is the motor of extremism. Noisy assertions of sovereignty look like an obvious attempt to overcome humiliation. There was a time, in the rich nations, when it seemed as if we could all triumph. From WW2 until the late 1970s, general prosperity rose steadily. The top 1% captured a decreasing proportion of total income. But then, in the US, the UK, Canada, Ireland & Australia, the curve suddenly turned, & the 1% began to grab an ever greater share. The trend has continued to this day, sustained by the neoliberal doctrines that were first imposed in the rich world by Margaret Thatcher & Ronald Reagan...

- More, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/16/solidarity-sovereign-citizen-protests-ottawa-truck-blockade

[calimary]

1. "Sovereign citizens" - I've long been unimpressed by such declarations.

At best it’s a bad joke. At worst, they may be armed…

[appalachiablue]

2. 'Selfish freedoms' that fuel neoliberalism as Monbiot notes:

(Photo caption) 'In pursuing these selfish freedoms, the organisers reinforce the neoliberal policies – such as the crushing of organised labour – that helped cause impoverishment.’

[Claire Oh Nette]

3. The MVP never tells anyone

Everyone knows who the MVPs are by their actions.

Seems They have to tell us they're alpha, so...