Wonder Women

What a week.  It started well.  Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old climate activist gave both barrels to world leaders at the UN Climate Action Summit.  In an impassioned speech, she called upon those same leaders to do more to address the issues facing our climate and the self-inflicted damage that we are doing to our environment.

Notably in her speech, she highlighted that they “have stolen my dreams and my childhood with [their] empty words.”  She’s right, she should be enjoying a childhood instead of having to implore politicians and businesses to do better, reminding them (and us all) that “we are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.”

How dare you indeed.  President Trump attempted to patronise Thunberg by tweeting “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”  His infantile attempt to ridicule her was trumped by Thunberg’s response.  She updated her twitter profile to read “A very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future.”  Let’s hope she’s right, although I suspect that her childhood is lost to her as she becomes a heroine for our age, as has been evidenced by her profile reverting to the customary reminder of what she’s all about.[1]

On Tuesday, the UK learnt the news that its Government had acted unlawfully in proroguing Parliament.  The ruling was read by Lady Hale, President of the Supreme Court.  A nasty headline over a piece in the Mail Online read, “Ex-barmaid with a spider brooch who spun legal web that snared PM: ANDREW PIERCE on Supreme Court president Lady Hale”.  The headline is contemptible.  I just hope that most of the Mail’s readers will digest the full article, where we learn that Lady Hale read law at Girton College, Cambridge, where she graduated with a starred first; she taught law at Manchester University, and achieved the top results of her year when sitting the Bar exams.  She is a formidable proponent of equality and diversity and when she became a Law Lord, she opted for the motto on her coat of arms of ‘Omnia Feminae Aequissimae’ – ‘Women are equal to everything’.  But that headline … I hope Andrew Pierce has enough morality to be embarrassed and ashamed of it.

Lady Hale’s ruling follows the actions brought by equally inspiring women, Gina Miller and Joanna Cherry QC MP, in defence of this country’s parliamentary democracy.  They’re not only inspiring, but brave.  Gina Miller suffers much hatred on social media, an example of which was from Rhodri Philipps, the fourth Viscount St Davids, who wrote on Facebook that he would put up “£5,000 for the first person to ‘accidentally’ run over this bloody troublesome first-generation immigrant”.  The courts sentenced him to 12 weeks in jail for his abuse of Miller and ordered him to pay her £500 in compensation, unlikely to be enough to pay the weekly cost of the security that she probably needs for her protection.

In May, Joanna Cherry had police protection following abusive messages and death threats on social media.  The reason for this onslaught?  She had the temerity to quiz Twitter and Facebook bosses at Westminster over social media abuse of females.  Being acutely aware of what she was likely to face, she still had the courage to bring her action against the Government.  That takes balls, of which we should be reminded, she has none.

Later that day, news broke in the US that the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, was launching an impeachment investigation into President’s Trump’s conversation with Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, where it is alleged that Trump pressured the Ukrainian to come up with dirt on the business activities in his country of Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President, Joe Biden.  Beforehand, Trump had suspended $400m in US military aid, purportedly presenting Zelensky with a choice: cough up on Biden or lose the aid.

Pelosi has been a tolerant voice in the calls from Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump.  Despite being repeatedly abused and harassed online by the President, she has resisted these calls.  Her action on this occasion is measured and considered.  It is also a reflection of her professionalism and dignity that she hasn’t been driven to act sooner out of spite for the man.

These talented and courageous women filled me with hope.  I went to bed on Tuesday night feeling that democracy and the rule of law was beginning to assert itself and that much of what is wrong with the world was being put right.  I should have known better; the shift isn’t remotely seismic.  Depressingly, it’s barely a tremor.

By Wednesday, the patriarchy had reasserted itself.  Having returned to Parliament, we witnessed the Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox; the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove; and finally, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, collectively pour scorn on the Supreme Court’s judgement, fail to show remorse for misleading Queen and country through the unlawful proroguing of parliament, and inciting further abuse through the use of pejorative language and insults in the House of Commons.

Politicians including Alison McGovern, Paula Sherriff, Anna McMorrin, Caroline Lucas, Karen Buck, Tracy Brabin, Rosie Duffield, Anna Soubry and Janet Daby sought to have the Prime Minister moderate his language so as not to incite more hatred and abuse, with Rosie Duffield reminding him that her colleague, Jo Cox, was violently killed while campaigning with her young family to remain in the EU.  The Prime Minister dismissed all their remarks, referring to Paula Sherriff’s observations as “humbug” and he disgracefully annexed Jo Cox’s memory by suggesting that the best way to honour her would be to get Brexit done.  His responses were incendiary, insensitive and deeply offensive.

Across the pond, meanwhile, Donald Trump resorted to his usual Twitter-fest to spread further hatred and dis-information against the Democrats, the Fake News and others that he despises, and after just 48 short hours, the flicker of hope I felt was replaced with the restoration of the toxic status quo.

There remains some cause for hope.  These powerful women, who are taking a stand against injustice and holding others accountable for their misdeeds, represent another step in the long overdue move towards gender balancing.  Regrettably, it is likely to take decades before the imbalance is addressed, but more will follow and with them, one can yearn for a day when their influence, and the efforts of decent and reasoned men, come together to diminish the toxicity in both our politics and our climate.  Until then, let’s hope the extremists that are exercising control over both today don’t irrevocably destroy what we’ve got.

Twitter: @GOMinTraining
Copyright © Craig Brown, 2019
27 September 2019

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[1] @GretaThunberg – 16 year old climate and environmental activist with Asperger’s  Join the global climate strikes on September 27th! #fridaysforfuture