The Monbiot Fatwa
Armed with a “bounty fund” of over £9000, George Monbiot has been urging Guardian readers to effect a citizen’s arrest of Tony Blair, ostensibly for committing “an illegal act of mass murder” and “crimes against peace.” (Mercifully, this bounty doesn’t extend to parliament or a sizeable part of the British electorate.) Monbiot’s campaign website includes the former prime minister’s public schedule and a charmingly ambiguous assurance:
The fund will remain open for as long as Mr Blair lives, or until he is officially prosecuted.
The proposal met with much whooping and hooting among Guardian readers, with more than a few enthusiastic endorsements:
I would actually like Blair’s blood on my hands.
Elsewhere, saner voices have noted some procedural concerns.
Blair hasn’t been found guilty of anything by any court, tribunal or other competent forum unless you count the High Court of Islington (Chattering Class Division).
And,
Amusingly, if someone did act in this way as a result of Monbiot’s urgings, Monbiot would also be liable, as he would have procured the wrong and the wrongdoer’s actions would also be attributed to him. I would suggest, as well, that his employer, the Guardian, would be vicariously liable for Monbiot’s wrongdoing.
Readers may recall George’s earlier attempt to arrest former US ambassador John Bolton, which didn’t go terribly well. I perhaps don’t need to add that some of us were hoping to see Mr Bolton decking Monbiot personally, quite firmly, and maybe more than once.
And, as Norman Geras noted dryly at the time,
I’m assuming that a citizen’s arrest requires not only reasonable grounds for thinking that the person to be arrested has committed the offence for which the arrest is being made, but also that it was in fact an offence under law… I would doubt that it is legal to arrest someone for what you merely hope might be judged to be a crime.
However, Monbiot is undeterred and still swollen with righteous umbrage.
You can mock our feeble attempts to hold Tony Blair to account, but only if you propose an alternative.
So engorged is George, he’s happy to beg the question.
Encouraging citizen’s arrests of Tony Blair for the crime of aggression is perhaps the only remaining option we have.
Despite his repeated invoking of “justice” and “reckoning,” Monbiot concedes that an attempted arrest of Mr Blair would be largely symbolic. It’s therefore worth pondering what would be symbolised by any such attempt. One might, for instance, wonder if Monbiot’s urging is mere moral exhibitionism – an ostentatious display of virtue, or supposed virtue, done chiefly or entirely at someone else’s expense. In this case, the expense of his more adamant devotees. And one might wonder why inciting others to break the law and play at vigilante is a matter of conscience and unassailable righteousness, while those who would depose genocidal tyrants whose tools included rape dungeons should be thwarted by law as defined by George Monbiot.
Readers may also be interested in Mr Monbiot’s views on advertising, which he equates with hardcore pornography and is, we’re told, “a pox on the planet… driving us toward destruction.”
“I perhaps don’t need to add that some of us were hoping to see Mr Bolton decking Monbiot personally, quite firmly, and maybe more than once.”
Now THAT I’d pay to see. 🙂
The Monbiot Fatwa?… how very Ludlumesque.
I wonder what Mr. Monbiot would have to say about the way this sort of “justice” was carried out in the US, say, about 100 years ago, with the guilty parties ending up at the end of a rope…
It is interesting to see the left support this sort of “justice”.
The Monbiot Fatuity. That works too.
My favourite part of Monbiot’s website is where he says:
“There remains no comprehensive account of the legal status of this crime around the world, so we are inviting people with knowledge of the law in their own countries to send in their assessments. If you can help, please send a summary of no more than 300 words, and we will post it up here.”
Translation: We don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re going to keep using the word ‘crime’ even though we’ve no idea of its status in law, and we’d like to appeal to people on teh interwebz for legal advice. Do us a favour and keep it short.
“Encouraging citizen’s arrests of Tony Blair for the crime of aggression is perhaps the only remaining option we have.”
Does Monbiot have *any* idea how stupid he sounds?
ojo,
George does have a certain… imperviousness to self-knowledge. Which may explain his eagerness to equate flying with child abuse (while taking numerous flights to promote his own book on just how evil flying is). Likewise his equating of adverts for foreign holidays with images of violence and hardcore pornography…
http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2009/06/avert-your-eyes.html
I notice that Monbiot isn’t proposing to attempt this ‘citizen’s arrest’ himself. The cowardly little shit.
Well, at least it gives him something to write about now that global warming has hit the icebergs.
Forgive me for asking the obvious, but given Mr. Moonbat’s position on advertising, what with it being the source of his income, can’t someone issue a citizen’s arrest on him for some sort of morals corruption charge or “driving the planet toward destruction” perhaps? The whole planet, that’s like 6 billion people. Surely his share would amount to a few dozen or so attempted murders. After all, you already have what constitutes a signed confession. I’ll donate 100 “quid” (whatever that is) to the parallel cause. Of course I’m no expert on American law, let alone British (while it lasts), but neither it appears is Mr. Moonbat. However, as one who does not derive my income from advertising, I feel quite satisfied with myself right now. Ahhh…
“One might, for instance, wonder if Monbiot’s urging is mere moral exhibitionism — an ostentatious display of virtue, or supposed virtue…”
Moral exhibitionism is often not a display of terminal foolishness so much as a way of hiding one’s deeper crimes. Look to the head of the torch-and-pitchfork-carrying mob to find the guiltiest man.
Is not this the original Moonbat, who is terribly guilty of providing aid and comfort to those who actually do commit “illegal acts of mass murder” and “crimes against peace”? How else to divert scrutiny from the blood-thirsty beneficiaries of his sympathy than to accuse Tony Blair et al. of being the “real terrorists”?
Monbiot wants Blair arrested for “a crime against peace” and “an unprovoked war against Iraq” but he’s not bothered about what would be happening if Saddam was still in power… Must be moonbat ethics.
Dicentra,
As with much of the so-called “anti-war” movement, it seems there’s some pathological displacement going on, with disgust being shifted from real murderous sociopaths (whose critics tended to disappear mysteriously) onto safer substitute targets (who can be badmouthed, even threatened, with impunity). In this respect, Monbiot reminds me of John Pilger, who’s much more animated by the diabolical schemes he ascribes to America, with its alleged designs on China and rampant “brainwashing,” than he is by, say, North Korea’s concentration camps and gas chambers…
http://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/2009/01/the-voice-of-conscience-.html
“I notice that Monbiot isn’t proposing to attempt this ‘citizen’s arrest’ himself. The cowardly little shit. ”
Quite.
Say what you like about Peter Tatchell, but he’s got far more courage in his little finger than Moonbat has in his entire body…
These very people were whole-heartedly disinterested in bringing people such as Saddam Hussein to “justice” for filling dozens of mass-graves, some containing as many as 10,000 people per grave.
If only these people could see their hypocracy – calling for the blood of a man in the name of “peace”…sure – right – yeah
“Encouraging citizen’s arrests of Tony Blair for the crime of aggression is perhaps the only remaining option we have.”
By “last remaining option”, I take it to mean that he believes that the State and the Courts have no interest in prosecuting Mr Blair, so where does Moonbat intend to pursue his case, a “People’s Tribunal”?
“there’s some pathological displacement going on”
In other words, tremendous moral cowardice.
Yeah, sounds about right.
What is wrong with a charge of treason, even if resonable moonbats charges a piffling compared with the wholesale destruction he has wrought on England, sadly Blair made sure that treason os no longer a hanging offence, if someone started a fund to prosecute Blair for treason then I would chip in.
I propose we institute Citizen’s Commitment Proceedings for Monbiot and his ilk. Surely if citizens can arrest criminals on their own they should be able to detain obviously deranged individuals pending commitment to the local looney bin.
“Mr. Monbiot, I hereby detain you pending a civil commitment hearing, as you are obviously a danger to yourself and others.”
‘”I notice that Monbiot isn’t proposing to attempt this ‘citizen’s arrest’ himself. The cowardly little shit. ”
Quite.
Say what you like about Peter Tatchell, but he’s got far more courage in his little finger than Moonbat has in his entire body…’
Indeed. Tatchell did two citizen’s arrests on a real mass murdering despot, and the second time round he got a savage beating from Ebagum’s goons.
Monbiot is just a posturing little wanker. I shit him.
As we have seen, laws, institutions, morality, even *gasp* newspapers are mere tools to the left. Means to an end. Their only value is their effectiveness of advancing the “Cause”. They can be used, discarded, and then revived as needed. Hypocrisy is a virtue of the “New Socialist Man”.
I don’t know what you’re all getting at Georgie for, he’s just trying to save the planet from Saddam Hussein so our grandchildren can breathe clean air without having herpes or being tortured by the Coalition. He’s a very nice man and very earnest with dirt under his fingernails because he doesn’t wash very often because he doesn’t want to waste water that could better be used to irrigate North Korea because they have a water shortage.
People, get your priorities right.
So, in 10 years time when the entire global warming conspiracy is finally put to bed, and revealed as the gigantic fraud is, we’ll be able to come after George Monbiot ourselves.
Despite the ludicrous, and thankfully brief, interlude of the flawed Lancet survey, the death toll in Iraq due to the invasion is currently regarded around 65 to 70,000 people. Terrible I know, but to put it in context about two years murders in either Brazil or Venezuela (that socialist paradise).
I wonder how many people are going to have died as a direct result of the CO2 meddling. There are some very conservative estimates put the figures in the high millions.
Poor George. Doesn’t even know he’s a war criminal.
Smithers, release the hounds.
“Despite the ludicrous, and thankfully brief, interlude of the flawed Lancet survey…”
Except that it is still considered “gospel” to many on the Left, in fact, they now claim 1.5 million “murdered” by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Repeat a lie often enough, and it becomes accepted “truth”.
If these lovers of freedom wish to “arrest” people who have committed crimes against humanity, they might consider going to Tehran, North Korea or even Venezuela and try their luck at serving a citizen’s arrest on one or two people there.
Good luck with that, guys.