Britain should use oil to discipline King Abdullah.
This last week it was not the familiar surroundings of British corporate capitalism and consumer culture I woke up to, but rather the oppressive totalitarian government of Oceania. Previously I had thought repressive media control to be the sole reserve of dystopian fictional texts and the nations from which they derive thematic reference; Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, for example.
It was as though the Ministry of Truth had collaborated with the Thought Police to turn even hard-line Conservatives into left-wing monkeys. With the announcement that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was due to visit Great Britain, a rare and unusual occurrence in political history occurred: all parties, newspapers and constituents united in a single voice denouncing the visit. It was a poignant moment that reminded me how despite a fall in voter turnout at general elections and a perceived increase in apathy toward matters of statecraft, there are some issues in this world that transcend political indifference.
Thankfully, I feel this collective articulation of disapproval to be less the work of a manipulative tyrannical state than the employment of rational thought by civil society. Whilst this is all well and good and certainly worthy of recognition, I can’t help but feel that some were exhibiting a knee-jerk reaction and protesting in the wrong manner about the wrong issue.
Many people lined the streets of London at his arrival, chanting and waving banners denouncing his visit. However, any protest this week should not have centred on there being a visit from the King of a corrupt nation with a poor human rights record. Instead protesters should have focussed exclusively on what the visit was to be used for.
A blanket ban solves nothing and is not the answer to resolving Middle Eastern crises. To this end I would go so far as to suggest we open our doors to every politician and dictator with a dubious or questionable history.
I for one am certainly not angry that King Abdullah has visited, but I am disappointed that the visit did not go further. Whilst the agenda is said to have covered important matters including energy security and terrorism, there was a notable lack of discussion around the issues of human rights and good governance.
On these latter subjects I feel our government should be bold and forthright in using their ‘special and close relationship’ as leverage rather than a means of avoiding the instigation of political and economic unrest. This relationship, if we sift through the rhetoric, amounts to a £4.4 billion arms contract and our powerless oil addiction, attributable to an increasing fossil fuel dependency.
As energy insecurity escalates with each passing decade, and our foreign policies become gradually more blinkered to human rights contraventions in the Middle East as a result, the government is overlooking an excellent opportunity to kill many a bird with a single proverbial stone.
Britain is reluctant to publicly censure Saudi Arabia’s actions on account of our reliance upon them for oil. With this in mind the Labour government should push forward with much vigour a long-term renewable energy plan that restores Britain’s place once again as an energy exporter, or at the very least as an energy independent nation. With this plan underway, the British government would be at liberty to use existing military contracts as leverage; with our oil purchases from Saudi Arabia in decline, the Saudi government will be increasingly disposed toward conceding to our demands for adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Unfortunately the situation is never going to be that simple and it may seem odd to turn a human rights issue into one of pure monetary self interest. However, an understanding of politics and the working of civil society shows how constituents and politicians alike are persuaded most by how much money they have in their pockets.
Our government in the next few years will inevitably come under pressure from people both at home and abroad as fuel prices rise inexorably above $100/barrel on a permanent basis. It makes sense for us to act on this impending issue now so that we may improve our energy security and self-sufficiency before crisis point, whilst providing ourselves the scope and freedom to reprimand Saudi Arabia for its actions.
We need without hesitation to move from a predilection of short-term governance toward a clear long-term direction; from politics of ideology to a politics of practicality.
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