This Changes Not Very Much: Reflections on the state reaction to the Paris murders

“To all those who have seen these awful things, I want to say we are going to lead a war which will be pitiless.” said Francois Hollande after the murders in Paris on November 13^th.[1] It sounded dramatic and the impression we were given by sensational headlines and news reports was (to misappropriate Naomi Klein) ‘this changes everything’. Angela Merkel, Queen Elizabeth II, David Cameron, the Dutch foreign minister and the NATO secretary general were all among those who said they were ‘shocked’ by the murders.[2] Yet, if we look at what Cameron said three days later at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet[3] [insert joke about pigs, snouts and troughs], we see something more real to the facts: “The more we learn about what happened in Paris the more it justifies the approach that we are taking in Britain.” We see that the PM does not see UK’s response as a change in direction but a ‘redoubling’ of efforts for an ‘approach’ Britain was already perusing.

The rise of the talk about ‘the irresistable rise’ of UK*P

Much has been said about the irresistable rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UK*P as I shall call them) – indeed, far too much. “How has UK*P managed to become the third force in British politics, causing extreme discomfort for the others?” asks Owen Jones in Le Monde Diplomatique, especially when “research suggests that even 75% of UK*P voters do not include the EU among their top three political issues.”

Jones’s answer, that “UK*P prospered because of the anti-immigration backlash, widespread alienation with the political elite, and the failure of the left to provide a coherent alternative that resonates with the broader population”, does not in my opinion adequately address the issue. Much as all this is true and his article full of excellent research and analysis, there are also darker forces at work.