Billionaire-backed lobbying threatens basic freedoms in the US and UK
George Monbiot warns that a coalition of oligarchs, corporate think-tanks and sympathetic governments is eroding fundamental rights in America and Britain.
In a recent opinion piece, George Monbiot argues that a network of billionaires, corporate lobbying firms and supportive governments is systematically dismantling basic rights in the United States and the United Kingdom. He cites a summit where officials Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller and Scott Bessent advocated targeting the political left as a security threat, despite relying on decades-old examples. In Britain, Monbiot highlights prosecutions of activist Trudi Warner, lawyer Rajiv Menon KC, and the passage of new anti-protest legislation championed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, all bolstered by lobbying from the American Legislative Exchange Council.
He notes the widening of terrorism definitions to include civil protest and attempts to restrict jury nullification, drawing parallels to historic authoritarian tactics. Monbiot concludes that without organized resistance, these legal changes could permanently silence dissent.
Why it matters
Expanding legal tools to silence protest could permanently weaken democratic freedoms.
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