By Carlos Esteban*
Everything we have lived through these last three years about the pandemic has been a huge psychological operation, an experiment in totalitarian globalism.
At least, that is one of the few hypotheses that could clarify what our governments, almost unanimously, have imposed on us in this terrible period for our freedoms, prosperity, and own health.
The latest scandal in this regard comes from Great Britain, where the civil liberties association Big Brother Watch UK has gathered evidence about the surveillance to which society was subjected and the measures to manipulate public perception of the problem.
Reports have just emerged that the UK government was monitoring the activities of journalists and political opponents to stifle dissent and silence criticism of the Government’s response to the crisis, in the best style of Stalin’s Soviet Union, only with an allegedly “conservative” government.
The recent investigation by Big Brother Watch UK reveals that the Government has been monitoring journalists and politicians critical of its measures since the beginning of the pandemic.
The Executive even requested access to the email accounts of at least two journalists and was monitoring the phones of political opponents.
The Daily Mail reports that a “shadow” military unit compiled files on public figures such as former minister David Davis, who questioned the model on which the alarming death toll predictions were based, and leading journalists such as Peter Hitchens.
Opposition leader Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, was also among the targets, along with Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, for critical comments about the staggered regulations and regional closures, reports Reclaim the Net.
The media outlet also shared screenshots of the dossier with apparently watchdog-worthy comments and actions.
Pages 40 and 41 show or describe Peter Hitchens and Daily Mail journalist Ross Clark as targets for criticizing the closures.
Pages 43 to 45 show or describe Keir Starmer, Andy Burnham, and Chris Green MP as targets for criticizing staggered regulations and local closures.
The secretive 77 Brigade “overstepped its role in overseeing actions by foreign powers,” the Mail reports, having spoken to a whistleblower within the unit.
“I got the impression that the Government was more interested in protecting the success of its policies than in uncovering any possible foreign interference, and I regret that I was part of that. Frankly, the work I was doing should never have happened,” the source told the media outlet.
The revelations raise serious concerns about how far the UK government was and is willing to go to influence public opinion. As described in the report, the number of government officials involved was extensive.
“This is an alarming case of mission creep, where public money and even military power have been misused to monitor academics, journalists, activists, and members of Parliament who criticized the government, particularly during the pandemic,” said Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo.
*Carlos Esteban, 58 years old, fifteen years at the leading economic newspaper Expansión, then part of the Recoletos Group, the last three years as head of Interactive Services on the newspaper’s website. Then in Intereconomía, where I founded the Catholic weekly Alba, I wrote ‘opinion’ in Época, where I also covered the International section, for which I was responsible when La Gaceta was born (as a generalist newspaper). I have been working freelance, collaborating with different media for some years.
With information from LGI