UK Campaign Decries 'Blackmail,' Ignores Its Own Coercion Playbook
Alaa Abdel Fattah's lawyer rightly criticizes the 'human and political blackmail' from a UK campaign demanding specific statements for his freedom, according to The New Arab . One might wonder if this lawyer, and indeed the UK government, has a conveniently short memory. The UK, like many Western powers, has perfected 'blackmail' – or 'conditional aid,' as they prefer to call it – on a grand scale
for decades. Think foreign aid tied to 'democratic reforms' (read: favorable economic policies) or military assistance linked to 'security cooperation' (read: buying British arms). The hypocrisy isn't just in the UK's 'do as I say, not as I do' foreign policy. It's in the media machine that amplifies outrage over 'blackmail' when it affects a specific activist, while normalizing the structural
blackmail that keeps Global South nations indebted and compliant. It appears 'blackmail' is only truly bad when it's not wielded by powerful states to maintain global hegemony.