Celebrations marking
the British Queen’s 60th year on the throne have officially begun in Britain
while republican activists say this show cannot hide Britain’s “highly
questionable constitutional arrangement.”
Anti-monarchy activists in Britain say the royal festivities are “a neat way of distracting” the public from the bitter reality that this is the Queen who has the supreme authority in Britain and her vast powers can never be challenged “in a court of law.”
This is the British monarch who calls the shots in Britain as the country’s unwritten constitution gives her the power to appoint ministers, sign treaties, change the law, and even declare wars. And she does exercise those powers on the instruction of her Prime Minister as the two meet on a weekly basis, with the meetings remaining strictly confidential.
This comes as the Republican movement in Britain which rejects inherited power and privilege and seeks democratic reforms not only gets almost no media coverage but also is somehow banned under the Treason Felony Act.
The act which was passed by the British parliament in 1848 and is still in force says punishment for advocacy of republicanism could be life imprisonment.
Even former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi referred to the vast powers of the British Queen in order to justify his own crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Libya last year.
“Why did no one question (the UK's) Queen Elizabeth for invading Iraq?” Gaddafi asked at a time reports said he had killed hundreds of protesters in Libya.
However, Gaddafi faced a very different fate. He was not clever enough to portray himself as a symbolic figure and exercise powers by holding confidential meetings with a prime minister, changing the law through a Privy Council, and at the same time remaining immune from any challenge at a court of law.
Anti-monarchy activists in Britain say the royal festivities are “a neat way of distracting” the public from the bitter reality that this is the Queen who has the supreme authority in Britain and her vast powers can never be challenged “in a court of law.”
This is the British monarch who calls the shots in Britain as the country’s unwritten constitution gives her the power to appoint ministers, sign treaties, change the law, and even declare wars. And she does exercise those powers on the instruction of her Prime Minister as the two meet on a weekly basis, with the meetings remaining strictly confidential.
This comes as the Republican movement in Britain which rejects inherited power and privilege and seeks democratic reforms not only gets almost no media coverage but also is somehow banned under the Treason Felony Act.
The act which was passed by the British parliament in 1848 and is still in force says punishment for advocacy of republicanism could be life imprisonment.
Even former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi referred to the vast powers of the British Queen in order to justify his own crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Libya last year.
“Why did no one question (the UK's) Queen Elizabeth for invading Iraq?” Gaddafi asked at a time reports said he had killed hundreds of protesters in Libya.
However, Gaddafi faced a very different fate. He was not clever enough to portray himself as a symbolic figure and exercise powers by holding confidential meetings with a prime minister, changing the law through a Privy Council, and at the same time remaining immune from any challenge at a court of law.
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