During a virtual speech at a far-right rally in London, Tesla CEO Elon Musk demanded a London dissolution of “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government”. It was the rally organised by the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, that saw violent confrontations with the police as well.
Musk used a video connection to talk to the demonstrators and denounced the so-called “woke mind virus” and proclaimed to the crowd that “violence is coming”. He also said, “You either fight back or you die”. “I really think that there’s got to be a change of government in Britain. You can’t – we don’t have another four years, or whenever the next election is, it’s too long.”
He mentioned, “Something’s got to be done. There’s got to be a dissolution of parliament and a new vote held.” He addresses demonstrators, adding that it is relevant to mention that this is not the first occasion when the billionaire has been engaged in British politics.
At the beginning of the year, he engaged in a war of words with the British government over grooming gangs, as well as condemning the 2023 Online Safety Act, which he described as a menace to free speech.
Musk is also described as having a close association with British far-right figure Nigel Farage. It has also been reported that the billionaire might use a donation to the party of Farage, Reform UK. Yet, this did not happen as the Tesla CEO requested the Reform UK leader to be replaced in the argument over his support for Robinson.
About the Event
During the rally on Saturday, Musk asked the “reasonable centre” of the country to retaliate. He also adds in his virtual meeting that, “My appeal is to British common sense, which is to look carefully around you and say: ‘If this continues, what world will you be living in?’ This is a message to the reasonable centre, the people who ordinarily wouldn’t get involved in politics, who just want to live their lives. They don’t want that; they’re quiet, they just go about their business.”
“My message is to them: if this continues, that violence is going to come to you, you will have no choice. You’re in a fundamental situation here. Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you. You either fight back or you die, that’s the truth, I think,” Musk states.
In his virtual address, he proceeded to inform audiences that “the left is the party of murder”, referring to the death of American rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. “There’s so much violence on the left, with our friend Charlie Kirk getting murdered in cold blood this week, and people on the left celebrating it openly. The left is the party of murder and celebrating murder. I mean, let that sink in for a minute, that’s who we’re dealing with here.”
The billionaire proceeded to criticize what he termed “woke mind virus” and demanded that promotions be made on merit, but no “discrimination based on sex, or religion, or any race or anything else”.
He states, “A lot of the woke stuff is actually super-racist, it’s super-sexist, and often it’s anti-religion, but only anti-Christian, like why anti-Christian? That’s unfair … that should be all that matters, the woke mind virus, that I call it, is against all that.”
An estimated 110,000 individuals are said to have participated in the far-right street demonstration in what is believed to be one of the biggest nationalistic events in several decades. The Guardian reports that the marches were also confronted by some 5000 anti-racism counter-protesters. Other speakers to the protesters included a French far-right politician, Éric Zemmour, and the American businessman Musk.
