Resist attack on Human Rights Act!
human rights defender | 15.05.2006 22:40
This article calls for a defence of the Human Rights Act which is under attack from Labour and Tory politicians and Sun journalists. It also links to stories on human rights abuses in Britain.
IN DEFENCE OF HUMAN RIGHTS
The argument now being mounted against the Human Rights Act – promoted by right-wing papers such as The Sun, supported by the Tories, embraced by some Blairites and given an unconditionally supportive treatment even by the “neutral” BBC – portends the latest attack on human rights by the British state. The Human Rights Act has been one of the few safeguards through which the totalitarian tendencies of New Labour and the “war on terror” have been slowed down a little by sections of the judiciary. Granted, it is misguided to expect the state to protect human rights, when it is the largest and most pervasive human rights violator. But still, the rhetoric of human rights has something of a function in warding off the worst state excesses. This new attack – ostensibly under the flag of “victims’ rights” – is therefore an extremely dangerous move.
The “victims’ rights” argument is based on a fundamental misunderstanding. The basic claim is that deviants are given “more rights” than victims. This is patently false – if the state is denied (for instance) the right to arbitrarily detain suspected criminals, it is also denied the right to arbitrarily detain suspected victims. Also, the Human Rights Act does not imply a right to commit (say) rape or murder; in this sense people have a right under this act not to be victims of these things. That human rights violations occur, does not prove that human rights don’t exist or aren’t protected. The point is that the existence of a few cases of human rights violations by individuals is no reason to justify wide-ranging violation of human rights by the state. Further, it is no reason for abrogating – as the advocates of “victims’ rights” often do – the very idea of human rights itself.
The main problem is the view that the failure to punish, or to take extrajudicial repressive action, is taken to be somehow “allowing” an action which is not prevented. Hence the state is blamed for somehow “failing to prevent” crimes because it doesn’t commit sufficiently severe human rights violations. This is absurdly distorted. The view seems to be that human rights are not respected if a preventive measure could be taken which is not taken. Obviously there are measures (such as locking up all men) which could reduce certain categories of deviance (such as rape). Obviously it is always possible to come up with worse, even more horrific punishments for supposed deterrent reasons, such as hanging, drawing and quartering, or prolonged torture. In neither case does is this compatible with human rights; in both cases such measures would seem to be logically required by the “victims’ rights” objection.
In any case is it a distortion to say that respecting some basic rights of alleged deviants gives them “more rights” than victims. They are not given any rights which victims do not also have. If their actions violate human rights, they are not given a “right” to engage in these actions.
Similarly, the alternative is not “more rights for victims” but no rights for anyone. The kinds of cases statists use – the idea for instance that people who flee tyranny in Afghanistan have no right to claim asylum if they hijack an aeroplane to get here, or that people released from sentences for serious offences have no right to protection from arbitrary sentencing increases or arbitrary interference in their post-release life – basically are ways of taking away general rights from everybody. That the “victims” have no use at present for the right to flee persecution or the right to protection from arbitrary sentencing, simply shows that they already are socially privileged over the alleged deviants.
Another problem is that the victim-cultists tend to promote an exaggerated set of rights for the socially excluded – people’s “rights” are seen as “violated” if they are subject to petty harassment, if they walk down the road and see graffiti or litter… To posit concern about petty deviance as “rights” of “victims” is to lose all sense of proportion about human rights. In contrast, there is a tendency to act as if a single act of deviance – or even the suspicion of deviance – is enough for someone to be stripped of rights entirely – a position which goes against the very idea of human rights. So the argument turns out to be nothing more than a denial of human rights as such, a celebration of universal rightslessness as a condition for domination by a social in-group.
Basically, the alleged criticisms are based on a dangerous and draconian distortion – the idea that the privileged social in-group has an unconditional right to preferential treatment in lawmaking, that all laws should be rigged exclusively for the benefit of the in-group – in other words, a denial of rights as such. Often this is attached to an equally dangerous support for arbitrary state power and a creeping control-freakery which is as much a threat to the “victims” as to everyone else.
Furthermore, it is obvious that the “stick being bent too far” in modern Britain, is in fact bent against human rights – for example, against the rights of protesters, against people subjected to expanded surveillance, against people jailed for defending themselves against police, against the victims of police shootings, against refugees deported to torture and death, against people wrongly caught up in “anti-terror” purges…
As for the arguments about “security”, these hold up even less. “Security” is doublespeak for state control in the dominant discourse today. Human rights are a barrier to unconditional state control, so of course they seem a threat to the powerful, to be undermining “security”. This makes it all the more important to defend them. Defence of human rights is at the centre of human security, such as security from arbitrary state violence. The idea that “security” has any value independently of human rights is nothing better than state-worship.
What about the claims that the Human Rights Act is producing a “compensation culture” or a set of spurious legal claims? Often these arguments are made with examples which are far from spurious. And the basic argument, is an argument against law as such – when the people who make the argument are in fact arguing for more and tougher laws! The same people who whine about the Human Rights Act leading to legal cases and compensation, do not complain about all the legal technicalities which are used against protesters and victimised minorities. They don’t complain for instance about the use of legal technicalities to smash protests, or about the slippage in interpretations of harassment laws so these are used to criminalise activists. They don’t object when technicalities and Kafkaesque legalities are used to attack people – they only complain when legal cases defend rights instead of taking them away. This proves their claims are selective and spurious.
The cases really deserving of our concern, are not a few tragic instances of serious crimes, but cases such as Babar Ahmad, exposed to a possible stitch-up in America because of a compliant British government, Christopher Alder and Harry Stanley, whose murders have been excused by the courts, the refugees on hunger strike in several “detention centres”, the victims of stop-and-search at Fairford during the Iraq war protests, the protesters arrested because of ASBO “dispersal zones”, the young man with learning difficulties served with a curfew under an ASBO despite having no sense of time, the man arrested at an airport because of his choice of music, the computer expert jailed as a potential terrorist because using a computer at a train station was deemed “suspicious”… These are the real victims of human rights abuses by the state. So the only problem with the Human Rights Act is that it does not go far enough in protecting human rights.
That the crackdown freaks manage to portray the current climate of state authoritarianism as somehow granting too many human rights is proof of the irrationality of their mindset, the fact that they will never be satisfied with anything short of total fascism. In any modern industrial society, there are so-called “crimes”; social deviance is not the real problem in Britain today, simply a distraction concocted by the mass media. Rather, Britain now faces the same issues that face the reform movement in Egypt, the Philippines and Azerbaijan, the struggle against a state despotism which is out-of-control. The more the control freaks “bend the stick” towards “the victim”, the more they take away elementary protections and make us all potential victims of arbitrary state power.
We must also learn from the reform movements elsewhere, that the struggle against state despotism cannot be carried out solely in the law courts, but must above all be a struggle in the streets. Only the threat of insurrection holds the state to its promises of human rights, and only a mass dissident movement able to out-balance the raving bigots can change the political climate for the better.
Tyranny in the UK: A litany of human rights violations, 2005-6
Oppose Blair’s “ordinary fascism”!
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=14070&s2=25
Civil liberties in Britain destroyed – Monbiot
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0,9321,1584143,00.html
ATTACKS ON PROTESTERS
Protest hauliers warned that they may lose licences
Times Online - UK
By Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor. POLICE chiefs have told hauliers who protest at British refineries this week to expect a tough response.
(licenses are meant to be about safe driving, yet here we have police abusing them to attack protesters)
Pre-emptive arrests of moderate anti-ID activists at northeast UK-based EU summit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4225858.stm
http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/idcards/0,3800010140,39152175,00.htm
Man arrested for leafleting at mosque (?!?!)
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8508
Prosecutor tries to prejudice trial by blaming activists who hung banner because cops closed road
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4530781
Absurd conviction of football fan for standing up for the right to protest in the face of police persecution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4551707.stm
Another fascist decision – Keith Mann jailed for being a victim of verbal abuse
http://www.nocompromise.org/news/050429keithjailed.html
VINDICTIVE PROSECUTION AND DOUBLE JEOPARDY IN BRITAIN
KEITH MANN UPDATE
In April '05 British ALF activist, Keith Mann, was given a non-custodial sentence for rescuing 695 mice from Wickham Laboratories in Hampshire. The Prosecution felt the sentence was unduly lenient and appealed against the sentence. In July 05 the Court of Appeal agreed with the Prosecution and increased the sentence to 12 months imprisonment. This is to be served
consecutively to Keith's 6-month prison sentence for threatening a director of Wickham Labs as he left court in April 2005. (Earth Liberation Prisoner)
People arrested for sitting on a bench
http://www.workersliberty.org/node/view/4327
Fascist cops order photographer to move, and search him under “terrorism” laws, for photographing parliament
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7079
Repression at DSEI:
The Met police have been showing us how they serve the community at this year’s DSEi arms fair. As long as you’re only in the area to sell or buy guns and bombs, that’s ok, guv, but if you step out of line….here’s a sample of some of the reasons for the 31 (so far) arrests …for having 2 mobile phones, for having spray paint, for ‘going equipped to cause criminal damage’ by carrying 2 marker pens and for not wanting to be photographed by a FIT (cop surveillance) team. One poor chap was arrested for blocking the road even though he was standing on the pavement.
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news512.htm
Fascistic intervention by goon Prescott leads to cops trying to use anti-protest laws to persecute Greenpeace activists accused of peaceful sit-in
Peaceful protest is “terrorising”, says this New Labour goon
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/27/npresc27.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/04/27/ixportaltop.html
Democracy smashed in Britain – MPs summarily punished for protest in chamber
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4639665.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4643151.stm
Cops jail council tax refusenik after moving the goalposts to make impossible demands
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303042.html
Disability discrimination is legal in Britain, according to cops – “national security” excuse used to suppress disability lawsuit
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news508.htm
Censorship in the UK – Iraq protest book under attack
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1530311,00.html
During an animal rights demonstration against Covance Garfield jumped
onto the bonnet (what Americans call "the hood") of a Covance car. A
security guard pulled Garfield off the car and Garfield went onto kick the
security guard in the foot. Garfield has denied a charge of assault causing
actual bodily harm but has admitted "affray". In a letter to ELP he said he
is expecting a sentence of between 18 months to 3 years.
(In other words – a guard assaulted him; in the resultant melee he supposedly kicked the guard who was manhandling him… and despite him being the one assaulted, he’s been charged!!! So guards not only expect to be able to manhandle with impunity, but actually to be able to get victims of their assaults locked up!!!)
And more of the same… Cop cleared of racial attack despite admitting making first physical contact with wrongly-accused man
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4966756.stm
Racist court convicts Kosovar refugee for self-defence against racist thugs, because racist laws do not recognise racist terror as “immediate threat”
(Apparently people are supposed to ignore violent gangs of racists carrying out armed patrols)
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=US917448N&news_headline=teenager_faces_life_for_murder_in_racist_turf_war
With scrutiny criminalised, EDO private goons run rampage, brutalise protesters
One protester is jailed under fabricated accusations after being attacked by guards
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/southcoast/2005/07/318266.html
Rare defeat for state totalitarianism – ban on protests on EDO overturned
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3953
Ridiculous arrest and jailing of peace activist for taking photos – anti-protest laws ban protest against corporations
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/1823
Photographer arrested at port for taking photos
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306307.html
BP illegally refuse AGM entry to protesting shareholders
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news494.htm
London Animal Action (LAA), an organisation that campaigns peacefully on animal welfare issues, has had its bank accounts frozen by a High Court Order. It was named on an injunction taken out by Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) under the Protection from Harassment Act. LAA's harassment amounted to organizing transport to demos against HLS and arranging demos in London. their bank account contained several thousand pounds that had been raised to buy a minibus. LAA is taking legal advice to fight the case, but this would itself cost thousands of pounds and if any person claimed to speak for LAA they themselves could be made bankrupt - even if that person had never been involved in the campaign. This is just like the case of Lynn Sawyer who was going to lose her house after being sued by HLS for over 2 hundred grand in order to shut her up (SchNEWS 471). Fortunately a judge has recently overturned this ruling and reduced Lynn's fine to £2500 costs. LAA has ceased to exist as a result, but an ex-member said "The likelihood is that this will stir up a hornets' nest of anger against HLS."
(from SchNews)
TEXT OF EMAIL SENT TO DAAW ELIST:
Hi
Yesterday I was arrested and handcuffed from Maidenhead Nicolson Centre for asking the question- Do these products come from the illegal Israeli Settlements in the Dead Sea? A reasonable ethical question concerning an Israeli stall in my town.
I wanted to remain by the stall staying put until someone - either on the stall or from
the Management of the Nicolson Centre who franchise it - could satisfactorily answer this
question.Needless to say eventually ( 45 mins later) there were 4 security men , the
manager and two police officers all discussing the settlement concerns.
Its a simple question requiring a straight forward response which was not forthcoming
They have put me on bail & are enquiring into aggravated tresspass which I hope will go
to court for the chance to defend myself that I was simply asking if the products came
from the illegal Palestinian settlements , which are the symbol of the Palestinian
oppression. A question I believe all sales assistance should be able to give an answer to
( obviously a categorical no)or the management of the franchise. This was a personal
stand which I hope gives the opportunity for the settlement issue to be raised in a law
court, though the case may be dropped.Anyone interested in joining the direct peaceful
action against Dead Sea Products in our towns- feel free to contact me.
Cath Palatz
Police terror at the G8 – suspected protesters held at London airport
http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1836/index.php
Nimbyite bigots sabotage G8 protest camp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4562707.stm
Persecution ahead of G8 – protesters get police visits
http://scotlandtoday.scottishtv.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=7976
Cops near Gleneagles plot local ID cards, roadblocks and violence against protesters, making terroristic threats against those who defy their fascistic demands
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303209.html
Blair threatens imprisonment without trial for G8 protesters
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15261895%26method=full%26siteid=86024%26headline=labour-in-dundee--blair--g8-wreckers-risk-house-arrest-name_page.html
Free speech under attack - protester and journalist banned from G8 protests
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306887.html
Police persecution of activists and others – pub besieged
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.anarchism/browse_thread/thread/e4a6e11b65a07c6c/2f6863b75f799327?hl=en
Rundown of police repression from Legal Defence and Monitoring Group
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.anarchism/browse_thread/thread/132565b3e5fe2160/64f68f06f8fc4478?hl=en
Police fascism in Stirling
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/586/letters.htm
More on repression
http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2005/issue%20228.htm
In run-up to G8, cops encourage snitching of unusual actions/people, and SNP support anti-protester crackdowns
http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2005/issue%20216.htm
Morag Balfour, SSP candidate for Glenrothes, has condemned police requests for personal details of visitors to Fife during the G8 summit as a "disingenuous breach of privacy".
Morag was responding to the revelation that hotels, bed and breakfasts, camping and caravan sites were being asked to provide details of bookings coinciding with the summit between 6-8 July 2005.
http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2005/issue%20218.htm
Derby cops try to limit numbers for peace demo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/4363284.stm
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/10/326193.html
ASBOTROCITIES
New “Super-ASBO” repressive measures could lead to lifetime restrictions for minor “offences”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3834
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3831
ASBOs = terror against the different – persecution of children with learning difficulties highlighted by charity
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3835
Another charity head slams ASBO “over-use”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3836
ASBO fascism continues – more absurd ASBOs and info
A third of ASBO victims are psychologically-different; youths, ethnic minorities and the poor are all targets
http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/184/184_asb.html
http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/185/185_asb.html
http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/186/186_asb.html
ASBOs used by homophobes to target gay men
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=541942005
ASBO threatened against peace protester Lindis Percy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1459008,00.html
Judge refuses ASBO on Lindis Percy, but agrees to curfew and tagging
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15528689&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=no-asbo-on-protest-gran-name_page.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4552441.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/humber/4555131.stm
“God works in mysterious ways….in this case via the mortal coils of Tory Coucillor Allison Bucknell and Andy Humm. These two are begging for an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) to be served on the creator of www.lynehamvillage.co.uk website, Mitch Hawkins (no relation to Stephen, the international professor of Outer Space). Based in Wiltshire, Mitch ran a few Dead Pope jokes on his site, much to the annoyance of Humm”
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news494.htm
Fascist use of Nazi “anti-social behaviour” laws to smash protests excused by judge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/4409584.stm
“ANTI-TERROR” HYSTERIA PART 1 – TERROR ON THE STREETS
UK cops murder in broad daylight
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/july2005/220705licensetokill.htm
http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2005/07/jean-charles-de-menezes.html
Latest fascist wish-list from British police-state tyrants
http://infowars.net/Pages/Jul05/230705powers.html
Police-state terror on the underground – random passengers under attack from police snoops
http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Jul05/230705random.html
Frame-up of Egyptian scientist disintegrates
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=13829&s2=18
Police response – more frightening than the killing
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29642
Law professor says police shooting illegal
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2005/270705profalarmed.htm
Police racism – background to the London murder
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1538380,00.html
Blair and cops lie
http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/58092
Globalising racism: plans to auto-ban people banned from America or Europe, from Britain also
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8337
As police terror spreads, reports emerge of further shootings – 2 killed at Canary Wharf
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334992
Cops allegedly throw bomb at Birmingham “suspect” and then torture him with a taser
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8694
Pervert police force suspect to strip in violent siege
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1713498,00.html
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7018
IHRC cuts relations with cops over shooting
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8663
Police state terror grips London – dozens of random Muslims rounded up “on suspicion”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3110182,00.html
Two-thirds of Muslims consider fleeing Britain due to state and racist terror
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536222,00.html
UK cops terrorise computer expert
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/324024.html
http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/324110.html
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/324549.html
Armed police abuse child and elderly woman – point gun at child, give elderly woman heart attack by slamming her against a wall
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1537572,00.html
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8644
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8679
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8710
Ethiopian refugee, wrongly accused, beaten by police thugs
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleId=247190
Ethiopian refugee beaten by cops in London
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/637/637p18d.htm
Police terror on London train – passengers held-up by armed police
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8680
“ANTI-TERROR” HYSTERIA PART 2 – THOUGHT CRIMES AND STITCH-UPS
Persecuted cleric is seriously ill because of prison conditions
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7175
Another fascist law – “control orders”
http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/184/184_cor.html
“Control order” victim re-imprisoned – removed tag on advice of psychiatrists
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7112
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7029
The men labelled a threat to Britain include one who has no arms and another who is wheelchair-bound with polio…
"They feel they're being used for political purposes and were arrested to create fear in the public," he said. "They know they're no threat. They feel that if they had a fair trial, they could prove to the public they're not a threat. They say they escaped as refugees to this country for safety and justice: it's ludicrous for them to be described as a threat to this country."
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302986.html
Tortured at Guantanamo, and now at risk again – British detainees freed, but at risk from new fascistic laws allowing suspects to be put under house arrest and even innocent family members to be detained
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1040573.htm
Imposition of fascist "control orders" leads to an attempted suicide or overdose, and another medical emergency
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=6024
Freed Gitmo prisoner fears use of control orders to suppress revelations of torture
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=5898
Control orders are reminiscent of apartheid South Africa and attack dissent
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=5911
Escalating police-state terror – British citizen is victim of “control order”; other “control order” victims at risk of deportation, jailed
Treacherous Stalinist Livingstone extends CCTV intrusion in response to crackdown freakery
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1569266,00.html
The nightmare of control orders
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=13210
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=12934
More vindictive statist detentions – foreign nationals held for causing “bad atmosphere” (thought-crimes)
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=10117
Muslim who killed cop in self-defence, denied fair trial and stitched-up because judges refuse to overturn use of prejudicial ricin lies
“Lord Justice Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Newman, said evidence about the ricin explained to the jury why he was so determined to evade capture, refuting the argument that he had acted in self-defence. Without it, the jury would have been left speculating as to why he wished to "take on" a large number of police officers unless he was fearful they might "do him serious injury".”
Judges sympathise with racist white cop and widespread anti-“terrorist” hysteria to excuse callousness to victim of police terror
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8450
Persecution of moderate Muslim cleric for questioning the existence of al-Qaeda and denouncing statist lies and state terror
http://propagandamatrix.com/Pages/Jul05/280705cleric.html
Persecution of Babar Ahmad continues
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7499
Police who tortured Babar Ahmad whitewashed by internal inquiry
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=6707
British Iraqi detained for 8 months in Iraq, sues British government
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7857
POLICE KILLINGS AND ABUSE
Another murder by police echoes the Menezes shooting – Azelle Rodney
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7221
Another death in custody
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7222
Police murder innocent Somali youth in revenge for shooting
http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/february/ha000006.html
Nico Ntumba persecution case
http://mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/April.5.2000.19.45.43
Police not charged for putting boy in bin
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4884544.stm
Stop-and-search terror targets black people
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7127
Police persecute Sikh lawyer
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7055
Nazi cops stage “mob-handed” attack to remove someone who sneezed in church
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1743461,00.html
Persecution of youth for resisting police violence – judge sets arbitrary curfew
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4256152.stm
Racists and rightist scumbags attack Channel 4 drama for telling the true story of the persecution of Bradford insurgents and the racism which led to the uprising
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=960244
Vindictive statist scum dish out mass sentences to Lincoln Prison insurgents
http://www.louthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=817&ArticleID=934454
As state terror is globalised, alleged hacker could be jailed for life in America – even though he never went there!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1523143,00.html#article
NEW REPRESSIVE LAWS AND MEASURES
Byebye parliamentary democracy – new Bill will lead to rule by ministerial fiat
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/constitution/comment/0,,1724047,00.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=378045&in_page_id=1787
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2040625,00.html
Planned new laws would ban free speech such as calling suicide bombers “martyrs”
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8364
Blair’s proposals “comparable with Hitler” – Muslim cleric
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8891
Lawyers call Blairite proposals “unthinkable”
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=9033
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=9055
“The Orwellian concept of “thought crime” is to be made the basis of British law.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/brit-a10.shtml
Fascist “anti-terror” law attacks free speech
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3874
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3883
Cops demand license to hack
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5803380.html
Totalitarianism creeps closer – now police try to track all cars, all the time
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/15/vehicle_movement_database/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4455918.stm
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leedsbradford/2005/11/328276.html
New menace to shoppers as corporate goons and cops threaten searches
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1534926,00.html
British Army on the streets to extend police state
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1723441,00.html
Latest attacks on civil liberties – London railcard used to track commuters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3838
Government plans license to stitch-up and impunity for state corruption in latest attack on compensation for stitch-ups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3837
ANTI-REFUGEE RACISM
European watchdog reveals inhuman treatment of Belmarsh detainees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1503521,00.html
Calls to deport refugee for having controversial beliefs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/27/nmass27.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/27/ixnewstop.html
British state goons deport persecution victim to Syria
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7438
Algerians found NOT GUILTY of ricin plot, threatened with deportation and torture
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7243
Human rights activists accuse Britain of already deporting people to be tortured
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=6720
Nurses condemn abuse of refugees in Britain – handcuffings in hospital and abduction at gunpoint are among the accusations
http://www.labournet.net/ukunion/0501/nhsasyl1.html
Another inhuman deportation planned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305353.html
UK immigration centre racist abuse exposed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/real_story/4310361.stm
Scotland’s official anti-racism campaign thwarted by anti-refugee hysteria
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4206772.stm
Refugee beaten, abused for revealing mistreatment to press
http://www.guardian.co.uk/immigration/story/0,,1764967,00.html
More anti-immigrant terror – Pakistanis deported to abuse; one still in hiding
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17021225&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=why-i-may-have-to-give-myself-up-name_page.html
Crackdown freakery kills: Roma refugee attempts suicide because of state harassment
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3873
Iranian dissidents at risk of deportation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3872
Turkish refugee at risk of deportation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3929
Crackdown freakery kills: asylum crackdown victim is hospitalised after overdosing
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/eveningchronicle/eveningchronicle/news/tm_objectid=15887570&method=full&siteid=50081-name_page.html
Crackdown freakery conceals the real scandal: foreign prisoners abused, detained beyond sentences in UK prisons
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1762118,00.html
LIFESTYLE POLICING
Football club bans fan for life, for throwaway remark
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3023
Similar vindictiveness over convictions by another club
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1983362005
Police escalate terror against football fans
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/2261
Crackdown freakery in football continues – Hull fans banned for London bombing remarks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4244590.stm
Rightist political-correctness: man hauled off plane for listening to the “wrong” music
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4879918.stm
UK doctor suspended for protesting against cuts
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3993185
Worker sacked for blog critical of boss
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1388249,00.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4167629.stm
Ethnic cleansing against “gypsies” continues
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/587/letters.htm
Ethnic cleansing "eviction" at Paynes Lane - photos of trashed campsite
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306590.html
The argument now being mounted against the Human Rights Act – promoted by right-wing papers such as The Sun, supported by the Tories, embraced by some Blairites and given an unconditionally supportive treatment even by the “neutral” BBC – portends the latest attack on human rights by the British state. The Human Rights Act has been one of the few safeguards through which the totalitarian tendencies of New Labour and the “war on terror” have been slowed down a little by sections of the judiciary. Granted, it is misguided to expect the state to protect human rights, when it is the largest and most pervasive human rights violator. But still, the rhetoric of human rights has something of a function in warding off the worst state excesses. This new attack – ostensibly under the flag of “victims’ rights” – is therefore an extremely dangerous move.
The “victims’ rights” argument is based on a fundamental misunderstanding. The basic claim is that deviants are given “more rights” than victims. This is patently false – if the state is denied (for instance) the right to arbitrarily detain suspected criminals, it is also denied the right to arbitrarily detain suspected victims. Also, the Human Rights Act does not imply a right to commit (say) rape or murder; in this sense people have a right under this act not to be victims of these things. That human rights violations occur, does not prove that human rights don’t exist or aren’t protected. The point is that the existence of a few cases of human rights violations by individuals is no reason to justify wide-ranging violation of human rights by the state. Further, it is no reason for abrogating – as the advocates of “victims’ rights” often do – the very idea of human rights itself.
The main problem is the view that the failure to punish, or to take extrajudicial repressive action, is taken to be somehow “allowing” an action which is not prevented. Hence the state is blamed for somehow “failing to prevent” crimes because it doesn’t commit sufficiently severe human rights violations. This is absurdly distorted. The view seems to be that human rights are not respected if a preventive measure could be taken which is not taken. Obviously there are measures (such as locking up all men) which could reduce certain categories of deviance (such as rape). Obviously it is always possible to come up with worse, even more horrific punishments for supposed deterrent reasons, such as hanging, drawing and quartering, or prolonged torture. In neither case does is this compatible with human rights; in both cases such measures would seem to be logically required by the “victims’ rights” objection.
In any case is it a distortion to say that respecting some basic rights of alleged deviants gives them “more rights” than victims. They are not given any rights which victims do not also have. If their actions violate human rights, they are not given a “right” to engage in these actions.
Similarly, the alternative is not “more rights for victims” but no rights for anyone. The kinds of cases statists use – the idea for instance that people who flee tyranny in Afghanistan have no right to claim asylum if they hijack an aeroplane to get here, or that people released from sentences for serious offences have no right to protection from arbitrary sentencing increases or arbitrary interference in their post-release life – basically are ways of taking away general rights from everybody. That the “victims” have no use at present for the right to flee persecution or the right to protection from arbitrary sentencing, simply shows that they already are socially privileged over the alleged deviants.
Another problem is that the victim-cultists tend to promote an exaggerated set of rights for the socially excluded – people’s “rights” are seen as “violated” if they are subject to petty harassment, if they walk down the road and see graffiti or litter… To posit concern about petty deviance as “rights” of “victims” is to lose all sense of proportion about human rights. In contrast, there is a tendency to act as if a single act of deviance – or even the suspicion of deviance – is enough for someone to be stripped of rights entirely – a position which goes against the very idea of human rights. So the argument turns out to be nothing more than a denial of human rights as such, a celebration of universal rightslessness as a condition for domination by a social in-group.
Basically, the alleged criticisms are based on a dangerous and draconian distortion – the idea that the privileged social in-group has an unconditional right to preferential treatment in lawmaking, that all laws should be rigged exclusively for the benefit of the in-group – in other words, a denial of rights as such. Often this is attached to an equally dangerous support for arbitrary state power and a creeping control-freakery which is as much a threat to the “victims” as to everyone else.
Furthermore, it is obvious that the “stick being bent too far” in modern Britain, is in fact bent against human rights – for example, against the rights of protesters, against people subjected to expanded surveillance, against people jailed for defending themselves against police, against the victims of police shootings, against refugees deported to torture and death, against people wrongly caught up in “anti-terror” purges…
As for the arguments about “security”, these hold up even less. “Security” is doublespeak for state control in the dominant discourse today. Human rights are a barrier to unconditional state control, so of course they seem a threat to the powerful, to be undermining “security”. This makes it all the more important to defend them. Defence of human rights is at the centre of human security, such as security from arbitrary state violence. The idea that “security” has any value independently of human rights is nothing better than state-worship.
What about the claims that the Human Rights Act is producing a “compensation culture” or a set of spurious legal claims? Often these arguments are made with examples which are far from spurious. And the basic argument, is an argument against law as such – when the people who make the argument are in fact arguing for more and tougher laws! The same people who whine about the Human Rights Act leading to legal cases and compensation, do not complain about all the legal technicalities which are used against protesters and victimised minorities. They don’t complain for instance about the use of legal technicalities to smash protests, or about the slippage in interpretations of harassment laws so these are used to criminalise activists. They don’t object when technicalities and Kafkaesque legalities are used to attack people – they only complain when legal cases defend rights instead of taking them away. This proves their claims are selective and spurious.
The cases really deserving of our concern, are not a few tragic instances of serious crimes, but cases such as Babar Ahmad, exposed to a possible stitch-up in America because of a compliant British government, Christopher Alder and Harry Stanley, whose murders have been excused by the courts, the refugees on hunger strike in several “detention centres”, the victims of stop-and-search at Fairford during the Iraq war protests, the protesters arrested because of ASBO “dispersal zones”, the young man with learning difficulties served with a curfew under an ASBO despite having no sense of time, the man arrested at an airport because of his choice of music, the computer expert jailed as a potential terrorist because using a computer at a train station was deemed “suspicious”… These are the real victims of human rights abuses by the state. So the only problem with the Human Rights Act is that it does not go far enough in protecting human rights.
That the crackdown freaks manage to portray the current climate of state authoritarianism as somehow granting too many human rights is proof of the irrationality of their mindset, the fact that they will never be satisfied with anything short of total fascism. In any modern industrial society, there are so-called “crimes”; social deviance is not the real problem in Britain today, simply a distraction concocted by the mass media. Rather, Britain now faces the same issues that face the reform movement in Egypt, the Philippines and Azerbaijan, the struggle against a state despotism which is out-of-control. The more the control freaks “bend the stick” towards “the victim”, the more they take away elementary protections and make us all potential victims of arbitrary state power.
We must also learn from the reform movements elsewhere, that the struggle against state despotism cannot be carried out solely in the law courts, but must above all be a struggle in the streets. Only the threat of insurrection holds the state to its promises of human rights, and only a mass dissident movement able to out-balance the raving bigots can change the political climate for the better.
Tyranny in the UK: A litany of human rights violations, 2005-6
Oppose Blair’s “ordinary fascism”!
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=14070&s2=25 Civil liberties in Britain destroyed – Monbiot
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/columnist/story/0,9321,1584143,00.html ATTACKS ON PROTESTERS
Protest hauliers warned that they may lose licences
Times Online - UK
By Valerie Elliott, Countryside Editor. POLICE chiefs have told hauliers who protest at British refineries this week to expect a tough response.
(licenses are meant to be about safe driving, yet here we have police abusing them to attack protesters)
Pre-emptive arrests of moderate anti-ID activists at northeast UK-based EU summit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/4225858.stm http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/idcards/0,3800010140,39152175,00.htm Man arrested for leafleting at mosque (?!?!)
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8508 Prosecutor tries to prejudice trial by blaming activists who hung banner because cops closed road
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4530781 Absurd conviction of football fan for standing up for the right to protest in the face of police persecution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/4551707.stm Another fascist decision – Keith Mann jailed for being a victim of verbal abuse
http://www.nocompromise.org/news/050429keithjailed.html VINDICTIVE PROSECUTION AND DOUBLE JEOPARDY IN BRITAIN
KEITH MANN UPDATE
In April '05 British ALF activist, Keith Mann, was given a non-custodial sentence for rescuing 695 mice from Wickham Laboratories in Hampshire. The Prosecution felt the sentence was unduly lenient and appealed against the sentence. In July 05 the Court of Appeal agreed with the Prosecution and increased the sentence to 12 months imprisonment. This is to be served
consecutively to Keith's 6-month prison sentence for threatening a director of Wickham Labs as he left court in April 2005. (Earth Liberation Prisoner)
People arrested for sitting on a bench
http://www.workersliberty.org/node/view/4327 Fascist cops order photographer to move, and search him under “terrorism” laws, for photographing parliament
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7079 Repression at DSEI:
The Met police have been showing us how they serve the community at this year’s DSEi arms fair. As long as you’re only in the area to sell or buy guns and bombs, that’s ok, guv, but if you step out of line….here’s a sample of some of the reasons for the 31 (so far) arrests …for having 2 mobile phones, for having spray paint, for ‘going equipped to cause criminal damage’ by carrying 2 marker pens and for not wanting to be photographed by a FIT (cop surveillance) team. One poor chap was arrested for blocking the road even though he was standing on the pavement.
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news512.htm Fascistic intervention by goon Prescott leads to cops trying to use anti-protest laws to persecute Greenpeace activists accused of peaceful sit-in
Peaceful protest is “terrorising”, says this New Labour goon
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/27/npresc27.xml&sSheet=/portal/2005/04/27/ixportaltop.html Democracy smashed in Britain – MPs summarily punished for protest in chamber
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4639665.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4643151.stm Cops jail council tax refusenik after moving the goalposts to make impossible demands
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303042.html Disability discrimination is legal in Britain, according to cops – “national security” excuse used to suppress disability lawsuit
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news508.htm Censorship in the UK – Iraq protest book under attack
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1530311,00.html During an animal rights demonstration against Covance Garfield jumped
onto the bonnet (what Americans call "the hood") of a Covance car. A
security guard pulled Garfield off the car and Garfield went onto kick the
security guard in the foot. Garfield has denied a charge of assault causing
actual bodily harm but has admitted "affray". In a letter to ELP he said he
is expecting a sentence of between 18 months to 3 years.
(In other words – a guard assaulted him; in the resultant melee he supposedly kicked the guard who was manhandling him… and despite him being the one assaulted, he’s been charged!!! So guards not only expect to be able to manhandle with impunity, but actually to be able to get victims of their assaults locked up!!!)
And more of the same… Cop cleared of racial attack despite admitting making first physical contact with wrongly-accused man
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4966756.stm Racist court convicts Kosovar refugee for self-defence against racist thugs, because racist laws do not recognise racist terror as “immediate threat”
(Apparently people are supposed to ignore violent gangs of racists carrying out armed patrols)
http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=US917448N&news_headline=teenager_faces_life_for_murder_in_racist_turf_war With scrutiny criminalised, EDO private goons run rampage, brutalise protesters
One protester is jailed under fabricated accusations after being attacked by guards
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/southcoast/2005/07/318266.html Rare defeat for state totalitarianism – ban on protests on EDO overturned
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3953 Ridiculous arrest and jailing of peace activist for taking photos – anti-protest laws ban protest against corporations
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/1823 Photographer arrested at port for taking photos
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306307.html BP illegally refuse AGM entry to protesting shareholders
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news494.htm London Animal Action (LAA), an organisation that campaigns peacefully on animal welfare issues, has had its bank accounts frozen by a High Court Order. It was named on an injunction taken out by Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) under the Protection from Harassment Act. LAA's harassment amounted to organizing transport to demos against HLS and arranging demos in London. their bank account contained several thousand pounds that had been raised to buy a minibus. LAA is taking legal advice to fight the case, but this would itself cost thousands of pounds and if any person claimed to speak for LAA they themselves could be made bankrupt - even if that person had never been involved in the campaign. This is just like the case of Lynn Sawyer who was going to lose her house after being sued by HLS for over 2 hundred grand in order to shut her up (SchNEWS 471). Fortunately a judge has recently overturned this ruling and reduced Lynn's fine to £2500 costs. LAA has ceased to exist as a result, but an ex-member said "The likelihood is that this will stir up a hornets' nest of anger against HLS."
(from SchNews)
TEXT OF EMAIL SENT TO DAAW ELIST:
Hi
Yesterday I was arrested and handcuffed from Maidenhead Nicolson Centre for asking the question- Do these products come from the illegal Israeli Settlements in the Dead Sea? A reasonable ethical question concerning an Israeli stall in my town.
I wanted to remain by the stall staying put until someone - either on the stall or from
the Management of the Nicolson Centre who franchise it - could satisfactorily answer this
question.Needless to say eventually ( 45 mins later) there were 4 security men , the
manager and two police officers all discussing the settlement concerns.
Its a simple question requiring a straight forward response which was not forthcoming
They have put me on bail & are enquiring into aggravated tresspass which I hope will go
to court for the chance to defend myself that I was simply asking if the products came
from the illegal Palestinian settlements , which are the symbol of the Palestinian
oppression. A question I believe all sales assistance should be able to give an answer to
( obviously a categorical no)or the management of the franchise. This was a personal
stand which I hope gives the opportunity for the settlement issue to be raised in a law
court, though the case may be dropped.Anyone interested in joining the direct peaceful
action against Dead Sea Products in our towns- feel free to contact me.
Cath Palatz
Police terror at the G8 – suspected protesters held at London airport
http://scotland.indymedia.org/newswire/display/1836/index.php Nimbyite bigots sabotage G8 protest camp
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4562707.stm Persecution ahead of G8 – protesters get police visits
http://scotlandtoday.scottishtv.co.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1_1_1&newsid=7976 Cops near Gleneagles plot local ID cards, roadblocks and violence against protesters, making terroristic threats against those who defy their fascistic demands
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/303209.html Blair threatens imprisonment without trial for G8 protesters
http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15261895%26method=full%26siteid=86024%26headline=labour-in-dundee--blair--g8-wreckers-risk-house-arrest-name_page.html Free speech under attack - protester and journalist banned from G8 protests
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306887.html Police persecution of activists and others – pub besieged
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.anarchism/browse_thread/thread/e4a6e11b65a07c6c/2f6863b75f799327?hl=en Rundown of police repression from Legal Defence and Monitoring Group
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.anarchism/browse_thread/thread/132565b3e5fe2160/64f68f06f8fc4478?hl=en Police fascism in Stirling
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/586/letters.htm More on repression
http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2005/issue%20228.htm In run-up to G8, cops encourage snitching of unusual actions/people, and SNP support anti-protester crackdowns
http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2005/issue%20216.htm Morag Balfour, SSP candidate for Glenrothes, has condemned police requests for personal details of visitors to Fife during the G8 summit as a "disingenuous breach of privacy".
Morag was responding to the revelation that hotels, bed and breakfasts, camping and caravan sites were being asked to provide details of bookings coinciding with the summit between 6-8 July 2005.
http://www.scottishsocialistvoice.net/back%20issues%2005/issue%20218.htm Derby cops try to limit numbers for peace demo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/derbyshire/4363284.stm http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2005/10/326193.html ASBOTROCITIES
New “Super-ASBO” repressive measures could lead to lifetime restrictions for minor “offences”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3834 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3831 ASBOs = terror against the different – persecution of children with learning difficulties highlighted by charity
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3835 Another charity head slams ASBO “over-use”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3836 ASBO fascism continues – more absurd ASBOs and info
A third of ASBO victims are psychologically-different; youths, ethnic minorities and the poor are all targets
http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/184/184_asb.html http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/185/185_asb.html http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/186/186_asb.html ASBOs used by homophobes to target gay men
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=541942005 ASBO threatened against peace protester Lindis Percy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1459008,00.html Judge refuses ASBO on Lindis Percy, but agrees to curfew and tagging
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=15528689&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=no-asbo-on-protest-gran-name_page.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4552441.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/humber/4555131.stm “God works in mysterious ways….in this case via the mortal coils of Tory Coucillor Allison Bucknell and Andy Humm. These two are begging for an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) to be served on the creator of www.lynehamvillage.co.uk website, Mitch Hawkins (no relation to Stephen, the international professor of Outer Space). Based in Wiltshire, Mitch ran a few Dead Pope jokes on his site, much to the annoyance of Humm”
http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news494.htm Fascist use of Nazi “anti-social behaviour” laws to smash protests excused by judge
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/4409584.stm “ANTI-TERROR” HYSTERIA PART 1 – TERROR ON THE STREETS
UK cops murder in broad daylight
http://www.propagandamatrix.com/articles/july2005/220705licensetokill.htm http://xymphora.blogspot.com/2005/07/jean-charles-de-menezes.html Latest fascist wish-list from British police-state tyrants
http://infowars.net/Pages/Jul05/230705powers.html Police-state terror on the underground – random passengers under attack from police snoops
http://prisonplanet.com/Pages/Jul05/230705random.html Frame-up of Egyptian scientist disintegrates
http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=13829&s2=18 Police response – more frightening than the killing
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=29642 Law professor says police shooting illegal
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/july2005/270705profalarmed.htm Police racism – background to the London murder
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1538380,00.html Blair and cops lie
http://iraqwar.mirror-world.ru/article/58092 Globalising racism: plans to auto-ban people banned from America or Europe, from Britain also
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8337 As police terror spreads, reports emerge of further shootings – 2 killed at Canary Wharf
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10334992 Cops allegedly throw bomb at Birmingham “suspect” and then torture him with a taser
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8694 Pervert police force suspect to strip in violent siege
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1713498,00.html http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7018 IHRC cuts relations with cops over shooting
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8663 Police state terror grips London – dozens of random Muslims rounded up “on suspicion”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3110182,00.html Two-thirds of Muslims consider fleeing Britain due to state and racist terror
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1536222,00.html UK cops terrorise computer expert
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/324024.html http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/324110.html http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/09/324549.html Armed police abuse child and elderly woman – point gun at child, give elderly woman heart attack by slamming her against a wall
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1537572,00.html http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8644 http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8679 http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8710 Ethiopian refugee, wrongly accused, beaten by police thugs
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news/&articleId=247190 Ethiopian refugee beaten by cops in London
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2005/637/637p18d.htm Police terror on London train – passengers held-up by armed police
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8680 “ANTI-TERROR” HYSTERIA PART 2 – THOUGHT CRIMES AND STITCH-UPS
Persecuted cleric is seriously ill because of prison conditions
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7175 Another fascist law – “control orders”
http://www.revolutionarycommunistgroup.com/frfi/184/184_cor.html “Control order” victim re-imprisoned – removed tag on advice of psychiatrists
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7112 http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7029 The men labelled a threat to Britain include one who has no arms and another who is wheelchair-bound with polio…
"They feel they're being used for political purposes and were arrested to create fear in the public," he said. "They know they're no threat. They feel that if they had a fair trial, they could prove to the public they're not a threat. They say they escaped as refugees to this country for safety and justice: it's ludicrous for them to be described as a threat to this country."
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302986.html Tortured at Guantanamo, and now at risk again – British detainees freed, but at risk from new fascistic laws allowing suspects to be put under house arrest and even innocent family members to be detained
http://mparent7777.blog-city.com/read/1040573.htm Imposition of fascist "control orders" leads to an attempted suicide or overdose, and another medical emergency
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=6024 Freed Gitmo prisoner fears use of control orders to suppress revelations of torture
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=5898 Control orders are reminiscent of apartheid South Africa and attack dissent
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?aid=5911 Escalating police-state terror – British citizen is victim of “control order”; other “control order” victims at risk of deportation, jailed
Treacherous Stalinist Livingstone extends CCTV intrusion in response to crackdown freakery
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1569266,00.html The nightmare of control orders
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=13210 http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=12934 More vindictive statist detentions – foreign nationals held for causing “bad atmosphere” (thought-crimes)
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=10117 Muslim who killed cop in self-defence, denied fair trial and stitched-up because judges refuse to overturn use of prejudicial ricin lies
“Lord Justice Judge, sitting with Mr Justice Newman, said evidence about the ricin explained to the jury why he was so determined to evade capture, refuting the argument that he had acted in self-defence. Without it, the jury would have been left speculating as to why he wished to "take on" a large number of police officers unless he was fearful they might "do him serious injury".”
Judges sympathise with racist white cop and widespread anti-“terrorist” hysteria to excuse callousness to victim of police terror
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8450 Persecution of moderate Muslim cleric for questioning the existence of al-Qaeda and denouncing statist lies and state terror
http://propagandamatrix.com/Pages/Jul05/280705cleric.html Persecution of Babar Ahmad continues
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7499 Police who tortured Babar Ahmad whitewashed by internal inquiry
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=6707 British Iraqi detained for 8 months in Iraq, sues British government
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7857 POLICE KILLINGS AND ABUSE
Another murder by police echoes the Menezes shooting – Azelle Rodney
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7221 Another death in custody
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7222 Police murder innocent Somali youth in revenge for shooting
http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/february/ha000006.html Nico Ntumba persecution case
http://mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/April.5.2000.19.45.43 Police not charged for putting boy in bin
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4884544.stm Stop-and-search terror targets black people
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7127 Police persecute Sikh lawyer
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7055 Nazi cops stage “mob-handed” attack to remove someone who sneezed in church
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2088-1743461,00.html Persecution of youth for resisting police violence – judge sets arbitrary curfew
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4256152.stm Racists and rightist scumbags attack Channel 4 drama for telling the true story of the persecution of Bradford insurgents and the racism which led to the uprising
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=960244 Vindictive statist scum dish out mass sentences to Lincoln Prison insurgents
http://www.louthtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=817&ArticleID=934454 As state terror is globalised, alleged hacker could be jailed for life in America – even though he never went there!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1523143,00.html#article NEW REPRESSIVE LAWS AND MEASURES
Byebye parliamentary democracy – new Bill will lead to rule by ministerial fiat
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/constitution/comment/0,,1724047,00.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/newscomment.html?in_article_id=378045&in_page_id=1787 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,6-2040625,00.html Planned new laws would ban free speech such as calling suicide bombers “martyrs”
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8364 Blair’s proposals “comparable with Hitler” – Muslim cleric
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=8891 Lawyers call Blairite proposals “unthinkable”
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=9033 http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=9055 “The Orwellian concept of “thought crime” is to be made the basis of British law.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/aug2005/brit-a10.shtml Fascist “anti-terror” law attacks free speech
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3874 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3883 Cops demand license to hack
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-5803380.html Totalitarianism creeps closer – now police try to track all cars, all the time
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/15/vehicle_movement_database/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4455918.stm http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/leedsbradford/2005/11/328276.html New menace to shoppers as corporate goons and cops threaten searches
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1534926,00.html British Army on the streets to extend police state
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1723441,00.html Latest attacks on civil liberties – London railcard used to track commuters
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3838 Government plans license to stitch-up and impunity for state corruption in latest attack on compensation for stitch-ups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3837 ANTI-REFUGEE RACISM
European watchdog reveals inhuman treatment of Belmarsh detainees
http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,12780,1503521,00.html Calls to deport refugee for having controversial beliefs
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/27/nmass27.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/07/27/ixnewstop.html British state goons deport persecution victim to Syria
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7438 Algerians found NOT GUILTY of ricin plot, threatened with deportation and torture
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=7243 Human rights activists accuse Britain of already deporting people to be tortured
http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=6720 Nurses condemn abuse of refugees in Britain – handcuffings in hospital and abduction at gunpoint are among the accusations
http://www.labournet.net/ukunion/0501/nhsasyl1.html Another inhuman deportation planned
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/02/305353.html UK immigration centre racist abuse exposed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/real_story/4310361.stm Scotland’s official anti-racism campaign thwarted by anti-refugee hysteria
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4206772.stm Refugee beaten, abused for revealing mistreatment to press
http://www.guardian.co.uk/immigration/story/0,,1764967,00.html More anti-immigrant terror – Pakistanis deported to abuse; one still in hiding
http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=17021225&method=full&siteid=50061&headline=why-i-may-have-to-give-myself-up-name_page.html Crackdown freakery kills: Roma refugee attempts suicide because of state harassment
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3873 Iranian dissidents at risk of deportation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3872 Turkish refugee at risk of deportation
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3929 Crackdown freakery kills: asylum crackdown victim is hospitalised after overdosing
http://icnewcastle.icnetwork.co.uk/eveningchronicle/eveningchronicle/news/tm_objectid=15887570&method=full&siteid=50081-name_page.html Crackdown freakery conceals the real scandal: foreign prisoners abused, detained beyond sentences in UK prisons
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1762118,00.html LIFESTYLE POLICING
Football club bans fan for life, for throwaway remark
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/3023 Similar vindictiveness over convictions by another club
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1983362005 Police escalate terror against football fans
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/message/2261 Crackdown freakery in football continues – Hull fans banned for London bombing remarks
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4244590.stm Rightist political-correctness: man hauled off plane for listening to the “wrong” music
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4879918.stm UK doctor suspended for protesting against cuts
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3993185 Worker sacked for blog critical of boss
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1388249,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4167629.stm Ethnic cleansing against “gypsies” continues
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker/587/letters.htm Ethnic cleansing "eviction" at Paynes Lane - photos of trashed campsite
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2005/03/306590.html
human rights defender
Comments
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UK doctor suspended for protesting against cuts
16.05.2006 17:02
Dougie
e-mail:
dougie@navarino.org.uk
Homepage:
http://navarino.org.uk:8080/blog
When the dam is beyond repair, it MUST be replaced, NOT patched
16.05.2006 18:15
Blair has worked to eliminate all official effective political opposition in the UK- sorry, when does he EVER hide this fact?
Blair has turned the UK into a fascist police state- sorry, when does he EVER hide this fact?
Blair gains more power by the day with only 20% of the vote- sorry, when does he EVER hide this fact?
Blair was at the centre of the 'Kosovo' War, and is the main political force pushing for War with Iran (NOT Israel, or the US)- sorry, when does he EVER hide this fact?
Blair uses corruption and blackmail to magnify his power- sorry, when does he EVER hide this fact?
You mention The Sun, 'human rights defender', but not 'The Guardian' (Blair's main anti-muslim, pro-war newspaper). Sorry, that raises an immediate red-flag. In many ways, because of the audience 'The Sun' targets, that paper is now more left-wing than 'The Guardian'. There is good reason for this. Blair requires that the 'masses' think there is a socialist agenda for them, while the 'elite' are encouraged to be ever more fascist. Same trick old Hitler pulled. The 'working man' nudged gently to the left, and the 'middle classes' shoved massively to the right.
Today, even for research purposes, I can hardly bear to watch Channel 4 News, or read 'The Guardian' because of the extreme agendas they now feel able to openly promote, and the crude propaganda methods they use to do this. On the other hand, the tabloids are what they always have been. Tabloids were never good for pushing sophisticated agendas.
Blair CANNOT be defeated unless the truth of the monster is accepted. Blair has control of the WHOLE of the Mass Media in the UK. While YOU may feel attached to the words of some of the 'dingleberries' that are allowed to write occasionally in 'The Guardian' or 'The Independent', they are merely the 'spoon full of sugar' that allows Blair's purest poison to slip down your throat.
For example, YOU may take false relief at an apparent dagger-piece in The Telegraph describing how Blair is fading because he no longer has a visible interest in domestic affairs. HOWEVER, what you do not understand is that Hitler ALSO lost interest in domestic affairs when he was on the verge of one of his military campaigns. BLAIR IS ABOUT TO ATTACK IRAN IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. Suprise, suprise, this World changing action means that he has ZERO interest in home affairs. He has much bigger fish to fry, namely the whole of the Human Race.
The War with Iran creates a full blown war-time situation in the UK, allowing Blair's stooges in the leadership of the Conservatives and the Liberals to formally offer Blair their complete support and loyalty for as long as the war continues. Our government then officially becomes a coalition, with no need for elections, since all electable parties automatically nominate Blair as wartime DICTATOR. You may gather from this that Blair hardly has to worry about domestic politics.
You will notive that I almost never bother to quote sources. Why? Because bringing down monsters is NOT some academic game. I assume that people interested in facts can use Google, and will have bookmarked the myriad of sites that make the Internet the ONLY opposition to those that control the Mass Media. Arguing the toss with Blair's propaganda or propagandists benefits ONLY Blair.
I appreciate those that accumulate anti-Blair resources, but the resources themselves are NOT the fight, merely tools that can be employed in the fight, and the difference between the two is crucial.
Blair is an evil unlike any previously seen on our planet. He is an evil of our times, and our times contain more potential destructive energy than at any moment in the past. Our civilisation is like the core of a nuclear bomb, and Blair seeks to be the 'initiator', liberating in one life-ending burst all the energy contained within. The analogy is appropriate with concepts such as 'critical mass' and 'chain reaction' (think 911, and the anti-muslim programs).
If we do not stop Blair, what stops Blair? This is the question that no-one seems to face. If Blair attacks Iran tomorrow, and declares a war-time takedown in the UK, WHAT STOPS BLAIR? The fact that you don't like it? The fact that people will cry like babies? HIS PEOPLE CONTROL ***EVERYBODY*** WITH A GUN, WE CONTROL ***NOTHING***. His people are armoured, and tooled to the max, we have NOTHING. His people control ALL communications in the UK, we control NOTHING.
It is true that WE have the numbers, and he can't kill large numbers of us just yet. However, how the hell are numbers going to work for us?
WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN BLAIR ATTACKS IRAN, AND ANYONE WHO OPPOSES THIS ACTION OR BLAIR IS OFFICIALLY DESCRIBED AS A TRAITOR AND TERRORIST? Make more lists?
'Resist attack on Human Rights Act!' - the dam is more leaks than stone, and you suggest sticking a thumb in yet another hole? It's time to rebuild the WHOLE of the dam. Blair wants people running around shouting 'don't panic, don't panic', and trying to stick their thumb in another hole. There is nothing left to save in the UK. There is ONLY one act of any use, getting rid of Blair NOW using any means possible. Afterwards, EVERYTHING will have to be rebuilt, but there will be NO afterwards until Blair is removed.
REMEMBER THIS- THERE IS ***NO*** POLITICAL FORCE WITHIN THE UK THAT CAN REMOVE BLAIR. His supporters occupy EVERY key position. Stories of his imminent demise are ONLY produced by Blair's own people to sate the wishful thinking of the populace for another few months, so that they won't question why a monster with the tiny MINORITY of votes that Blair receives, has such ABSOLUTE power.
BLAIR FULLY EXPECTS HIS ATTACK AGAINST IRAN TO HAVE HAPPENED BEFORE PARTY CONFERENCE SEASON. However, even Hitler had to put off his various invasion plans time after time, until he could overcome all counter-factors. If Blair is unable to activate his "you MUST back me, we are at WAR" situation in time, he has a thousand other options at hand, including the old "BOOM, a whole load of you are dead".
The time to gather proof against Blair ended a very long time ago. The time to ARREST, PROSECUTE, and CONVICT Blair is now. Blair calculates that we do not deserve to survive if we refuse to take him on. Sadly, he is right.
twilight
Yes, replace not patch... BUT...
16.05.2006 22:21
Second - you make a lot of problematic, non-verifiable claims.
It's obvious to you and me that Blair is a warmonger and police-statist, but this is not the impression he cultivates, he certainly tries to "hide the fact" and a surprising number of people believe him - for instance a lot of his anti-liberty measures are quite popular in opinion poll terms.
Any Iran war would have to be US-led - Britain does not have the force to take on Iran alone. Blair's stooge Straw came out against the Iran war several times before being "reshuffled", when the UK government was under US pressure to act tough. At present neither Britain nor US can carry out a full-scale war in Iraq - too many troops are pinned down in Iraq and elsewhere. In any case an Iran war would not help Blair impose a police state as it would be very unpopular. The most likely scenario for intensification would be another "terrorist" attack.
Arrest, prosecute and convict is not gonna happen. First of all - the police are in Blair's pockets. Why would the police want to stop a police state? They get power, money and impunity. Secondly - the judiciary are mostly supportive, they've struck down only very few of the repressive laws. Granted they're putting up some resistance to executive power. But would they really be prepared to convict Blair, when they won't even strike down his laws? Thirdly, convicting Blair would not change the underlying state structures, or the popular basis for repression. For instance, if the Tories win the next election (as is likely), expect more of the same but with a different leader. This is about a mass phenomenon, not just an individual.
There's a need to fight Blair on every level but mainly it comes down to resistance in everyday life and combatting the repressive "crackdown culture" his regime draws on.
human rights defender