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Open letter to Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty

Margaret Gross | 10.05.2008 12:33 | Analysis | Repression

“LIBERTY: Protecting Civil Liberties Promoting Human Rights”

Dear Shami,
Reading the mainstream media I reached the conclusion that you must be the one and only civil liberties campaigner in this country. With this in mind I set up to check your record since it appears there is no one else I could count on to ensure that my liberties are well safeguarded. It seems there are people out there who clearly think you are doing a good job since the Queen honoured you with a CBE in 2007. But then it occurred to me, as a civil liberties campaigner, aren’t you receiving State’s honours a bit too soon? After all, in order to get similar recognition, Nelson Mandela needed to wait for 27 years sitting in his cell. I say this because, you may not have noticed, but the person who gave you the CBE is the head of a State that is now committing crimes against humanity in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is also a State passing laws that are in clear violation of our fundamental rights and freedoms. I have been reading your response to the second reading of the Counter-Terrorism Bill in the House of Commons and, even though it is clear that you do not support an extension of the 28 days, I haven’t been able to find a straightforward demand for the abolition of those 28 days. My common sense tells me that what was against our human rights three years ago must still be so today. But then, refusing to speak out against repressive laws seems to be Liberty’s common practice. Going through your response to the Government’s consultation paper ‘Managing Protest Around Parliament’, I was relieved to read your demand for the repeal of sections 132-138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act – those that restrict our freedom to protest within 1km around Parliament. However, I was a bit disturbed when I saw your take on the Public Order Act: “While Liberty may not support the level of interference permitted under the POA, the law exists, and in our view provides the police with more than adequate powers to manage public assemblies.” Hang on a minute, since when has the existence of a law precluded the possibility of opposing it? The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act is a law that also currently exists but you are willing to oppose that. But then I realised that you might not have had enough time to pay much attention to these minor inconsistencies in your position because you have been far too busy campaigning for the use of wiretap evidence in court. Yes, thanks Shami, I definitely feel more protected from the State now that you managed that one. No offence, but all this is a bit puzzling. You must have received amazing training on civil liberties campaigning during your old job at the Home Office. In any case, the future looks bright for you: a CBE, your portrait at the National Portrait Gallery … what next? I bet a bronze sculpture of you at the Trafalgar Square’s fourth plinth, sitting on a horse called ‘Liberty’ and underneath a plaque reading: ‘She was a great collaborator’.

Sincerely,

Margaret Gross

Margaret Gross

Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

All very well but............

10.05.2008 17:49

You could have mentioned socpa 145 which also criminalises protesting and removes freedom of speech.

Paws Malone


Hear hear Margaret..

10.05.2008 21:10

..+ two other things:

1. is anyone up for doing a demo at Liberty office (someone has suggested this to me after I forwarded the letter to a couple of Civil Liberties focused groups)
and

2. for freak's sake Paws Malone how many of you people who snipe about the little details that may or may not have been included in a post are there? Margaret has written a great letter and made an important point and all you can do is make some meaningless point about something that she missed out which would have added nothing to the thrust and truth of the letter, indeed would have diluted its power by reducing its elegant economy. less is more. but the most anoying thing is that you've completely failed to suggest any action to back up the truth of the letter. action, activists, you know - they're supposed to go together?

Can indymedia posters, poseurs, imposters, spoilers and mindless provocateurs pls get it into their thick skulls there is and always has been an actual war to be fought and won. and yr ways do nothing, zilch to hasten the victory!

Collaboration is the correct term and to my mind it applies equally to so called activist reactionaries who consistently fail to suggest ways forward, practical actions we can take to bring the issue into light.

get with the programme and let's get shami named and shamed, now. suggestions anyone?

Someone


Flippen eck there is no need to get arsy!

11.05.2008 08:47

To Someone,

Adding socpa 145 is 2 words and wouldn't have made the letter long winded!

I have written to Liberty about sec 145 and also included parliament square, etc even though I am not active in that particular cause, I did that because I believe in the right of all demonstrators!

I am very active in my particular cause and aware of ARA's soon to receive very long prison sentences for nothing more than protesting! If you think that sections 132-138 are draconian you wait till they roll out 145 on you!! You'll have wished you'd have taken more notice!

You call me all sorts of names yet you do not know me or what I do! you sound very silly and easily angered!

Protesting outside Liberty offices sounds like a good idea, all of us together, whatever the cause, fighting for each other!

Paws Malone


My favourite Shami

12.05.2008 09:53


'unequivocal respect and admiration for the leadership shown by the Home Secretary'

08 Jul 2005
Liberty shares everyone’s horror at the senseless and vindictive acts of terror carried out in London. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families and our respect and profound gratitude to the emergency services. We have no doubt that the whole of society will support the police and security services in the task of bringing the perpetrators of these terrible crimes to justice.

Liberty has also been heartened by the response to these attacks from leading politicians across the political spectrum whose statements have been a proportionate response to these events.

Responding to the comments made by the Home Secretary on the Today Programme on Friday 8th July concerning the attacks Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said:

“I want to express my unequivocal respect and admiration for the leadership shown by the Home Secretary on this morning. He signaled effective but proportionate responses to the threat, which distinguish between the innocent and the guilty. In the difficult times ahead we may not agree on every detail but Charles Clarke will have Liberty’s general support for the values he outlined today.”

Liberty Press Office: 020 7378 3656 or 07973 831 128

anti-imperialist


It's a fair cop

13.05.2008 09:19

She has been very close to the people she purports to criticise. And Liberty has been less effective or ineffective as a result. The media automatically reach for her when an issue of civil liberty or basic freedoms comes up - they don't do this because she challenges the status quo. Her comments fall well within the bounds of acceptable opposition for the establishment - which she is part of. Can someone who cares about liberty or indeed human life, really do business with a government that stands accused of war crimes, an illegal invasion, genocide, torture, summary execution, blood for oil, trampling the rule of law, trashing civil liberties, official racism (Islamophobia, persecution of asylum seekers and refugees, attacking multiculturalism) etc etc ? Liberty should be one of the Government;s most trenchant and righteous critics - instead it has been neutered under her leadership. She has a burgeoning media career, some kind of fame, doubtless many opportunities to make money, and the power and privilege of access to powerful and connected people in the state / corporate sector. And she is of course suitably rewarded by the state - Commander of the British Empire! Is that the same empire that enslaved and slaughtered millions of people for profit and out of brutal racism (e.g. 10 million died in India alone - google Late Victorian Holocausts)? What an honour for her. What a loss for liberty.

William Greaves


Liberty within Liberty

14.05.2008 16:07

I joined Liberty for one year, and attended their AGM in 2006. I became concerned.

Why was the executive officer in the chair, when we had an elected president, I wondered.

The full sets of accounts were sent to the Charity Commission, and were available to members on request, but otherwise members were only sent a summary. I had seen that in another association, where it meant that any discussion in the AGM could only be superficial. In that association, the full accounts (two pages) had been replaced by a summary of accounts (two pages) following a simplification.

What got me on my feet, though, was a motion to allow the committee to expel any committee member who spoke out of turn to the press. That meant that any committee member could be bullied by the majority, or even by an influential minority, if he blew the whistle on them. Everyone would have to tow the line. I was the first to speak, because something similar had just happened to me in the Esperanto Association of Britain, after I had presented a report of financial data to the president, whom I had trusted for forty years. It could happen to anyone, in any membership association.

My reason for joining Liberty had been to find out whether any other associations had been mysteriously taken over, and to request assistance from Liberty in investigating the affairs of Esperanto Association of Britain. I raised the matter with Shami Chakrabati immediately after the meeting, and she suggested that I write in. I did and I got a fobb-off.

Later I showed my letter to David Shayler, and he said, "It's no use asking them".

Does anyone else have similar experiences of membership associations that may have been taken over in some form or other by the state?

Ian Fantom
mail e-mail: ian@fantom.org.uk
- Homepage: http://esperantolobby.org


Gordon Brown 'impressed with his statesmanship', says Chakrabarti

16.05.2008 21:18



Can a 'human rights campaigner' sink any lower than that??




"Last summer our new prime minister impressed with his statesmanship. Terror plots, livestock epidemics and serious floods: the horsemen of the apocalypse were seen off with a calm and unifying manner that smacked of honest good governance rather than partisan politics....Talk of a new “consensus” and winning “hearts and minds” so contrasted with the divisive posturing of his predecessor that we were optimistic."



 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3822609.ece

Brown's U-turn on terror

by Shami Chakrabarti, Sunday Times, 27 April 2008

gatekeeper