Showing posts with label silencing dissent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label silencing dissent. Show all posts

Friday 8 October 2021

Priti Fascist.

 

          Even before the Tory party conference, before the new policing bill, most liberal minded people accepted that Priti Patel was a true blue fascist. Not to mention her shouting and swearing at her staff, there is her frequent statements on asylum seekers, migrants and protestors. Lock them up, send them back, leave them to drown in the English Channel, is the thread of her thoughts on these matters. No matter how fascist her ideas, threats and legislation are, she has the blessing of most of the bungling Boris brigade, including chief waffling expert, bumbling Boris himself. Most of the Tory scum are salivating at the mouth at her every vile word, they can't wait to see her draconian measure being enacted on the people of this country. Yet our streets are quite, are simmering anger has not reached boiling point. When will we given in to our righteous anger and the streets and workplace reverberate to the roar of our  righteous anger.

The following article from Freedom News:

Analysis October 7th.

       Another Tory party conference, another round of law ‘n’ order announcements. Some are just aimed at getting the blue-rinse buy-to-let brigade out of their seats into a standing ovation, others perhaps a little more sinister. But what impact will Priti Patel and Dominic Raab’s latest moves actually have?
       There are two main headline grabbing targets, “irresponsible crusties” gluing themselves to motorways and foreigners arriving in boats. Proposals to control and deter channel crossings are as vague as they ever have been, partly due to this governments’ requirement to pay at least lip service to international law regarding rescue at sea. Domestically however the teeth have been bared.
        Extinction Rebellion and their spin off group, the road blocking rockwool enthuisiasts of Insulate Britain, are the named targets of the new crackdown, (although of course once passed any legislation will inevitably be imposed more broadly). Raising the penalty for wilful obstruction of the highway to six months imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine probably won’t see many behind bars for a long stretch but it will enable the courts to remand people for long enough to prevent them from joining in a series of rolling blockades. However this does play directly into old loft lag Roger Hallam’s master plan* for creating martyrs through imprisonment and thereby radicalising the moderates.
       Speaking of which, the state has abandoned the tired old label of “domestic extremist” with its unfortunate whiff of SpyCops and state sanctioned abuse of women and replaced it with an all new and equally vague idea of “aggravated activist”. Despite lack of real clarity around what an aggravated activist actually is the justice secretary has dreamed up the concept of Criminal Disruption Prevention Orders (CDPOs) to combat them.
       CDPOs are another development in the hybridisation of criminal and civil law that began under Blair that gave us control orders, ASBOs, football banning orders and injunctions protecting corporations under the Protection from Harassment Act. What all these processes have in common is that criminal sanctions can be imposed on a civil standard of proof (balance of probablities). They grant the courts powers to regulate an individuals life to point of house arrest; with curfews, rules on places to avoid, people not to see, programmes to engage with, social media not to use etc etc with, and this is the kicker, criminal sanctions including prison for lack of compliance. The far reaching implications of this can be seen clearly with the impact on young Black lives of the Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs) as acts that are not regularly criminalised are punished under the criminal law.
        When ASBOs were first introduced it was warned that they might be used against political campaigners to stifle dissent. Of course they were, the targets mainly being animal rights activists. CDPOs are by design aimed at political campaigners. If CDPOs are in any way similar to KCPOs they could be imposed even without the target having a conviction, preventing them from travelling , speaking in public or putting them under curfew for (in the words of the National Council of Police Chiefs) “activity that seeks to bring about political or social change but does so in a way that involves unlawful behaviour or criminality, has a negative impact upon community tensions, or causes an adverse economic impact to businesses.” (emphasis ours). Who will collect theirs first?
       While the CDPOs do look like a viable instrument of repression, threats to increase the applicability of Section 60 “no suspiscion” stops and searches to include equipment used for non violent direct actions are slightly less alarming. While section 60s are likely to continue to facilitate racial profiling in policing, their extension to climate activists won’t change a lot on the ground. Blanket stop and search has been a feature of the policing of climate camps and XRs Rebellions for over a decade.
       Attracting slightly less attention have the plans to massively extend tagging. When tagging was first rolled out it was a crude way of imposing a curfew. Between certain hours you had to be in the vicinity of the radio base, plugged into the landline and that was that. The new proposals aim to take full advantage of current technology with GPS tags able to pinpoint your exact whereabouts, meaning that it will be far easier to tailor an exact set of conditions for each subject. This of course would dovetail beautifully with the kind of civil control orders proposed. Tags have been proposed that will sample skin for traces of alcohol, presumably drugs and keywords can’t be far behind.
       These conference announcements aren’t even fleshed out proposals yet. It’s no surprise that legislation on dissent and social control grows ever more draconian. So far, despite a promising start with the Kill the Bill campaign as a focus for the civil liberties struggle we are losing ground. There are some promising shoots e.g Sisters Uncut proposal for a CopWatch patrols but Kill the Bill has not transformed into a mass movement and Insulate Britain number around 500 people.
       Time for another cut out ‘n’ keep rabble rousing appeal to get out there on the streets and fight before we lose ? Yeah thought so.

Bill Stickers
       *we advise at least phoning a friend before gluing yourself to the carriageway
Visit ann arky's home at https://spiritofrevolt.info  

Sunday 31 May 2020

Silencing Dissent.


         The tentacles of the state's authority machine spread far and slither into a variety of places. Ever seeking to silence dissent, tie the lips of resistance, isolate the people from the true nature of society, and advance their desire for a submissive population.
       If you ever go on to espive.net, you would expect to find a plethora of views and information on autonomous spaces, resistance to injustice, support for migrants, direct action against repressive state actions, support for those in struggle for freedom, etc..
      However today you will find a very simple message that highlights how the freedom of speech is always under attack from those who oppose real change to this repressive and exploitative society that dominates our daily lives.
      Those who  desire freedom must always be on a war footing and ever vigilant, as the attack on our freedoms is relentless, surreptitious and backed up by repressive legislation, all moulded in favour of those in power.
 
     The following is the clear message you will find today if you click onto espiv.net: 
ENGLISH
Hello, comrades:
        We would like to inform you about the latest developments on the shutdown of the server.
          The information we received is that the server went out of order after an oral command of the rector of Panteion University to their computerisation section on the occasion of a complaint about digital piracy.
       More specifically, this complaint concerned two book titles that were uploaded in pdf format to one of the hundreds of blogs hosted by the server. We immediately tried to contact the rectorial authorities and work out a solution, wanting to regain access to the content of the blogs as soon as possible.
        The server, which hosts 850 blogs, has been located in Panteion University since the beginning of Espiv project in 2008. From time to time issues have arisen, and so far we have managed to overcome them and keep the server in place, at a public university in Athens (Greece).
       We understand that many things have changed over the last 12 years, and from time to time we have discussed the real conditions under which Espiv project continues to operate. However, it is our intention and desire to keep the server in place, with all political and labour collectives, neighbourhood assemblies and self-organised projects hosted on it.
     Our repeated attempts to receive a clear answer from the rectorial authorities fell on deaf ears. On Thursday, 28 May 2020 (a week after the shutdown), we received information that the rector will refer our issue to the next council of the senate of Panteion University, which is unknown when it will take place. One should not be too superstitious or naive to assume that all this is due to increased academic duties. After all, the command to shut down the server was given impressively quickly. With universities still closed and after a two-month lockdown, conditions were considered favourable to add another movement’s infrastructure to the long list of squats and projects recently suppressed. A choice that expands repression in the field of internet, imposing the normality of social media, digital snitching, and recording and surveillance of any information circulated on the internet, again showing that the role of the cop can be played well by all sorts of rectors and state employees. The choice to suppress an infrastructure that supports the expression of dozens of collectives within the antagonist movement can only find us against them.

      We will let you know of any further developments and mobilisations.

NO POLITICAL GAGGING LEFT UNANSWERED.
NOT A STEP BACK.


The administration crew of espiv.net
Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Silencing Dissent.


      Under our present system, lobbying is seen as a way the big boys can buy politicians and shape  government policy. People complain and the government sees this as a way of silencing dissent, so introduces a bill that will silence critical opposition. There are many roads to fascism, and the state knows them all.
This from A World To Win. 

How the state plans to shut down dissent

  
        Later this month, the Trades Union Congress is backing a march and rally in Manchester against the ConDems’ carve-up of the NHS. Next year, a repeat campaign could be deemed illegal under legislation due for debate in parliament today.
       The TUC is not exactly a scaremongering organisation. So when general secretary Frances O’Grady warns that the Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill is an “attack on free speech worthy of an authoritarian dictatorship” there is just cause for alarm.
       She points out that the Bill has been drawn so widely that it will “shut down dissent for the year before an election”, adding: “No organisation that criticises a government policy will be able to overdraw their limited ration of dissent without fearing a visit from the police.”
Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

How the state plans to shut down dissent

Later this month, the Trades Union Congress is backing a march and rally in Manchester against the ConDems’ carve-up of the NHS. Next year, a repeat campaign could be deemed illegal under legislation due for debate in parliament today.
The TUC is not exactly a scaremongering organisation. So when general secretary Frances O’Grady warns that the Transparency of Lobbying, non-Party Campaigning, and Trade Union Administration Bill is an “attack on free speech worthy of an authoritarian dictatorship” there is just cause for alarm.
She points out that the Bill has been drawn so widely that it will “shut down dissent for the year before an election”, adding: “No organisation that criticises a government policy will be able to overdraw their limited ration of dissent without fearing a visit from the police.”
- See more at: http://www.aworldtowin.net/blog/how-state-plans-to-shut-down-dissent.html#sthash.0K5yduAp.dpuf