Under the state apparatus the right to freedom of speech is always liable to attack, the state would rather we were subservient and obedient. When people start to object to how they are being treated, that's when the state takes off the gloves and it becomes bare-knuckle capitalism with repression and intimidation the tools to get you back in line and obedient. One of Glasgow's past fights to defend the right to freedom of public assemble, was the fight for freedom of speech on Glasgow Green, a fight that lasted from 1922 to 1932, and here we are now in 2013 having once again to fight for the right to public assemble, to voice our concerns on the way our society is heading. It is by continual vigilance and struggle that we hold onto what little freedoms we have, under the present system, they are continually under threat, once gone, the fight to get them back is a much harder struggle than defending them.
Defend The Right To Peaceful Protest.
An
open letter from Glasgow against Atos
to all Political groups / parties
And
Trade Unionists.
DEFEND
THE RIGHT TO PEACEFUL PROTEST.
If you are
someone who has been involved in a protest or demonstration in the
past few years you may have noticed an increase in the use of certain
tactics by the Police.
The
brutal tactic of “Kettling”, - the enforced containment of groups
of people, is used by Police routinely despite widespread public and
legal condemnation of the dangers of this tactic. The Police often
use riot shields and employ mounted officers in these situations in
which people are corralled and crushed together sometimes for hours
on end.
Forward
Intelligence Teams collect information and photograph people
attending demonstrations or protests. These photographs are compiled
on “Spotter Cards” which are then used to identify individuals.
At every
protest you can be sure to see at least one mobile CCTV unit
monitoring the crowd and possibly a helicopter hovering overhead.
These are
not tactics that are reserved for dealing with groups which promote
racial hatred such as the Scottish Defence League, but tactics that
the police are using increasingly against any group of ordinary
people who are voicing their concerns about issues which matter to
them and their families.
Ordinary
citizens such as environmental campaigners, disabled rights groups,
families affected by cuts in public services must have the right to
articulate their grievances without interference from the Police.
They must be allowed the right of free speech and peaceful protest
without attempts by the police to criminalise these basic democratic
rights.
The
journalist George Monbiot reported on the misuse of police power
during the Kingsnorth Climate camp Campaign. Two female protestors
were attacked, arrested and remanded in prison for four days. As
George Monbiot commented;
“Anyone who seeks political change is treated as if they
were an enemy of the public interest”, and, “that the police are
turning activism into a crime”. (Guardian 22nd
June 2009).
The human
rights lawyer Michael Mansfield Q.C. remarked that;
“Legitimate and
peaceful mass demonstrations is being policed off the streets.
Increasingly heavy –handed tactics are being employed along with
the potentially dangerous practice of kettling or corralling. It is
part of a general policy by successive authoritarian governments.
They brook no opposition and contrive a compliant society upon which
they can wreak havoc with their elitist economic policies”.
(Guardian 10th
March 2013).
During a
recent trade visit to Delhi, David Cameron said of the massacre of
hundreds of Indians who were protesting against oppressive laws and
were shot by British troops in 1919,
“We must ensure that
the United Kingdom stands up for the right to peaceful protest
anywhere in the world”, (The Telegraph 20 February 2013).
When David
Cameron said anywhere in the world – he meant of course anywhere
except here! He doesn’t mind democracy and free speech as long as
it’s somewhere else. And the politicians are quite happy to give
the police a free hand to maintain their position of power and
privilege.
We must
stop this misuse of police power. It is a scandal that ordinary
citizens are being deprived of their democratic right to protest
against injustice.
We cannot
stand by and watch this happen.
We are not
posing a threat to democracy - the police are!
We are not
breaking the law - the police are!
To this
end we call on all individuals with a concern for free speech and who
value the democratic right to protest, all political groups and
parties, all trade unionists, all of our fellow citizens suffering
repression to join us in condemnation of police harassment and
intimidation.
Although
there are many divisions in society at the moment, this is something
that affects all of us. We have to be united on this, - do not fall
for the police’s divide and rule tactics.
The right
to free speech and peaceful protest is the mark of a free society.
As Martin
Luther King so eloquently said;
“Freedom is never given
voluntarily by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed”.
Let us
remember this, and unite against those who oppose free speech!
“Whether
the mask is labeled fascism, democracy, or dictatorship of the
proletariat, our great adversary remains the apparatus—the
bureaucracy, the police, the military. Not the one facing us across
the frontier of the battle lines, which is not so much our enemy as
our brothers' enemy, but the one that calls itself our protector and
makes us its slaves. No matter what the circumstances, the worst
betrayal will always be to subordinate ourselves to this apparatus
and to trample underfoot, in its service, all human values in
ourselves and in others.”
― Simone Weil
― Simone Weil
