More reports are coming in of unprovoked police brutality. This time it has been aimed at around 3,000 Sri Lankan protesters who gathered in London yesterday and stayed overnight to peacefully air their dismay and attract attention to the plight of Sri Lankan civilians caught up in the country's ongoing civil war.
Thousands of civilians are reported to be trapped in a warzone by the Sri Lankan government attempting to overthrow the Tamil Tigers' fight for independence. The irony of UK protesters being brutalized by British police as they fight for human rights abroad is becoming bleakly predictable.
In this Guardian audio 18 year old Kavitha Sathiyamoorthy tells how she was dragged across the ground on her back by police personnel after falling in the scrum that ensued when police charged towards the protesters with batons raised. Medical student, Inthu Rubarajah who was also manhandled is angry that men, women and children were herded around like animals.
"We're fighting for human rights back in Sri Lanka. We thought we had the rights here in this country, but obviously we don't. We thought the British police would support us, the British community would support us, but in fact they're preventing us from fighting against the injustices that happened back home..."
Whilst the Guardian Matthew Weaver & Vikram Dodd, Guardian, 7Apr09 reports that foreign secretary, David Miliband, "insisted the government was "very concerned" about civilians caught up in the fighting in Sri Lanka. "The need for a humanitarian ceasefire is now even more urgent," he said." we are left wondering how concerned our government is about our own humanitarian ceasefire.
Who is allowing this brutality to happen in the UK? Police personnel are following orders from their chiefs but what is the purpose of such violent tactics and who allows them to get away with it?
There are many spectators (see the comments sections of any mainstream media article regarding any of the recent and previous protests) who claim that protesters are asking for trouble simply by protesting and that the aggressive police force displayed is justified to keep life on an equilibrium for others who don't feel the need to complain or raise their voices anywhere but in a newspaper comment section.
It is a hugely sad irony that these very views are the ones that allow brutality to take place and are what the ruling state - the government, its police forces, corporates and colluding media - would have us all believe. If we all just shut up, put up and get on with 'lives' that involve towing the line, behaving without thinking, conforming to what we are told is normal and beneficial then there will be no need for protests. The rich will continue getting richer though their numbers will dwindle as 'middle' and 'lower' classes merge. Thus the poor will continue in poverty but will have more bed fellows to grumble ineffectively with.
Thankfully, this is not the only option for 'civilisation' and there are many others out here who recognise the utter futility of the endless, unsatisfying cycle of living in order to work in order to be able to shop in order to consume, discarding waste at whim, desiring much but achieving little of any real worth.
It is clear that those commentators who seem to only have complaints with the protesters rather than at those sections of society who cause the reasons for complaints are neither uneducated nor inherently stupid. They have proved themselves capable of researching at least some of the 'news' and information available and consequently forming opinion. So why the need to protect those who run the systems that are at fault and thus the systems themselves. Why the need to discredit the people who are attempting to change, improve and remedy the faults of the system for the good of everyone?
Does it come down to near-sightedness caused by our current inert, self-satisfying-at-all-costs, blinkered and fearful lifestyles? Is it fear of losing what we have come of think of as precious: the wide screen TV(s), the beautiful home(s), the constantly updated and disposable wardrobes, the latest appliances and gadgets that save us time (for what?), the ability to fly off to other parts of the world, to be pampered and protected from the realities of poverty, to ignore climate change and our effect on the planet as something for future generations to worry about, to pretend that the things we buy and use come from never ending sources, to wallow in self-pity when things don't turn out as well as we'd been promised and unable to accept any blame (because it is always someone else's fault that the planet is heating up; another country is to blame for poor living standards; it is our government's responsibility to do more, not ours) we return to the cycle of consumption, safe in the knowledge that it will temporarily fill the empty gap in our souls.
The fact is that sooner or later we are going to lose all these things. Life will have to change. The systems and resources used to supply us with the material goods and services we take for granted are not infinite. The landfills cannot cope with our constant increasing waste. The climate is not waiting until we come to our senses before it does what it is programmed to do.
Change is not an option. It is a necessity. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell us that changing the status quo will result in deterioration, that our lives will be worse, that change = bad. These voices come from a fear that is inconducive to progress. And why are we here if not to progress, as individuals, as families, as communities, as nations, as a planet full of people?
If we can accept that change is not only imminent but vital and if we can actively seek to bring about positive change and do it today (not tomorrow), there is a good chance that life can be infinitely better, not just for a precious few but for a vast majority of us.
That is why it is imperative that people, you and I, are not just allowed to publicly call for change but rather than being savagely deterred from voicing our opinions are actively encouraged to do so. Encouraged and supported by the governments that we have elected to lead us. Encouraged and supported by the police force whom we pay to protect us. And above all, encouraged and supported by each other - together we can move forward.
Further Info:
Guardian on Sri Lanka
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Always read the label carefully...
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A few months back, Ecomonkey discarded (put in a cupboard until we can decide how to dispose of safely) our non-stick pans and resigned ourselves to not eating fried eggs again for a very long time. Today, thanks to the future-focused folk at 
George Monbiot explains how over the last 10-12 years PFIs have generally tended to lead and leave us up the proverbial creek, paddle-less and forlorn. He warns that the latest M25 expansion fiasco in particular seems to be our government's way of increasing our debt and possibly tipping us out of the canoe altogether.
So what went wrong? Let's see. Could it have been the fact that after an hour or two of peaceful protest and partying around the Bank of England it became apparent that we were being held captive there. Police refused to let anyone out of the central area following the friendly 'I'd love to let you through' by that classic police creed 'I'm just following orders'.
