Another spot on strip from Cantankerous Frank / ThrobGoblins
Ecomonkey is desperately hoping that a little more sense than this will be employed on Saturday and throughout G20. However, sense does not appear to be too forthcoming at the moment and this is very sad particularly in regard to the upholding of our human rights. Don't be too surprised if said rights are violated by police when we attend peaceful protests such as those planned around the G20 summit.
Films and details of campaigners and journalists may breach Human Rights Act write Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée in the Guardian, 6Mar09: Shocking footage shot by police, accompanied by their own critical commentary, shows how their officers monitored campaigners and the media – and demanded personal information – at last August's climate camp demonstration in Kent. Police are targeting thousands of political campaigners in surveillance operations and storing their details on a database for at least seven years, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal."
This interview with photographer Jess Hurd and videographer Jason Parkinson, reveals some of the low tactics being used by 'our' police force under the guise of 'protecting the public'. In an era where the public is often the press - where most of us carry and use cameras and phones particularly to record and remember events; where we all have access to blogs, forums and other networks to post our opinion and views - what rights do any of us have? Do you feel protected by such methods of harassment and the disregard for democratic freedoms and human rights? Me neither.
In another Guardian article, Public Trust Eroded By Surveillance, 10Mar09 Corrina Ferguson quite rightly states "We should be free to attend a peaceful protest without the risk of being targeted by the police as a troublemaker in the future".
Perhaps we should all wear masks when we protest to protect ourselves from those we pay taxes to protect us. And some would call this a free country!
However, let's not allow these threats, as real as they may be, to detract us from attending peaceful protests and exercising our democratic right to freedom of expression. This would surely be playing into the hands of those who would intimidate us, those who would prefer us all to keep our heads down and carry on with our humdrum inconsequential lives, who would have us in a state of perpetual fear, too afraid to leave our homes, too scared to meet up with like-minded 'dissidents', speak our collective mind, shout out-loud our independent thoughts and, heaven forbid, to take action which does not suit them!
Let's instead get out there, into the streets which belong to us, and voice not just our dis-satisfaction with the current state of affairs but stand together and loudly voice our positive ideas and impatient need for change. If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
Please have your say in the comments section.
Further Info:
Cantankerous Frank / ThrobGoblins /
Put People First / Guardian, 6Mar09 / Guardian, 10Mar09
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Protesting for action on jobs, global inequality, poverty and climate chaos, the 40,000 strong crowd were accompanied by a stirring brass and rousing samba band as well as some fabulous costumes including several planets - one in a cage - a WDM money dragon and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Red against War, Green against Climate Chaos, Silver against Financial Crimes and Black against land enclosures and borders in honour of the 360th full circle anniversary of the Diggers.
There was not a whiff of violent or unruly behaviour save for the pong of one or two drunken and non-flattering shout outs to the police! Instead representatives of a wide variety of NGOs, charities, trade unions and others collaborated to let the powers that be know that all is not well on the ground.
