London's Burning - Kettling, Police, CCTV Surveillance, Liberty and Riots

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This piece is about the gradual erosion of civil rights in the UK and the destruction of hard won liberties.

Under the excuse of terrorism (well that’s the current excuse), long established freedoms such as the right to protest are being taken away by our political leaders.

It doesn't matter if your politics are left or right wing, or if you prefer mainstream media to internet gossip - we all face a threat to our precious democracy.

You may want to march for something you believe in one day, or at least respect the right of others to do so. Maybe you'd like your vote to count for something - or the politician you elect to remember he is a servant of the people.

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Fortunately this piece does contain some satire and sarcasm; so on the bright side there might be a giggle. Always good to have a giggle I think when fighting tyranny. The lighter side of repression.

I wouldn't be much of an anarchist or a Tolpuddle martyr. Think of it as the lighter side of activism.

The image of the smiling unarmed British bobby is familiar across the world. A mark of a civilised and non gun bearing, society – where policing is carried out in a cooperative way with the policed.

However, in the UK, we have a new image. It is an unidentified thug in riot gear attacking and on some occasions, killing, defenceless people.

All police are supposed to show an identification number on their military style riot uniforms. But they don’t. Strangely, this illegal act, is not enforced by anyone. If you notice it – tell a policeman!

In a democracy, people are allowed to march, holding banners aloft, singing, cheering, booing. This form of protest is one of the things that make us proud – it’s a symbol of our freedom.

Not any more. The police tactic now is not to allow marchers to proceed along a route, but to trap them, encircle them and hold them for hours without access to toilets, water – you know – the sort of little luxuries one might expect even in prison.

I would be proud of my children if they were on a march. Believing in something. Not watching the TV.

Now, I would be worried. Children as young as 12 have been kettled (yes they have a new word for it) for hours upon end – until trains have stopped running and no way home.

We need a march against kettling. But you know how that would end up.

We are proud of our democracy. We invade other countries just to tell them about it. We preen ourselves on the international stage. We are so much better than those other nasty countries – aren’t we?

Democracy. The right to terrorise children in third world countries.

Ever heard of Wikileaks? Of course you have. I’m not necessarily a fan of Julian Assange or his organisation. But I do believe in free speech.

So does America apparently. And the UK. We tell places like China – ALL THE TIME – that they should allow more free speech and let Google profit from their search engine.

Hold on. But some American politicians want to kill Assange? And the British have locked him up in prison, en route to his eventual free water boarding holiday at Guantanamo?

Best example of free speech in the UK? Labour party conference – eighty year old war veteran voices an objection to policy – thrown out by heavies.

That is what Blair and others have done for British free speech.

Or the war in Iraq.  This was my last hope for some decency remaining in politics.  I thought that there must be WMD’s – even though the inspectors said there were not.  I thought maybe we had to go to war – even though the inspectors said we didn’t.

Millions dead, a country destroyed, the Middle East in turmoil, fuel for terrorists everywhere.

On the plus side – Blair got the peace envoy job in the Middle East and Haliburton / Cheney made some money.

So, not all bad then.

You can now be arrested for taking pictures in London. Especially if you look a bit non western of course. This is how we welcome guests and show them our history.

Funnily enough though – we have the most extensive CCTV coverage anywhere in the world. So when you get home – if you get home – maybe you can write to the Mayor and ask for some holiday snaps.

Now some people will say I’m just an anarchist, or terrorist, or whatever label they give to people who disagree.  Not at all.  I’m a patriot.  I love my country.

Thing is – it’s MY country.  Doesn’t belong to the politicians or the police or the armed forces or the arms manufacturers or the oil giants or pharmaceutical companies – you know, all those vested interests – it belongs to me and all Englanders on a simple one man one vote basis.

It belongs to all of us.  And we should all have equal rights to express our opinions, go on marches, stop wars – basically join in – and have a proper part in this so-called freedom and democracy that we are apparently fighting to protect.

Just a little thought on what we are all doing with our lives. All around the world are people living, working, raising families – normal, everyday people living in their world. May not be perfect, may be poor – but it’s what God has given us.

That’s if you believe in God, I don’t but that’s not the subject here so give me a break. I don’t want ten pages of comments about Creationism versus Atheism – it’s just an expression. Each to their own I say. So let’s get back to my point.

Normal people living lives. I would be very happy if we could please, pretty please, not go to these other countries and drop bombs on them.

That would be nice. Normal even. Sensible, rational and fair.

I haven’t fully thought through the merchandising for this piece but I can probably stick on some ads for fridge magnets and t-shirts. While we can still buy bits of crap printed with other people’s thoughts we have a chance of defeating our political puppeteers and making this a better world.

Maybe a book or two on political activism will go down well. Or perhaps I’ll stick with the plush toys. A comforter while we re-enter the dark ages of suppression.

For visitors to the UK, holding those old images of swinging London, British freedoms – I hope I have raised a little awareness – if not many laughs.

This should be our new tourist slogan…

Welcome to London, and reader, you are welcome to it.

August 2011. Three days of rioting so far in London. Genuine anger mixed with opportunistic thieving.

On day one people watched their TV's in amazement as London's Police force failed to cope with a few hundred rioters. How they stood by and watched buildings burn and shops being looted. This showed how it was possible for a small number of determined people to essentially do what the hell they wanted to do.

So for the next couple of days it has got worse.

Our politicians have flown back in from their summer holidays and been booed off the streets. The people have had enough of bent politicians, bankers and police - we don't know who we should believe anymore.

Up the road from the troubled areas - where jobs are few and oppotunities fewer - is the twelve billion pound Olympics. The people are waking up and doing the math.