G20 protests: Riot police, or rioting police?

From George Monbiot's Blog.

At the G20 protests in London only one group appears to be looking for violent confrontation – and it's not the protesters

The trouble-makers are out in force again. Dressed in black, their faces partly obscured, some of them appear to be interested only in violent confrontation. It's almost as if they are deliberately raising the temperature, pushing and pushing until a fight kicks off. But this isn't some disorganised rabble: these people were bussed in and are plainly acting in concert. There's another dead giveaway. They are all wearing the same slogan: Police.

The police have been talking up violence at the G20 protests for weeks. They briefed journalists and companies in the City of London about the evil designs of the climate campaigners intending to demonstrate there, but refused to let the campaigners attend the briefings and put their own side of the story. They also rebuffed the campaigners when they sought to explain to the police what they wanted to do.

The way officers tooled themselves up in riot gear and waded into a peaceful crowd this afternoon makes it look almost as if they were trying to ensure that their predictions came true. Their bosses appear to have failed either to read or to heed the report by the parliamentary committee on human rights last week, about the misuse of police powers against protesters. "Whilst we recognise police officers should not be placed at risk of serious injury," the report said, "the deployment of riot police can unnecessarily raise the temperature at protests."

But there has always been a conflict of interest inherent in policing. The police are supposed to prevent crime and keep the streets safe. But if they are too successful, they do themselves out of a job. They have a powerful interest in exaggerating threats and, perhaps, an interest in ensuring that sometimes these threats materialise. This could explain what I've seen at one protest after another, where peaceful demonstrations turn into ugly rucks only when the police attack. The wildly disproportionate and unnecessary violence I've sometimes seen the police deploy could scarcely be better designed to provoke a reaction.

If this is so, they lose nothing. They might get the occasional rap over the knuckles from MPs or the police complaints commission. It doesn't seem to bother them. By planting the idea in the public mind that the streets could erupt into catastrophic violence at any time, were it not for the thick blue line thrown around even the mildest protest, they establish the need for a heavy police presence. While the public lives in fear, no government dares to cut the policing budget.

Monbiot.com

Good Old New Labour

As the march towards Labour's police states continues to pick up pace in Britain, the public are left in a state of paralysis by what is happening on their fair shores. Lord Haysham called it an 'electoral dictatorship' others have more caustic words echoing around in their psyche.

Almost 60 new powers contained in more than 25 Acts of Parliament have whittled away at freedoms and broken pledges set out in the Human Rights Act and Magna Carta, as a result of laws introduced by Labour since they came to power in 1997.

The Convention on Modern Liberty recent dossier, rightfully criticises draconian police powers to detain terror suspects for 28 days without charge, new stop-and-search powers handed to police (allowing them to stop people without reason at airports and other designated areas), and restrictions on the right of peaceful protest.


When the fevered rhetoric dies down and the dust begins to settle on the pages of the 'objective' broadsheets, we can take time to breath and reassess what has become of Britain, and more frighteningly, where it is headed.

It is the first time such a picture of the erosion of rights under Labour has been published, exercising their right to free speech and providing the government with a clear and comprehensive depiction of how Britain is being run.

Liberty's voice is not alone in the wilderness, it is one shared by many disenfranchised and disillusioned people throughout the land, and surely can't be ignored. A solid platform for dissent and oganisation has been built and with grotesque despoliation a daily occurrence, the growth should be rapid.

With the proliferation of surveillance technology, new laws allowing individuals to be electronically tagged, the legal interception of letters, emails and phone calls, one could be forgiven for mistaking our 'free' society for that of North Korea or China. But no, these latest pearls of wisdom come from Whitehall, an institution rapidly losing face and credibility.

The question many are asking is, 'Where is it all going to end?' Huxleyian and Orwellian images and language resonate in one's mind, and present a very real and present danger for society.

A more pressing question for one to forward could be, 'What can be done to stop it?'

Direct action with violence would provide an opportunity for the government and would see the police state close in further, using fear through the media to validate their means.

It has taken economic quandary to waken people from their docu-soap slumber, and now is the time for free thinking and well informed citizens to educate themselves in the hypocrisy, and organise.

The battle of state vs people has been set in motion, for who will win the war, the jury is out. The power lies with the people and the time is right for action

Pikey

Tough on Crime.....

Tough on crime, rough on criminals

Plans to publicly shame criminals could be on the cards


Tony Blair promised to be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. His successor Gordon Brown may be about to out-tough him.

Louise Casey, the former head of the government's Respect unit, has drawn up a series of radical measures to fight crime.

Plans to make people serving community sentences wear visible jackets identifying that they are criminals and the possible publication of posters and websites with pictures of offenders are likely to be the most controversial of the plans.

Alongside the Guardian story on the paper's front page is a picture of people kneeling in orange Guanta´namo-style boiler suits with their hands behind their heads. It sends a shiver down the spine until you realise it relates to a separate article about protests against George Bush in London.

Even if the criminals are more likely to be forced to wear high visibility bibs - according to the Mail - rather than orange boiler suits, the plans are unlikely to go down well with civil liberties' groups still fuming over attempts to extend the period terror suspects can be held without trial.

Extract from Haroon Siddique Guardian News Blog.

Scary stuff I think you will agree. It won't be long until the people not wearing high viz will be the ones standing out. Homogenize, work, consume, watch reality TV and let your leaders take control.

To borrow a phrase from the immortal Bill Hicks,

"I'm sure their motives are pure."

Aghh well, break out the victory gin I suppose.

Pikey

No Time Like The Present Mr. Brown

A year ago now Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair as the leader of Great Britain and the Labour Party. Like a phantom he slipped into the corridors of power under the cover of darkness, known little by the general public. He was a politician so talented and able that no leadership contest was needed, let alone a general election. After two terms of Blair bling it was time for Britain to usher back in some stiff upper lip to the political arena. The stage managed New Labour revolution under Blair had run its course and people seemed ready for some straight-laced politics, they were itching for a change, someone who would tell them how things really were. Gordon Brown was their anointed one, a man of substance not spin.

A year down the line the man who came to power to ‘pull down the curtain of celebrity in politics’ is a seriously wounded political animal. Brown was put into power to strengthen the political backbone of the Labour Party, but now he has done exactly the opposite. The party is on the ropes and in danger of being knocked out all together. The recent local election results showed the true horror for the men in red ties. In short, they are sinking in political quicksand.

The mystery of Brown’s rise to number ten is one filled with unanswered questions. Did the left think the New Labour, Americanized machine spun too far, thus in selecting Brown they could revert to an older style of British politics, or did they party have a have a genuine believe in this dour Scotsman? The jury is out.

There is a lame duck aspect to the whole situation one year on. With Labour’s current position it would not be politically expedient to get rid of Brown, risking a general election that they could well lose. Its do or die time for Brown and his apparatchiks. In reality they have little to lose as public opinion is laughably low already. Fresh, radical, kamikaze decisions are going to have to be made in order to pull themselves out of the abyss.

I am only a humble armchair political observer, but I think there are some policies that would free them from the shackles of obliteration, and jolt them forward into an electable party.

• Pull troops out of neo-colonial occupations that are illegal under international law?
• Stop the march towards the big brother state and abolish I.D card plans and the NHN database scam. We are innocent until proven guilty, not the other way round.
• Wipe out the draconian 42 day detainment ruling remembering how this failed so miserably in Northern Ireland.
• Tax those who have gotten filthy rich under New Labour and begin the distribution of this wealth through a fair and balanced taxation system.


To be any kind of force in the future the Labour Party are going to have to get out their history books and learn from former political gaffs. As Edward Gibbon said ‘I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know no way of judging of the future but by the past.

A brighter future is possible.

Think about it Mr. Brown

Pikey