Authoritarian minds fresh from the nonsense that is the war on terror have been working away behind the scenes to push through a bill that would allow the UK state to put in place strictures which would make the notion of democracy a nostalgic idea.
The Nanny State has just grown substantial teeth.
Home Secretary Teresa May and Lord Taylor of Holbeach are spear-heading a mix of civil servants and politicians who have been sold a line that would appeal to their ideas of power (rationalized as protecting the public and national interests) and who have neither the wit or the awareness to understand the concepts of social engineering in the modern world. This has resulted in the presentation of legislation labelled The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill, currently passing through the Committee stage which will end on November 18.
It runs along similar lines of the United States' NDAA and Patriot Acts which effectively criminalise the vulnerable sectors of society and severely restrict free speech, freedom of movement under the mantle of "human rights," "protection" and the "rule of law." Still worse, this new legislation will make behaviour perceived to potentially "cause a nuisance or annoyance" a criminal offence. A new generation of injunctions and penalties are set to shadow the UK and give government and corporatism a free-ride while the UK citizen gets a very raw deal indeed.
An evolution of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) Injunctions to Prevent Nuisance and Annoyance (IPNAs) represent political correctness taken to new heights of insanity where the highly subjective accusation of being "annoying" is enough to place you under the end of a police truncheon or in the clink.
While ASBOs eroded the right to protest, assemble and lawfully criticise that which is undemocratic and threatening to civil liberties IPNAs go a step further by including the Orwellian reasoning of potential threat, where a person MIGHT engage in behaviour ‘capable of causing annoyance’ to another person. This is mirroring the American penchant for "Pre-crime" technology from Homeland Security as well as the Neo-Conservative residue of "pre-emptive" politics which delights in invading first, ask questions later. There is no limit to how long the IPNAs can remain on your record once issued and can be applied to those over ten years old and jail time for individuals above 14 years old.
Though ostensibly aimed at vagrants, drunks and drug-dealers this legislation targets all of us and is never more potent when applied against those who happen to disagree with the government. As such, political dissent and activism lie squarely in the cross-hairs which of course, what this is all about. Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), and new Dispersal Orders will ensure that lawful assembly is criminalized. Not content to being harassed by security staff or police should you exercise your right to take a photograph of a private or public building you will now be lawfully ejected from ANY public or "private" space if ‘activities carried on or likely to be carried on in a public place will have or have had a detrimental effect on the quality of life of those in the locality’ (p21). When these Dispersal Orders are issued you'll have 48 hrs to do so - if not then kiss good-bye to the notion of peaceful protest whether it is against corporate criminality or wind-farms on a site of scientific interest - you will have to leave or face a face a fine of up to £2,500 or up to three months in prison, youth or senior citizen alike. The new terrorist will be the UK citizen who happens to disagree with his government-corporate "protector."
Do you see how far this can be extended by anyone with an axe to grind - even engineered by the government or law enforcement authorities themselves? What of homeless people or peaceful protests? Backing up these powers are on-the-spot fines giving police further incentives to issue penalties and by-pass court attendance which further erodes the very reason law courts exist. The right to ramble and freely congregate in public spaces without interference from government dictates is under threat. You can also see how these laws would lend themselves to racial profiling and discrimination.
Once again, Dispersal powers are underpinned with subjective thinking that assumes guilt first and issues fines based on the possibility that peaceful protest may turn violent or that certain persons will engender problems. Pre-emption and pre-crime is about ideological opinion rather than fact. It is a political move designed to facilitate greater leverage against a public beginning to think for itself. This is a global phenomena that is not restricted to the UK but sourced from a mindset that wishes to hold on to a hierarchical infrastructure and which advocates a future Neo-Feudalism as the only way to maintain the continuing lines of traditional power.
These new laws fit neatly into the philosophy of the emerging SMART society and seemingly "ecological" initiatives which have nothing to do with true greening and technological innovation but everything to do with the re-engineering and brokerage of power. We are insufficiently aware of how socio-political and psychological warfare has been directed at global populations. This bill, if it succeeds will be testament to the fact.
As the public works itself to death on the hoax of austerity measures, the ever-present mediocrity of the X-Factor and wall-to-wall coverage of the royal birth, British freedoms are being comprehensively eliminated right under our very noses.
This is not a Liberal Democrat, Conservative or New Labour issue. Politics is totally irrelevant and has been for many decades. This is about community and the ability of people to forge a society that is based on pragmatism, values and conscience without the undue interference of a government gone mad.If we let this legislation pass we may well see a revolution but not the kind that will benefit anyone but the Establishment.
To sign the petition against this bill go here: www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/uk-government-reject-the-anti-social-behaviour-crime-and-policing-bill?utm_campaign=share_button_action_box&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition
You can read the full document here: www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2013-2014/0052/14052.pdf
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