----- Original Message ----- From: Red Rebel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2001 10:59 AM Subject: UK: Wearing A T-Shirt Makes You A Terrorist - Guardian (UK) > FROM: THE GUARDIAN, 22 FEBRUARY 2001 > > > Wearing a T-shirt makes you a terrorist >=========================== > Anything with a slogan could put you outside the law now > Special report: human rights in the UK > By George Monbiot > > Britain, Tony Blair announced at Labour's spring conference on > Sunday, is on the brink of "the biggest progressive political advance > for a century". To prepare for this brave new world, two days before > his speech Mr Blair bombed Baghdad. On Monday, the progressive era > was officially launched, with the implementation of an inclusive > piece of legislation called the Terrorism Act 2000. > > Terror, in the new progressive age, is no longer the preserve of the > aristocracy of violence. Today almost anyone can participate, just as > long as she or he wants to change the world. > > Beating people up, even killing them, is not terrorism, unless it > is "designed to influence the government" or conducted "for the > purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause". > But since Monday you can become a terrorist without having to harm a > living being, provided you believe in something. > > In that case, causing "serious damage to property" or interfering > with "an electronic system" will do. Or simply promoting or > encouraging such acts, or associating with the people who perform > them, or failing to tell the police what they are planning. Or, for > that matter, wearing a T-shirt or a badge which might "arouse > reasonable suspicion" that you sympathise with their activities. > > In his speech on Sunday, Tony Blair called for a "revolution" in our > schools, and spoke of "noble causes... asking us to hear their cry > for help and answer by action". So perhaps we should not be surprised > to learn that you can can now become a terrorist by supporting > government policy. > > British subjects writing pamphlets or giving lectures demanding a > revolution in Iraq can be prosecuted under the new act > for "incitement" of armed struggles overseas. The same clause leaves > the government free to bomb Baghdad, however, as "nothing in this > section imposes criminal liability on any person acting on behalf of, > or holding office under, the crown." > > By such means, our new century of progressive politics will be > distinguished from those which have gone before. There will be no > place, for example, for violent conspiracies like the Commons > Preservation Society. The CPS launched its campaign of terror in > 1865, by hiring a trainload of labourers to dismantle the railings > around Berkhamstead Common, thus seriously damaging the property of > the noble lord who had just enclosed it. > > The CPS later split into two splinter groups called the Open Spaces > Society and the National Trust. Under the new legislation, these > subversive factions would have been banned. > > Nor will the state tolerate dangerous malefactors such as the woman > who claimed "there is something that governments care far more for > than human life, and that is the security of property, and so it is > through property that we shall strike the enemy" and "the argument of > the broken windowpane is the most valuable argument in modern > politics". Emmeline Pankhurst and her followers, under the act, could > have been jailed for life for damaging property to advance a > political or ideological cause. > > Indeed, had the government's new progressive powers been in force, > these cells could have been stamped out before anyone had been > poisoned by their politics. The act permits police to cordon off an > area in which direct action is likely to take place, and arrest > anyone refusing to leave it. > > Anyone believed to be plotting an action can be stopped and searched, > and the protest materials she or he is carrying confiscated. Or, if > they prefer, the police can seize people who may be about to commit > an offence and hold them incommunicado for up to seven days. > > Under the new act, the women who caused serious damage to a Hawk jet > bound for East Timor could have been intercepted and imprisoned as > terrorists long before they interfered with what Mr Blair described > on Sunday as his mission to civilise the world. So could the > desperados seeking to defend organic farmers by decontaminating > fields of genetically modified maize. > > Campaigners subjecting a corporation to a fax blockade become > terrorists by dint of interfering with an electronic system. Indeed, > by writing articles in support of such actions, I could be deemed to > be "promoting and encouraging" them. Which makes me a terrorist and > you, if you were foolish enough to copy my articles and send them to > your friends, party to my crime. > > I don't believe the government will start making use of these new > measures right away: after all, as Mr Blair lamented on > Sunday, "Jerusalem is not built overnight". But they can now be > deployed whenever progress demands. Then, unmolested by dangerous > lunatics armed with banners and custard pies, the government will be > free to advance world peace by bombing Baghdad to its heart's > content. > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > _______________________________________________ Marxist-Leninist-List mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/marxist-leninist-list
