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Britain 2009
Originally published at Tilting at Windmills16 February 2009
This is not the piece I wanted to write! I wanted to write something short and sharp. This piece is neither of those.I wanted to write a simple piece about the new powers the police have today been given. This piece isn't that either.For there were simply too many elements; too much of a scattered jigsaw that had to be assembled for the larger picture to become clear.I wouldn't blame you if your attention wandered halfway through, but I hope you'll find it worthwhile to keep at it to the very end; although I have to forewarn you, this is a
long
article! And I think I'm more disturbed now, having written it, than I was when I started.
- mike langridge16 February 2009
Sections
Freedom to Protest"Anti-Terror" Legislation
 
The Misuse of "Anti-Terror" Legislation
 
The Criminalising of Protest
 
Riot PoliceThe Shape of Protest to Come?
 
FitwatchPhotographers and the Media
 
Last but not least...
Suggest to the ordinary "man in the street" the notion that this country's well along the path to becoming a police stateand likely as not he'll laugh at you.
 Ask the ordinary "man in the street" what role he believes the police play in society and likely asnot he'll answer something along the lines of "maintaining law and order".Put to him the notion that this country's well along the path to becoming a police state and likely asnot he'll laugh at the suggestion.The following's a fairly standard definition of a police state:
"a political unit characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic, and sociallife usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police and especially secret police in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures"- from the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary [http://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/police+state]
Or perhaps you'd prefer this one, from Wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_state]:
"The term police state describes a state in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population. A police state typically exhibits elements of totalitarianism and social control, and there is usually little or no distinction between thelaw and the exercise of political power by the executive.The inhabitants of a police state experience restrictions on their mobility, and on their freedom to express or communicate political or other views, which are subject to police monitoring or enforcement. Political control may be exerted by means of a secret police force which operates outside the boundaries normally imposed by a constitutional republic."
 Well, obviously we don't move from being a relatively free and unrestricted society into a regime of repressive controls overnight. Its a
 process of transition
, and a gradual one at that.So where would we be likely to observe this process occurring first? Most likely over the "freedom to express or communicate political or other views". Why? Because it seems to me that would be the most obvious and necessary first step in the development of a politically repressive regime.Okay, let's put the issue of a police state
 per se
onto the back burner for the moment and move on to consider something else.
Shut ITT - A mass demo against Brighton's weaponsfactory, EDO-MBM/ITT. Wednesday 15th October '08
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