AREWEFASCISTORNOT

[Strangelet]

i've been enjoying this horse race between the u.s. and the u.k. to see who can turn themselves into despotic boot in face regimes. I think the u.k. is pulling ahead with this one.

The relationship between photographers and police could worsen next month when new laws are introduced that allow for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of officers 'likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism'.

... or recording them in acts of brutality.

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=836646

[BeautifulBurnout]

Oh, this has been going on for a little while here in London (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/05/news.terrorism). Even taking pictures of public buildings such as the Houses of Parliament can attract the attention of Plod.

There is an increasing stamping on our civil liberties in the UK to the point where people are really beginning to speak up about it now. The Guardian is the main sponsor of an event called The Convention on Modern Liberty (http://www.modernliberty.net/) later this month, and have started up a whole new section on their "Comment is Free" blog pages.

I fear it is too little too late, though, and we are trying to shut the stable door after the horse has been turned into cat meat. The incessant drip-drip-drip eroding our liberties has been happening largely away from the public gaze, with legislation snuck in under the disguise of something else, or published on a "good day to bury bad news". (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1358985/Sept-11-%27a-good-day-to-bury-bad-news%27.html)

Now for the conspiracy theory: none of this has been about terrorism. Since Enron, the major world powers have known that there was a serious, culture-threatening economic crash on the way. They tried to avert it by going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq (nothing like a good war to generate the roll-down effect from the military-industrial complex producing more, selling more, not to mention recruitment into the armed forces, Halliburton, Blackwater et al.).

But that has failed horribly, and we have seen in the last 6 months billions of our tax dollars taken away from us to shore up the aling banking system - while Joe Public is losing his job, having his house repossessed.

Thanks to the raft of legislation introduced under the guise of the War on Terror, the government has all the powers it needs to keep our heads firmly under the jackboot now things have gone seriously shit-shaped and people all over Europe are out on the streets in protest.

Are we fascist or not? Well, if not, certainly in the UK we are bloody close.:mad:

[Deckard]

No photos of police officers would surely mean no photos of protests and demonstrations, would it not?

Yet again... aint that just swell for the guardians of political and corporate order.

<myshkin>Anybody would think they could see ahead to something that we can't. </myshkin>

(BB - plausible, plausible. It seems to me all these instances contain one key ingredient: a crackdown on dissent. Oh and I'm damned if I can think of it, but there has to be a "slippery slope" joke in there for us Brits waking up today ;) )

[Rog]

enjoy this ......you won't be able to soon:(

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ImC2orpcA4I&feature=related

[Strangelet]

There is an increasing stamping on our civil liberties in the UK to the point where people are really beginning to speak up about it now. The Guardian is the main sponsor of an event called The Convention on Modern Liberty (http://www.modernliberty.net/) later this month, and have started up a whole new section on their "Comment is Free" blog pages.

I fear it is too little too late, though,


This brings up your other thread about the french. If their government so much as looks at them cross eyed, lyons and paris are shut down. What is it going to take to get us out in the streets? Uniting as a whole seems to be the best solution for to the problem of individual liberties. Before we are broken down into isolated shadows afraid of acting out in even the most token expressions of protest.

I"m actually curious, what will it take?

On this side of the drink we have seasoned iraqi veteran batallions moving in and being stationed on the homeland, effectively shredding the writ of posse comitatus, which prohibits our own army actively operating on our own soil. Its one of those things like Sula marching onto Rome. Its just never even been imagined. But that's exactly why it will work for them.

[IsiliRunite]

Was the title employed to divert government attention?

[BeautifulBurnout]

enjoy this ......you won't be able to soon:(

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ImC2orpcA4I&feature=related

That's hilarious. Well, it would be if it wasn't so outrageous.

I love the way they can't tell him the section under which he is committing an offence so they BOTH radio to the station. :D


Strangelet - what will it take? I really don't know, frankly. Not until they start carting off our first born as hostages to our good behaviour I suspect. :mad:

[Sean]

enjoy this ......you won't be able to soon:(

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ImC2orpcA4I&feature=related
Brilliant. :D

[Rog]

i really like the bit where the female copper tries to intimidate him with the "what did you just say?" line........i was half expecting her to say " you called me a bastard didn't you, you're nicked":D:D

This legislation should not be passed without some sort of protest! soon it will be illegal to photograph coppers illegally beating up innocent or passive people:mad:

[Strangelet]

This legislation should not be passed without some sort of protest! soon it will be illegal to photograph coppers illegally beating up innocent or passive people:mad:


which is really funny to me, considering there are more cameras on the streets of the UK than pretty much any other nation, but the blokes with all the cameras can't be photographed? Also, when has there ever been a time when cops were targeted by terrorists due to their being photographed. ANd how many times have cops found themselves in trouble because everyone at the protests thought to bring their camera phone with them to capture all the billy clubs being lodged in people's arses? Makes you wonder what is the driving force of this bill, dunnit?

[BeautifulBurnout]

They are getting embarrased by the numbers of clips making it to youtube showing them to be, at best, incompetent idiots and, at worst, complete thugs.

What is marvellous about the CCTV system we have here is that, 9 times out of 10 when you view it there is nothing on it that is useful to the prosecution case, and every time a defendant asks for it to prove his defence, the camera is mysteriously pointing the other way, or else they have not managed to seize the recording before it got recorded over again. :D

[Strangelet]

Was the title employed to divert government attention?


actually no. I was thinking, after this bill goes into effect, we could set up a site along the lines of Amihotornot.com or amigothornot.com, where people can post pictures of police in action and everyone can rate how fascist the picture is on a scale of one to ten.

[Rog]

so, soon in our wonderful democratic country you could take a picture of the police intimidating someone and be arrested and held without trial for 28 days(?) under the prevention of terrorism act:mad:

and they want legislation to increase the time you can be held without trial to 90 days! wtf are we coming to........

[IsiliRunite]

Can I be the American who is going to post all these pictures, beyond UK jurisdiction!?!

[bryantm3]

I <3 AMERICA

[Strangelet]

I <3 AMERICA

um i'm not sure you live in as much of a beacon of freedom as you think. We incarcerate over 3 million people in this country, that's 1% of the entire freaking population. That's 1 in 100 people, man.

What's worse is some people are getitng rich off of this.

case in point...


Judge Mark A. Ciavarella and former Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan are accused of taking $2.6 million for sending children to two facilities owned by Pittsburgh businessman Greg Zappala
that's just the tip of the ice berg. god knows how many state legislators have been bought off by private prison firms to up the probability that any given person goes to jail and therefore causes a check from the state to be printed and made out to Society Solutions LLC, INC, LTD.

this thread was meant to describe the race to the bottom for both nations. i'm sure I'll find more evidence of fascism in our midst.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09035/946743-454.stm


She said the punishment was excessive and that it traumatized her son, a first-time offender who was expecting community service or a fine for punishing another boy last year. Instead, he was taken from the courtroom in shackles and brought to Camp Adams, where he was beaten by other teenagers, forced to wear ripped clothes four sizes too big and permitted visitors only twice a month for an hour, she said.

[Rog]

That is dreadful!:mad:

what depths will our wonderful freedom loving democratic peoples sink to next?

[dubman]

actually no. I was thinking, after this bill goes into effect, we could set up a site along the lines of Amihotornot.com or amigothornot.com, where people can post pictures of police in action and everyone can rate how fascist the picture is on a scale of one to ten.

i lol'd

i mean it's funny reading this whole thread
i'm sitting here thinking no one beats us in perversions of democracy and liberty. we were the new kids on the block. everything was supposed to go right but we just upped the ante of the weird and reprehensible by also being better at strategically hiding it/positioning it so no one gave a shit.

it was amusing to read of similar european legislation because it just seemed like such potatoes.

but damn, we're getting a run for our money here. you've got a ways to go but.. man.

[bryantm3]

um i'm not sure you live in as much of a beacon of freedom as you think. We incarcerate over 3 million people in this country, that's 1% of the entire freaking population. That's 1 in 100 people, man.

What's worse is some people are getitng rich off of this.

case in point...

that's just the tip of the ice berg. god knows how many state legislators have been bought off by private prison firms to up the probability that any given person goes to jail and therefore causes a check from the state to be printed and made out to Society Solutions LLC, INC, LTD.

this thread was meant to describe the race to the bottom for both nations. i'm sure I'll find more evidence of fascism in our midst.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09035/946743-454.stm
in no way do i imply that we're perfect; we're far from it. but i do love my country enough to speak out against injustices within it; such as above. i love my country—not necessarily its policies.